G’day,
I read a book a week and I’ve decided to share brief reviews from time to time with my key learnings from that book.
This week’s book was Richard Branson’s ‘Screw it, let’s do it’.
It’s a good insight into Richard’s attitude to life, some great stories about how he overcame adversity and built Virgin – plus a little inspiration thrown in.
Here are my four favourite learnings from the book:
- Develop your competitive spirit – There are examples in the book where Richard is up against fierce and deceptive competitors (like British Airways) who are willing to do anything to put him out of business (including sabotaging his planes to cause expensive delays etc). The way he deals with the problem is head on, he isn’t afraid of controversy and putting up a fight. If you believe in what you do and it was compelling enough for you to quit your job and start something for yourself, then why wouldn’t you fight when someone challenges you on your journey?
- Have fun in business – A recurring theme in the book is fun. He makes sure he enjoys the journey. At the end of the day you only have experiences and his focus on making sure he has a great time along the ride is awesome. For me personally thats one of my values. If you can’t have a laugh every day then what’s the point?
- Do good – Whatever you build in business, ask yourself how can you give back to people. How can you contribute to your industry, your staff, your family, your friends, less fortunate communities? One of my first mentors taught me – first you learn, then you earn, then you return. One of the best things about business is you have (in my opinion) more power to contribute because your income isn’t limited by 9-5.
- The scale of other people’s problems – Many times in the book Richard mentions scenarios where he is battling multi-billion dollar rival companies, politicians, negotiating with world leaders on the brink of war and more. It really made many of my challenges seem like a walk in the park compared to that. I don’t think it means your own problems are insignificant – they obviously still affect you – but I think if anything it provides motivation that if Richard can power through such high pressure scenarios with so much at stake, then I should be right to knock my problems on the head pretty easily.
What book should I read next? Let me know in the comments.
Have a great week,
Ray
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