Kickstarting life, kick up the arse

Published Date Written by Ron Immink, www.bookbuzz.biz

On Newstalk this week we discussed books around career change, kick starting your career and all the other usual themes which are all part of the new year resolutions industry.

The book we picked as the core is “Poke the box” by Seth Godin. Seth is a prolific writer and has published titles such a “Purple cow”, “Tribes” and “Linchpin” to name a few. All business books. “Poke the box” is not a business book.

Do something!
It is a book about get up and go, movement, doing something (anything!), instigation capital, passion and the message that doing nothing is not an option. In some ways it is reality therapy. You cannot fight change or flux. Safe does not exist. Failure is an event, not a constant and there is just as much risk in doing nothing, then there is in doing something. In fact, there is more risk long term in not starting something.

So what do you do? Answer; you follow your passion. So if you were talking on TED.com, what would you be talking about? Your passion is your differentiator. I can bore you with a number of books on the importance of culture, which should be institutional passion, but if you are interested in subject read “Marketing 3.0”, “The thanks you economy” or “Mavericks at work”.

Who dares, runs
What other books did we suggest? The obvious one is “What colour is your parachute”. Apparently and of course there is “Changing your career for dummies”. I had the pleasure of watching Gerry Duffy in action at a conference. He did 10 triathlons in 10 days. Mind over matter. His book is “Who dares, runs”.

George Mordaunt wrote “Shepherds pie” about boom, bust, recession and recovery. Our own Yanky wrote “Fire in the belly” which in many ways has been the forerunner of capturing passion and heart as key drivers for success. He wrote that 10 years ago and it is still a classic.

Starting your own business, a workbook
There is my own book “Starting your own business, a workbook”, which I wrote with Brian O’Kane, a good book for working through the issues around starting a business.

Watch www.lemonademovie.com. You have a choice. Do something. By doing something (anything!), opportunities will arise. Seth Godin finishes “Poke the box” with a quote from Siddharta Gautama; “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way and starting”. GO!