Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work, and Never Get Stuck

Choose your attitude every day until eventually it chooses you right back.

I like being a beginner. I like the moment where I look at everyone and say, “I have no idea how to do this, let’s figure it out.

great lives are very rarely created in great comfort.

You know who we should fire, that guy who keeps learning how to do his job even better,” said no one ever.

Hustle tries. Then it fails. Then it tries again, because of grit, which is simply being brave when you don’t feel like being brave.

I’m with you, networking is miserable. Whenever I find myself at a dinner party where people are networking I immediately focus on the dog, and if the host doesn’t have one, I focus on persuading them to get a dog.

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past. —STEVE GARGUILO

Want a better job right this second? Choose your attitude and adjust your expectations.

Complacency is a slow gas leak, not a bomb blast. Like being robbed by a thief in the night who only steals a penny at a time, we awake to find the days have all gone somewhere. Things

Misery loves company, but company often multiplies your misery.

Right now, 80 percent of employers Google you before they bring you in for an interview.

The other problem with learning a new skill is that it takes forever. How long is forever exactly? Longer than you thought.

Sometimes, people who hate on your dream aren’t really mad about your dream. They’re mad because you’re making them jealous.

You’ve got to be flexible with your dream because it might not exist yet. ■

Life is dreamed in big leaps and revealed in small steps.

Real-World Example = Don’t constantly complain about the work conditions. (It’s too bright, it’s too dark, it’s too cold, I wish it smelled more like cinnamon.) A simple rule of thumb to remember is, “Unless there’s a live cobra in the office, I’ll be all right.

The only reason cavemen painted on walls was they didn’t have note cards.

Ever feel like you don’t know exactly what you want to do with your life? Know who else feels that way? Everyone. We

The ceiling is actually the jungle that keeps most people away from the hidden treasure. And if you’re ready to work on the skills category of your Career Savings Account, this is a tremendous gift. Author Seth Godin calls it the “Dip.” He says, “The Dip is the set of artificial screens set up to keep people like you out. If you took organic chemistry in college, you’ve experienced the Dip. Academia doesn’t want too many unmotivated people to attempt medical school, so they set up a screen. Organic chemistry is the killer class, the screen that separates the doctors from the psychologists. If you can’t handle organic chemistry, well, then you can’t go to med school.

We—not our company—are responsible for our attitudes. What happens each day at work doesn’t get to determine my attitude, I do. Attitude is a decision. And it’s a decision we have to make every day, sometimes every hour if that particular day is especially whack.

bags of lightly salted death raining down on your face.

Real-World Example = Don’t schedule meetings that demand high creativity on Friday afternoon at 4:00 P.M. People are creatively empty then and their ideas will be too.

It is seldom indeed that one parts on good terms, because if one were on good terms one would not part. —MARCEL PROUST

When a stranger criticizes your entire life because of one thing you posted on Facebook, that’s like someone driving by your house and yelling from his car, “Your yard is horrible, I bet your heart is too!

Chances are, no one is trying to kill you at your current job. If they are, please read a book on Krav Maga, not this one.

your willingness to discipline one part of your life creates freedom in another.