The Knot: Problems Can Be Solved

by Seth Godin

"This book will give you language for something you felt your whole life but couldn't quite articulate." —From the foreword by Mel Robbins, author of The Let Them Theory

You’re not stuck because the problem is too hard.
You’re stuck because something invisible is holding it in place.

Most persistent problems—at work, in organizations, and in our own lives—aren’t unsolvable. We’ve tried harder. We’ve optimized. We’ve worried about it.

And nothing changes.

This is the kind of stuckness that shows up for people who lead, create, and build—for those who care deeply, think clearly, and still find themselves going in circles.

Some challenges are situations outside our control, best met with acceptance. But others are real problems, capable of being changed. The trouble is, we often can’t tell the difference.

That’s because we’re entangled.

An entanglement is a hidden commitment that creates conflict beneath the surface: wanting progress without risk, change without loss, or forward motion without letting go of who we were—or who we promised to become. When we want two incompatible things at the same time, effort doesn’t help. We stay stuck.

In The Knot, Seth Godin offers a clear, practical framework:

How to tell the difference between problems you can solve and situations you need to accept
How to see systems, understand what people actually want, and create conditions for change rather than simply hoping for it
A practical guide to entanglements—time-based (sunk costs, premature optimization), social (phantom audiences, borrowed scorecards), and identity-based (who we were, who we promised to become)—each named, examined, and shown to be removable



The book leaves readers with a simple mantra for meaningful work:

Name the baggage.
Drop the baggage.
Ship the work.

If you’ve been pushing without progress, this book helps you see what’s really in the way—and finally remove it.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Business, Entrepreneurship

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 22, 2026

About the author

Seth W. Godin, also known as "F. X. Nine", is an American author and a former dot com business executive.

Reviews

[Laura (thenerdygnomelife) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Knot" is exactly what we've all come to expect from Seth Godin: personal wisdom that clarifies ideas that are deceptively simple yet often frustratingly elusive. In this case, Godin focuses on the fact that we all face “knots” in our lives. These are the tangled problems that look solvable but aren’t, or solvable problems that we treat like permanent fixtures. Through brief stories and reflections, Godin explores how we can tell the difference between what we can change and what we must accept.

This concept will be useful to many, especially those who have been feeling stuck or frustrated. The concepts themselves are simple — nothing earth‑shattering, especially for those who have already put in a lot of work on personal development — but in the right hands, they could bring about meaningful change. This isn’t my favorite Godin book, but it’s still a good book to keep on your shelf to hand to a colleague who’s stuck in exactly this dilemma.

Read this if you’re navigating workplace frustration, seeking clarity around decision‑making, or just want a quick, thoughtful read that doesn’t require a huge time commitment. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for honest review.

[EJ Foreman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Authors Equity, and Seth Godin for providing an ARC copy of The Knot in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been in marketing for nearly 20 years, and Seth Godin has been one of those authors I’ve returned to over and over again. His books have always been smart, sharp, and weirdly good at making you feel gently called out by a man who somehow knows exactly what business problem you’ve been avoiding. So I was very excited to get an early look at The Knot.

The core concept here is strong: some problems can be solved, some can’t, and a lot of our frustration comes from not knowing the difference. That idea feels classic Seth Godin in the best way. Simple on the surface, but immediately applicable to work, leadership, creativity, relationships, and the general human hobby of making things harder than they need to be. There are several meaningful insights in this book, especially in the first half, and I found myself highlighting moments that made me stop and think, “Well, unfortunately, yes.”

That said, the copy I read felt like a very early draft. The ideas are good. The general outline is good. The potential is absolutely there. But the most helpful pieces sometimes got buried under anecdotes and analogies, and after a while I found myself wanting the book to tighten its grip on the actual framework. I love a metaphor as much as the next chronically overthinking marketing person, but at a certain point I wanted fewer scenic routes and more map.

My biggest wish was for the book to end with a more practical guide to problem solving. The concept is useful, but I wanted more structure around how to apply it: questions to ask, steps to follow, ways to identify the knot, ways to untangle it, and ways to know when you’re trying to solve the wrong thing entirely. The insights are there, but they don’t always feel organized into the kind of tool I could immediately take into a meeting, a strategy session, or a messy personal decision and say, “Okay, here’s the method.”

