Book 10 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title - Volume is the key

Book - Originals: How Non Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

Book Description - Most major breakthroughs in our world are made by a handful of people who dare to think differently. Adam Grant calls them the “Originals”. Using various real-life stories and examples of how Originals succeed and fail, Grant shows that creativity can be nurtured. He explains how each of us can think originally and improve our chances of innovating successfully, to make a greater impact

Reflection: I love Adam Grant and I'm not afraid to say it! He is one of my favorite authors,

thinkers, and humans. There is something about the way that he sees the world that makes me want to be a better human myself. He is infinitely curious, asks a ton of questions, and is always open to challenge his assumptions to think differently. That is how I try to live my life as well and his writings, thoughts, podcasts, and work are inspirational to me to keep me on that path.

In Originals in particular, one of the big A-Ha's I had in my own life was around something that Adam briefly, and probably unintentionally touched on, in his look at some incredibly unique people in this world and how their stories came to be. In one section of the book, Adam casually points out that maybe one of the key's to becoming a success at anything may be just a sheer volume and numbers game. I was struck hard by this notion and couldn't stop thinking about all these crazy famous creators and brands out there Beethoven, Picasso, Tiger Woods, Stephen King, Apple, Amazon, etc. We like to think of these people and these companies as shiny pillars of success and that they had some secret that none of us else can understand. When you pull back the curtain, you see that all of these "originals" were simply PROLIFIC in what they produced and created. Some of it worked, most of it didn't. The key was always volume!

I remember seeing a Linkedin post shared recently of a cartoonist named Drew Dernavich that was of a picture of a pile of 1,000+ pieces of paper stacked up that said "No" right next to a tiny pile of paper of like 50 pieces that said "Yes" signifying how many cartoon rejects he gets vs what is accepted. People probably think he is a cartoon genius and an original, I would argue that he just does a lot. I don't say this to diminish the brilliance of any of these people's work, as they are originals and incredibly talented.

I think that we can all be originals though if we figure out what we love to do and then do it a lot. That's the key, just keep producing and doing stuff you love to do and something will eventually stick and the whole world will take notice and think it came out of the blue, but we all know the truth.

Question: What do you love doing so much that you never get tired of doing it?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction YOML Podcast Discussion - Originals

YOML Bookstore - Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant