48 Days to the Work you Love by Dan Miller: Book Review
This is a continuation of the in-depth review of the book: 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. To read the Previous Chapter, follow this link: Chapter 10: Do You Have What It Takes?
Chapter 11: Skunks, Rags, and Candy Bars
This chapter is a motivational one. It also revolves around accepting and adapting to change. I was a fan of many of the quotes throughout.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Sadly, too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be a climate in which new ways of thinking, perceiving, questioning are encouraged.” - Maya Angelou
I really liked this quote. Too often people are reluctant to listen to new ideas. They bat them away too quickly and then innovation tends to stagnate. I also liked the part that mentions the more creativity a person utilizes, the more creative they become.
Furthering my point about people too often being reluctant to looking at new ideas, the next quote:
“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” -Harold Wilson
Those two quotes may be my favorite of the entire book. The author then explains how many innovative things in the past have changed the dynamic of the not to distant past workforce. Bank tellers replaced by ATMs, phone operators replaced by voice-recognition technology, grocery store clerks replaced by self-checkout registers. In addition, manufacturing and physical labor jobs have been sent offshore. Amidst all this, we shouldn’t think all the jobs are disappearing…it’s just that the types of jobs are evolving. At one point in American history, 79% of jobs were agricultural in nature. Today, it’s only 3 percent. The other 76% were able to transform and adapt into new roles. At the same time, we have to love what we do in these new roles, or any job for that matter. ”Happiness is loving what you do and knowing it is making a difference. If your life is not a joy, maybe it’s time to look at some new options.” One big point of mine is I want my work to make an impact on something or someone. I don’t want it to be mindless. I want to leave a mark when I leave.
Later in the chapter the author mentions how we need to stop and look around more often. Stopping and spending time to think and analyze situations will allow us to think of ideas we may not have originally thought of if we rushed things. Which leads to another quote:
“Learn to pause, or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.” -Doug King
The (Abundance of) Information Age
One problem I always run into with myself is I want to try to learn everything about everything. I have to sit back and realize I don’t have the capacity to do so. Instead, I need to try and focus on specific things. It reminds me of the quote, “Man knows so much, that no man knows much.” I wish it were possible to learn everything I possibly can, but again, I know it’s not possible.
Today’s technology makes it that much harder. Information is so accessible it is impossible to take it all in from all angles. We’ve got new sites, emails, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone applications, blogs, podcasts…and that’s just in the digital age. That’s not including television, newspapers, or radio. The author mentions that it is estimated that a week-day edition of today’s New York Times contains more information than the average person in the 17th-century England was likely to come across in their entire lifetime. In 1971 the average American was targeted by at least 560 advertising messages. Today it’s more than 3,000. Talk about information overload.
Overall, I really liked this chapter. I am a big proponent of accepting change, and think the more people are willing to evaluate new ideas, the better off we are.
Continue to Conclusion and Final Thoughts