What worked for me:
- The core concept is strong, clear, and very Seth Godin.
- The first half has several thoughtful, meaningful insights.
- The idea of separating solvable problems from unsolvable ones is genuinely useful.
- There are moments that feel immediately applicable to marketing, leadership, and creative work.
- The book has the bones of something that could become a really practical, memorable guide.

What didn’t fully work for me:
- The draft felt unfinished in places.
- The most useful insights sometimes got buried under too many anecdotes and analogies.
- I wanted a clearer, more actionable framework.
- The second half did not feel as strong or as focused as the first.
- I wanted the ending to tie everything together with a practical problem-solving guide.

Best for readers who like:
Business books
Problem solving
Leadership thinking
Marketing strategy

Who should read it:
Read this if you’re already a Seth Godin fan, if you enjoy business books that are more idea-driven than step-by-step, or if you like short reads that give you language for something you’ve probably felt but haven’t fully named. The Knot has a smart premise and some genuinely useful insights, but in the early draft I read, it still needed more tightening, clarity, and practical application to fully land for me. Three stars for a strong concept that I wanted to see pulled into a cleaner, more actionable shape.

[Viktor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the advance access to this audiobook by NetGalley and the publisher!

This book put words to things I often experience at work--and in my personal life--and it was a great reminder that our experiences are not unique, and frustrations abound in corporate life everywhere. It's a pretty concise exploration of how problems in life often fall into two categories: solvable and unsolvable, and a lot of friction we experience is in not knowing which is which or mistaking something unsolvable for something solvable, or vice versa. I wish there would've been a bit more discussion about how to find, investigate, and address the titular "knots" and although this book is already concise, I feel one more round of edits would've made it feel more cohesive.

This would be a good introduction for someone frustrated with work problems if a Six Sigma or other such similar assessment tool and/or training isn't available. It's more widely applicable to personal life as well, and I think it could be pretty widely readable by various audiences who could take a lesson or two from it. All for a few hours on audio, too!

[Ruslan Diachenko · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a complete disappointment. It felt chaotic, the sections were barely connected, almost like a collection of draft posts or random thoughts. There was no clear structure or logical progression. I read about 60% of it and skimmed the rest, hoping it would improve, but it never did. I got nothing from it. Skip it and save your time.

[Sheila The Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think there’s a really useful idea at the center of The Knot, especially for someone like me who works in talent and leadership development. The idea of figuring out what’s actually keeping us stuck, rather than just continuing to throw solutions at a problem, is something I can absolutely see myself using in my work.

But I kept waiting for the book to give me more of the “how.” It’s described as offering a practical framework, and for me it felt more like a concept supported by a lot of anecdotes. Some were really good, but after a while they started to feel repetitive. At about three-quarters of the way through the audiobook, I remember thinking, okay, but what do I actually DO with this?

Toward the end, Godin finally gives us some questions as a framework to help uncover what might be tying an organization in knots, and those were probably the most useful part of the book for me. I could absolutely see myself using some of those questions when working with leaders in my work as a consultant, trying to get to the root of a problem and then designing a solution around what we uncover. But if I had to build an entire workshop around problem solving and what gets in the way of it, this book alone wouldn’t give me enough to work with.

I’ll also admit that opening with a foreword from Mel Robbins made me a little skeptical because I’m not particularly drawn to her work. But overall, I’m glad I stuck with it. There are definitely some things here I can use. I just wanted it to go further than it did.

Basically a good idea and some useful takeaways, but for me, kind of a half-baked pretzel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Audio for the advanced audiobook ahead of publication date. All opinions are my own.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t find many new ideas in this book. It feels more like a collection of concepts borrowed from various self help books, repackaged and explained in different language. The case studies add some value by illustrating the ideas, but the core message often boils down to familiar advice: think outside the box.

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seth Godin is great, and I try to read as many books as possible. If you’re someone creating things because you love to create and/or are trying to start a business or side hustle, Seth Godin is the guy to go to. This book is all about solving problems, and it wasn’t his best, in my opinion. I still enjoyed reading it and got some value out of it, but I definitely enjoyed some of his other books much more.

