Flex: Do Something Different - by Ben Fletcher and Karen Pine
ISBN: 1907396543Date read: 2014-09-15
How strongly I recommend it: 0/10
(See my list of 360+ books, for more.)
Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.
I give the basic idea a 9-out-of-10 rating: that we shouldn't declare and hold to a personality type (“I'm an introvert! I'm adventurous!”), but rather should adapt to the situation. Halfway through the book I gave up because I got the idea and didn't like the writing style.
my notes
Personalities fit into certain categories: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism and openness to experience.
Why people should become imprisoned by the category they were assigned to?
Behave in the best and most appropriate way as required by the situation.
Have a fluid and flexible personality that could flex according to need.
The more fixed a person’s personality is, the harder they’ll find it to adapt to the new. The more vulnerable they will be to stress.
Our past habits, which make up our personality, hijack our ability to exercise free will or act differently. They inhibit awareness.
Having a definite personality has some advantages: We like to be seen to be consistent. It becomes our personal trademark. It is also highly energy-efficient.
Our success in life will depend on the capacity to be different people.
We use only a fraction of our potential personality.
We have a toolkit full of useful behaviours, yet repeatedly pull out the same one.
Solutions do not come from an analysis of the past.
My parents’ preoccupation with the toils of daily living meant they left me to work out for myself how to shape a life. I had to be totally self-led and self-sufficient. No one ever offered me advice or guidance, or said to me ‘do this’. I certainly became the architect and designer of my own life.