![]() He makes a convincing case for how the messaging keeps us from doing great things.įor me, every one of Seth's book has a passage that touches me and Icarus Deception was no different. "Don't fall too close to the sun." Don't step outside the norm. In this new book, Seth pushes much harder on how many stories and cultural myths reinforce playing it safe. If you are in the tribe, you'll gladly pick up this next title (or spend $120 on Kickstarter to get a whole box of books). If you are not in the tribe, you might say that Linchpin or Poke The Box covered the same territory and you would be right. I envision a whole bunch of people reading or listening to this book and quitting their career to take up origami or forming that rock band - because it is "art" - all the while while their family suffers in financial ruin. This book is rated highly and from what I have read - it is due to Seth's established popularity. What this book felt like was a popular band's new "hit" that would never have made the charts if it was a new band's first song. I felt that there was a lack of creativity in Seth not using a different term than "art," which seemed self-serving in nature or convenient. While I am certainly one who likes to do things differently and am eccentric at times, Seth's tautological reference to "art" in this book almost drove me mad. I found its content and direction to not only be off-putting but potentially dangerous. But, it was painful torture and I did not enjoy it in the slightest. This was my first Seth Godin book and I was very excited to listen to it. I know some of you are struggling around the same issues, so as you move into 2013, I would recommend reading “The Icarus Deception” for some inspiration. Sure, I have less money now, fewer trappings of (so-called) worldly success, but I am making my art, and this feels like real life. In September 2011, I finally broke out of that old life, and I couldn’t be happier. I spent 13 years as an IT consultant, a miserable cubicle worker, rewarding myself with sugar and alcohol in order to make it through each day. But more than that, life’s too short to spend it doing something that isn’t rewarding. The old world of standardized exams, tick-box education and guaranteed jobs won’t be there for much longer, and people need to be creative to survive the future. This book is useful for writers, but I would also urge parents to read it in order to understand the world your children are growing up in.The industrial world is disappearing. Art in the post-industrial age is a lifelong habit, a stepwise process that incrementally allows us to create more art.” “Creating art is a habit, one that we practice daily or hourly until we get good at it … Art isn’t about the rush of victory that comes from being picked. There were many parts of the book that resonated with me, but in combination with Steven Pressfield's Turning Pro, the message is really to pick yourself, and persist at the practice of creation. I was part of Seth's Kickstarter so I bought this early, and reading is has totally fired me up to commit to creating and sharing my own art. Godin shows us how it’s possible, and convinces us why it’s essential. You can care about what you’re doing today and how you can improve tomorrow. Whether you’re a teacher, engineer, doctor, middle manager, or customer service rep, you can fly higher by bringing your best self to work. It’s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things you’re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card. So is choosing to do something unpredictable and brave: make art.īeing an artist isn’t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. But the good news is that creativity is scarce, and more valuable than ever. The propaganda has been exposed, and the old promises have been broken: Conformity no longer leads to comfort. Flying too low is even more dangerous than flying too high, because it feels deceptively safe. Icarus was also warned not to fly too low, because sea water would ruin the lift in his wings. What boss wouldn’t want employees to believe that obedience and conformity are the keys to success? But there’s another part of the myth that those in power hope you’ll forget. Listen to the experts. It was the perfect propaganda for the industrial economy. All these stories have the same lesson: Play it safe. ![]() We’ve retold this myth, and many others like it, to generations of kids. But he ignored that warning and plunged to his doom. In Seth Godin’s most inspiring book yet, he challenges readers to find the courage to treat their work as a form of art. Everyone knows that Icarus’s father made him wings and told him not to fly too close to the sun.
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