I feel like I have been hearing about Seth Godin for years. I even feel like I have read some of his books, although I am not sure why that is, because I never have. Maybe it’s because I have heard him talk about his books and I would always think: That sounds really interesting. I ought to pick that up, or at least add it to my amazon wish list. So, I would make a mental note to do that. I would think about picking his books up. I would make a decision that I should pick up his books, but I never would. In Godin’s own words, I failed to “poke the box.”

As it turns out, there’s a lot of people like me, not poking the box. We think, we plan, we idealize. We may even fund or support others in poking the box, yet we don’t do it.

What is Seth talking about? Starting.

Starting what? Just starting. Anything.

In Poke the Box, Godin’s latest effort, poking the box could be starting that diet. That closet reorganization. A new process you are certain will make things better at work. And instead of waiting for approval, or all the lights to be green, or the perfect day for closet organizing to come along. You. Just. Start.

And sometimes a start will follow by a swift stop. But that’s okay. Keep starting, Godin implores (yes, implores. He’s pretty passionate about this box poking thing). And, while Poke the Box focuses on more business applications, you can poke the box, anywhere, in any environment. That’s the beauty of it.

It’s the idea that many starts will result in a stop, but we must keep at it. We must keep poking the box. The act of starting is the accomplishment that will ultimately (when done time and time again) result in success. And when you keep doing it, your success rate will increase.

Imagine that?

Sounds pretty novel, right? And yet, this idea of starting–or I should say action of starting–isn’t rocket science. It’s benefits are pretty obvious. We all beneft when we have people everywhere, poking the box. Moving the mark. Starting.

And so many of us don’t. For a number of reasons, namely, fear. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of lost time. Fear of lost energy. We can create any number of reasons why we shouldn’t do something, and in that time of selfpreservation and overrationalization do you know what we could have done?

We could have just started.

Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Non-fiction

Pages: 96