In the last week I haven’t made all that much progress through this book. I have been picking it up when going to bed and reading what I can until I am too tired to concentrate and think about what it is that I’ve read. None the less, what I have read has given me a few things to ponder. These thought-provoking phrases or paragraphs are quite often things that I want to come back to at a later time. Luckily I have a few tricks that I picked up in my university days that serve me well for this purpose.

When reading any educational type books, I love to get out my sticky notes and something to write with. This book has been no exception.  I have post it notes with questions of things to look up, quotes that I loved and want to go back to and have underlined pertinent points and written comments in the margins. Folks who know me also won’t be shocked to hear that my sticky notes are color coded and I keep a legend in the front of the book for what each colour means. This is by no means necessary but it creates an order that my mind craves so I do it.

All week there has been one big & bold statement from this book that has really making me look at things in a different perspective:

You’re not chasing the goal itself – you’re chasing the feelings that you hope attaining those goals will give you.

Even in my day-to-day routine at work I have stopped and thought about this. Why am I hustling here? What is it that I am wanting to achieve other than just a job well done? What feelings am I hoping to obtain? How does this usually make me feel?

It’s interesting to stop and think about these things instead of solely focusing on getting the job done efficiently and effectively. I figure that this could go one of two ways, it can either give you more drive to attain those feelings or it may disengage you, realizing that aren’t getting anything out of this other than a pay cheque. Luckily for me it is the former and I have a new spark when it comes to the repetitive and sometimes semi-mundane tasks that are part of my job. The contrast between the less exciting tasks and the unusual but relatively frequent thrills of my job are what get me out of bed in the morning. I am chasing the rush, the thirst for knowledge and entertainment of the human nature. Boy, that makes me sound a bit twisted!

Getting back on track, I haven’t gotten that far along yet but I am finding value in what little I have read. I am looking forward to continuing on this journey and to see what else sticks out to me. I am sure that you will hear more from me on this topic soon.

In the meantime, have yourselves the loveliest of a day.