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Getting vs. Taking

Written by: Seth Godin

Article Overview: Most people spend a lot of time to get an education. They wait for the teacher (hopefully a great one) to give them something of value.

Getting vs. Taking

Most people spend a lot of time to get an education.

They wait for the teacher (hopefully a great one) to give them something of value.

Many employees do the same thing at work. They wait for a boss (hopefully a great one) to give them responsibility or authority or experiences that add up to a career.

A few people, not many, but a few, take. They take the best education they can get, pushing teachers for more, finding things to do, exploring non-defined niches. They take more courses than the minimum, they invent new projects and they show up with questions.

A few people, not many, take opportunities at work. Marketers have the easiest time of this (sort of hard to commandeer the chain saw) but don't do it nearly as often as they should.

What have you taken today?

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Article Tags: best education, boss, experiences, marketers, new projects, niches



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Re: New Video - Should I Get A Job Or Start A Business? - Hi Evan, I was curious to know what you'd suggest and I think you gave excellent advice. Taking a year out to try and start your own business is a great idea. Taking a year out after college is a well established option so I guess it doesn't prejudice your chances of getting a job should you wish to do so later on; it probably improves your chances if you've been getting valuable experience of managing a business and of course, if all goes well, you won't need to find out. Definitely a video for my website. Thanks! David
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Re: Let Your Employees Nap At Work - Taking a nap in between working hours does help but however, I don't think a lot of companies will allow that. Mostly are related to safety concern. The place where I work at is definitely a no-no even though it is an office environment. But however, instead of a nap, will not allow the employees to engage in relaxing activities like reading the newspaper or even reading the news online, having a chit-chat at the pantry or even a simple dart game.
Re: How many vacation and sick days do you give yourself? - Taking sick days and vacation days are all a part of setting limits to allow you to stay in balance. If I find myself getting too heavily involved, the question I have to ask myself is "which tasks do I need to hand off, and to whom?" The problem with this "handoff" question is that it tends to be chunky. If you don't have any employees it can sometimes be hard to think who should get the task. But, if you think creatively it can be done.


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