Book Review - Work Like You're Showing Off! by Joe Calloway
Category Book Review
I admire people who do their jobs with flair and class, and who appear to be having a great time in the process. Joe Calloway talks about those people and the underlying traits involved in the book Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today. It's the type of book that you should be reading a chapter from every day...
Contents: Showing Off; Grand Stupidity and Absurd Bravery; All Hat and No Cattle; Let It Go; The Gold Standard; Get in the Damn Boat and Go; As Good as You're Going to Be; We See Things as We Are; Stupid Promises; Let's Be Too Much; Imagination Will Take You Everywhere; Get Back Inside the Box; Expect to Connect; Going All In; Joe and Muhammad; We Haven't Seen That; The Pursuit of Happiness; The Enemy of Future Success; What You Think of Me Is None of My Business; Whatever Happens Is Normal; Guess What I Want and Other Stupid Mind Games; I Said I Don't Know; The Golden Circle of Ignorance; What Have You Done For Me Next?; The Power Strategy; Your Next Best Idea Is Everywhere; What Matters Most
At 27 small chapters, you could easily work through this book once a month, with a few days left over to plan and contemplate the upcoming month. What a deal!
Much of what Calloway writes about is becoming completely sold out to whatever you're doing. Learn as much as you can, decide you're going to be good at it, and then act. Many of the people I look up to in my personal and professional life are like that. It's as if they do their work and "show off" in the process. They bring their best to the table and use every bit of it without hesitation. When you think of "showing off" in that sense, you realize that it's not the negative that everyone normally connects with the phrase. It's the type of person I want to be when I show up each day.
I especially enjoyed the writing style the book. Calloway doesn't pull punches and doesn't apologize for anything. I especially liked the chapter titled Whatever Happens Is Normal. Don't be surprised when your flight is delayed by snow in Chicago in January. That's what happens in Chicago in January! Instead, take a step back and alter your expectations. Maybe you can explore some shops in the airport, get caught up on some reading, or just be amused by all the other stressed out people. Yelling and screaming at the ticket agent isn't going to change the weather or alter your situation. If you learn to accept your situation as "normal", you can get past the emotions and experience something new and different...
This is one of those books that will likely contain one or more ideas that will resonate and change your way of thinking about life. It definitely did with me, and I plan on carving out the two to five minutes each day to reinforce the material here. I think I'll be a much better person for doing so.
I admire people who do their jobs with flair and class, and who appear to be having a great time in the process. Joe Calloway talks about those people and the underlying traits involved in the book Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today. It's the type of book that you should be reading a chapter from every day...
Contents: Showing Off; Grand Stupidity and Absurd Bravery; All Hat and No Cattle; Let It Go; The Gold Standard; Get in the Damn Boat and Go; As Good as You're Going to Be; We See Things as We Are; Stupid Promises; Let's Be Too Much; Imagination Will Take You Everywhere; Get Back Inside the Box; Expect to Connect; Going All In; Joe and Muhammad; We Haven't Seen That; The Pursuit of Happiness; The Enemy of Future Success; What You Think of Me Is None of My Business; Whatever Happens Is Normal; Guess What I Want and Other Stupid Mind Games; I Said I Don't Know; The Golden Circle of Ignorance; What Have You Done For Me Next?; The Power Strategy; Your Next Best Idea Is Everywhere; What Matters Most
At 27 small chapters, you could easily work through this book once a month, with a few days left over to plan and contemplate the upcoming month. What a deal!
Much of what Calloway writes about is becoming completely sold out to whatever you're doing. Learn as much as you can, decide you're going to be good at it, and then act. Many of the people I look up to in my personal and professional life are like that. It's as if they do their work and "show off" in the process. They bring their best to the table and use every bit of it without hesitation. When you think of "showing off" in that sense, you realize that it's not the negative that everyone normally connects with the phrase. It's the type of person I want to be when I show up each day.
I especially enjoyed the writing style the book. Calloway doesn't pull punches and doesn't apologize for anything. I especially liked the chapter titled Whatever Happens Is Normal. Don't be surprised when your flight is delayed by snow in Chicago in January. That's what happens in Chicago in January! Instead, take a step back and alter your expectations. Maybe you can explore some shops in the airport, get caught up on some reading, or just be amused by all the other stressed out people. Yelling and screaming at the ticket agent isn't going to change the weather or alter your situation. If you learn to accept your situation as "normal", you can get past the emotions and experience something new and different...
This is one of those books that will likely contain one or more ideas that will resonate and change your way of thinking about life. It definitely did with me, and I plan on carving out the two to five minutes each day to reinforce the material here. I think I'll be a much better person for doing so.
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