This weekend, the kids, husband and I headed north to Vermont for a little R&R. As I was packing for our trip, I grabbed “Rework” by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson off the bookshelf. This turned out to be a good idea. A very good idea.
The drive was approximately three hours and I was able to read the entire book in the three hour drive finishing in about an hour after the drive. While I was reading the book, I wrote two pages of notes which consist mostly of questions I want to dive more deeply into over the next several days. {I love books that give me ‘homework’.} So although the book was a quick read, I will be thinking about all of the points and working on answering the questions for much longer.
The book was written in conversational tone filled with common sense (meetings suck, stand for something, workaholism doesn’t work, and so forth), but still communicated in such straight-to-the-point way that this time, the good advice might actually stick.
What was different about this business book was how it challenges all other business books. Melissa Coleman, who works with us here as a designer part-time, said it best, “I appreciated the way it challenged typical business practices. I’m not business minded, but this book made perfect sense to me.” And another graphic designer, our good friend Gary Holmes of Gariphic, added this comment to our conversation, “One of my all-time fave business books. Many pages bookmarked.”
I’ve owned my own company Elements for over 14 years now, and when I read this book I felt re-energized. This is a motivational book that lights a fire under you to make you want to run, not walk, towards getting stuff done. There is an immediacy to it, a sense of urgency, running through every page urging you on to do the thing you were meant to do. Now. Today. Don’t wait! Even how it is written – to be digested quickly – I’m sure was intentional by its authors so that we may move onto the actual act of doing.
The overall message of Rework is to not get caught up in minute details or plans or policies or meetings that don’t move you forward today. There is a faster way to do things, and people need to see progress – repeated quick successes – to stay motivated and advancing. This is, after all, our life’s work. We don’t have forever to create our legacy.
I am looking forward to answering all the questions this book made me want to think about and taking the energy and urgency of its message to surge ahead. If you need a kick-in-the-pants to get that business idea going or re-invigorate your current work, this book will do just that.
And with that, let’s get started!
~Amy
{image: amy graver}
