(also known as ‘watch Ben read a book today’)
This morning my good friend Phil Gerbyshak chucked a book at me. Ouch !
Turns out, it was exactly what I needed (funny how life works eh?)
The book he threw at me is Joe Calloway’s new book ‘Work Like You’re Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz and Kick of being better tomorrow than you were today’
I was at Chapters at 8am when it opened, and I’ve dived right into the book.
Here are my initial reading notes:
[9:00am] Chapter 1:
Showing off means being the best you can be in any situation. When life gives you lemons, you ‘make a lemon meringue pie, a lemon cake with festive lemon icing rosettes and a lemon “watch this” souffle’
Chapter 2:
What have you wanted to do for a long time? For me, it’s finishing my first book.
What have you been putting off in your life? Go do it !
Chapter 3: All hat and no cattle
This is a great line, one I first heard from my dear friend Anne McIntyre. Do you talk a good game, but never step up to the plate? Don’t be that guy. Be the guy who hits a double to bat in a run, every single time. And don’t gloat 
More to come…
UPDATE:
[10:45] Chapter 4: Make room for good stuff by getting the junk out of your life. You already know what you need to stop. So stop it.
Chapter 5: Be the ‘gold standard.’ Do it, every single time. Be the person who always gets it done. No matter what. Do this, and ‘the world will beat a path to your door.’
‘Consistency is the foundation of success and the great business builder.’
Chapter 6: You don’t know until you try. Take some action. Pick the cat up by the tail (see what happens!). ‘Be daring, not stupid.’
‘Adopt the strategy of taking action, rather than hesitating, questioning and doubting.’
[11:30am] Chapter 7: ‘I want to get better every day because that’s where the fun is.’ WOW - big statement, and so true !
Do you say stuff like this? “We were busy today. We didn’t have time to improve ourselves.” If so, you have excucitis. Cure? Go read a book. Take a course. Calloway says about thesetype, ‘You’re toast my friend, and the end is near.’
If you’re not getting better… you’re getting…. worse !
Chapter 8: A la John Maxwell, Calloway says that ‘we see things as we are.’ True ! The trusting man sees people as trusting. The jealous man sees people as jealous. And on it goes…
Become a reverse paranoid - everyone is out to help you!
‘If I can learn to change the way I look at my world, then I can change my world.’ True dat Joe, true dat.
Chapter 9: Don’t claim to be something you’re not. Don’t over promise and under deliver. Bad equation!
Ari Gold famously says “manage your client’s [@#%&^@] expectations.”
[11:59 am] Chapter 10: Give up, or go for it ? I’d take Go for it - every single time
Napoleon Hill says (and today I’m also reading his Your Magic Power to be Rich!) that winners never quit, and quitters never win. There is a good lesson there !
Chapter 11: Ask ‘what if,’ ‘If not now, when,’ and (my favourite) ‘Why not?’ Why not indeed! That’s actually the motto of U of Waterloo, in celebration of their 50th anniversary (congrats!) this year.
‘Constantly challenge assumptions and complacency.’
Chapter 12: Don’t get too weird. Get back in the box sometimes. If you do something well, don’t start doing things outside of that ‘box.’ I think you need to balance growth and mastery.
Chapter 13: ‘Expect to Connect. If you don’t like people they won’t like you back.’ Connecting is way to ‘make the love get bigger.’
Make real connections with your friends, clients and colleagues. There is no ‘business relationship’ or ’social friends.’
Chapter 14: Go all in. To quote my big brother Jesse Skurecki, ‘go %$@# deep .’
Joe asks ’should you wait to find work you love before you go all in, or should you go all in so that you will begin to love the work you’ve got?’
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds
BlogoSquare
9 Comments so far (Add 1 more)