Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
launched yesterday, Jan. 26, 2010. It’s quite a piece of work – and a great read if you haven’t read much of Seth before. I wrote a lengthy review of it earlier, but wanted to sum it up in a different way today. Linchpins, according to Seth, are not only those tiny pieces of cotter-pin that hold a machine together – they’re the critical and most important pin. Usually unnoticed until they fail, they make the rest of the machine, or in …

As the old saying goes, a chicken is involved in breakfast, a pig is committed to it. Commitment is something you don’t walk away from, at least not easily – like marriage, having children or giving up an addiction – like sugar, alcohol, tobacco, whatever.
A few weeks ago I committed to a new eating, exercising and health regime. I had to. I felt like I was dying. I had no energy, a deepening depression and constant pain. Today, after a month of giving up sodas, eating NO processed food …

You have a story. We all have stories. How well we tell those stories depends on how willing we are to experience them in our own lives. If you worry about what someone will think, or feel, or say…you pull back. You eliminate a feeling, or impression, or thought. You begin writing or speaking to appear stronger, better, smarter or whatever to the audience that you’re anticipating. You quit being authentic.
Far too many people believe that “being authentic” means someone who agrees with our viewpoint, but being authentic means being …