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Books, and more importantly, full bookshelves used to be a sign of wealth.

If you could own a personal library, then you were influential, a connector. You were the bridge between “others” and “people like you.” Personal libraries created gatekeepers of information.

However, as industrial work shifted and the digital age (paired with the connection economy) developed, personal libraries shrunk. They no longer provided the benefits they once had.

You don’t visit a friend to read in her study. Knowledge is now determined by your level of experience and leadership, not access to information. The connection economy did away with gatekeepers; now we can connect and learn from someone willing to share their secrets from around the world without having to put shoes on.

Now, personal libraries (or bookshelves in most cases) emit an air of selfishness and egoism that many attempt to rationalize in ways, such as, “I have fond memories of the book” or “Maybe I’ll read it again” or “It reminds of a significant lesson about life or work.”

Although, if so significant, do you need the book to remember it. And, pulling from the atmosphere of selfishness, must you hold onto the book and prevent another from learning and utilizing the same lesson(s) you have?

And, that drives the point of why any author writes: to create change.

Historically, yes, it was to make money, but just as musicians make the majority of their money from shows and not CDs, so does the author who speaks about the book she has written.

So what to do in an age where retaining binded-copies-of-paper-with-words-in-them’s significance has diminished? Either rent from a library or a my free little library and put it back when you’re done or once you’re finished with a book, pass it on.

There’s no grand benefit to a book collection. All you’re doing is preventing another from experiencing what the author intended for one to experience, and in the long run, for the world to be a fuller, more connected and better understood place.

 

Stay Positive & Bookcases Aren’t For Books Anymore

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It’s incredible how a relationship can shift for the better when you show up without a request every once and awhile.

There’s nothing you need. No wish-for. Just a sincere visit.

We all want to feel needed, but there’s a limit.

 

Stay Positive & Connect

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You often review messages for spelling mistakes before you hit send, but an email without grammatical errors isn’t enough.

More than proofing copy, consider analyzing how the message will make the recipient feel and shift how you say something to get the emotional response you want.

What you’ll discover is that it’s difficult to miss a letter or comma when you’re writing from your heart, making an emotional connection, and writing to evoke a positive response. (And even if you do, it matters a lot less.)

 

Stay Positive & Rewrite On

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It’s rare when the majority of monkeys on your back are ones you placed there yourself.

More often, it’s someone else’s monkey.

“Can you provide feedback on this?”

“Here’s the report, will you pass it on?”

“Invites can’t go out until you select a date. Can you do that?”

The smartest of managers recognize that there is a threshold where one can no longer handle the number of monkeys on one’s back. The beauty of this is that you can count them and have a general idea of the number of monkeys you can handle.

Knowing your limit helps you better assess when to take on another monkey or when you need to focus on putting them back on someone else’s back.

 

Stay Positive & Manage Yourself

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Neither of you are right, either.

When it comes to the stories we tell about the actions we take, all that matters is if we are understood, not if we are right or wrong.

 

Stay Positive & Am I Right?

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There’s not much more empowering than understanding that you’re free to change.

To change your mind or the way you work. To change your worldview or the way you interact with your significant other. To change the groups you devote your time to. To change something that’s been done one way as long as you can remember.

Most change is for the better, whether we realize it right away or not.

 

Stay Positive & Always Change, Always Improve

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90% of what can be learned can be learned by watching, reading and thinking.

The remaining 10% can only be learned by doing. By making the mistakes yourself. By pushing boundaries.

Of course, the percentages aren’t accurate, but the point remains: You’re gonna have to fail to learn 100% of what you need to learn to be successful in your trade.
Stay Positive & Might As Well Fail Early And Fail Often

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