Phew, has the buzz about this book been a bit crazy or what!? I’m not sure if it’s author Tony Hsieh’s frequent and awe-inspiring talks that are catching everyone’s attention or the fact that shopping on Zappos.com is just plain fun. Either way, I enjoyed the book that shares the story of how the two came together: Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
Objectively, the book takes up an average-in-size 241 pages, not including the Epilogue and Online Resources. I found the cover art, frankly, kind of cluttered and annoying. And the quality of the writing? It was…ok. Pretty terrible in the beginning when Tony’s describing his childhood and early business ventures, improving a smidge later on when Zappos comes into the picture. Generally, it’s pretty fluffy reading. I read the entire book in two medium-ish sittings.
On the surface, Delivering Happiness gets an “ehh” rating.
But – and this is a BIG but, as in, MASSIVE and THEY DON’T LIE – upon closing the back cover and setting the book down, I wanted to be a better person.
P.S. The awesome folks on the Delivering Happiness Book Team graciously sent me 2 pre-release copies of DH. Thanks, DHBook team! I can only hope to have a team with a fraction of the excitement, caring, and connectedness when I release a book someday. (ahem) Cheers!
Spending a weekend connecting, talking business, and taking intentional action with like-minded friends drums up a lot of powerful thoughts. Here’s one:
Look around at your friends, at the folks you spend most of your precious time with – are they bringing you up, or are they bringing you down?
We all have folks in business that we admire. We look at their success, we look at their list of accomplishments, we look at their current state and wish we had it. Even just a piece of it.
We CAN have it, you know. Because those successes? They all started somewhere. They all made the decision, at some point in the past, to take action. Your success, just like theirs, lies within your ability to decide to take a step.
Do it. Like, right now. How will you ever know if you don’t?
Are you on Tumblr? I’ve had an account for a while, as I think it’s one of the most powerful blogging platforms out there (with all of its integrated social networking snazzyness), but since this site is my home base I wasn’t quite sure how to use it.
AnnieSorensen.com represents who I am as a brand, everything live-your-best-life-everyday. My personality is most definitely a part of that, but the content here still has a professional bent. I will be using Tumblr as more of an unfiltered version of what I present here. Still me, still my brand, but a bit more rag-tag. Perhaps a bit goofier, a bit off-topic or inconsistent, but still swirling around my passion of inspiring you to live just a little better, to do a little more.
I wonder how many awesome ideas are dismissed every day – every minute, every second – because they are immediately declared to be “impossible” and thus, never given a second thought. What do you think? Surely many of those ideas, no matter how simple, could be life-changing. Or even world-changing?
An article I was reading this weekend got me thinking about what’s possible. Specifically, that we grossly overestimate what’s impossible. Stated more positively (well, depending on your point of view), are we constantly underestimating what is possible? Underestimating our abilities to think, to create, to accomplish?
How many of these dismissed ideas are later had by someone else who’s actually willing to take action? Someone who then gets all the credit simply because they were “crazy” enough to think it might actually be possible? Or, not just the credit, but the benefit.
Apply this to anything: launching your new internet flim-flam, finally organizing the disaster of boxes in your basement, losing those 40 pounds, getting published in that magazine, setting aside an hour every day amongst kids and work and spouse to read a good book.
Food for thought on this Monday: what are you dismissing as too difficult or impossible that actually could…be?
Fact: When business is complicated and activity unfocused, growth does not occur. When business is simple, focused, and to-the-point, it grows.
I know that makes succeeding in business sound like it’s easy, or that it should be easy. It’s not. Succeeding in business – succeeding in any area of life – is hard. But it doesn’t need to be complicated. See the difference?
Whenever I hit a rough patch with a project and find myself frustrated, I tend to step back to take a look at the situation from a higher level. The vast majority of the time I find that things are getting frustrating because I’m making them too complicated. In fact, I’d venture to say that complication is ALWAYS the reason why I’ve fallen off track. Be it the track of bringing in new business, the track of sharing a product, the track of keeping up with my reading, whatever.
Back-up, review what’s really important, identify your main purpose, and then do it. Don’t let your core purpose (sharing a product, producing content in your niche, providing a specific value, etc) get lost in the shuffle of paperwork and busy schedules or the distractions of technology and trends and well-I-should-be’s.
Are you so busy building your business that you’re not able to build your business?
Don’t over-complicate. Keep things simple. Keep honed-in on your core purpose. Aren’t able to focus the majority of your time on that simple purpose anymore? Too much other “stuff” that has to be taken care of? Too many bumps in the road keeping you from smoothly moving forward? Then maybe a few things need to change.
Consider it.
Your thoughts? How do you keep your focus on your core purpose when life and admin threaten to get in the way?
Wha? This here website thing is a blog? That I’m supposed to update on a regular basis? NO WAY YA’LL.
I thought I’d break my things-have-been-insane-around-the-Sorensen-compound-but-that’s-no-excuse blog silence by sharing a few things I’ve loved lately. I hope you find some benefit from them, too. TokBox TokBox is a free video conferencing service. And it’s not only free but can be up and running within a matter of seconds. LOVE IT. I thought I’d use it only for video conferences, but have found even more uses for video messages. Why type up a long, drawn-out response to an email when I can just press record and chat away?
Betty White on SNL A fun example of what can happen when traditional media pays attention to social movements. Mashable.com has a great article with almost all of the YouTube clips – ridiculously entertaining stuff if you have a free minute!
Chris Brogan: My Worry Reduction Buttons One of the best write-ups on affiliate marketing I’ve ever read. No more comments needed. DailyBooth If you haven’t yet checked out DailyBooth, put it on your to-do list NOW. I have made my most beneficial (and most fun) networking connections with the DailyBooth platform than with any other social network. Seriously.
ProBlogger: How I Make Money Blogging I thought this post from Darren Rowse, aka. The Problogger, was fascinating, and I think you’ll agree. No matter how pro of a blogger you might consider yourself to be, the information and insight Darren shares is well worth the read.
What fun things have you run into lately? Do share.
The other day I was honored with the opportunity to share content with Rod Villagomez and post an article on his blog. Rod is a professional broadcaster, passionate social media enthusiast, and one of the nicest guys on the ‘net.
I'm an author, marketer, and mommy who loves to read, write, and drink coffee. My husband and I live in suburban Kansas City with our two little girls. This site chronicles my world. Thanks for stopping by!
For more, check out my About page.
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I self-published my first children's book in August 2015, the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. Check out A Boy Named Love on Amazon in both paperback and hardcover.
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Objectively, the book takes up an average-in-size 241 pages, not including the Epilogue and Online Resources. I found the cover art, frankly, kind of cluttered and annoying. And the quality of the writing? It was…ok. Pretty terrible in the beginning when Tony’s describing his childhood and early business ventures, improving a smidge later on when Zappos comes into the picture. Generally, it’s pretty fluffy reading. I read the entire book in two medium-ish sittings.
I'm an author, marketer, and mommy who loves to read, write, and drink coffee. My husband and I live in suburban Kansas City with our two little girls. This site chronicles my world. Thanks for stopping by!
For more, check out my 
