Lockdown diaries: Mini book review.4 mins read

It’s been a slow/rough/boring couple of weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused most of the world’s population to stay at home as a means of curbing its spread. Being a medical doctor, I fall into the category of ‘essential workers’ who ideally are the only ones permitted to leave home to work in these times. However, that hasn’t been the case as I was just about to start my service year when the lockdown started so I am at home like everyone else. I initially enjoyed the ‘break’ but even though I know it’s still necessary, I’m beginning to loathe it. As a result, I considered volunteering to work on the frontlines with other healthcare workers who are fighting this disease. As of the time of writing this, that hasn’t happened yet.

In the meantime, I have kept myself busy by following several tips that have been shared – it hasn’t been easy. I’ve started like 5 online courses and I’m just close to completing one. Some others have found success in this aspect though. One thing I’ve been able to achieve in the past week is reading two really awesome books. When I shared a section of the book on my WhatsApp, someone commented that I read really good books. My reply? – I have friends who recommend really good books. This is just a side note to emphasize the importance of those around you and the influence they can have. In this post, I’d be sharing lessons from both books and I hope you can get something positive too.

How will you measure your life? – Clayton Christessen

This book was recommended by Christian. We had a discussion on future prospects and all that adulting stuff and he encouraged me to read the book. Prior to that, I had heard about the book I just never got around to reading it. I’m glad that I created the time to eventually do so because it was worth it.

The book is divided into three parts – career, family and staying out of jail/maintaining your integrity. All the theories in the book were explained using various company stories and applying them to human lives. The part that resonated with me the most was the first part about finding happiness in a chosen career. Clayton talked about finding the balance between hygiene factors (compensation, job security, work conditions) and motivation factors (challenging work, responsibility, personal growth) in choosing a career. He also touched on deliberate (a well-laid plan for your career) and emergent (options that come along the way which weren’t planned for) strategies.

The most important lesson for me came early on in the book where he emphasized that there are no quick fixes to the hard problems we’d face in life. Another key thing was the mention of how having a clear purpose and strategy means nothing if you aren’t investing resources in that direction. This is an important thing to note because it’s often so easy to write out plans and create vision boards without actively working towards executing them. While it’s important to plan, it’s also necessary to take action and put in the work. One other thing that got me really excited as I finished the book is how Clayton expressed his deep faith without being overbearing.

“If you defer investing your time and energy until you see that you need to, chances are it will already be too late.” ― Clayton M. Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life? Share on X

Ego is the enemy – Ryan Holiday

I got plugged to this book by Tolani. To be honest, when I first saw the title I made a mental note that this book isn’t for me (because I am not egoistic. Haha). I still held this notion a chapter or two into the book and I even put it aside for some days as I felt I had confirmed that the book wasn’t for me. Thanks to not having much to do, I picked it up and I’m glad I did as I got to realise that the ‘ego’ being talked about is something common to all of us, even those of us who think we are meek.

This book was a perfect follow-up to Clayton’s book as it embodied similar principles about defining your own success rather than looking to others. It is also divided into three parts – aspiring, success and failure. The book started with how ego could prevent a person from doing the work required to achieve their goals. It then moved into the way ego can easily destroy a person’s hard-earned success if care isn’t taken. Finally, it closed with how ego can also be present in failure and make a bad situation worse. The use of various real-life examples to emphasize various points was great as it made the book more relatable.

By the end of the book, it was clear that I also had certain behaviours to modify to avoid my ego distracting me from the work I have to do. It’s so easy to think something doesn’t apply to us because we are ‘good’. If we can just take some time to look at those things, we’d realise that we can learn a thing or two from them. I hope to have this attitude going forward.

“Your potential, the absolute best you’re capable of—that’s the metric to measure yourself against... Winning is not enough... Anyone can win. But not everyone is the best possible version of themselves.”― Ryan Holiday, Ego is the… Share on X

Since reading these books, I have wondered how I can apply them to my life in this period and beyond. It’s tough right now because, lockdown, but I am ensuring that I imbibe the lessons learnt in my daily life.

Have you read any of these books before? What lessons did you glean from them? Share with me in the comment sections, and also drop some book recommendations you think I might enjoy. Thank you!

Sanitised hugs,

Sisikunmi.