Startacular: Training in the Art of Initiative

by Daniel Zoller

Master starting and you will be hard to stop.  That is the promise of  Startacular , a book with a singular becoming skilled at getting started, learning to take consistent, confident action. It's training in the art of initiative. You'll This "excellent, succinct and highly practical" guide teaches a specific system for building reliable initiative that you can apply to any task or goal.  Startacular  is the only book which teaches the act of getting started as a concrete skill.

Genres: Business

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Daniel Zoller is a professor of international business. He's also the author of Startacular: Training in the Art of Initiative, a book about the power of relentless starting. Daniel currently traffics in words and ideas from his home in Medellín, Colombia.

Reviews

[Antonia Scholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Startacular is a misleading title. When a friend of mine first recommended this book, I was thinking to myself - I start a new project every other week, the last thing I need is help starting more projects. But I decided to give it a shot and learned that this book isn't just about starting a new project, it's about starting what you're already working on again and again, every day. It's a book about pushing yourself to accomplish what you set out to do.

Now let me tell you what this book does NOT do. This book does not give you a blueprint for how to succeed on any one specific project. It also does not teach you how to manage multiple conflicting projects or find a work/life balance. It does not teach you how to maximize your creativity, organization, or people skills. Startacular teaches a single skill: how to get started consistently and make steady progress through steady effort.

This book forces you to take a long hard look at why you have not accomplished your goals. Then, through a combination of tough love, inspiration and practical tips, get you back on course for reaching those goals. It reminds you that the biggest hurdles to success are often your own disinterest, fear of failure and general laziness! It then goes on to give you practical advice for how to make initiative and action part of your everyday life.

Since reading Startacular, I have recommended it to a number of friends who are working on big projects but find themselves hitting a wall or losing steam. For myself, I plan on keeping Startacular on my short list of self-help reference guides that I pick up once a month to read a chapter or two. In fact, I challenge you to read more than two chapters without needing to put it down again because you're so eager to get back to work on one of your projects!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone is always telling me to start doing something: my parents regularly told me when I was young to start cleaning my room. My teachers in school told me to get started on an assignment, and my bosses today tell me to start on projects. Not to mention the pressure I put on myself to "start working out" and "start eating healthier".

It's interesting that we know "practice makes perfect" in everything else, but nobody has bothered to look at the components of actually starting. This book does just that. Sometimes my boss tells me to start something that I'm not motivated to do. Result: I procrastinate. But having a history and deeper tacit understanding of starting means that I'm less prone to put off tasks, and much more likely to begin (and complete) tasks.

I've read my share of self-help books, but nothing that looks at starting as a practice-able action. This is a solid book and one I regularly lend to friends who struggle simply to start.

[Todd Diemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Startacular brings to light the transformative power of initiative in a concise and readable book. Part One explains the full value of initiative and Part Two gives you the tools and insights needed to build it.

This book really helped me solidify my own path out of procrastination, and think it would have a similar effect on just about any other reader.

The material in Part Two was most useful in getting me on this path. Specifically, I liked and implemented the author's ideas about: logging your starts, creating a routine for starting, and focusing on starting "small actions". These three probably had the biggest net gain for me, and obviously each reader is likely to have their own set. In the end, this all led to a more productive self with the momentum to keep good things coming.

[Kelli]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11878771