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Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks Build an Incredible Career
(99u #2)
by
Success isn't about being the best. It's about always getting better.
Can you step outside your comfort zone? Bounce back from failure? Build new skills? Tapping into your true potential is no idle endeavor. It demands creativity, dedication, and a whole lot of hustle.
With wisdom from 21 leading creative minds, 99U's Maximize Your Potential will show you how to generate new ...more
Can you step outside your comfort zone? Bounce back from failure? Build new skills? Tapping into your true potential is no idle endeavor. It demands creativity, dedication, and a whole lot of hustle.
With wisdom from 21 leading creative minds, 99U's Maximize Your Potential will show you how to generate new ...more
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Paperback, 272 pages
Published
September 24th 2013
by Amazon Publishing
(first published January 1st 2013)
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Start your review of Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks Build an Incredible Career

Maximize Your Potential is a shallow collection of short essays written by some experts and mostly psuedo-experts citing case studies and unsourced "studies show" to make a case for its many obvious claims. The book is dedicated to "those who strive". I'd argue those people, with whom I identify, are disappointed by the content in this book. With advice like be the better you and cultivate your luck quotient, how could we not be?
So as not to be completely derisive, I will point out a couple hig ...more
So as not to be completely derisive, I will point out a couple hig ...more

Overall, this 99U book is a good read. It is what I like to call a "cocktail" of modern career advice. If you aren't following a lot of the Tim Ferriss' of the personal development era, then these collections of essays will be very rewarding.
While each essay holds up well, if you are familiar with a lot of these writers, then you might not get as much excitement from the material. But that isn't to say it isn't worth the read. Given its length, it's still worth reading and having that informati ...more
While each essay holds up well, if you are familiar with a lot of these writers, then you might not get as much excitement from the material. But that isn't to say it isn't worth the read. Given its length, it's still worth reading and having that informati ...more

At first I was a bit disappointed because the first part sounds somewhat darwinistic. Adapt. Survive. Come out on top. Uhm ok. But the second and third part really made up for that. There were some very interesting points about learning, how journaling can help with your progress and about the social side of working on projects with people you barely know. So that was really cool! The last part was underwhelming again, basically more of the good old ‘learn from your mistakes’ and ‘it’s never as
...more

Oct 14, 2018
Anastasiya Mozgovaya
added it
useful when both your mind & life are a mess :)

WoW! So much to learn from this book. The second in series and an incredible sequel of Manage your day-to-day (link http://amzn.to/2lkpOXe )
Seriously, there're no words enough to explain the greatness of this book, a fabulous compilation of stories, lessons and teachings of some rare and successful persons.
Why just four stars?
Simply, bcoz earlier one was beyond my expectations and this one is some what repetition and extension of earlier book.
I honestly recommend you to read. If not, then ...more
Seriously, there're no words enough to explain the greatness of this book, a fabulous compilation of stories, lessons and teachings of some rare and successful persons.
Why just four stars?
Simply, bcoz earlier one was beyond my expectations and this one is some what repetition and extension of earlier book.
I honestly recommend you to read. If not, then ...more

While the tips in this book are new enough to the business world to avoid being cliche, there are still very few concrete and actionable tips for an ordinary individual to use. For instance, what does "accept uncertainty" mean in a person's career? How do you put that into practice. This book, like many other self-help books, fails in that regard. A few of the contributors did offer helpful and practical advice though, so the book wasn't a total bust.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this bo ...more
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this bo ...more

Jan 28, 2014
Paul Deveaux
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
productivity,
business
Decent book. This is a collection of essays on four major themes to maximize your potential. If you are at all following any online gurus on productivity, creativity, and the like, you will hear several familiar voices here. Lots of great insights but not necessarily a cohesive tome. There is not a through line or a thesis here that is easily apparent. This book is best read an essay at at time, leaving space for reflection and adjustment before moving on to the next. Not a bad book but easily n
...more

Good read. 3 stars.
Few years back I had read ‘Manage Your Day-to-Day’ from the same author and benefited immensely from it. I found this book ‘Maximize Your Potential’ also equally useful. It starts with a brilliant article from Cal Newport on ‘cultivating your craft before your passion’, follows up with extremely useful insights on how to cultivate mindset of getting better, how to build mastery through rituals, how writing journals will help and how to make purposeful bets in an uncertain worl ...more
Few years back I had read ‘Manage Your Day-to-Day’ from the same author and benefited immensely from it. I found this book ‘Maximize Your Potential’ also equally useful. It starts with a brilliant article from Cal Newport on ‘cultivating your craft before your passion’, follows up with extremely useful insights on how to cultivate mindset of getting better, how to build mastery through rituals, how writing journals will help and how to make purposeful bets in an uncertain worl ...more

