Highlights from “Reinvent Yourself”
As I was impressed by both Choose Yourself and Power of No by James Altucher, I picked up this book and I was relieved that it was largely like Choose Yourself.
The book is written in a no nonsense in-your-face style, which I enjoy. It almost reads like “what I learned from person X” where X ranges from Snoop Dogg to Mark Cuban to Einstein. Instead of just talking about the achievement by X or certain aspect of X, it provides views of what enabled the achievement by X or created a specific aspect of X. It was fun to read and learn about these views. More over, the writing is peppered with lots of pithy quotes, which at times seem banal but they aren’t cos’ interpretation lies in the mind of the reader :)
Here are few bits that I liked in the book.
- You’re going to make mistakes, but 80% is always good enough. Keep learning the next thing.
- Preserve energy for the people that need you.
- Nobody remembers your bad stuff, just keep working at it and you’ll put out good stuff and that’s what they will see and remember.
- Just do it. Leave behind everyone else’ definitions or else you will drown in them.
- Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good.
- Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
- There’s magic in taking what’s been done a billion times before and doing it your way.
- Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.
- It’s the “can’ts” that add up to a win or a loss. The “cans” just keep you in the box of what’s safe.
- Quantity equals quality. People think it’s one or the other but it’s not. When you have a quantity of ideas and things you are trying, you will find quality. (Really??)
- It’s none of my business what people think of me.
- When you compare, you despair. When you are humble, you learn. When you get curious, you get better.
- Feeling entitled to anything will automatically put a ceiling on what you get out of life.
- It’s hard living the life you want. It requires determination and strength and wisdom and fearlessness. And those are all difficult things.
- The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.
- Good entrepreneurs learn by solving difficult problems.
- I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.
- If you start off with a profitable customer, the odds of failure go from 85% to less than 20%.
- The tough thing is figuring out what questions to ask, but that once you do that, the rest is really easy.
- A tree that falls makes more noise than a forest that grows.
- There’s always something you have to give up for success. Everything comes at a cost.
- Thinking keeps the adventures of life bottles in your head. Action makes you a hero.
- Every single day, art and innovation are right outside the emotional prison of your comfort zone.
- What are your emotional anchors? The events that staple the timeline of your life to something that totally destroyed who you thought you were.
- Don’t lecture me. Show me. Don’t give me rules. Give me permission. Don’t be aloof and far away. Be my friend.
- Find your community or your following.
- Everything is a game. Understanding the rules allows you to succeed.
If you have read and liked Choose Yourself, then you will like this. So, read it. If you haven’t read Choose Yourself, then read this and you will most likely pick up Choose Yourself ;)
