Talking Story

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Book Review: Do the Work

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Do the WorkDo the Work by Steven Pressfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Short Review

Do the Work is one of those short, “Here’s a helpful kick in the behind, so you won’t feel you’re all alone” kind of books. You can breeze through it in one sitting to know what it’s about (as I did one evening), and then keep it on your Kindle to go back to whenever you do need that kick instead of wallowing in any “Woe is me” waste of time. Lord knows we all need that kick sometimes.

This particular kick focuses on giving the reader a how-to, one with pushing through their own resistance and any lack of confidence when facing a work project.

From the Publisher’s Synopsis:

Could you be getting in your way of producing great work? Have you started a project but never finished? Would you like to do work that matters, but don’t know where to start?

The answer is Do the Work, a manifesto by bestselling author Steven Pressfield, that will show you that it’s not about better ideas, it’s about actually doing the work.

Do the Work is a weapon against Resistance ”“ a tool that will help you take action and successfully ship projects out the door.

“There is an enemy. There is an intelligent, active, malign force working against us. Step one is to recognize this. This recognition alone is enormously powerful. It saved my life, and it will save yours.”

Short books can be the hardest ones to write well, and I think Pressfield did a great job with this one.

He says his coaching can be applied to much more than writing (his area of expertise as a novelist), and I would agree that it can, however Do the Work will really resonate with anyone who writes as their work of choice; it is perfect for the work of writing in the way it matches writing content with work project movement in his “Three Act Structure.”

Very timely reading for me, since I’m currently within “the belly of the beast” with a writing project of my own.

The Domino Project Incentive

Do the Work has already gotten quick distribution thanks to Seth Godin’s Domino Project, and the “Read it now!” incentive is that a GE sponsorship has resulted in it being offered on Kindle for free: Advertising has come to the ebook. It’s nice to save the cash, however after reading it, I think having it on your Kindle library is the best placement for it anyway – even if you don’t have an actual Kindle, but read via the app on your smart phone (which an amazing amount of people do these days.) More to think about within this particular Talking Story project sharing: Qualify the Automatics.

The Domino Project itself is an interesting new business model. Their first book was Seth Godin’s Poke the Box ~ here is my book review on that one: Are you the box needing a poke? ~ and Pressfield is their follow up act, with Do the Work as book 2 in their publishing queue (and their proof-in-the-pudding that they are a true publisher playing in the new game, and not just more packaging for Seth Godin.)

Pressfield is not an unknown in need of their help, and he brings them much creative credibility in his own right. Here is an exceptional interview hosted by Mark McGuinness on Lateral Action in May of 2010; The War of Art: An Interview with Steven Pressfield, in which he explains why he chose the subject of Resistance for his only two non-fiction books:

The most important mental breakthrough in my career was simply the recognition that there is such a thing as Resistance. Once I realized that those lazy, whiny, insidious voices in my head were not “me,” but Resistance masquerading as “me” ” I could dismiss them and overcome them. I could turn pro.
~ Steven Pressfield

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Why Goodreads? They have become an App Smart choice for me in 2011 for I want to return to more book reading, and have set a goal to read at least 36 books this year (this was book 14 for me). Read more about the Goodreads mission here, and let’s connect there if you decide to try it too! You can also follow them on Twitter.

Previous review: The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People by Carol Eikleberry

More Do the Work Resources

1. Visit Pressfield’s website, where he is currently hosting a category feature he calls Do The Work Wednesdays with posts which expand on his manifesto (which is more of what Do the Work actually is.) He’s written 3 posts so far, all which allude to the fact that there is much more to his short book than first appears to the reader:

  • The Foolscap Method
  • Three Act Structure
  • How Screenwriters Pitch

2. A book excerpt shared by Amber Rae on The Domino Project:

The enemy is Resistance”“our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do.

What are Resistance’s greatest hits? An excerpt from Do the Work, here are the activities that most commonly elicit Resistance:

1. The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.

2. The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.

3. Any diet or health regimen.

4. Any program of spiritual advancement.

5. Any activity whose aim is the acquisition of chiseled abdominals.

6. Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction.

