Thoughts on Seth Godin's "Linchpin"

What could possibly be said about Linchpin that hasn’t already been said?

In my humble opinion, if you could only read one Seth book, this would be it. Its *the* book on levelling up, being a leader, being an artist (even one that doesn’t paint :)), and on using your time on this earth to the best of you ability. It’s really not to be missed if you seek to change yourself, and your corner of the world.

As mentioned, there are a ton of summaries of Linchpin already. One of the key concepts in the book that I want to highlight is that of doing “emotional labour”. Seth didn’t coin the phrase but he grabs it and uses it as a lens to frame the work you do in the world, the value you seek to bring to others. Emotional labour is the hard work of creating art. Its the whole bag; creating a vision, taking action into the unknown on that vision, making choices when you know that “this might not work” and all the time knowing that *this* is the real work that you were meant to do.

The art of performing emotional labour can’t be taught. I can be understood intellectually (“Yep, I got it”) but until you are faced with circumstances that force you to dig deep, to care about what’s at stake, to care about the other person, to challenge yourself and stand up with confidence in the face of unknowns, emotional labour won’t make sense.

Its available to us all, and we can start small. We can spend time doing something in work that wasn’t expected of us and that might not have a lasting impact on your career prospects, but it mattered to you. We can decide to risk our time and energy by embarking on a career that makes a difference in peoples lives, but that on paper looks like a dead end. We can make something that “we like”, and not try to second guess what “they like”, and creatively live our lives in the service of what could be.

The Linchpin Manifesto is worth printing and sticking to the wall behind your desk. I did. Most of Seths work has a timeless quality, and this is the book that asks you to look at your innermost values and show them to the world, with the fear you feel in doing so, because we need them.