Your next five moves
I had set out a goal of getting through quite a few books over this summer holiday. It’s been going quite slow and “Your Next Five Moves,” wasn’t originally on the list but I’m glad I came across it.
Masked as a book to master business strategy, it was far more than that. This was the perfect book to assess where you are at, your character and the trajectory you are on. It really pushes you to think of yourself and your desires in the absence of comparison, which is always present to distort our personal goals.
I am going to outline the three main lessons I have taken from this book, and urge any of you reading this to pick up a copy.
Ambition but lazy - These are people who have huge ambitions but don’t have the drive to put the work in to achieve these ambitions. The book makes it very clear what is required in these people, of which I would consider myself. “Either lower your expectations to match your work ethic or increase your work ethic to exceed your expectations.” It shouldn’t be seen as something negative if you don’t want to increase your level of work, this is after all your personal decision and if reducing your ambition will bring you contentment in life, then I back your decision. Personally, the dreams I have are ones I would like to chase, and so I need to come up with a way in which I can improve my work ethic to achieve them.
Envy - “a deadly sin that will make your life a living hell. These are people who think big and want to do something big, but they’re not willing to put in the work to earn it. They’ll cheat. They’ll throw you under the bus. They’re constantly looking for shortcuts. And if someone else has what they want, it eats away at their very soul.” I couldn’t agree with this more and this is definitely something I have seen during the last year in medicine and in previous work. In medicine it can be something as ridiculous as someone taking blood for the first time on placement meaning that someone else had to blow hot air into their day on placement. In banking it’s when your abilities start to exceed those of your colleagues and they begin to approach you in a patronising manner and strive to belittle you.
Studying the most important person, me - the book will teach you to listen to yourself and to what your true ambitions and desires are. To achieve, you must be able to listen to yourself, anything that doesn’t fit your purpose does not fit your life. Don’t blame others for anything, focus on yourself and what part you play, that’s your starting point.
These are some of my favourite points from the book, and I would strongly recommend reading it and taking your own lessons from it.
