Poke the Box – Seth Godin

December 2, 2011

Devon Sampson Business , , , , , Leave a comment

 

If you’re stuck at the starting line, you don’t need more time or permission. You don’t need to wait for a boss’s okay or to be told to push the button; you just need to poke.

Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-– in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-– the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.” -Amazon.com description

 

A study showed that when people are placed in a forest without a map, they end up walking in circles instead of taking a clear path. People need a map. Be brave enough to draw one for them.

Our culture has become more about waiting to be picked than stepping up and being a captain (ie: people being dependent on another person to employ them, not even considering the possibility of starting their own business.)

Just because you’re not a boss or an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you can’t take initiative. Organize meetings, parties, and other group initiatives. If your boss doesn’t encourage independent, self-directed action like this, your job sucks and you should actively seek a new one.

Calibrating your level of initiative is just like Jeopardy. Knowing how to use the buzzer is of the utmost importance – buzz too early and Alex won’t finish the question, but if you’re too unsure of yourself you’ll buzz in too late and someone else will have taken the points.

“Polishing” yourself for other people has an asymptotic effect. For example, having a shower every day improves your appearance dramatically, but having three showers a day does not make your appearance three times better. The moral here is that it is extremely inefficient to be overly preoccupied with “polishing.”

The guy who started the first Starbucks only sold coffee beans; he made a huge error in his business plan. But at least he started it. If he had been worried about it not working, it never would’ve even existed.

Having a success-only policy stifles creativity and risk-taking, because big, risky ideas fail most of the time (but they’re still worth it because when they do succeed, they SUCCEED.)

The rule of initiating is that if it cannot fail, it doesn’t count. Go all-in.

“Life is not about extinguishing fear. It’s about calling its bluff.”

The Truth About Internal Validation

December 2, 2011

Devon Sampson Original Content, Philosophy, Social Dynamics , , , , 1 Comment

Validation in general is defined as anything that affirms the truth or validity of one’s ideas, principles, or actions.

The true meaning of internal validation is lost on many in today’s society. To explain such a concept it is important to first describe its opposite: external validation.

External validation is the approval of one’s ideas, principles, or actions – as delegated by other people. It is the fuel that drives most people today and it plays a significant role in all of our lives, to varying degrees. It is easy to orient your entire life around the chase for external validation, but it is an endless and unsatisfying path.

As The Law of E3 states: “Since there can be no bias in favor of or against any individual, the expected value of all external circumstances is exactly zero.” So although external validation can make one feel good in the short term, it cannot be the foundation of long term self-esteem.

On the other hand, the idea of internal validation can also be a slippery slope if not defined properly. Too often I encounter people that claim to be internally validated but are really just affirmation-repeating dreamers that cannot sustain confidence for very long in the real world.

The very act of stating something as an affirmation implies that one is not entirely confident about that statement. Unsubstantiated self-talk, no matter how positive, is an act of resistance against reality, which means it cannot be effective in the real world. Positive self-talk is a symptom of self-esteem, not the cause.

So then what is the cause? Well if the search for external validation necessitates recalibrating oneself in order to be agreeable to other people’s standards, then a man (or woman) acquires internal validation by affecting his external environment in a way that is agreeable to his own standards.

However, this process requires an explicit understanding of one’s standards. This takes time, as well as true introspection. Without this understanding, you’ll just be fumbling in the dark – and then even when you find what you want, you won’t be able to tell if it’s what you’ve been searching for.

Internal versus external validation is the difference between being an infallible skyscraper and being a rickety Jenga tower. All that it takes to be the former is personal clarity and congruent real-world action.