7. Education of every kind.

8. Any act of political, moral, or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves.

9. The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.

10. Any act that entails commitment of the heart—the decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship.

11. The taking of any principled stand in the face of adversity.

In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.

Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any of these acts will elicit Resistance.

“Free” never is, so don’t ask

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2010 Update: I made the decision to bring Say “Alaka‘i” here to Talking Story in late May of 2010 when the Honolulu Advertiser, where the blog previously appeared, was merged with the Star Bulletin (Read more at Say “Alaka‘i” is Returning to the Mothership).

Therefore, the post appearing below is a copy of the one which had originally appeared there on April 27, 2010, so we will be able to reference it in the future when the original url it had been published on is no more…

Hibiscus

“Free” never is, so don’t ask

A reader emailed, asking my opinion of this compromise proposed by governor Linda Lingle:

Hawaii governor asks teachers to return
Lingle will release $57.2M, wants educators to work 3 furlough days at no pay.

Gov. Linda Lingle last night asked all public school teachers and principals to volunteer to return to the classrooms without pay for the remaining three furlough days of the school year as a “gesture to heal our community.”

And if lawmakers approve a plan on Wednesday, Lingle also said she will release up to $57.2 million from the state’s Hurricane Relief Fund to restore 11 teacher furlough days next year.

First, let me preface my response by saying it’s a general one — all purpose, for I think the different viewpoints of this particular Hawai‘i Friday furlough issue are irrelevant to my answer. I’d respond the same way no matter the situation variables.

In short, I don’t think anyone should work for free, because I believe in valuing Ho‘ohana as I do (the value of worthwhile work).

“Hawaiians believed that only through work can a man fulfill his social and spiritual purpose.”
— Dr. George Kanahele

I very strongly believe that the work we do should be better valued by other people instead of them asking us to “give from the kindness of our hearts.” It’s awkward, for no one wants to be a jerk, put in a position of being the bad guy (or girl) who says no. So please, don’t put others in that position by asking.

It’s more than that though: I believe we all need to get better at appreciating the work others do for us. I have high regard for the value of work, and I believe that value should be rightfully dignified and honored. No one should ask another person to work for free no matter the circumstances: We need to be better receivers than that, and affirm what others do for us, not negate it.

“Free” never comes without cost to someone (often more than can be readily seen), and “paying” for a product, or for goods and services rendered should be a no-brainer.

You may have heard this story before: This version is from Tall Tim, The naked entrepreneur:

It reminds me of a story, supposedly true, I heard some time ago about Picasso, whose reputation was already secure at the time.

Picasso was apparently meeting someone for a drink in a tapas bar in Barcelona. His companion was running late and whilst he was waiting for him to arrive Picasso began doodling on his napkin. As he put his pen down one of the other patrons in the bar, who had recognised Picasso, boldly approached and proffered – “Maestro, I couldn’t help but notice your doodling on the napkin. I would be very happy to purchase the napkin from you.” “Certainly,” replied Picasso, “the price will be US$10,000.”

“How could you possibly charge $10,000?” blustered the would-be buyer, “I watched you and it took but a few minutes of your time to create.”

“Yes,” said Picasso, “But I AM Picasso and it has taken me 40 years to arrive at the point where I can create a work of art, worthy of bearing my name, in a matter of minutes.”

Whereupon one of the other patrons in the bar who had been observing the exchange leapt to his feet and said “Picasso, I’ll give you $12,000 for the napkin if you’ll just sign it.”

Good for Picasso!

When people ask me to speak or deliver workshops pro bono (without charge, and “for the public good”) I may, in that I’ll fulfill their request and not bill them in dollars, but I do step into the coaching opportunity they give me, and I’ll ask how they’re planning to reciprocate in kind. I’m ready to give them some pretty creative ideas if I need to.