[Jory Kunzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great piece to have in the toolkit for people in a middle management position. Book is short on time because it cuts out unnecessary fluff and helps the reader reframe their problem around the fact that there may be an unseen problem preventing it from being solved. Forces reader to look at the what's and whys of a problem and remove their ego from the equation to be successful. Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my review.

[Demetri Papadimitropoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pin May Not Be Yours to Pull
In “The Knot,” Seth Godin makes a persuasive case for questioning the obstacles we mistake for facts, then discovers that some knots are held fast by more than hesitation
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | August 27th, 2026

Difficult problems often advertise their difficulty. They arrive armored in precedent, procedure, money, hierarchy, habit, or the weary authority of “this is how things are done.” Seth Godin’s “The Knot: Problems Can Be Solved” begins from the suspicion that some of that armor is stage property. Its founding image is the Gordian knot. Everyone else sees intricacy; Alexander notices the pin around which the knot has been arranged. Remove it and the impossible object becomes merely rope. Godin’s gift is to catch an obstacle impersonating a fact.

Every useful provocation in “The Knot” has a trapdoor. Hidden pins are thrilling when they turn out to be optional. Rent is less cooperative. So are illness, institutional authority, a work schedule one cannot afford to challenge, or a system that can be understood perfectly well from below without becoming controllable from there. Godin spends much of the book asking whether we have called an unwillingness an impossibility. Near the end he has to make room for the opposite error: calling an impossibility an unwillingness. The correction does not spoil his argument. It tells us where the argument stops.

Most of his tools are distinctions that can survive contact with an ordinary Tuesday. A problem has a possible solution; a situation must be lived with, at least for now. A real constraint defines the field; a false one only impersonates necessity. “And” can mean accepting a cost, while “but” often exposes the wish for two outcomes that refuse to coexist. A proxy can keep rising while the purpose it supposedly measures quietly disappears. Planning can become camouflage if nothing ever ships. Godin wants these questions available when a meeting stalls, a project grows barnacles, or an old ambition begins charging rent. His deeper subject is not efficiency so much as the price of choosing: what has to be surrendered before movement becomes possible?

Examples barely get comfortable before another enters the room. Jackson Pollock becomes the artist who wants the frontier without losing the applause of the center, an elegant instance of the book’s recurring suspicion that many knots tighten around a second desire we would rather not name. Little League begins with play and community and learns to reward trophies, rankings, travel, and status instead. A hotel shampoo vial, nearly unreadable and comically hostile to wet hands, exists because the people who buy, stock, refill, and account for it are not rewarded for the same experience as the damp guest squinting at the label. Then Godin moves to drug-resistant tuberculosis. Manufacturers wait for committed buyers; governments wait for affordable drugs; health authorities fear misuse. Nobody needs to be stupid for the loop to become deadly.

The tuberculosis example shows what Godin means by practical empathy better than the phrase itself does. Jim Yong Kim does not begin by demanding that skeptical officials confess error. He helps create a certification arrangement that preserves the oversight they care about while giving governments and manufacturers reasons to act. Danny Meyer’s two restaurant stories make the inverse visible. Union Square Cafe helps reshape a dining culture because diners, journalists, competitors, and workers can gain something by joining it; Meyer’s no-tipping experiment struggles when experienced servers lose income or status and diners, price-comparison systems, and rival restaurants retain reasons to prefer the old arrangement. Change lasts when the people inside a system can enter the new one without first undergoing a personality transplant. That is a more interesting theory of persuasion than simply “change minds”: alter the conditions under which a choice makes sense. Donella H. Meadows’s “Thinking in Systems” supplies the fuller account of loops and systemic behavior. Godin gives us pocket tools.

Rhythm is one reason those tools stick. Godin favors short and medium declaratives, then snaps them shut with a fragment, a question, or a compact reversal. An example produces a distinction; the distinction leaves behind a phrase. His nouns are physical: knot, pin, rope, baggage, backpack, chain, road, edge, window. A sunk cost becomes something an earlier self packed for you. A theory of change becomes a chain one can tug until the loose assumption reveals itself. The prose rarely luxuriates. It moves, points, names, and gets out of the way.

