Scan barcode
saaraa96's review against another edition
4.0
از کتاب های معرفی شده توسط آذرخش مکری بود.
Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful, so compelling that when—in a decade, a century, or a millennium—we grasp it, we will all say to each other, how could it have been otherwise?
—Physicist John Archibald Wheeler
As Hill advised, “The better way is by making yourself so useful and efficient in what you are now doing that you will attract the favorable attention of those who have the power to promote you into more responsible work that is more to your liking.”
For generations, the message “know your destination, work hard, and stay the course” has been impressed upon us as the most dependable stratagem for securing a prosperous life. This advice appears so unassailable that disregarding it seems perilous and foolish. Indeed, many recent books even go so far as to claim that the Standard Formula rises to the level of timeless human wisdom.
But just because we now desire a new kind of success doesn’t mean we know how to get it.
This rising demand for a life of personalized success has run ahead of what science can deliver because the academic study of success remains stubbornly marooned in the Age of Standardization.
Maybe most dark horses would turn out to be mavericks with outsized personalities, like Richard Branson—rebels driven by a fierce ambition to make their mark and prove the world wrong.
That’s not what we found at all.
Instead, we discovered that the personalities of dark horses are just as diverse and unpredictable as you would find in any random sampling of human beings. Some are bold and aggressive; others are shy and deferential. Some enjoy being disruptive; others prefer being conciliatory. Dark horses are not defined by their character. Nor are they defined by a particular motive, socioeconomic background, or approach to training, study, or practice. There is a common thread that binds them all together, however, and it was hard to miss.
Dark horses are fulfilled.
Like the rest of us, they struggled with getting the kids to bed and paying down the car loan, and there was invariably more they hoped to accomplish in their careers, but they woke up most mornings excited to get to work and went to bed most nights feeling good about their lives. This discovery led us to the most important revelation of all.
As we dug deeper, we realized that their sense of fulfillment was not a coincidence. It was a choice. And this all-important decision to pursue fulfillment is what ultimately defines a dark horse.
People often believe that when it comes to earning a living, you must choose between doing what you like and doing what you must. Dark horses teach us that this is a false choice. By harnessing their individuality, dark horses attained both prowess and joy. By choosing situations that seemed to offer the best fit for their authentic self, dark horses secured the most effective circumstances for developing excellence at their craft, since engaging in fulfilling work maximizes your ability to learn, grow, and perform. Thus, dark horses provide a new definition of success suited for the Age of Personalization, one that recognizes that individuality truly matters:
Harness your individuality in the pursuit of fulfillment to achieve excellence.
“Follow Your Bliss” is a bumper sticker, not a road map. “Do What Feels Good” can often be a surefire prescription for feeling bad. What is really needed is a set of practical guidelines that can help you figure out what you truly want and how to attain it, given your unique circumstances. That is why we wrote this book.
Men in control of vast organisations have tended to be too abstract in their outlook, to forget what actual human beings are like, and to try to fit men to systems rather than systems to men.
—Bertrand Russell
Time and again, we encountered a common theme in the journeys of dark horses: a period when they did not fit into their lives—when they felt like a round peg in a square hole. Some were stuck in tedious jobs that required little in the way of acumen. Others developed enviable expertise in a field they believed they should be mastering because it was respectable, stable, or lucrative, yet they felt little satisfaction. Despite feeling bored or frustrated, underutilized or overwhelmed, most dark horses reluctantly plodded along for years before finally coming to the realization that they were not living a fulfilling life.
Then came the turning point.
As Ingrid puts it, “I didn’t feel pride in myself until I embraced the winding path.”
According to the terms of this Standardization Covenant, society will bestow its rewards upon you as long as you abandon the individual pursuit of personal fulfillment for the standardized pursuit of professional excellence.
the Age of Standardization’s definition of success: attaining wealth and status by climbing the institutional ladder. And once the route to prosperity and competence became well-defined, fixed, and predictable, every member of society could see exactly what they needed to do to achieve professional success: pick your career goal, then march resolutely down the appropriate training track to its appointed end. It should come as no surprise that fulfillment appears nowhere in the Standard Formula.
First we standardized work. Then we standardized learning. Then we integrated our standardized workplace with our standardized educational system, establishing standardized careers. And once the full passage of our experience was standardized from our first day of kindergarten until the morning of our retirement, it marked the complete standardization of a human life.
Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful, so compelling that when—in a decade, a century, or a millennium—we grasp it, we will all say to each other, how could it have been otherwise?