There are several ways they can do so, for money is but one type of transactional currency, and a problem-riddled one at that. Unfortunately, compensation practices are as big a mess as you’ll find, with union rules and taxation complicating it even more (case in point).

Yes, I realize that even barter is subject to taxation, and most CPAs will advise you to report all transactions to the Internal Revenue Service in equivalent-dollars as cash sales, but so be it: The point is that we need to honor each other in the work we do.

Dignify your own work too: Value it, assessing it fairly, and let people know how they can compensate you if they ask. For instance, in the case of Hawai‘i’s Friday furloughs, I personally would love to hear from more teachers or school administrators, instead of union representatives and our legislators. If there simply aren’t the dollars available to compensate them monetarily, what would they suggest? It is far easier to be a good giver when we know what we can give.

“[In Hawai‘i of old] the general principle underlying all gift giving was reciprocity, a concept which permeated virtually all Hawaiian behavior” Economically, reciprocity has a narrower meaning, although the principle is the same: one should repay each gift with something at least equivalent to what one has received. But if the equivalent is enough, giving more is better” an important feature of reciprocal gift giving was the spirit of noblesse oblige.”
— Dr. George Kanahele

Noblesse oblige, “nobility obliges.” A wonderful concept, don’t you think?

The Dictionnaire de l’Académie française defines it thus:
“Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly. One must act in a fashion that conforms to one’s position, and with the reputation that one has earned.”
The Oxford English Dictionary says that the term “suggests noble ancestry constrains to honourable behavior; privilege entails to responsibility.”
— Wikipedia

Let’s seek to give, and give exceptionally before asking. Wouldn’t you want the same courtesy and affirmation of your worth?

~ ~ ~

From the archives:
Set your price, charge it, and stand behind it

~ ~ ~

Update: The saga continues in this morning’s paper: Hawaii governor’s furlough plan derided

While my posting makes it pretty clear I think the governor could have come up with a better suggestion (don’t go for adversarial compromise or even consensus and cooperation: Go for collaboration), it is alarming to me that so many who say “think of the children” and/or “what about the teachers?” are listing excuses and justifications why our teachers can’t work. Heaven forbid that we now are anti-volunteering, and that people are restricted from working to serve others if they want to. Why are we going there?

To be clear, I’m not saying they shouldn’t work within my posting, not at all! Do get back to work, and do make it work.

I still want to hear from more teachers, and not the BOE, unions, or legislators… why allow others to speak for you? Be heard.

Labor Day Aloha

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For the longest time I considered Labor Day nothing but an extra holiday. I wasn’t aware of the true history behind this American holiday, and I wasn’t curious about it either.

Growing up in Hawai‘i meant it was an extra beach day, and a really ono barbecue grinds day. As a kid, that was pretty much all I needed to know!

Paddleboarder

Then came my learning about Ho‘ohana, and my growing into the beliefs I have today about what this Hawaiian value of intentional, worthwhile work can be all about.

Hana ~ work
Ho‘o ~ make something happen
Ho‘ohana ~ make work happen as a Hawaiian value of living well
within our sense of place

Let’s explore this through Labor Day Aloha

WORK is a highly underrated word.
When work is good, it is really, really good.

You can belabor it, or have it be a labor of your love and Aloha. It’s completely up to you.

I prefer this kind of LABOR:

L – Love your work and the job you do. If you don’t, find new work you will love (and co-workers you’ll love being with). Your life is too precious to squander away in mediocrity or boredom.
A – Accept the reality that work is personal. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, and be personal while doing your work. Other people will relate better to you that way.
B – Brand what you do with your personal signature. Stand up for your work. Be proud of it, and be proud of being associated with it.
O – ‘Ohana, (your family) is connected to your work whether they want to be or not. Understand that, and make it a good thing. When you come home at the end of the workday bring only the good parts home with you.
R – Relationships at work are important. Welcome them. Invest in them. People first, tasks second—always. Friendships and teamwork can co-exist, and productively so.

