How to Retire in 12 Months

At the end of last year we unveiled my little brother’s headstone, and the whole process left me feeling sad again for a few weeks. I am learning that grief is different for everyone, and for me the biggest area I suffer is in productivity and creativity.

Late one night after three weeks of moping I lucked upon an interview with Seth Godin on his book Linchpin: Are you indispensable?

One thing he said was “if you are a writer, then your job is to write. Writers block is not an option.”

This rang true for me and at that moment I decided that Linchpin would be the first book I purchased on my shiny new Christmas Kindle.

The premise of “Linchpin: Are you indispensable?” is that you (and everyone else) have the opportunity to be an artist in the work that you do, that you have an opportunity to go above and beyond the status quo and in doing so become indispensable to your team/boss/community etc.

If you have been a client of mine or read my book you will know that I harp on about ‘giving value”… a lot. But the concept of “giving your art” by comparison is beautifully poetic, because you can get so much fulfilment and joy in giving it in the first place. It is a part of you.

Seth talks about the modern factory worker, the drones who suit up to churn out systemised outputs from companies streamlining profit margins and competing in price wars.

But what really struck home for me was the delve into concepts like your “lizard brain” (which dictates your natural fight or flight process) and the resistance that it brings to things that it perceives could put you at risk.

The resistance will be familiar to you, it makes up the feelings that sabotage your efforts when you put yourself out there or take on an exciting challenge. While the concept is not new I believe that it’s important to be on the lookout out for these blockages when working to reach your goals.

Through the weeks in which I was devouring this book I started to notice my own resistance again and be re-inspired in creating my own art, which is shaping up in the form of our project with World Vision.

Grief stage over, back to the art…

Thanks Seth, I owe you one.

P.S. To top off my awesome Seth Godin experience I wrote a wee thank you email to the man himself and to my surprise he replied personally and personably. How cool is that?!

P.P.S. I have tried to find the video for you, but I haven’t been able to. I guess it was some sort of divine intervention when I found it the first time.

P.P.P.S I get a commission if you buy the book from any of the links on this page so thanks if you do!

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? is available in all good book stores or click the book for Amazon and Kindle.

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