A reaction to POKE THE BOX by Seth Godin

So I just read POKE THE BOX by Seth Godin, which has been released through his new partnership with Amazon, The Domino Project.

Now, I must admit, before I launch into my rather verbose reaction to this book, I didn’t buy PTB when it was first published–even at it’s very accessible introductory price (.99). Why? Because I am not a big fan of motivational or self-help books. I generally find such books a slog to get through, and it always seems that I already know (even if I don’t practice every day) their fundamental principals. However, when I received an email yesterday via The Domino Project about Steven Pressfield’s new book, DO THE WORK, I was intrigued enough to click through and read more. First of all, this book has a corporate sponsor (GE), which is completely brilliant. And second Mr. Pressfield wrote THE WAR OF ART, which occupies a spot among all my “creative” and writing books, possibly right next to Syd Field. The thing is, this book was a gift, a birthday gift from a beloved cousin, who has since chosen to leave his mortal coil, and, I must further admit, I have never read it. So I signed up to get a free copy of DTW and vowed to read AofW beforehand.

Then I started to feel a little guilty that I hadn’t supported The Domino Project further when I completely believe in its principals–so I downloaded POKE THE BOX.

And then I read it.

As I was reading, I kept coming across underlined passages. This was my first time reading with the Kindle App and I had not turned off the “others have highlighted this” option. Then, out of the blue, I too felt like noting down a section. So out came a blue post it note (hence the picture with this post), because I thought it might be a good exercise if I took the time to answer this question Seth had posed–the one that had captured my attention enough that I actually scrawled it across a sticky note.

Then I made more notes and more notes.

Next thing I knew, I was thinking about the book–thinking about my reaction. Thinking about how it felt like it was time to wake up, it was time to step forward; it was time to stop listening to that voice–the one inside my head that had been undermining me for such a long time. And it was time to stop listening to the voices around me, at least the echoes of voices around me, that I had been listening to, that I had been giving so much power.

I realized I have been hiding. I have been waiting. And that it was time to move.

So, I decided to share my reaction to POKE THE BOX.

Then I decided to self-publish some of my writing, because I am tired of waiting to be handed the opportunity to have people read my work–just read it, and hopefully react. I’ve got stories to tell. I’ve written a lot of them down. I’ve even filmed some of them, but I’ve always waited–for film festivals, for broadcasters, for agents and now for publishers.

And you know what? I hate line-ups. Almost nothing is worth the time lining up takes–especially when you can order it online. So let’s do that.
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Upcoming POKE THE BOX posts (not necessarily in this order, as the 1st topic, aka sticky note, is the most daunting):

• If you had a chance to do a TED talk, what would it be about?
• You haven’t poked the box if the box doesn’t realize it’s been poked.
• The challenge is to focus on the work, not on the fear that comes from doing the work.
• Hollerado
• Part of initiating is being willing to discover that what you end up with is different from what you set out to accomplish.
• If you could build anything (and you can) what would you build?
• If you can’t fail, it doesn’t count. &  When was the last time you set out to be promiscuous in your failure?
• Don’t speak up. If you see something, don’t say anything. & Speaking up is not safe. People might get offended.
• “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way, and not starting.” – Siddhartha Gautama via POKE THE BOX