Our DAYs will add up to the character of life we have:

D – Daily actions must point toward your ‘Imi ola (desired destiny). Otherwise you’re wasting your time, and you probably aren’t having too much fun. Fun is useful: It gives you more energy and it keeps you healthy.
A – Actions do speak louder than words. It’s true (and by now you know I’m a big fan of words and language). Walk your talk. (Which by the way, is a cakewalk when you love your job—go to the top and read L again.)
Y – Your work life is what you make it. Everything starts and ends with You. Take responsibility for your work, and on this Labor Day, celebrate the wonderful fact that you have a choice in everything you do. (Yes you do: No victim mentality allowed in the self-leadership of Alaka‘i thinking).

ALOHA makes everything even better:

A ”“ Authenticity is very attractive when connected to Aloha: “Alo” on the outside, and “ha” coming from the inside. Pretending you’re something or someone you’re not is way too stressful, (and it annoys everyone else you work with). I’ll bet you’re pretty cool just the way you are.
L ”“ Livelihood is a word we must all define on our own terms. Money is not evil, but it is the currency of our society, so define your terms in a way you can live well with both physically and emotionally.
O ”“ Optimism drives so much, and it’s magnetic. Be practiced in sharing a positive outlook and you will find it begins to influence everything you do, and all work which comes your way. Magically, it will also be the work you want.
H ”“ Have Ho‘ohana be your Labor Day mantra, today and every day. Ho‘ohana is the Hawaiian value of intentional work, and if you have chosen to live and work in our Hawai‘i nei, you have chosen our sense of place (as defined by our cultural values) regardless of the blood type running through your veins.
A ”“ Appreciate work because you can do it! Appreciate your health because it enables you to do the work of your Ho‘ohana. Appreciate others who work, because you need them as much as they need you. They make your life interesting, and worth the living of it.

Horizon Watcher

Today, on a day where “millions of Americans will celebrate Labor Day in a time-honored way ”“ by deliberately avoiding labor” let’s be grateful for work in all its form and function. Think about it: Work creates the possibility of play!

If you will be playing today, do enjoy it thoroughly. However notice it thoroughly too: If not for the work that so many do so brilliantly, providing the possibility, would you be able to enjoy what you will savor today?

We Ho‘ohana Kākou, together, and within Aloha.

For those who prefer them, here are the Talking Story links embedded in this posting:

  1. Aloha Training? Make it all personal
  2. What’s your Calling? Has it become your Ho‘ohana?
  3. I want a Labor Day about Ho‘ohana

Article originally published on Say “Alaka‘i” September 2009
Labor Day Aloha

5 Twitter Tips for Managing

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I will be brief with today’s intro: This is the 2nd of a 2-parter, and if you are newly joining me (perhaps because you’ve followed a tweet referral?) I highly recommend you take this first link below, start reading there, and come back.
[Isn’t blog linking from Twitter and blog-to-blog the grandest thing? I think so.]

Two days ago: Leadership Tuesday and 5 Twitter Tips for Leading
Today: Management Thursday and 5 Twitter Tips for Managing

For ultra-great context if you are new to my writing, you might also want to visit these posts before or after you read what follows. They will help you frame why I write of leading and managing as VERBS all managers employ for best usefulness. Title alone of the first one can be a possible extension to both my articles this week ”“ can you develop a 30/70 rhythm tweeting as a true Alaka‘i Twitter ninja?

  1. The 30-70 Rule in Leading and Managing [same post, TS link]
  2. Leadership is Why and When [same post, TS link]
  3. Management is What and How [same post, TS link]

Because I have clear definitions for management and leadership (as my Alaka‘i Language of Intention), I can measure the specific activities I associate with each one.

Here are the tips:

To make Twitter more useful to you as someone who manages:

1. Think of Twitter as a useful management tool

This first tip should be thought of as number 6 to my 5 Twitter Tips for Leading. We are shifting from idea generation to idea capture and implementation: Leading put you in collection mode. Managing helps you process what you collected.

To those who have said “I don’t have time for Twitter” I think you are partially right. None of us has time to waste on something that is a distraction versus a highly useful tool. Now that you are using Twitter for the research and development of more ideas, you have to capture those ideas and put them to good use. Fantastic news! Twitter can help you do that too.

A big advantage to Twitter is that once you consider it a management tool it’s way more fun than most work tools are. For our purposes with managing, we need to have Twitter help us channel energies which have now become available to us specifically when we have used it for more visionary progression (as we talked about in Part 1).

2. Capture. Give your new ideas context relevant to your work

In other words, figure out how you will process the stuff that Twitter now delivers to you. Design your system for capturing your ideas (Calendar? Notebook or Word doc? Excel spreadsheet? Sent to Gmail and labeled, tagged for Delicious or lifestream Tumbled?) How do you keep your project buckets organized? Capture your new Twitter ideas within your most effective productivity habits.

In Twitter itself, how do you use Favorites?

  • I use those in @rosasay to capture reading I need to finish, and ideas I have not yet processed into my personal work system using my Strong Week Plan and Weekly Review.
  • In contrast, I use the Favorites associated with my Twitter feed accounts as new follower tutorials (take a look at @talkingstory or @sayalakai and you will immediately see what I mean). I’ve tried both, and I have found that people who use the Twitter web client really prefer skimming Favorites-as-tutorials versus taking a bio link to a Twitter landing page, especially if they use your Twitter feed instead of RSS (they want a direct clink to your current blog post, and not to a Twitter landing page they have already read.)

Once you get intentional about the 5 Twitter Tips for Leading you will find that new ideas are flowing like a dam has burst somewhere in Idea Heaven, and they are coming at you like crazy. I advise you to be ruthless about purging and discarding anything which does not fit into the reasonableness of the coming week: Invoke the Pareto Principle. Things happen fast on Twitter, and you will continually get new inputs: If a current input doesn’t create a burning desire in you to act on it almost immediately, consider it clutter.

Don’t over-organize or get into analysis-paralysis: Go for simplicity and speed, and once you design your system for capture-with-context-relevance practice it consistently so you instill a new habit, for great habits put you on automatic pilot in a good way: You Are Your Habits, so Make ‘em Good!

3. Execute. Give your adaptive efforts boundaries. Tie to specificity

Number 2. should get you into a better Twitter rhythm. Now you must balance that: Know when to walk away and into the real world. Twitter isn’t going anywhere. Get your stuff done.

If you skim through the tweets on my conversational account and you will see that I use Twitter simply to play and have fun too, but I do that within the other boundaries I have set for myself there as defined by these 10 tips. My biggest self-imposed boundary is that I don’t tweet from a device like a cellphone or blackberry at all, and I will rarely tweet when I travel ”“ when I have downtime traveling I am working on the 5 Twitter Tips for Leading, and not these (as defined in those tips, I ‘read’ and will rarely ‘converse’ when I travel).

“Tie to specificity” is about finishing well: In your intentional leading with Twitter (Part 1) you set some goals. Now, within your intentional managing, you assess where you are with those goals and complete the idea-project you’d set your sights on.

This is where you also get real about just how much you can handle at any given time, handling it well or not at all. Better to completely ace one project than get mediocre results with several of them. At any given time I am only handling one goal with each of my Twitter accounts.

4. Change it up, but stick within your niche, project context or goal intention

It’s become cliché but it’s also true: Embracing change must be the new normal for managers today to succeed and survive. Well guess what; Twitter can help you with this too. Change it up there, but get the next shift for your change from how you are deciding to Lead on Twitter to begin with.

It may take you some time to get to this one, and understand how it differs from Tip number 1 in 5 Twitter Tips for Leading, “Think of Twitter as a Learning Resource and Idea Generator.” I have been on Twitter for about 18 months now, and the app is still evolving; thus my use of it does too: We change and shift together.

