📚 Lessons from a Google Exec, 10 Amazing Books, and David Goggins.

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Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

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• 10 Amazing books that don’t get enough attention.

PS: If you’re in NYC, I’m hosting a Reading Party in NYC on April 16th!

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📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “Wild Courage” by Jenny Wood.

Jenny Wood spent 18 years at Google, rising from entry-level to executive, and has helped thousands of people advance their careers through her Own Your Career program.

In her book, Wood shares 9 unique traits needed to succeed in the workplace: Weird, Selfish, Shameless, Obsessed, Nosy, Manipulative, Brutal, Reckless, and Bossy.

If you enjoyed “So Good They Can't Ignore You” or “Dare to Lead”, you’ll like this book.

Here are 3 lessons from it:

📖

1) Be WEIRD or Be Forgotten

The first lesson Wood shares in her book is to be WEIRD.

Not weird as in creepy, but as in being unconventional or different.

The world has enough normal and average people. If you want to stand out and accomplish big things, you need to be a little weird to get people’s attention.

For instance, one day after work, Wood was taking the subway home when she spotted a handsome man. Instead of hoping that the man would notice her and come talk to her, she decided to do something she’d never done before–chase after him.

She squeezed through the crowd, tapped the man on his shoulder, and offered him her business card.

Fast forward to today, that man is now her husband, and they have two kids together.

Wood gives another example of weird being a competitive advantage when she was reviewing a stack of job applications at Google.

She noticed a resume from Caryle that had a line about how she was on a mission to make the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie.

Out of a stack of 50+ bland resumes that all had similar work experiences, that one comment made Caryle’s resume pop.

She got an interview and eventually landed the job.

In today’s busy and competitive world, you need to be a little weird to stand out and get people’s attention.

Don’t go overboard, but do take small risks to

📖

2) Replace Your “I”s With “YOU”s 

Whether you’re writing an email or a job application, it’s easy to focus on what you want:

• I want this job.

• I want a promotion.

• I want to pick your brain.

However, focusing on your wants and needs isn’t an effective strategy.

You’re only talking about what you’ll benefit from the interaction while leaving the other person empty-handed.

Your message would be MUCH more powerful if you stopped focusing on what you wanted and replaced all or most of the Is with Yous.

For instance, here’s a message I get all of the time that drives me crazy:

“Hey Alex, I have a new book coming out that I’m trying to promote. I would love for you to read and share it on your social media accounts. It would help me out a lot!”

I get 5-10 messages of these every day and ignore them all. Why?

They’re only thinking about themselves.

Here would be a better message:

“Hey Alex, your content is awesome! You probably get a ton of these messages, but would you be interested in doing a paid partnership to help promote my upcoming book? Or if there’s some other way I can help you boost your business, please let me know. Here are a few ways I can help you…Would love to figure out a win-win collaboration!”

Feel the difference?

The second message is warmer and has a possibility where both sides win, unlike the first.

So before you send another cold email, job application, or message, take a second to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and try to think of ways you can make it a win-win for both sides.

📖

3) To Get Ahead Be OBSESSED

Getting a job at Google is incredibly difficult, so how did Wood manage to get her foot in the door?

Well…she literally got her foot in the door.

After submitting her resume online and not hearing back from a recruiter after a week, she drove down to the Google office to hand deliver a copy of her resume to the recruiter.

Once again, a week passed and Wood hadn’t received any messages back from Google. But she didn’t give up. She didn’t have the recruiter’s business card, so Wood wrote down every permutation of the recruiter’s email and messaged all the possible accounts.

After 23 minutes, the recruiter wrote back, and they set up a call.

When you really want something in life, don’t just do the minimum. Go above and beyond, and then even further.

“Nothing will get you to a better place faster than becoming obsessed,” advises Wood.

Most people think only athletes or artists can be obsessed, but there are countless ways you can apply this to the workplace:

• If you have an interview, research all of the questions on Glassdoor and write up your answers. Then spend time memorizing your responses.

• If you have a big presentation, record yourself sharing it and then watch it back to make it better. Do that several times.

Just like how you push your body in the gym, push your mind in the workplace. High performers overprepare, sweat the details, and go the extra mile. Excellence is inspiring and oftentimes rewarded.

It’s easy to convince yourself that effort doesn’t matter if you’re able to coast. However, while you might fool your boss, you can’t fool yourself.

You will never grow and evolve without pushing yourself to do the hard and deliberate work that tests the limits of your capabilities.

✅ Actionable Advice

1) Be a little WEIRD: Take small risks to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

2) Before you ask someone for something, take a minute to replace the Is in your message with Yous so that it’s a win-win for both sides.

3) Be OBSESSED: Do more than what’s required and you’ll go much further in life.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Podcast: David Goggins: How to Build Immense Inner Strength 

David Goggins is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever come across.

Goggins went from being 300 pounds and working as a cockroach exterminator to losing 100 lbs in 3 months and joining the elite Navy SEALs.

He then became an ultra-endurance athlete and has participated in hundreds of crazy races, such as running 240 miles and biking 500 miles.

Many times when I’m feeling lazy or depressed, I’ll put on this podcast to get me motivated and going.

Listening to this podcast will make you feel like you can run through a brick wall.

Your opinion matters!

Thank you for your support,

Alex W.