Just finished reading a fascinating book called Originals by Adam Grant…
At 28 years old, Adam became the youngest tenure professor at Penn’s Wharton School of Business, but the process that led him to that point was even more impressive.
After being a high school All-American diver in 1999, Adam received his B.A. from Harvard then his PhD from the University of Michigan in Organizational Psychology, all while working as a professional magician to earn his keep.
In 2007, Grant worked as an assistant professor at UNC and immersed himself into his writing while on the job… He published several papers in academic journals before being hired at Wharton in 2009.
From 2011-2017, Grant was voted as the university’s best professor and in 2013, he came out with his first book, Give and Take, A Revolutionary Approach To Success. Grant then followed that up with Originals in 2016.
The concept and idea of being a nonconformist original is great but too often we fall back into the status quo, unwilling to push the envelope or step outside of the box. The main issue is that we are scared to fail and frightened what others might think or say about us… As we often like to say here in the Daily Hustle… Fuck that!
What I really enjoyed about Grant’s writing was that he offered clear cut strategies and actions for an individual, business and parent/teacher to pursue, champion and implement original mindsets. The below 15 is specifically focused on what an individual needs to do to best foster originality:
- Question the default
- Triple the number of ideas generated
- Immerse yourself in a new domain
- Procrastinate strategically
- Seek more feedback
- Balance risk portfolio
- Highlight reasons NOT to support an idea
- Make your ideas more familiar
- Speak to a different audience
- Be a tempered radical
- Motivate yourself differently
- Don’t try to calm down – Turn anxiety to excitement
- Focus on the victim not the perpetrator
- Realize you are not alone
- Take initiative
We are commonly told to be a certain way without anybody giving us a clear road map that allows us to be that person. Grant clearly lays out what we need to do in order to become true originals; now it’s up to us to follow directions and take “ACTIONS FOR IMPACT.” 👊
-EB
P.S. The Let Them Play: A Triathlon Across America documentary is finally here, and it’s the perfect film for a family movie night! Proceeds will not only benefit the Let Them Play foundation, but $1 from each sale goes directly to the COVID-19 Response Fund.
Visit LetThemPlayFilm.com or click the button below to watch now! 📽🍿
