High-Level Thoughts

Derek Sivers’ simple approach to business and life really resonates with me. The book is full of simple messages that pack a punch. The book only takes around an hour to read and it is easy to come back to it many times. As such, I have recommended this book to many people and will continue to do so.

The Book in 3 Sentences

Derek Sivers distills all of the lessons he learned from starting, running, and selling his company, CDBaby into 40 bite-sized lessons that anyone can apply. Rather than focus on expansion, revenue, acquisition, or anything else; ask yourself “Why am I doing this?”. Then focus on your why and nothing else.

How I Discovered It

I have been a fan of Derek for a long time. I discovered it through his blog at sive.rs.

Who Should Read It?

Everyone who is interested in running a business or creating the life they want to live.

How the Book Changed Me

I have had multiple projects running at minimum effort for a while. Either because I had gotten bored with them, or because I seemed to be able to progress, but only with a major effort. I realized after reading this book that I was not passionate about any of these things, and instead, I was doing it for the potential of some big financial reward in the future.

My Top 3 Quotes

1. “If you think your life’s purpose needs to hit you like a lightning bolt, you’ll overlook the little day-to-day things that fascinate you.”
2. “Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn’t that enough?”
3. “No matter which goal you choose, there will be lots of people telling you you’re wrong. Just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you. Pay close attention to when you’re being the real you and when you’re trying to impress an invisible jury.”

Summary + Notes

1. “If you think your life’s purpose needs to hit you like a lightning bolt, you’ll overlook the little day-to-day things that fascinate you.” – On the story of Steve Jobs, who wasn’t passionate about computers from the beginning. Rather he was passionate about spirituality, typography etc. If he had started a company around his passions Apple wouldn’t have existed. Rather he was able to find passion and purpose in those little things that surround him everyday and over time turn that into a “purpose in life”.
2. “Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn’t that enough?”
3. “It’s kind of like the grand tales in which the hero needs to be prepared to die to save the day. Your company should be willing to die for your customers. That’s the Tao of business: Care about your customers more than about yourself, and you’ll do well.”
4. “Don’t try to impress an invisible jury of MBA professors. It’s OK to be casual.”
5. “In the end, it’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have. To have something (a finished recording, a business, or millions of dollars) is the means, not the end. To be something (a good singer, a skilled entrepreneur, or just plain happy) is the real point. When you sign up to run a marathon, you don’t want a taxi to take you to the finish line.”
6. “You might get bigger faster and make millions if you outsource everything to the experts. But what’s the point of getting bigger and making millions? To be happy, right?”
7. “Gather everybody around. Answer the question and explain the philosophy. Make sure everyone understands the thought process. Ask one person to write it in the manual. Let everybody know they can decide this without me next time. After two months of this, there were no more questions. Then I showed someone how to do the last of the stuff that was still my job. As part of learning it, he had to document it in the manual, and then show it to someone else, too. (Learn by teaching.) Now I was totally unnecessary. I started working at home, not going into the office at all.” – On how he made himself redundant at his company.
8. “There’s a big difference between being self-employed and being a business owner. Being self-employed feels like freedom until you realize that if you take time off, your business crumbles. To be a true business owner, make it so that you could leave for a year, and when you came back, your business would be doing better than when you left.”
9. “This job was so crucial to the company’s survival that I decided to do it myself for a while—not just do it, but build a system that wouldn’t let mistakes go unnoticed again. So for the next six months, I lived at the warehouse in Portland, and my sole job was digital deliveries. It took fifteen-hour days to catch up on months of backlog, but eventually, we had a smooth system again. I learned a hard lesson in hindsight: Trust, but verify. Remember it when delegating. You have to do both.”
10. “No matter which goal you choose, there will be lots of people telling you you’re wrong. Just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you. Pay close attention to when you’re being the real you and when you’re trying to impress an invisible jury.”