I recently read two very different books: The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle and A Peaceful Retirement by Miss Read.
Its subtitle gives further information on what The Little Book of Talent is about: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills. It was an easy read, collating techniques that Coyle has found works when trying to focus on building a skill or ability. He argues against the notion that talent is something you are born with, stating that “talent is determined far less by our genes and far more by our actions: specifically, the combination of intensive practice and motivation that produces brain growth.” (You can see most of the tips here, if you’re interested.) There’s hope for us all!
There are some useful tips in the book, including:
TIP #4
BUY A NOTEBOOK
“…write stuff down and reflect on it. Results from today. Ideas for tomorrow. Goals for next week. A notebook works like a map: It creates clarity.”
TIP #16
EACH DAY, TRY TO BUILD ONE PERFECT CHUNK
“…set a daily SAP: smallest achievable perfection. In this technique, you pick a single chunk that you can perfect—not just improve, not just “work on,” but get 100 percent consistently correct.”
TIP #50
CULTIVATE YOUR GRIT
“Grit is that mix of passion, perseverance, and self-discipline that keeps us moving forward in spite of obstacles. It’s not flashy, and that’s precisely the point. In a world in which we’re frequently distracted by sparkly displays of skill, grit makes the difference in the long run.”
This especially made me think:
TIP #51
KEEP YOUR BIG GOALS SECRET
“Telling others about your big goals makes them less likely to happen, because it creates an unconscious payoff—tricking our brains into thinking we’ve already accomplished the goal. Keeping our big goals to ourselves is one of the smartest goals we can set.”
This is an interesting point to reflect on, given how accustomed I am to sharing everything, in this age of Twitter, blogging, and GoodReads! [I originally posted this on GoodReads.]
I find that I’ve been dipping into a lot of these management/leadership self-help books. A lot of the ideas and strategies they describe often seem to me to be “common sense”. Despite that I still find it useful to look at these works because even where I don’t learn anything amazingly new, they confirm for me that I’m on the right track. I don’t underestimate the importance of this sort of learning and affirmation, because as a senior manager I find that I’m usually isolated in my work, with all the other managers at my level so busy that we usually don’t talk much and share what we’re doing. (Or when we do talk it’s about what we’re doing. Not so much about the how and why – and what we’ve learned.)
Of course, it’s all very well to read these books, but nothing will change if I don’t apply any of the suggested techniques. I have to admit it – and laugh at myself – because sometimes I pick these titles up hoping for a secret technique or master strategy that will make all the difference to my work, but of course there’s nothing particularly secret or miraculous about them. As Coyle’s tip #51 says, it’s all about “that mix of passion, perseverance, and self-discipline that keeps us moving forward in spite of obstacles.” No short cuts.
The Miss Read book? A Peaceful Retirement is the last in her Fairacre series, about a school teacher in a fictional English Cotswolds village. The teacher has finally retired after suffering a couple of strokes, and this shows her settling into a routine with friends and neighbours, bringing the series to a pleasant end (you know she will be fine). The books are gentle stories about the teacher’s life, beginning I think in the 1950s, with some characters’ lives from earlier in the 20th century. Thus they depict a much slower paced, and in some ways simpler lifestyle. What I enjoy most about these stories is the depiction of the English countryside. Not having been to the Cotswolds I enjoy picturing the flora and fauna, and shivering at the icy cold winters. I imagine things have changed a lot since Miss Read’s time.
I find I enjoy books like the Fairacre series when I want to just relax and not have to think too hard about the book I am reading. I read many of these books during my last holidays. They were fun (following the faults and foibles of the Fairacre villagers and school children) and peaceful and utterly unchallenging.
This is why I love reading, I think. I can find things to inspire and challenge me, and books for sheer enjoyment. Better than tv any day.