Thoughts on Seth Godin’s “It’s Your Turn”

Its Your Turn is the perfect “dip in and out” book. Its format is a series of thought-provoking statements and mini-essays, accompanied by some great graphic design, on topics that feature in lots of his other books (marketing, mindset, failure, being an impresario) and also throws in more thoughts on education and it’s role in how we see ourselves and the world.

It’s a book “designed to be shared” and I shared my extra copy with a friend who knew who Seth was but had never really read his work. He got totally sucked in from the intro:

“This is a book about opportunity. The opportunity to take your turn and to make a difference. The opportunity to contribute, to lead and to live your life fully.

The thing is, there’s no easy way to do this. No simple way to quiet the noise in your head, no proven method to earn the respect and applause of your family and friends, no guaranteed approach that’s going to insulate you from heartache.

This might not work.

It might not be fun.

I hope you’ll do it anyway.”

I mean, that's a hell of a way to get people fired up to read your work!

There are a TON of takeaways from this book, but for me, the part on gift-giving really sank in. “The best gift is accompanied by, ‘here, I made this. Do with is as you will…It’s not your turn to win, or your turn to be picked, or even your turn to be guaranteed gratitude…Its merely your turn to give a gift.”

That's huge. The moment that this happens you go from finite to infinite, you stop waiting and start leaping. It’s not easy to think this way, and gifts come in myriad forms. We are mostly conditioned to treat gifts as being reciprocal in value, that if I give you X, I expect something of the value of X in return. This book asks us to give, and stop right there. Don’t overthink it, don’t wonder what happens next, don’t think about what you get or if it was received the way you wanted it to be. You act of generosity in the giving has marked a moment in time for both you and the receiver, a moment where a choice, was made and lives were changed, even in some small way.

As a parting quote, and to mirror the opening, I loved when he tells us that “The need to be recognized as the winner destroys your ability to take your turn, because taking your turn requires you to be willing to not win”. So powerful. (Also reminded me of Kafkas “Before The Law”.)

Its Your Turn. Go go go!