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Steven Pressfield’s Writing Wednesdays prompt for today has really got me thinking. I am asking myself “What would I write today, if I only wrote what I’d love to read?”
So, what do I love to read? What is sitting on my desk right now and on my bookshelves?
Last week I just swapped out several cases of books from my home office to the basement and currently have no stacks on the floor. But, I think the numbers are valid, there just might have been an extra 50-75 books total.
If I take out the landscape design / architecture and programming / web design books, since these are mainly reference books, it is easy to see what I like to read.
What I like to read is what I write about at The Dreaming Café.
But, what am I not writing about within this context? What am I holding back because I fear it might not be acceptable, commercial or meet the expectations of my readers?
Those are the questions of the day. I am still pondering the answers…or am I just afraid to publish them? Hmmm, the questions never end.
Book Review: Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
(affiliate link) by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
“Trust Agents” came out several months ago and I admit I was curious, but I hate following the crowd and “Trust Agents” generated quite a crowd following.
When this book came out I had only been online and on Twitter for a less than a year and I was still figuring things out and learning who the ‘players’ were.
I began to follow Chris Brogan and read his blog. I liked him. His thoughts were insightful and sincere. He never came across as preachy or as a know it all. He didn’t talk about people like they were fish to be caught or sheep to be fleeced. When he talked about business or blogging he did it from a very humble, honest standpoint.
I didn’t know Julien Smith, the coauthor of “Trust Agents” and it took me awhile to find him. I now follow him and I am finding him a quirky, super-smart, insightful blogger.
Last week I was in my local Barnes & Noble perusing the stacks and saw “Trust Agents’ on the shelf. “What the heck!” I thought, “I’ll see what all the fuss is about.”
Thirty minutes later with a now cold coffee I checked out. I was hooked. The book was so exceptionally well written and compelling I couldn’t put it down.
After arriving home I started at the beginning. (When I read books in the bookstore I usually open them randomly and begin to read.)
I devoured the book, reading it in one session.
Chris and Julien do an outstanding job of tackling a very delicate subject, the subject in their subtitle “using the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust”.
“Trust Agents” has all three elements of my favorite non-fiction book. It shares interesting and useful information, shares the author’s own story in a compelling manner and tells stories of other people that support the points being made throughout the book.
They book is laid out simply and is built around “The Six Characteristics of Trust Agents”.
1. Make Your Own Game
2. One of Us
3. The Archimedes Effect
4. Agent Zero
5. Human Artist
6. Build an Army
Let me share a few quotes I copied down while reading to illustrate how much I got out of this book in one cover-to-cover reading session:
“Making your own game is about standing out.”
This statement struck a real chord in me because I watch so many people (myself included sometimes) not wanting to draw attention themselves, fearful of the world and it’s attention. But, if you want to succeed, if you want to make an impact and make a difference you have to stand out. And, the best way to stand out is to make your own game.
“That’s the advantage of the Web: we don’t need to make another team lose to win ourselves.”
I hate the feeling that to win I have to make someone else lose. I admit, I feel bad for the losers. But, this statement made me sit up and take notice and recognize the truth in the words. It is helping me look at the world and my business in a whole new way.
“…sell products and services that empower and equip people to do something for themselves such that they are grateful they gave you money in exchange for resources.”
This statement resonated with me for two reasons.
First, it aligns with the purpose of The Dreaming Café to inspire and inform people so that they can take the steps needed to begin or continue their creative journey to self-discovery. I liked the energy of the words “empower and equip”. That is what I want to do.
The second reason, although I have thought about it when I give money in exchange for a product or service, I never thought to apply “being grateful”to receiving money for a product or a service.
I have paid for books, workshops and seminars that have helped change my life. I am grateful that the person I was paying had decided to share and teach what they knew. Even for small things I am happy and grateful to pay. I was overjoyed to pay three young men a few weeks ago move the final 10’ x 20’ section of snow at the bottom of my driveway.
I recognize that I have products and services of value to offer. Now it is time to apply this same thought process to receiving money as I have for giving money and“that people will be grateful to give me money in exchange for my products and services”.
These are just three statements that came out of my first reading of “Trust Agents”. Like I said, I read it fast and furiously. I loved it. I now need to read it again, slowly, savoring each and every word.
Overall this book is one of the best that I have seen that details the etiquette and responsibility of creating and maintaining relationships, online and off.
I give “Trust Agents” a FIVE STAR rating. It is a book that belongs in everyone’s personal book collection.
Have you read “Trust Agents”? If so, What were some of your takeaways?
Amazon Kindle Review – An Overlooked Benefit
I have had my Kindle for almost two years and I still use it. I actually used it last night and bought three new books and finished reading one of them.
The three big benefits I always share with people are:
1. It is great for traveling. It is like having a small library in my pocket. No more trying to decide what to take with me to read on vacation or paying for overweight luggage.
2. Ease of shopping. I can search for books by keyword or by subject. And, of course Amazon always has a list of recommendations for me to peruse. With a single click I can download a few sample chapters or buy a book.
3. Easy on the eyes. The technology is based on liquid paper and there is no backlight like there is on a computer screen. The text is easy to read and very similar to reading the text in a real book. But, there is one advantage over a real book, when my eyes are tired I can just change the font size and make in bigger.
These are great benefits and I have a lot of fun with my Kindle, both at home and while traveling.
Last night I used my Kindle for the first time in about two months. I shopped and I read and I realized something. I recognized a huge benefit that I have taken advantage of and one I have not heard anyone mention before.
