There is a downside to listening to a ton of Seth Godin interviews – this book was thoroughly trod before I got my turn to borrow the audiobook from Overdrive.
The basic conceit of the Practice is reasonable. Our job is to do the work, but the outcome lies in the hands of the gods….so goddammit go execute your process.
I found it intriguing that Seth structured the book as a numeric series of essays (ending in the 220’s), but I don’t grok what he was trying to get out of such a structure. Maybe I should borrow the ebook to look for the payoff of such a framework, but it is telling I haven’t bothered to do so in the two months since I wrote the first draft of this post.
I’m coming to think that The Dip, with a simple counterintuitive concept written in a brutally concise format, will be Seth’s book that lasts longest in the mind’s eye. Linchpin, Seth’s self acknowledged masterwork, was also great, but I have to admit that it already has a dated aura to it.
In the end, I like the basic premise of The Practice, but I must wonder if it was longer than necessary to drive the point home. I’ll give Seth the benefit of the doubt, but even if the final product is “not bad” did it reach greatness? I guess asking the question is the answer. Seth’s batting average is incredibly high, but not every work can be a masterpiece.
The one concept from the book that has stayed with me over the past few months is Seth’s distinction between “instigating change” versus an “artful hobby”. He believes both routes are viable paths for an endeavor, even though he openly focuses on the former. It’s a stark decision and I’ve become increasingly comfortable with the fact that this is an “artful hobby”, following the model of Scripting.com instead of Seths.blog.