“With focus and consistency you can change your habits. By changing your habits, you reprogram the behaviors that control most of your life and ultimately determine your success.”
I actually enjoyed this book way more than the first one!
It was full of great advices, examples and questions that you need to constantly keep in mind. I think that's why I am into self-help books, because you need to keep hearing the same advice over and over. Habits aren't created in one day, you constantly need to s ...more
I actually enjoyed this book way more than the first one!
It was full of great advices, examples and questions that you need to constantly keep in mind. I think that's why I am into self-help books, because you need to keep hearing the same advice over and over. Habits aren't created in one day, you constantly need to s ...more

The first book of Maximize Your potential was more impressive for reading, however a lot of inspiration and bright ideas could be found in this book as well. I would imagine that in various stages of my live the book gives me different information and different insights of my life attitude.
Book highlights/extracts:
The possibilities are infinite. But so, too, are the responsibilities. Having that abilitiy brings the lead of your own development on to you, do not wait for the manager,that would gu ...more
Book highlights/extracts:
The possibilities are infinite. But so, too, are the responsibilities. Having that abilitiy brings the lead of your own development on to you, do not wait for the manager,that would gu ...more

Reading 99U books (there are 3 of them so far) is like going to a creative conference inside a book. There are carefully selected speakers with different background and expertise, talks are short and right to the point. There are talks that are relevant to you, and also there are ones that are not so. But overall, there are always things you can take away, you want to jot down to your notebook (or underline in the book).
And, just like 99U conference, talks are not superficial motivational BS. T ...more
And, just like 99U conference, talks are not superficial motivational BS. T ...more

It was a book which attracted me to read it just by it's title. It is collection of essays over four broad topics which relate to the everyday challenges faced by a person in the course of his/her career. The advice and the takeaways here are practical and can be easily be imbued in one's profession. It made me more aware and leads to the empowered thinking that one's career is the result of not only continuous skill improvement and building but also being more self aware, learning from failures
...more

Extremely useful. This book, along with the first in the series - "Manage Your Day-to-Day" - is a well-selected set of short articles from a wide range of productive, creative people.
It's a short, engaging, interesting read that delivers very valuable, practical wisdom. ...more
It's a short, engaging, interesting read that delivers very valuable, practical wisdom. ...more

If you can get past the terrible foreword (which makes it sound as if the book was written for entitled pricks), this is actually a great list of thoughts and action items on various important topics for someone's career.
...more


This was a quick and fairly useful book. There are several useful practical steps and insightful ideas presented.
The structure of the book was problematic because the chapters were so short and always ended with a short description about the author and their work. It seemed like having commercials in between each of the lessons. The overall effect was that the 'story' of the book was disrupted and it seemed like small sound bites of information from different people rather than a coherent and c ...more
The structure of the book was problematic because the chapters were so short and always ended with a short description about the author and their work. It seemed like having commercials in between each of the lessons. The overall effect was that the 'story' of the book was disrupted and it seemed like small sound bites of information from different people rather than a coherent and c ...more

This is an incredible book, and by far one of my favorite and most useful books on my bookshelf. To first give context, this book is a series of short essays by 21 different thought leaders. The essays are organized by the topic of professional advice: 1. creating opportunities, 2. building expertise, 3. cultivating relationships, and 4. taking risks. This makes it especially useful and unique because you get such a diverse range of advice, research, case studies, and storytelling that very effe
...more

Don’t be good
Good, better, best. Growth mindset. Continuous personal development.
Your yesterday work is your comparison. Not other people. Your qualities are not innate, don’t get held up on validation or praise.
Collaborate and countinually improve.
Learn new things, collaborate with others different to you, stay creative.
Don’t live in a vacuum.
Don’t let failure hold you back, let it push you forward.
Be bold, be fearless take risks.
Rest, set time limited work, it will make you more motivated to w ...more
Good, better, best. Growth mindset. Continuous personal development.
Your yesterday work is your comparison. Not other people. Your qualities are not innate, don’t get held up on validation or praise.
Collaborate and countinually improve.
Learn new things, collaborate with others different to you, stay creative.
Don’t live in a vacuum.
Don’t let failure hold you back, let it push you forward.
Be bold, be fearless take risks.
Rest, set time limited work, it will make you more motivated to w ...more

