An Excerpt from Seth Godin's New Book "Linchpin"

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THIS TIME IT’S PERSONAL

The system we grew up with is a mess. It’s falling apart at the

seams and a lot of people are in pain because the things we thought

would work, don’t. Every day I meet people who have so much to

give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it

back. They’ve become victims, pawns in a senseless system that uses

them up and undervalues them.

This is a personal manifesto, a plea from me to you. Right now,

I’m not focused on the external, on the tactics organizations use to

make great products or spread important ideas. This book is

different. It’s about a choice and it’s about your life. This choice

doesn’t require you to quit your job, though it challenges you to

rethink how you do your job.

It’s time to stop complying with the system and draw your own

map.

Stop settling for what’s good enough and start creating art that

matters. Stop asking what’s in it for you and start giving gifts that

change people. Then, and only then, will you have achieved your

potential.

For hundreds of years, the population has been seduced,

scammed and brainwashed into fitting in, following instructions

and exchanging a day’s work for a day’s pay. That era has come to an

end, and just in time.

You have brilliance in you, your contribution is valuable, and the

art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must. I’m

hoping you’ll stand up and choose to make a difference.

YOU ARE A GENIUS

If a genius is someone with exceptional abilities and the insight

to find the nonobvious solution to a problem, you don’t need to win

a Nobel Prize to be one. A genius looks at something that others are

stuck on and gets the world unstuck.

So, the question is: Have you ever done that?

Have you ever found a shortcut that others couldn’t find?

Solved a problem that confounded your family?

Seen a way to make something work that wasn’t working before?

Made a personal connection with someone who was out of reach

to everyone else?

Even once?

No one is a genius all the time. Einstein had trouble finding his

house when he walked home from work every day. But all of us are

geniuses sometimes.

The tragedy is that society (your school, your boss, your

government, your family) keeps drumming the genius part out.

The problem is that our culture has engaged in a Faustian bargain,

in which we trade our genius and artistry for stability.

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Buy Linchpin on Amazon.com: http://bit.ly/8QtPRe (an affiliate link)

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Posted via email from The Vlad Hrouda Lifestream