“This book is for anyone who is tired of watching their resolutions go by the wayside year after year.” – Mike Vardy
So, it is the New Year. 2013. Time for all of us (myself included) to make those life changes or start those new projects.
Back in July of 2012, I took a 9 hour train ride from Vancouver down to Portland for the World Domination Summit, and on that same train was a guy named Mike Vardy. That same Mike Vardy has just released a book titled The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want, which is available on Amazon or in other formats through his site.
Disclosure: On that same train ride, Mike and I had lunch, including a delicious Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, though we each paid for our own. He also hooked me up with a review copy of this book.
The Front Nine is not about going paperless specifically, but it is about starting the project or change that you want to start now, and not waiting for some arbitrary date[1]. No matter how “behind” you feel you are, it is not too late.
The Structure
The Front Nine is split into three sections that a project goes through:
- The Drive: Where you start off, usually full of excitement and super ambitious.
- The Fairway: For fine-tuning.
- The Green: Reflect on what you’ve done, and look at where you’re going.
What Is This Club Thing For?
As the name of the book implies, The Front Nine uses a golf theme pretty heavily. Despite the fact that I live a 7 minute walk from a golf course, I know very little about the game. Other than being destroyed by my kids in mini golf (those cheaters), I have not played a round in my life.
My complete golf idiocy now established, I didn’t find the theme too distracting. If you are not a golfer, just focus on the message.
The Content
As I mentioned before, the book is sequentially structured and has a good framework for how you should think about a new project or life change.
Some personal highlights:
The Drive section has really good advice about getting started with a project and that balance between rushing into a project and never actually starting.
The Fairway section is all about how to deal with hazards and exploring. I appreciated the section “The Problem With Choice”, because it is such a big problem when you are trying to go paperless, and something I have struggled with in creating the Paperless Action Plan. What do you do when the number of good options is the thing that is holding you back?
The Green has some great advice about attaching meaning to your changes and making adjustments once you have things humming. While I am usually all about jumping in to a project with technology a-blazing, I have found that defining the ways that a project has significance to me can make a big difference between success and failure.
Is It A Hole In One?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. That’s the only golf reference I know.
I really like the book. I’ve done a runthrough while in a chocolate and leftse post-Christmas haze, but I am going to go back and give it another read and use the book as a framework for my 2013 projects.
And if I don’t start some of them until later on in the year? Not a problem.
The book is $4.99 on Amazon, and is a good read if you struggle with getting started on projects and seeing them through.
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Like, you know, New Years. ↩