What I learned from reading “Twelve and a Half” by Gary Vaynerchuk
I stumbled upon this book through social media, more in specific through reels on Instagram. It was the tagline “leveraging the emotional ingredients necessary for business success”, that got me hooked. As a coach, I am all in for anything emotions related, and also back in my finance years I was an advocate for bringing back the human into the workplace. (Often fell onto deaf ears, which I understand, but also made me sad and in the end contributed to my decision to go my own new path and do what aligns with my values.)
Not only easy to read, but also easy to understand. Gary is very direct in his explanations and doesn’t “fuss” around, if I may say so. Which led me to finish the book in about 3 days (or ~5 hours). Even though it fell apart, literally, because I got it second-hand, I devoured every page and I know I will come back to some of the points he makes. So it’s a keeper.
Let’s get into what I got out of this neat little book:
Be thoughtful and honest about missteps but don’t beat yourself up, there is still enough time to start afresh and reinvent yourself (especially according to nowadays life expectancy)
Turn up your strengths from great to supernova, you only need to be capable of your weaknesses
Regret is the ultimate pain. Use conviction, ambition, and tenacity to push your limits and take the leap
Insecurity leads to avoidance. People tend to be most avoidant of their own flaws. Get to know yourself, and learn what you are good and bad at. It basically just means acknowledging all parts of you.
Tenacity is not equal to burnout, it is more about truly enjoying the process which enables you to push through any challenges. If you base happiness on external validation, you will burn out.
To leave a positive legacy, you got to practice humility. You want the people who knew you the best, to think the best of you once you die.
If you look at a situation through the lens of pessimism you will always find a problem, if you look at it through optimism paired with kindness to yourself, you won’t make one wrong decision.
Be patient. You have more than enough time, don’t stress yourself out, and enjoy the process.
Take full accountability for everything. Because it means you can change it.
You can be kind and candid at the same time. If you are truly empathetic and understanding of the other person you will also be more curious about their situation. If you come at them with kindness, yet healthy and direct boundaries or directions, you create a safe and flourishing environment.
In conclusion, I think this book is valuable for anyone to read. If you are an employee working at a company, a manager, entrepreneur, CEO, hard-working stay-home mum or dad, or anyone interested to increase their understanding of emotional intelligence.
Emotions play a huge part in our day-to-day life, they make us who we are, and excluding them from how we work, does not make sense. Again, let’s bring back the human into the equation when it comes to work, and let’s acknowledge that we are not robots.
Did you read it? What did you take away from the book? Let me know in the comments below or send me a message.
NamaStay READING
JD
JD’s Rating: 8/10