That benefit is anonymity. Meaning that you can you read whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want without anyone else knowing what you are reading or why.
This is an incredible benefit if you are on a path of self-discovery, personal growth and/or inner healing.
I recognized last night that many of the books I have read on my Kindle are books I may not have purchased at a bookstore or felt comfortable reading in front of anyone else. My Kindle gave me the opportunity to read and explore privately, to go deeper and begin the inner work I needed to do so that I could heal and move forward.
The benefit of the Amazon Kindle used as a therapeutic tool for people working on their own, with a therapist, or recovery group is tremendous.
Most of us have some inner work to do before we can move forward, go after the life we were born to live and to live healthy, loving, fulfilled lives. We need to heal, forgive, and let go of dependencies on people, relationships, drugs, alcohol, or food. This inner work is best done privately, and/or with a trained professional. And, reading books is a part of this process for me and for many others.
Reading and exploring books on personal growth, family of origin and inner child work, co-dependency, depression, anxiety, and addictions are topics you may want to explore privately, without judgment and without fear of rejection or ridicule. Amazon’s Kindle gives you this opportunity.
There are also times when we begin to grow beyond our old beliefs and habits and want to reach out and explore new ideas and concepts. Oftentimes these interests are too new to share with others. This could mean reading and exploring books about changing careers, discovering and going after your dreams, spiritual and religious books, health and diet or just about any other subject you want to explore privately.
The Amazon Kindle could be the answer many people seek and the key first step in the creative journey to self-discovery, healing and dream building.
Related posts:
Five First Steps
Get your Amazon Kindle Now (affiliate link)…
Entrepreneurship / Self-Employment / Business Life
Creativity / Writing / Art
Blogging / Social Media / Marketing and Money & Finances
Personal Growth / Self-Help and Health / Nutrition / Diet / Fitness
Memoir / Biography / Autobiography
What’s on your wish list? Leave a reply.
I can never have too many books on my list.
Looking for gifts for your family and friends? Books make the perfect gift.
Here are a few of my top picks from 2009. Not all of them where published this year, but I read them all at least once in 2009 and reviewed them here at The Dreaming Cafe. You find a list of all of these book reviews and more HERE.
Creative Entrepreneurship:
Inspiration:
Personal Growth:
Creativity:
Disclosure: All book links are affiliate links for Amazon.com
Books come to me in two ways, either through a recommendation or by ‘finding’ it. I often will find books that call to me when scanning the bookshelves in a bookstore or just looking around online. Sometimes I read these books right away and they are the right book at the right time. enLightened by Jessica Berger Gross was one such book. I wasn’t looking for it, but it called to me and it shared a message I needed to hear.
At other times, a book will call to me, and it is the right book, but the wrong time. Bill Strickland’s, “Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary”,
written with Vince Rause was one of those books.
I bought it almost two years ago. I tried reading it, but could never get past the first few pages. Then a few months later at a workshop in Las Vegas Barbara Winter raved about it and I tried reading it again. Every time she would write about it over the next year and half I would try to read it again, but could never get past the first chapter. At the time I didn’t know why.
Yesterday I took the day ‘off’. I didn’t log on to my computer, I just relaxed and read. And, the book I read was Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary.
I know now why I never finished it before. If I had read it when I bought it, its’ message would not have reached me. I wasn’t ready to hear it or accept it then. Yesterday I was. It was the right book at the right time.
It is a book full of hope. Bill’s story and the stories of the people’s lives he has touched and changed moved me to tears on more than one occasion. His words reached right inside of me and tore open my heart.
I have had some doubts lately about my BIG dream, a dream I only verbalized a few weeks ago. All the old questions come up, the same ones a lot of people hear, “Who do I think I am? Who am I to think I can build something like this?”
But, we all have in us the ability to dream and to build the dream that is unique to us.
That belief, that hope, is settling into my heart and soul. I am still scared and still have no idea how I can actually do this, but I have faith. I just have to keep taking the small steps and continue moving forward.
Here are a few of the quotes I wrote down from the book…
“…my restless quest to live a life that mattered had forced me to mine a lifetime of emotional experience, make sense of it, draw a vision from it, then find the knowledge, skill, partnerships, and perseverance I needed to make that vision real. It’s something everyone who as a passion for living does”
“I just followed the lead of the things that inspired me, and learned what I needed to know from the bottom up, from the inside out, on an as-needed basis, as the survival of the dream required.”
“I’m often approached my idealistic young people on fire to do good for others, all hungry to save the world. I tell them the first step is save yourself. Make sure you own life is lined up right, that you know what is important to you and why it matters before you set out to make your mark on the world.”
“…that life is simple and if you line your life up right – with your values, dreams, skills and passions all pointing in the same direction – anything you hope for, whatever you wish, can come true.”
This isn’t a book that promises dreams come true without hard work and setbacks. It doesn’t make claims of material wealth if you follow your passions. What it does promise is a successful, fulfilling life, if you build your dreams around your passions, values and beliefs.
“Make the Impossible Possible” also meets all three of the criteria I use to evaluate a non-fiction book.
1. It tells the authors own story in an engaging and authentic way.
2. It shares other people’s stories.
3. It is inspirational and/or informative.
I will have to rate this book as one of my top three for the year. Buy it for yourself, your children, your family and your friends. It is a story and a message that needs to be heard.
Disclosure: All book links are affiliate links for Amazon.com
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