August is not yet over but i am done with my August book! Yey!
The book for the month is Fish Omnibus by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen. This book is actually three books in one. The original Fish! followed by its sequels Fish Tales and Fish Sticks.
The book Fish! introduces the Fish! Philosophy while Fish Tales is about sample stories applying Fish! Philosophy. The last book is how to continue applying the Fish! Philosophy.
After reading several self-help books for the year, the stories starts to become a touchy-feelly Rah! Rah! Rah! kind of a thing. You know the idea. Same feeling you get when you join a team building and you get all hyped up a few days after attending it. Nevertheless, the first book is a good read. It talks about how to make work a fun thing to do.
Fish Philosophy
Here are the four principles as defined in the book
Be There: When people need you, they need all of you. Setting aside distractions and judgments to be mentally and emotionally present is a sign of respect. It improves communication and strengthens relationships.
Play: You can be serious about your work without taking yourself so seriously. Play is a mindset more than a specific activity. It allows you to throw yourself with enthusiasm and creativity into whatever you are doing, in a way that is natural, not forced. "Playing” with ideas helps you find solutions to everyday challenges.
Make Their Day: Simple gestures of thoughtfulness, thanks and recognition make people feel appreciated and valued. When you make someone else feel good, you feel good too.
Choose Your Attitude: To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. When you get up, decide who you want to "be" today. Moment-to-moment awareness is key. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?"
All the principles are true and doable. Among the principles, i want to work on Make Their Day! attitude. Looking back on my current activity, i have not put so much effort in attending to my clients that they will be in a position to say that i made their day. Sure, i deliver a quality work. However, i need to push more in the level of delivering beyond expectations.
So that's it. This will be a short post as the book is short as well. Technically, i am done with my September and October book since the book is really 3 in 1. Nevertheless, i want to read more so will search for books for the Ber months.
"Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out" - Anonymous
