Working Out Loud – Part 1

An initial reading and response to John Stepper’s inspiring book

I’ve just finished my first reading of John Stepper’s inspiring book Working Out Loud, and I’m strongly motivated to write about it.

My initial reaction had been to write a “review”; to give you a succinct account of the key points of the book, to talk about the structure and content, and to try and summarise its impact upon me and my resultant learning.

However, immediately there are some problems with this approach:

1. I’m not the best book reviewer, and I wouldn’t be the first to review this book. If you want to know about the book there’s plenty of information already out there (see below), and so my contribution in that format would add little, and not be taken up by many.  It would be a one off account, which would appear, disappear and do next to nothing for me or anyone else.
2. A review seems to me against the spirit and intention of the book. John didn’t write it to get great reviews, he wrote it to get people to take steps towards a more fulfilling career and life.
3. Because of the above, I’d be putting my energy in the wrong place, and one amongst many of my personal challenges is to focus my energy in the right direction.

So I’m going to attempt something different.  I’m going to share my experiences of applying my understanding and learning from this great book.