Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Road Rules (are you the truck or the squirrel?)

Andrew Sherman recently released a book called “Road Rules:  Be the Truck.  Not the Squirrel.” which uses an interesting approach to explain some powerful business and relationship principles.  The book relates life concepts to driving rules, which I think are an excellent memory aid.road_rules

In the book, there are 12 “essential rules” to help you share the road of life.  This book is an easy read, as the material is relevant and the writing style is very engaging.  A lot of the advice is very common sense kinds of information, but the metaphors in the book provide new triggers and different perspective on when, why, and how to use certain techniques to better interact with the world.

Signs of life

Want a taste?  Well in the chapter “Pay Attention to the Road Signs of Life,” Sherman uses common road signs to take us through a number of critical skills.  Here are 2 examples from the chapter:

lane_ends  Pay careful attention to changes in your roadway of life that are truly inevitable.  You may be cruising along in your lane of choice, only to learn that you will be out of runway sooner than you expected.
caution Don’t speed past and endanger people working in teams when they are trying to be productive.  If you cannot add something to the process, do not interfere, impede, or endanger it.  Be respectful to those that are trying to make your pathway more passable.

Keeping it between the ditches

I liked the whole book, but there are a few chapters that really rang true for me.

  • The first is “Embrace Your Dashboard,” which is about determining the indicators, metrics, and “gauges” that will help you monitor your progress, live a more balanced life, and keep yourself on track.  There is some good advice in here.
  • The second is “Be Guided By Your Navigational System,” which is about planning your trip so you know where you want to go, being ready to take a detour if you get blocked, and listening to advice and feedback (like traffic reports).
  • The third is “Accidents Can Happen Even to the Best Drivers,” which provides tips to handle life when things don’t go your way.

In summary, this is a fun treatment of some serious content and is a good resource for honing your skills so you can be a better driver on the road of life.