In practice, that impatience with elaboration is often useful. Godin does not pad a good distinction with ceremonial caution. A metric that measures the wrong thing should lose its authority. A professional identity purchased at great cost need not dictate the next twenty years. An imagined audience is a poor editor. Waiting to feel like a writer is less useful than writing. His attack on false proxies feels especially sharp in a culture fond of follower counts, rankings, credentials, engagement dashboards, and other numbers that can make visibility look suspiciously like value. What, he keeps asking, does the system actually reward?

Pick the book up months later and the plot, such as it is, will matter less than those questions. What is this for? Who is it for? What change are we trying to make? Who needs to move, and what does that person stand to lose? What am I unwilling to give up? The appendix gathers them into a diagnostic checklist, but by then the book has already converted itself into one. You read “The Knot” in sequence. You remember it out of order.

At Part V, however, Godin begins loading more and more into the word entanglement: fear, status, loyalty, sunk costs, credentials, imagined critics, obsolete identities, future exhaustion, borrowed scorecards, competence anxiety. Several names are excellent. “Phantom audience” catches a particularly modern silliness: letting people who are not present, invested, or sometimes even real chair the meeting in one’s head. But a category can become too hospitable. If nearly every hesitation can move in, eventually the landlord has stopped checking references. The problem is not merely repetition; it is that the framework sometimes risks making different causes look like members of the same family because they share a vocabulary.

Pedagogy explains some of the crowding. Godin teaches by recurrence, returning to the same machinery under new disguises until the reader starts seeing the gears before he points to them. The method suits audio and interrupted reading, but it also develops a house rhythm. By the middle, one can sometimes hear the aphorism coming around the corner. Repetition is not itself the problem. The question is whether the next example changes the tool. If it only displays it again, the reader may already have got the point. A book about removing unnecessary baggage occasionally travels with one suitcase too many.

A hotel shampoo bottle and drug-resistant tuberculosis can both reveal systems whose participants are rewarded for locally sensible behavior. They do not, however, distribute power in remotely comparable ways. A hotel can order a different bottle. A patient cannot order a different health bureaucracy. Godin uses the same family of terms for career dissatisfaction, tipping, transit, hunger, climate, philanthropy, and institutional inertia, and the recurrence can be genuinely clarifying. But similar mechanisms do not create similar freedom to act. Naming the loop is the beginning of explanation, not its completion.

Donella H. Meadows helps clarify what Godin has chosen to trade away. He translates feedback loops, incentives, and systemic persistence into language a manager, creator, organizer, or restless professional can use without learning a technical vocabulary first. That is no small achievement; many readers will feel a system before they could ever diagram one. The short form, though, rarely gives a large example time to resist the language placed around it. Colonial history, unequal authority, institutional inertia, or economic dependence can be accurately named and still remain far too large to fit inside entanglement. Portability is a virtue until the suitcase starts pretending everything fits.

If clarity is Godin’s instrument, it can also flatter the hand holding it. A sharp label may expose an unnecessary obstacle. It may also make a necessary obstacle look newly negotiable because somebody has finally given it a satisfying name. Godin is strongest when a distinction improves the next question. He is less convincing when the distinction seems to answer it. The world does not become as manageable as the sentence describing it, however satisfying the sentence may be. Sometimes a pin is removable. Sometimes it is holding up the structure. The book’s intelligence lies partly in learning, late but decisively, to tell those cases apart.

Much of the book’s real pressure comes from what must be given up. Pollock cannot preserve both artistic risk and guaranteed approval. A professional may have to stop treating an expensive credential as a lifetime command. An organization cannot announce change while protecting every hierarchy and measurement that made the old arrangement comfortable. Even practical empathy asks for a small surrender: the pleasure of making somebody admit you were right before you agree to work with them. Godin’s treatment of sunk costs makes the point almost tenderly. A degree, reputation, or old competence came from a former self. It can be received as a gift rather than obeyed as an invoice. Change, in this book, is rarely costless; the cost is often the identity that made the old arrangement feel coherent.

