How to Miss the Point in Only Three Words

I had a phone call today from David Austin. He’s heading up a super exciting project for starts up in Melbourne starting July 22. It’s called Smart Start City. I’m joining the program! Come along, it might just change your world!

My Book Rapper Experience

Anyway, our discussion lead to David referring to one of Seth Godin’s recent blogs called ‘I Get It’. It speaks to the experience I’ve had with Book Rapper.

When I tell people about Book Rapper, I rewrite business books so you can read them in 30 minutes, I usually get one of three responses.

• Firstly, ‘Great, this will save me time’.
• Secondly, ‘Great, this will help me decide if I should read the book’.
• Thirdly, ‘Can’t you do it quicker than 30 minutes?’

At first I thought the third group were joking. Then I realised they were serious. So, I created Twit Rapper where I distilled the 30 minute version into 26 tweets and a 5 minute slideshow. I thought, that’ll show them!

Faster!

To my amazement, I received the same response… ‘Can’t you do it quicker than 5 minutes?’ The obvious answer is… ‘Of course I can. I can distill a book into about 10 words simply by telling you the title of the book.’ Am I being flippant? You bet! And, this is precisely the point that David and Seth are pointing to.

I know this!

There’s a new generation walking around saying ‘I Get It’. Really, what they’re saying is ‘I know this already’. And, deep below this, they’re missing the point. They’re missing the opportunity to learn something new. They’re missing the opportunity to be engaged, challenged and inspired to take everything to a new level. They’re missing life!

Future Problem?

Is this a potential problem for the future? Are we all moving so fast that we’re skipping the learning opportunities and digging ourselves deeper into our present reality? Are we taking enough time to reflect on what’s going on? Are we present?

Self-Check

So, next time you hear yourself say ‘I Get It’, take a moment and check it. Do you really? Or are you merely fobbing off a potential opportunity to engage and learn?