“I’m a problem that will never be solved.” – Kanye West, Amazing

I have met CC Chapman before at SXSW. He’s also good friends with one of my favorite people online (do you know Clarence?). So, when his book started being mentioned regularly on Twitter as a great quick read to start the year, I picked it up.

Let’s not be hyperbolic here. Amazing Things Will Happen isn’t life changing. CC presents a lot of common sense lessons that I think many of us who have had at least a decade in the work force know even if we don’t always act on them. They are good reminders, though, and as I noted in my previous post, sometimes we need a pep talk. These nuggets were the highlights for me:

Never forget that the worst anyone can ever say is no. But, you’ll never hear yes if you don’t ask.

You cannot be afraid to ask for help. People want to help others, and if they even remotely care about you, then they will be glad to step up and help you with anything you ask for, if they can.

Any day you are not sick and are above ground is a good day.

What I most appreciated was the process CC outlines for figuring out and making sense of the big ideas (and sometimes the little nags) going through your head. This is the harder trick, right? It’s easy to know when something is wrong or when something needs to change but putting some real effort and attention towards making those adjustments are difficult. We are creatures of habit and pushing ourselves to think different and with more purpose is not something we are prone to do. I’ve also been reading Thinking, Fast and Slow and much of the story there is about how our brains work in these ways.

So, to have that push to find moments of quiet and just think, to write down thoughts and ideas without self-editing, and to be honest with myself?

Thanks CC.