In Oliver Burkeman’s “Four Thousand Weeks,” limitation arrives first: finite time, incomplete control, the impossibility of keeping every commitment. Godin comes toward the same border from the opposite direction. He worries about limits accepted too quickly. Burkeman distrusts mastery; Godin distrusts premature resignation. The disagreement is useful because both eventually ask what has to be relinquished. One strips away the fantasy that everything can be retained. The other wonders whether that fantasy is precisely what has tied the knot. Their difference keeps Godin honest: agency matters, but so does knowing when agency has become another fantasy of control.

The book’s eight-part sequence gives that argument a shape its tiny sections sometimes conceal. Godin moves from seeing the knot to understanding systems, finding the pin, designing around it, dropping baggage, shipping the work, watching change occur, and finally “Offering grace.” Plenty of individual fragments could trade places without anyone calling the police. The large movement could not. By postponing grace, Godin lets his language of agency gather considerable force before requiring it to answer a harder question: what happens when the reader sees everything clearly and still cannot move? The delay is both the source of the ending’s power and evidence that the correction was needed sooner.

Right near the end, the worker dependent on the institution, the patient without authority, and the person without enough money, time, safety, or standing enter the argument more fully. Sometimes the wall is real. Godin distinguishes “I won’t” from “I can’t right now,” and the distinction reaches backward through the book. The donkey stranded between carrots and water was useful only because the donkey had two reachable options and refused the cost of choosing. Apply the same metaphor to someone without viable options and it stops being bracing. It becomes blame.

Once Godin grants that possibility, some earlier sentences look a little too eager, and they should. “Offering grace” gains force because it comes late; it also reveals what the earlier chapters sometimes left underdescribed. Still, the self-correction matters. Godin spends hundreds of short pages asking what hidden assumption has been smuggled into the problem. Near the end, he finds one inside his own method: the assumption that seeing the knot necessarily means having the power to untie it. A lesser book might have protected its slogan. This one quietly limits it.

Power is where “The Knot” thins. It is not a sustained account of institutional history, economic dependence, or structural inequality, and some of its public examples ask more of its brisk method than that method can comfortably supply. Yet the late attention to leverage saves the book from a much uglier conclusion. Being stuck may mean protecting a status, identity, investment, or fear. It may also mean having no viable exit. The first condition calls for honesty about what one refuses to surrender. The second demands that we not convert another person’s lack of leverage into a moral failure. Those two diagnoses may sound adjacent in a compact framework; in a life, they are worlds apart.

On my scale, “The Knot” lands at 84/100, or 4/5 stars. Its best ideas alter what becomes visible: the proxy wearing the clothes of purpose, the status payment hidden inside a decision, the second desire quietly cancelling the first, the institution rewarding exactly the behavior everyone professes to dislike. The book does not explain every system it names, and its clean language occasionally makes rough realities look too cooperative. But it gives the reader better questions, then has the good sense to admit that better questions do not confer control. That is enough for substantial admiration, not surrender.

Under the opening knot sits a pin that everyone else mistakes for part of the puzzle. Godin teaches us to look at it before pulling harder. By the end, that image has become less triumphant and more useful. The pin may be extraneous. It may be structural. It may be reachable only from another side. Courage still matters, but it comes after the harder work of seeing what, exactly, is holding fast.

[Venky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inimitable feature binding every Seth Godin book is the unravelling of intractable problems using startlingly simple solutions and fundamental ideas. The Knot: problems can be solved (the knot) is no exception to the norm. There are numerous occasions in life where we find ourselves in a frustrating bind unable to decide amongst competing choices and contradictory alternatives. How do we then extricate ourselves from such entanglements?

Godin’s slim book (has there ever been a Godin book that is otherwise?) begins with a riveting story involving Alexander the Great (before he became great that is). Riding into a small city in Central Turkey, Alexander is intrigued by the sight of an ox tied to a post with a complicated knot. Apocrypha held that many tried, but in vain to untie the knot. Whoever succeeded would become great, according to a prevailing legend. Alexander approached the rope and completely ignoring the knot, pulled out a pin at the centre, and instantly understanding the entanglements. From then on, the matter of untying the knot became a rudimentary chore.

