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{ Category Archives } Work

Dissatisfied? Dan Pink tells you why, Seth Godin tells you what you can do about it

In his new book, Drive, author Dan Pink talks about what really motivates us, the “instrinsic drive” that we want to – but don’t always – follow. He describes the three pillars of this instrinsic motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. These three, working in concert, provide the foundation for satisfaction, and if any of these [...]

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2010 01 21 Books
Life
Mastery Comments (0)

Seth Godin wants you to become indispensable

When I was young, I went to see Raiders of the Lost Ark with my mom. At the conclusion of the opening sequence, as Indy’s escape plane flies away, my mom leaned over and said, “Oh my God. Is the whole movie going to be like this?” I had a very similar feeling when – on [...]

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2010 01 20 Book Reviews
Creativity
Life
Mastery Comments (5)

Some early thoughts on Linchpin

In the letter that he sent along with the early review copies of his new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Seth Godin asks us to “read it through (twice if you can)” before we review it. I get the impression from his letter, and from his introduction to the book, that he expects many people won’t like [...]

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2010 01 15 Book Reviews
learning
Life
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To meet, perchance to dream…

In Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, author John Medina discusses the importance of sleep (Rule #7: Sleep well, think well): Why do we sleep? It may be so that we can learn. The brain replays information learned during the day hundreds of times while we saw logs. [...]

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2010 01 14 Creativity
learning
Mastery Comments (1)

Jack of all trades, master of one

In his recent Zen Habits‘ article How Passion and Focus Will Rock Your Career, guest blogger Corbett Barr poses what he calls the “jack of all trades” question: Is it better to be a Renaissance man or woman and be good at a lot of different things or to be laser-focused and really great at one specific [...]

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2010 01 13 Creativity
Life
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What organizations need isn’t always what they want

From Seth Godin’s recent article Why ask why? The secret to creativity is curiosity… The student with no curiosity… is no problem at all. Lumps are easily managed. Same thing is true for most of the people we hire. We’d like them to follow instructions, not ask questions, not question the status quo. This reminded [...]

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2010 01 11 Complexity
Creativity
Innovation Comments (1)

My life is my masterpiece

Just inside the entrance to the Art of Living Building in Downtown St. Louis is the following quote: A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his WORK and his PLAY his LABOR and his LEISURE his MIND and his BODY his EDUCATION and his RECREATIONS. He hardly knows which is which. He [...]

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2010 01 05 Life
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My full review of Dan Pink’s “Drive”…

…as posted to amazon.com and GoodReads.com. = = == === ===== I read 39 books in 2009, just “a few” shy of my goal of 50. Thanks to a little nudge from Art Johnson (@artjohnson) and some tips from Julien Smith, I’ve set my 2010 sights just a little bit higher: a book a week, for a total [...]

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2010 01 04 Book Reviews
Life Comments (7)

Who is working for whom?

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Dan Pink‘s new book Drive touches on something that I’ve been thinking about for many years: the role – or lack thereof – of mastery in the workplace. I’ve been going through my archives pulling together my thoughts on the subject over the years and found the [...]

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2010 01 03 Life
Mastery Comments (0)

Some initial thoughts on Dan Pink’s “Drive”

I read 39 books in 2009, just “a few” shy of my goal of 50. Thanks to a little nudge from Art Johnson (@artjohnson) and some tips from Julien Smith, I’ve set my 2010 sights just a little bit higher: a book a week, for a total of 52. I got the list off to [...]

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2010 01 01 Deliberate Practice
Life
Mastery Comments (2)