"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." --popular proverb
Yesterday late afternoon I stopped by the library after work to drop off some DVDs and books, and to look for a couple other items on my reading list. One of these was a book called Brainwashed, which was on an upstairs shelf near some marketing books about persuasion and influence, one of the these being the famous work by Dr. Robert Cialdini.
What caught my eye, though, was another book there titled Sidetracked, by Francesca Gina, which I began reading late in the evening instead of going to bed like a good boy. Subtitled "Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan," I found myself immediately drawn in. For the record, it is a publication of the Harvard Business Review Press.
Whether you are in a business with objectives, or an individual with a self-directed career plan, or just someone with personal dreams you wish to pursue, the book appears to have application to any and all of these kinds of reads.
The introduction explains what the heavily researched book will cover. There are three forces at work in us whenever we set out to accomplish anything, Gino says. First, we have our internal distractions. As the saying goes, sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We frequently fail to see our own limitations, or have a mistaken sense of our own capabilities. Or, it may be we just don't know ourselves well enough to know what we want.
Next, the author shows, are forces from our relationships that impinge upon us. These come in a variety of forms, from parental expectations to compromises we make on behalf of our spouses.
Finally there are inevitably myriad external sources at work to distract us. Our intentions may be good, but because we are not resolute we allow other people or events to divert and thwart us.
What I like about the title is the railroad metaphor. Trains are sometimes intentionally diverted to a side rail to keep the lines clear for other traffic. If our intention is to be in St. Louis by midnight, and we're parked on a side-rail, one must begin to wonder, "How did this happen?" and "What can I do to keep it from happening again?"
When I was eight years old my grandparents took be out of school to travel from Cleveland to Reno on a train to go visit my aunt, uncle and cousins out west. The three-week adventure was a truly formative event in my life. The train went day and night for three days, with stops in Chicago, St. Louis and Salt Lake City. On the return east at some point during the night I was awake and looking out the window when I noticed a strange phenomenon. There were two glowing red lines on the ground next to our train. It was very strange because it just went on and on. I woke my grandmother to ask what it was. She didn't know, and we both studied it with wonder. Then the train slowed and stopped, the lights went on, and a voice announced that we were picking up passengers. We learned that a train on the adjacent railroad track had jumped the rails. We would have to all squeeze together till we reached the next stop.
Wow. There was an explanation to those glowing lines. That was heat generated by friction. Ultimately the train, having derailed, was stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Francesca Gino's book is has as its aim to help individuals and businesses avoid that kind of fate. It's a book for goal-setters and dreamers. And maybe a book for you.
What caught my eye, though, was another book there titled Sidetracked, by Francesca Gina, which I began reading late in the evening instead of going to bed like a good boy. Subtitled "Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan," I found myself immediately drawn in. For the record, it is a publication of the Harvard Business Review Press.
Whether you are in a business with objectives, or an individual with a self-directed career plan, or just someone with personal dreams you wish to pursue, the book appears to have application to any and all of these kinds of reads.
The introduction explains what the heavily researched book will cover. There are three forces at work in us whenever we set out to accomplish anything, Gino says. First, we have our internal distractions. As the saying goes, sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We frequently fail to see our own limitations, or have a mistaken sense of our own capabilities. Or, it may be we just don't know ourselves well enough to know what we want.
Next, the author shows, are forces from our relationships that impinge upon us. These come in a variety of forms, from parental expectations to compromises we make on behalf of our spouses.
Finally there are inevitably myriad external sources at work to distract us. Our intentions may be good, but because we are not resolute we allow other people or events to divert and thwart us.
What I like about the title is the railroad metaphor. Trains are sometimes intentionally diverted to a side rail to keep the lines clear for other traffic. If our intention is to be in St. Louis by midnight, and we're parked on a side-rail, one must begin to wonder, "How did this happen?" and "What can I do to keep it from happening again?"
Wow. There was an explanation to those glowing lines. That was heat generated by friction. Ultimately the train, having derailed, was stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Francesca Gino's book is has as its aim to help individuals and businesses avoid that kind of fate. It's a book for goal-setters and dreamers. And maybe a book for you.
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