book review: the practice by seth godin
01 Mar 2021
How Long âtil Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
What are the main ideas?
- there are a million things that can get in the way of you bringing your creative work into the world. the biggest thing you can do to avoid all those barriers is to commit to a practice, really any practice, that keeps you bringing your art, your magic, your change-making work into reality. even when itâs hard, even when itâs imperfect.
- itâs hard work but answering the questions âwhoâs it for?â and âwhatâs it for?â when you are making change/building projects will help keep you on track and clear about whatâs working, whatâs not, and why
- shipping creative work is fundamentally different and requires a very different skillset than replicating or slightly modifying what already exists/works. therefore, following the standards that the status quo has set doesnât work when what youâre doing is trying to make change.
If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?
avoid certainty. certainty, like a recipe, is oriented towards what has worked in the past. but change isnât made by repeating what worked in the past. searching for certainty is a telltale sign that iâm oriented towards the wrong time horizon.
How would I describe the book to a friend?
a powerful little book that really lands its points with wit and then relentless repetition. the book is arranged into tiny essays that alternate between making an assertion or point and then illustrating it with examples. at a certain point, the repetition got to be a little much for me but i know that i wonât soon forget the concepts. if you want to break barriers that prevent you from bringing your creative work into the world, this is the one.
reminder: book review structure