Highly recommended.
At first I thought this book was primary for very creative people/ people working in creative positions.
But I found out that everybody can use the book.
As long as you don't think everything in your professional career and in your personal life is perfect.
If you think there is always room for improvement, this book can most likely help you.
4 topics in the book:
1: Creating opportunities
2: Building experience
3: Cultivating relationships (e.g. why you should build a great net ...more
At first I thought this book was primary for very creative people/ people working in creative positions.
But I found out that everybody can use the book.
As long as you don't think everything in your professional career and in your personal life is perfect.
If you think there is always room for improvement, this book can most likely help you.
4 topics in the book:
1: Creating opportunities
2: Building experience
3: Cultivating relationships (e.g. why you should build a great net ...more

regardless of the disconnection with most of the responses, i enjoyed reading the q&a’s more than the essays themselves. most of the essays were written in a ‘matter of fact’ style—like many self-help books—insinuating there are only a number of ways to achieve. more often than not, the author shares their knowledge in a manner that does not only not offer room for contemplation, but dampens the reader’s instinct to reflect and question, and to process and arrive to a conclusion.
my favourite bit ...more
my favourite bit ...more

What can I say, the paradigm so matches with me. And it does introduce some new things to me such as writing a journal everyday.
And I would like to stress this mindset which I could not agree more:
"Finished ought to be an f-word for all of us. We are all works in progress. Each day presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, be more, and grow more. Keeping yourself in “permanent beta” makes you acknowledge that you have bugs, that there’s more testing to do on yourself, and that you will con ...more
And I would like to stress this mindset which I could not agree more:
"Finished ought to be an f-word for all of us. We are all works in progress. Each day presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, be more, and grow more. Keeping yourself in “permanent beta” makes you acknowledge that you have bugs, that there’s more testing to do on yourself, and that you will con ...more

The 99U series is just so good!
Really a recommendation for everyone growing in the creative field.
I think it is always super valuable to read about thoughts, views, learnings of others. Some insights will blow your mind and others won’t. Some will resonate deep within you, others won’t, but it is still worth the read. The point is they challenge you to think. Does this makes sense to you? If not, is there maybe an other underlying message that does? Why do you agree, why not? The art is to open ...more
Really a recommendation for everyone growing in the creative field.
I think it is always super valuable to read about thoughts, views, learnings of others. Some insights will blow your mind and others won’t. Some will resonate deep within you, others won’t, but it is still worth the read. The point is they challenge you to think. Does this makes sense to you? If not, is there maybe an other underlying message that does? Why do you agree, why not? The art is to open ...more

The book is a collection of essays grouped into four categories: opportunities, expertise, relationships, and risks. Since the essays are short, most lack examples and depth that would provide insights to the reader. For example, one essay states that in this age of flux, the most important skill is the ability to get new skills. Obviously, being a quick learner is a valuable trait to have. However, suggesting that you try more things, particularly outside of your usual experiences, is not very
...more

There're several valuable points to learn from the book, but they don't go into detail so basically, don't expect much! This book is suitable for someone who's at the beginning of a career and want to have a good glimpse of planing his/her career journey. I am absolutely in love with the author's writing but the book is rather too shallow in general.
Tóm tắt sách tiếng Việt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cMKr... ...more
Tóm tắt sách tiếng Việt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cMKr... ...more

Solid advice on career building, self improvement (with the help of peer groups), risk taking and cultivating creativity. The used blog/interview format I found very easy to follow and the advice comes from true life experts (who accomplished what they teach you).
I will reread this one, just as I did with the first book in the series Manage your Day-to-day.
I will reread this one, just as I did with the first book in the series Manage your Day-to-day.

This is a great book for anyone out there that wants to build a strong career for themselves. It is full of great tips, advice, and research from all kinds of successful people in a wide range of fields. I would highly recommend, especially if you are someone who maybe fells lost or is doubting their ability to create something successful for themselves.

Neither was it a groundbreaking, nor thought-provoking book to me. If you read business related articles and/or books, you would have already encountered some of, if not all, the ideas this book tries to convey to its readers. Henceforward, I would suggest a potential reader to invest their time into a book that may provide more contemporary and unique ideas than this book does.
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Goodreads Librari...: Request for New Book Addition/Merging? | 3 | 18 | Aug 08, 2013 10:04AM |
Jocelyn K. Glei is a writer who's obsessed with how we can find more creativity and meaning in our daily work. Her latest book, Unsubscribe, is a modern guide to killing email anxiety, avoiding distraction, and getting real work done. Her previous works include Manage Your Day-to-Day, Maximize Your Potential, and Make Your Mark, which offer pragmatic, actionable advice for creatives on managing th
...more
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“Studies consistently show that when we look back on our lives the most common regrets are not the risks we took, but the ones we didn’t. Of the many regrets people describe, regrets of inaction outnumber those of action by nearly two to one. Some of the most common include not pursuing more education, not being more assertive, and failing to seize the moment. When people reflect later in life, it is the things they did not do that generate the greatest despair.”
—
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“Nothing truly innovative, nothing that has advanced art, business, design, or humanity, was ever created in the face of genuine certainty or perfect information. Because the only way to be certain before you begin is if the thing you seek to do has already been done. In which case, you’re no longer creating, you’re replicating. And that’s not why we’re here.”
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