I am a sucker for processes. Maybe somewhat of a productivity junky even. Systems and to-do list apps, team collaboration and project management are all topics that i can get really excited about. I enjoy the planning, organising and understanding involved with any idea, plan or business.
So, staying true to that, once i decided to read 12 books in 2013, i sat down and worked out a plan – how many weeks, how many books, how many pages per day etc. You get the idea. Little did i know that the 1st book i read posed a serious challenge to the way i automatically think about business and planning.
The name of the book, “Execute“.
A highly recommended read that tells the story of a software developer who came up with an idea, built it and shipped it in 3 days! The book explores the process, or rather anti-process that inspiration can bring which allows us to make our ideas happen in much shorter time periods and with much more fun than compared to a more traditional project-planning-approach. That process and planning that i love so much!
In fact the book itself was written using the same methodology (i almost want to say philosophy, but don’t want to remove the actionable advice in this book too far from reality as it would not do the authors proud) and was taken from idea to complete in 8 days only!
The world needs it. Creatives need it. We need it. You need it. We need to embrace our inspiration, our strongest incarnation of energy, and act now.
Do not read this book if you are not willing to have your organised, plan loving self to be challenged. I found the book incredibly inspirational and motivational (an interesting position to find yourself in when you read it while on holiday in Zambia without any internet and trying to relax and “switch off” for a few days…
Once back home, fueled by the motivation of the book’s ideas still fresh in my memory and inspired by something i saw online, i designed, built, populated and re-launched this website in less than 3 days. (I did not stay up all night and i still enjoyed the weekend with my family)
I must admit, i might not entirely let go of all my lists, apps, systems and plans in lieu of the Execute approach, but if you’ve had an idea for a long time and have been waiting for a kick in the butt to help you make things happen, this quick read might just get you think about a different way of getting your ideas shipped.
Photo & video from http://executebook.com/
Cannot wait to read this book. Sounds like it’s right up my alley.
Your post was a welcome wake-up call, as I always want to make all my my posts “thesis”-like. As a result, little make it onto the blog. Going to try and stop over-thinking.
Thanks for the comment! Hope you can execute and publish more posts 😉