—Physicist John Archibald Wheeler
As Hill advised, “The better way is by making yourself so useful and efficient in what you are now doing that you will attract the favorable attention of those who have the power to promote you into more responsible work that is more to your liking.”
For generations, the message “know your destination, work hard, and stay the course” has been impressed upon us as the most dependable stratagem for securing a prosperous life. This advice appears so unassailable that disregarding it seems perilous and foolish. Indeed, many recent books even go so far as to claim that the Standard Formula rises to the level of timeless human wisdom.
But just because we now desire a new kind of success doesn’t mean we know how to get it.
This rising demand for a life of personalized success has run ahead of what science can deliver because the academic study of success remains stubbornly marooned in the Age of Standardization.
Maybe most dark horses would turn out to be mavericks with outsized personalities, like Richard Branson—rebels driven by a fierce ambition to make their mark and prove the world wrong.
That’s not what we found at all.
Instead, we discovered that the personalities of dark horses are just as diverse and unpredictable as you would find in any random sampling of human beings. Some are bold and aggressive; others are shy and deferential. Some enjoy being disruptive; others prefer being conciliatory. Dark horses are not defined by their character. Nor are they defined by a particular motive, socioeconomic background, or approach to training, study, or practice. There is a common thread that binds them all together, however, and it was hard to miss.
Dark horses are fulfilled.
Like the rest of us, they struggled with getting the kids to bed and paying down the car loan, and there was invariably more they hoped to accomplish in their careers, but they woke up most mornings excited to get to work and went to bed most nights feeling good about their lives. This discovery led us to the most important revelation of all.
As we dug deeper, we realized that their sense of fulfillment was not a coincidence. It was a choice. And this all-important decision to pursue fulfillment is what ultimately defines a dark horse.
People often believe that when it comes to earning a living, you must choose between doing what you like and doing what you must. Dark horses teach us that this is a false choice. By harnessing their individuality, dark horses attained both prowess and joy. By choosing situations that seemed to offer the best fit for their authentic self, dark horses secured the most effective circumstances for developing excellence at their craft, since engaging in fulfilling work maximizes your ability to learn, grow, and perform. Thus, dark horses provide a new definition of success suited for the Age of Personalization, one that recognizes that individuality truly matters:
Harness your individuality in the pursuit of fulfillment to achieve excellence.
“Follow Your Bliss” is a bumper sticker, not a road map. “Do What Feels Good” can often be a surefire prescription for feeling bad. What is really needed is a set of practical guidelines that can help you figure out what you truly want and how to attain it, given your unique circumstances. That is why we wrote this book.
Men in control of vast organisations have tended to be too abstract in their outlook, to forget what actual human beings are like, and to try to fit men to systems rather than systems to men.
—Bertrand Russell
Time and again, we encountered a common theme in the journeys of dark horses: a period when they did not fit into their lives—when they felt like a round peg in a square hole. Some were stuck in tedious jobs that required little in the way of acumen. Others developed enviable expertise in a field they believed they should be mastering because it was respectable, stable, or lucrative, yet they felt little satisfaction. Despite feeling bored or frustrated, underutilized or overwhelmed, most dark horses reluctantly plodded along for years before finally coming to the realization that they were not living a fulfilling life.
Then came the turning point.
As Ingrid puts it, “I didn’t feel pride in myself until I embraced the winding path.”
According to the terms of this Standardization Covenant, society will bestow its rewards upon you as long as you abandon the individual pursuit of personal fulfillment for the standardized pursuit of professional excellence.
the Age of Standardization’s definition of success: attaining wealth and status by climbing the institutional ladder. And once the route to prosperity and competence became well-defined, fixed, and predictable, every member of society could see exactly what they needed to do to achieve professional success: pick your career goal, then march resolutely down the appropriate training track to its appointed end. It should come as no surprise that fulfillment appears nowhere in the Standard Formula.
First we standardized work. Then we standardized learning. Then we integrated our standardized workplace with our standardized educational system, establishing standardized careers. And once the full passage of our experience was standardized from our first day of kindergarten until the morning of our retirement, it marked the complete standardization of a human life.
heatherstorm09's review against another edition
3.0
I thought that this book would be more from the research standpoint, but it ended up being a self-help book.
kristendom's review against another edition
4.0
I know I've already recommended this book to several people because it was just so. dang. good. Lots of lessons for Americans to learn in here about what makes a person successful, the history of our education system and the problems with systems. To be honest, this book has me rethinking any emphasis on grades and testing scores, and evaluating what is really important to me as a person. It's also changed some of my parenting style around school as I continue to explore what makes a person successful (hint: it's not good grades, a high-status job, or lots of money). Definitely worth a read!
More...