Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build An Incredible Career (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Maximize Your Potential is a great collection of essays aimed primarily at creative professionals. As with any book of this kind, the advice contained within is only as good as you want it to be. From the minds behind 99u - a fantastic creative resource - this collection is meant to highlight best practices and Glei has gathered a slew of creative forces to drop their insight on four key areas they believe will help with long-term success.1) Identifying and creating new opportunities2) Cultivating Your Expertise Over Time3) Building Collaborative Relationships4) Learning How to Take RisksThese areas may seem within the realm of common sense - but most "advice" books are - and it's the anecdotes on failure, networking, creating and relationship-building that really make this book. Stand-out pieces are Theresa Amabile on keeping a creative diary; Tony Schwartz on Developing Mastery through Deliberate Practice; and Glei's own Making Your Own Luck. It didn't change my perception of work, but it did change how I approach and respond to certain obstacles common in creative work. Realistically, you can read this book in a day. I read it over the course of several months - one essay a day, or a week -- and bought copies for my co-workers the further along I read. Why read one book by a single author when you can get a collection of their best advice? The first book of Maximize Your potential was more impressive for reading, however a lot of inspiration and bright ideas could be found in this book as well. I would imagine that in various stages of my live the book gives me different information and different insights of my life attitude.Book highlights/extracts:The possibilities are infinite. But so, too, are the responsibilities. Having that abilitiy brings the lead of your own development on to you, do not wait for the manager,that would guide you to your greatness.4 key areas for career success: Identifying and creating new oportunities Cultivating your expertise over time Building collaborative relationships Learningnhow to take risks.Key takeaway: Craft comes before passion Passion is not a profession, it is a way of working. To achieve a lifestyle that you love, start by cultivating rare and valuable skills that will set you apart. Plan to adapt your plan Plan flexibly, and be ready to pivot in your career if necessary. Always have a Plan A, B and even Z in your back pocket. Do not settle for the status quo Try to regularly disrupt your own status quo. If you are getting too comfortable in your current position, it is probably time to challenge yourself in new ways. Get mission critical Think about your work -and where are you going-in terms of a larger mission. A job title is a closed objective, but a mission can grow with you. Luck is a state of mind Expose yourself to new situations, keep an open mind, and be proactive about pursuing chance opportunities. Luck comes to those who seek it. Work with intetion Calibrate your career for maximum impact by working at the intersection of your genuine skills, interests and opportunities. Stop trying to "BE GOOD" Give yourself permission to screw up. Once you stop trying to be good (and look smart), you can focus on tackling the exciting challenges that will help you GET BETTER. Change your mindset from pursuing "Be good" to "Get better"! Sprint to speed up mastery Set aside time for regular sprints where you work intensively on a key project or skill without distraction. Then reward yourself with a break. Avoid the "OK Plateau" Focus on practising the hard stuff when you are developing new skills. As with the weight lifting, you know you are making headway when you feel the burn. Hunger for feedback Develop a method for gathering feedback - whether is is tracking the numbers yourself or hiring a coach. No factor is more essential to growth and learning. Make building habbits a habbit Try to change on key habbit a month. If you can make the behaviours that help you excel automatic, executing at the top of your game becomes significantly easier. Daily observation drives progress Track you progress by journalling for a few minutes every day. The practise will help you identify stumbling blocks, observe patterns, and document successes. "If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with others" (African proverb) Do not got it alone Seek out fellow travelers - trusted colleagues and collaborators whon you can ask for help, who will tell you the truth, and who will hold you accountable. Create Social Contracts Address what could go wrong in a creative relationship up front. Then, when a conflict does arise, you have created a comfortable space for talking about it. Trust is generosity Focus on how you can help others, and lasting connections will come. The true spirit of networking should be generosity, not obligation. Ask and ye shall receive Asking always precedes connecting, and if you do it regularly, your network will thrive. Make a weekly habit of reaching out to people whom you admire. Act as a master builder, not a master mind Build on-and improvise with-others' ideas and skill sets. If you let everyone shine in his or her are of expertise, your projects will thrive. Try to assemble creative teams that include both veteran collaborators and newbies. Diversity (in the right dosage) accelerates your creative potential. Appreciate your adaptability Be aware that when you fail, you will adapt to the new situation much more quickly than you expect. Take action to avoid regret Fear a failure to act more than you fear failure itself. Most people's buggest regrets are the opportunities they did not act on, no those they did. Do not go all in Try to make small bets for the inital test-rns of your project or idea. IT is hard to predict what will take off, and this limites exposure to risk. Mistakes are information Mine your "failures" for valuable data about what works and what does not. As lons as you learn form the process, it is not a mistake. Dive into uncertainty Don not be afraid to live in the shade of big questions. Uncertainty and ambiguity are a necessary part of risk-taking and the creative progress. Accept your agency Embrace your power to make the outcome of any risk a success. Almost any situation can be turned around with persistence and ingenuity.
What do You think about Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build An Incredible Career (2013)?
Not quite as substantial as the other book in this series.
—sqbix
Great bits of wisdom. This is one to read again!
—sanampari
Thanks Ms Glei - this book help change my life.
—Hb14
Productivity tips for creative entrepreneurs.
—south_kawaii_wave
