Book Report - The Monk and the Riddle

Book Report - The Monk and the Riddle

I finally got around to reading this book and wish I had read it a long time ago!

I read it nonstop the on Memorial Day weekend and it's really given me some amazing perspective on some things that have been bothering me lately when thinking about my career, the decisions I've made and the direction I'm headed.

I wrote a guy I work for a note after reading the book:

Dear So and So,

Have you read this book yet? I assume so, but just in case you haven't - may I suggest that you read it immediately? I will return it to your shelf on Tuesday
morning.

I was blown away by the book - it's changed my perspective on many things, most of all with our company. Because I am not a founder, nor a critical component of developing your strategies I can't know all the details of your plans.

That said, the question I have for you is why did you start this company in the first place?

What I've realized (finally) is that to be really successful, you have to find ways to integrate what's important in your life with your business. Business as creative expression the book talks about, I believe it is the missing piece in my own puzzle and I encourageyou to explore it for yourself if possible. You, like
me, seem to have two sides to yourself - the work self (serious, technical, driven) and the home/personal self (funny, off-center, family oriented).

Integrating them successfully is the challenge I've given myself.

Regards,

Marc

One of the main takeaways of this novels a cliché - but it's true - the Journey is the thing - not the destination. Pretty basic, but very true in any case.

The other main point the book digs into is the authors distinction between Passion and Drive. I've been thinking about this myself but the book crystallized my thinking in a way that books can often do. I'm driven at work, and separate my true self from my work self because "that's what I'm supposed to do." The problem is that to be really successful, you need to integrate your passions into your work. In order to do that - you have to be doing work that you are passionate about - duhhhhh. So this feeling that my 80 hour work weeks being in vain has been real after all.

It's time for some serious changes!