The Truth About You

When I read the description for this book, I rolled my eyes. When I opened up the first chapter and read that I needed to watch a 22 minute video as a companion to the book, I got frustrated. Lastly, when I read I should write down stuff in a notebook (provided within the book), I got mad.
Those are all things I typically don't do. However, for the sake of the review, I did them. The movie was decent, well shot and almost felt like a Nooma video sans Rob Bell. The notebook was a good idea, but for me a hard thing to really put into practice.
The book and the writing however, I couldn't put down! Marcus Buckingham is a winsome, amazingly articulate author. I was engrossed by his writing. I found myself agreeing with everything he said, saying out loud: "Yea, I feel that way!" or "Yea, I can't wait to do that!". This books purpose was singular: empower the reader to be a person who lives, breathes and works in their strengths. Marcus shares numerous lies that we believe about ourselves and others that cripple us from living and working in our strengths. We find ourselves asking why we do things more so than what are we doing. Marcus really nailed a gigantic reason why people hate their jobs. This book revolutionized my thought on how I design my day.
I think the biggest "take-away" for me is going to be building a team around me, who is strongest at my weakest, so then I can live in and through my strengths. There are times when I will have to do a weakness of mine during my day, yet if I have a team of people around me who can take that load, the more happy and the more successful I'll be. If you hate your job, or if you simply feel drained after work, I double dog dare you to pick this book up. Read it, see if you can see what your true weaknesses and strengths are and then see if you can build up the things that help you work on your strengths!
To conclude, I want to tantalize your brains with what Marcus calls "The best advice you'll ever get". Here are all five advice points:

1. Performance is always the point
2. Your strengths aren't what you're good at, and your weaknesses aren't what you're bad at.
3. When it comes to your job, the "What" always trumps the "Why" and the "Who"
4. You'll never find the perfect job
5. You'll never turn your weaknesses into strengths

You probably don't agree with all of them (or any of them) but that's OK because you'd have to read it to know what he means.