Pick Yourself…why Seth Godin was dead right

One of the more influential blogs I’ve read was Seth Godin’s Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself. It was one of the factors in starting this website and continues to be a mantra that I share with anyone who’ll listen.More than a theory, this is a brilliant new way of thinking in a post-industrial age. Not many have taken this path.

There’s a simple reason it isn’t more popular. Most of us are frozen by, as Godin puts it, the cultural instinct to wait to get picked. Since the playground, we’ve waited to be picked. It started in the schoolyard but continued when we hoped a college would let us in, an employer would choose our resume, or a manager would select us for promotion. When we’re trained at such an early age, it is the most natural habit we could fall into.

But the world is changing. There are fewer gatekeepers and the ones that remain are gradually losing power. We’ve heard that you don’t need to blindly submit a manuscript to get published anymore and you no longer need to find a record company executive who loves your sound. It goes further than this, though. From Software as a Service to cloud storage, it has never been easier or cheaper to start a business and begin generating revenue. Anyone with a little creativity can pick themselves.

Problems waiting to be solved

There are a myriad of problems to be solved and a dire shortage of creative and hardworking people. Rather than wait for someone to decide you’re worthy, why not decide for yourself? Take responsibility for a need in your company or find a way to break free and be an entrepreneur.

As Seth Godin abruptly puts it, “No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself.“

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Christopher Taylor