Skip to content

101 Reasons for Personal Change (More or Less)

Inspired by Seth Godin's Linchpin - A Personal Development Book
Old Linchpin on a Shore

Once again Seth Godin has bet the farm and seems to have won, already. (Probably not the farm, but you get the point, don’t you.)

He decided to bypass the traditional act of sending out dozens of review copies of his latest book to journalists of main stream media. The book title — you might have heard about it already — is


Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?


Instead he sent preview copies to people who care, members of his tribe.

As a result the Internet is already flooded — in a good way — with blog posts, tweets, videos, … all sorts of real world testimonials about how much they love the book.

Is there anything else that could help sell the book better?

I do not think so.


Are You Indispensable?


What type of people are indispensable in those difficult times, in which we are very close to the edge economically and environmentally.

I have assembled variations of short excerpts and thoughts from many conversations between Seth Godin and his readers who have received a preview hard-copy of Linchpin: Are You indispensable?.


101 Reasons For Personal Change


Now I have promised to give you 101 reason why you should change. Well, what about this,
“Imagine you could be one of the persons described here. Wouldn’t that be enough reason to change?

Here is the secret, You can!”

People who bring art to work, people who reach out, make a connection, cause change to happen.


People who refuse to become an interchangeable part, someone who merely follows the manual.



People who love their job.


People who can spread ideas, build a tribe. … if you can get your ideas to spread, you get to build what you want.



People who are brave enough to do marketing.


People who make decisions.



People who are motivated.


People who can steer, innovate, provoke, lead, connect and make things happen.



People who will do art, will be brave and are willing to fail (often).


People who solve a new problem in a new way. And all of us have done that at least once in our life. Even if it goes back to our kindergarten experience.



People are not the standard resume they give you. Standard resumes are out.


People who have projects, not resumes.



People who are the great engineers of our time, programmers, materials specialists, inventors.


Everyone is leadership material! The only question is whether they’ve practiced or not.



People who lead. Leading gives one charisma, not the other way around.


People who choose to do the work necessary to become indispensable at something. They will succeed.



People who start with making the choice.


People who create what matters.


John Furst asks Seth Godin about Marketing


Question by John Furst: While you assert the genius is in everyone, … Are there professions, industries that are especially rewarding for linchpins and others one should probably consider exiting. Or in other words, jobs in which that genius has no other potential than being wasted.


Answer by Seth Godin: I think that industries that are based on commodities and on repeated life or death deliverables are probably not the best places for artists, for people making change or doing new work.

I’d stay away from Exxon or a pacemaker factory.



John: Can you imagine a story that if you hear it you would say about, “If only that had happened because of my book, it would have been enough reason to do all this work and write this book.” What would that story be?


Seth Godin: I’ve already discovered everything I was hoping for… people are telling me that the book has given them the last push they needed to do something important, something worthy of their effort. That’s the whole point!



Thanks, Seth.



Now check out the many interviews and reviews about Linchpin (↑) which have inspired me to this post.

Really, go and check it out.


I hope you are getting something out of this blog post. In case your mind just has gotten hungry for more… Here is my review of Linchpin.

I only have received Seth’s preview summary so far. That’s one disadvantage of living on an island in the Atlantic.

Now tell me how you want to change respectively what or who you would love to change.
Leave a comment below.
And share the post, please.

Thanks and
have a nice day.

Yours
John W. Furst.


__________
Additional Image Credits: mumchancegaloot on Flickr.com (↑)
Some rights reserved — CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0



Trackbacks

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as Linear | Threaded

Frances Schagen on :

*

Hi John;

Great Roundup of Linchpin thoughts.

Here's what happened to me because of Linchpin:

I met a great bunch of people in real life at the NY Launch and I am now learning how to work collaboratively.

I have more courage as I recognize the way my Lizard Brain has been keeping me from moving ahead. Specifically, my accounts receivable is the lowest it's been in years.

Linchpin is about real change with tangible results - if you engage in the message.

John W. Furst on :

*

Frances,

I think everybody can see the change in you. You are a natural born leader.

I am glad that Linchpin brought that talent to the surface.

Keep on rocking.

Thanks a lot

for your time and

have a nice day.

Yours

John

MeganD on :

*

Good idea to list the important traits. Makes it a quick read. I am amazed how many reviews people have written so far.

Going to the next one now.

Joel D Canfield on :

*

Despite the positive reactions I continually get to my writing, speaking, coaching, I seem incapable of believing that I can effect change. Stuck in a place where I believe no one is listening.

And that's what I'm going to change this year.

I'm going to risk the assumption that I'm already successful, that I'm already effecting change, and see how to build on success, instead of chasing it.

Dr.Mani on :

*

Very nice, John. I agree, Seth's launch is a lesson in marketing - and I don't know what else might have worked better in today's social media dominated world!

Looking forward to see LINCHPIN hit #1 in book sales figures on Amazon.com shortly.

All success

Dr.Mani

John W. Furst - Mastering Your Little Voice on :

*

Thanks for stopping by. What works for me is to break everything down in smaller milestones.

(However, I some limiting believes about myself too :-) )

I did not check it out yet, but Alex Mandossian made a short video in which he talked about "Mastering Your Little Voice." Or something like this. Give me a second to get the link...

http://bit.ly/8y6Ijy

Check it out, please.

John W. Furst on :

*

Dr. Mani,

I just noticed Linchpin is already at #1 for Business books - Business Life.

Not bad. Not bad, at all. :-)

Cheers

Yours

John

Jodi Kaplan on :

*

Great roundup, John. I can't wait to see your reaction when you get the entire book!

It's already changed the way I approach things - out! out! da@n lizard!

Tom Bentley on :

*

Thanks John. It's really something to see Seth practice what he preaches—the power of connection to reach out and move people to action. (In this immediate case, buying his book, but presumably effecting personal/social change in the long run.)

I'm only halfway through the book now, so I get the Linch, but I'm missing my pin. Better go hunt for it now...

John W. Furst on :

*

@Jodi: I will let you know.

@Tom: Love your kind of humor. The pin your are looking for, does it look like the one at the shore here? (hint: picture above)

Thanks for your visit folks.

Becky Blanton on :

*

John, Nice to see a follow-up post on Linchpin on the day of it's launch. The idea of a Linchpin is fascinating isn't it? Quite a departure from talk of unicorns and balloon factories. Linchpins are those we celebrate for their critical skills, input and much valued contributions - which may or may include their tendency to step to the sound of a different drummer. Not everyone WANTS to be remarkable, but for those who DO and ARE, this is quite a celebration of what they are all about. I think it's about time someone (Seth of course) recognized that without the dedication of those who love their jobs and what they do, that the possibilities the unicorns reveal with their balloon popping wouldn't be possible. Great book!

John W. Furst on :

*

I thought it's fun to do another post.

Let us celebrate. :-)

Comments are closed.
However, if you want to tell me something, drop me a line. Contact Us link in the footer.