Some examples:
Within these tips I have focused on idea generation and capture, however you may choose to “change it up” in a number of ways. You can use Twitter for problem-solving. You can use Twitter for networking. You can use Twitter for job-hunting and mentorship. You can use Twitter for marketing, or as a Customer Feedback Loop. If you blog, you can use Twitter as a feed publisher and to build community. I am now experimenting with tweeting my book there, 140 characters at a time, and mixed in with some other value-alignment coaching (visit @MwAloha to check it out). Twitter is a tremendous resource when you travel to a place you’ve never been to before and want recommendations, or want to convert virtual connections into those invaluable face to face ones.

5. Follow others who walk in your shoes. Ask good questions. Give as well as you receive, and give more

Similar to blogs, gaining success on Twitter demands an abundance mentality: I love the way that competitiveness can melt away there because competitors become your “tweeple.” The web-based sense of place everyone shares is so vast we quickly come to realize there is enough business for everyone, and “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Follow wisely, and over time you will find you have built a very like-minded community of managers who will probably have challenges and opportunities similar to yours. These tips have been progressive: You now share recommendations and networks with your Twitter neighborhoods and communities — and you share day-to-day workplace and market experiences. This is the pay-off you have been working toward, for now you can ask good questions and receive an abundance of helpful, highly relevant answers. I really would love to see more hard-working managers on Twitter who are asking questions like these:

  • “I am looking for a great staff meeting exercise with elements of play conducive to creativity: Any ideas?”
  • “I have a new employee who is extremely talented, well-qualified, but struggling with a language barrier. How can I help him?”
  • “I’ve no choice but to lay-off an exceptional customer-service agent, and she is a star! Dm me if you are looking for someone, and let’s talk.”

I tweet because it gives me access to people and information that I wouldn’t normally have access to through other channels of communication” I tweet because it’s a great place to get questions answered and research information in REAL TIME.
—Tim Milburn, Why Do I Tweet?

I really believe we’ve just skimmed the surface with how Twitter, and other web-based apps like it, will help our communications evolve. Hang on for the ride, for I think it will continue to be pretty great.

As you tweet, say thank you as much as you can, and mean it, because Twitter has now become a management tool for you in practice and not just theory.

That makes 10: 5 Tips for Leading, 5 Tips for Managing

These two posts have talked you through the 10 Tips with being an Alaka‘i Twitter ninja. Let’s look at them one more time in a short form you can jot down on an index card kept close until they become habit:

5 Twitter Tips for Leading (Your Twitter SELF-LEADERSHIP)

1. Use Twitter for IDEA generation and to LEARN
2. Get specific to create a FERTILE Twitter ENVIRONMENT
3. Always LEAD as you READ and CONVERSE
4. Follow on Twitter to GOAL-FILTER
5. Capitalize on Twitter VISIBILITY. Lead with your VALUES

5 Twitter Tips for Managing (Your Twitter SELF-MANAGEMENT)

6. Use Twitter as a management TOOL
7. CAPTURE the best ideas and make them RELEVANT to your work
8. CHANGE IT UP to optimize, and stay fresh
9. Know when to walk away from Twitter to GET STUFF DONE
10. Network with other managers. BE MORE OF WHO YOU ARE

Now what?

Get these 10 Tips to work for you, and like so many others (including me) you will think of Twitter this way: “Twitter is an opportunity for you to lead in a way that was not possible until now.”

I will end with a link to a terrific (and short!) post done by Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Here’s a snippet:

“You and I both know that people today crave leadership. They are dying for role models. They want to see what good leadership looks like—as it is lived out in the challenges of everyday life.”

“If you are living your life on-purpose, like I know you are, then by Twittering, you are modeling something worth emulating. This is unquestionably the most powerful way to lead.”

Let’s talk story.
Any thoughts to share?

For those who prefer them, here are the Talking Story copies of the links embedded in the beginning of this posting with a great 5th on habits. Visit the Archive Page for more:

Article originally published on Say “Alaka‘i” August 2009
5 Twitter Tips for Managing