Wild Courage {Review}

In Wild Courage, career coach Jenny Wood shares why courage is essential for success and redefines nine traits to create a set of principles to help you achieve your own version of success. These traits reinterpret what it means to be weird, selfish, shameless, obsessed, nosy, manipulative, brutal, reckless and bossy.

This is such a cute and easy to read learning book that packs some powerful lessons. Jenny Wood is a HUGE personality, a personality that comes through strongly on every page. If you are a quiet, low-key, shy, stay-in-my-lane kind of person, chances are you’re going to read a lot of her advice and think 1. This is not relevant to me, and/or 2. I could never do that. But, dear reader, don’t let this stop you from picking it up and tagging as you go, because she truly has a lot of great insights and I believe there’s at least one lesson relevant to everyone.

Get your head in the game

A success mindset precedes success.

Be in the forefront

In your career. It isn’t what you do that matters. It’s what your managers think you’re doing. This may seem unfair, but managers aren’t mind  readers. Part of your job is letting them see that you’re doing your job.

Don’t give your time away

Since the invention of the internet, no one has ever been promoted for being ultra-responsive on email.

Give a reason

A behavioural study at Harvard in 1978 showed that adding a reason to your request boosts the likelihood of a yes, even if the reason doesn’t add meaningful information.

Work should be a workout

Push hard against your limits and expect the occasional failure. If you succeed too easily, you aren’t reaching far enough.

Schedule a life

Every Sunday, before your week fills up with meetings and calls, carve out calendar slots for meals, exercise, rest, social engagements, and play. If you expect world-class performance from yourself, treat yourself like a star athlete.

Prioritise

Every minute you spend doing one thing, you actively say no to everything else you might be doing instead.

Abort mission

Life’s too short to finish everything you start. If something’s not adding value, just stop. You can use your time and energy in many ways that matter more.

Hit cruise control

By default, make most things you ask of your team a minimum five-day turnaround. Unless you’re running a hospital, you’re not saving lives. It’s your job to plan ahead instead of running things with a constant degree of urgency.

Ask questions

The most basic question is usually the most brilliant. Don’t lose the inner child in you who wasn’t afraid to ask questions and not shameful of not knowing.

You’re looking for help on how to unapologetically chase after what you want in life.

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