Start with Why

We have book club at work.  Once a quarter all the directors in our market are handed a new book focused on leadership development.  This quarter was the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek.  I'll admit, it is really annoying to get assigned a required book in addition to an already overwhelming workload.  I hardly have time to read things I want to read- heck, I hardly have time to read all my emails.  I'll procrastinate, forget, whine, and then eventually read the book.  Then it always turns out to be completely worth it in the end (and so I'll hand them over to my interns to further burden yet enlighten them).   The amazing thing about good books are that they make you want to fly- they use words in ways you forgot was possible for the human language to do.  We flounder around in the same basic phrases and idioms day in and day out.  But when a truly gifted writer gets his or her words on paper and portrays new and edgy ideas, I just get carried away in them.

Especially with these books.  I've not had much experience in the work world or in a leadership role.  So, it's  an entirely new cup of tea for me.   I've honestly had my mind changed and opened to so many new concepts from these books.  Not only for my career, but also for my pottery.

So, Start with Why is all about getting back to the basic reason of why you do what you do.  Here is what I took away on my notepad from our book club discussion:

Why do you do what you do?  If you are clear, you can better accomplish your mission. You don't have do exactly what the plan was- you can keep pursing the why as your situation evolves.  Once you know your why (happiness, education, bettering humanity, humor, money, power, security, people, etc.) you can then figure out your how- which determines your what.

So, I asked myself, what is my why for being a potter?  Here's what I came up with:

To connect people to something real.  This world is full of fake, artificial, reproduced, and made in China.  Pottery gives people the opportunity to bring items into their home specially created through passion, love and artistic talent.  A handmade pot's reason for being the world is to be treasured.  To be beautiful.  

My why is to make this connection of real and beautiful to people through educating and creating. 

I also wrote out hows and what's for my pottery but most of that is covered in other entries and pages of this blog.  I loved that this book so strongly advocated the importance of being true to your reason for being.  So often, we are not.  We get lost in the world of lets do it the ways its always been done, he said so so let's just do it, the competition is doing it so we should too, and so on and so forth.  Knowing why you are who and what you are gives you the freedom to drive.  The freedom to know how to choose your next step.  I loved the book.

On a side note, I watched Limitless last night.  I was 100% enthralled.  Here are three tidbits I took away from it...

• Never assume you are smarter than everyone else.
• It is human nature to overreach.  We are our own nemesis.
• Your words make or break you.  Talk eloquently and a good bit when the time is right.

Ok, so go read the book and rent the movie.  It will make for a productive, fun filled weekend :).