We also get entwined in many an entanglement in both our personal life and professional endeavours. We are unable to see the “pin” that has us trapped. The art of solving problems is more likely than not the art of seeing the obstacle. Paraphrasing Godin, “name the baggage, drop the baggage, ship the work.” Godin asserts that, more likely than not, while working with people, we tend to inherently get lured by two kinds of compromises, the compromise of commitment, and the compromise of average. While commitment forces us to concentrate on a core audience and solve issues, the endemic average seeks to convert people who are entrenched in the dogma of status quo. Average is ‘but’ masquerading as ‘and.’

When Jackson Pollock, after attaining great fame and fortune, experimented with a radically new technique, critics savaged him mercilessly. Pollock’s dilemma was trying to walk an impossible tightrope. Having found the right audience he wanted to both please them and make them converts to what he felt was a new and ingenious art form. This impasse led Pollock towards depression, substance abuse, and an absolutely untimely tragic death. “Every hour we spend fighting a situation we cannot change is an hour we’re not spending on a problem we can solve.”

The key according to Godin is to never let go of this tenet: We Live with Situations. We (Try to) Solve Problems. “Gravity is a situation. Flying to the moon is a problem.” There are a few guidelines to identify problems that are worth solving or addressing. In order for a problem to be amenable for solving:

It has to be about something that matters.
It clearly articulates a gap between the current state and the ideal state.
It contains variables that can be understood.
It remains neutral about cause and solution.
Is it small enough to tackle?
Recurring problems are often the outputs and outcomes of intransigent systems. Hiding behind the convenient veil of culture, systems usually develop strong and almost unshakeable roots to maintain a presence in perpetuity. Rewarding people maintaining such systems with status and affiliation, systems try to keep users at a predetermined state, a state in which “just doing the job” means a great deal, irrespective of the discomfort caused and injustice created in the process.

New frameworks need to be built if systems need to undergo a transformation. One innovative way lies in using the very system to change it! For example, Dunkerque metro in France made bus usage free for their approximately 200,000 inhabitants. Car ownership since then is down 10%, parking is no longer a headache, there is a thriving city centre and downtown. A plebiscite following the institution of this rule revealed that 99% of the population claimed that the free buses constituted the most important government service.

the knot is a timely help in a world offering a deluge of opportunities and choices on the one hand, while on the other constraining those very opportunities by incorporating systems that bind down users in a vice like grip putting paid to ingenuity, optimism, and inventiveness.

“The knot: problems can be solved”, by Seth Godin is published by Authors Equity and will be available on sale beginning September 22, 2026.

Thank You, Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy.

[Crystal Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is NOT my first Seth Godin book, and I think that's important to mention because I went into The Knot: Problems Can Be Solved already familiar with his work. Had this been my introduction to Seth Godin, though, I'm not sure I would have picked up another one of his books.

The premise of The Knot is actually a good one. We're often stuck because we haven't identified what's truly keeping us stuck. Godin makes a distinction between a problem that can potentially be solved and a situation that may simply need to be accepted. He also explores the systems, constraints, conflicting wants, and other "entanglements" that can keep us from moving forward. On paper, that sounds like exactly the kind of book I would enjoy. The publisher's description promises a book about identifying those hidden things, questioning false constraints, and creating the conditions for change.

Unfortunately, the execution did NOT work for me.

I spent a good portion of this book feeling like Seth was circling around the point he was trying to make rather than simply MAKING THE POINT. There were times when I could see where he was going and thought, "Okay, NOW we're getting somewhere," only to find myself following another example, metaphor, or explanation before finally arriving at an idea that could have been communicated much more clearly and directly.
That became incredibly frustrating, especially because this isn't a long book. At only 96 pages in the edition listed on NetGalley, I expected something concise and impactful.

The biggest disappointment was that there IS a worthwhile concept buried inside this book. Learning to ask whether you're dealing with a problem you can solve or a situation you need to accept is useful. So is looking beyond the obvious problem to determine whether something else is actually keeping you stuck. I just don't think those ideas needed this much circling around them.

I also found myself questioning whether I would have recognized this as Seth Godin's writing if his name hadn't been on the cover. Obviously, I have no basis to claim that he didn't write it, and I'm not suggesting otherwise. I'm saying that it didn't FEEL like the Seth Godin I've read before, and that was probably one of my biggest surprises.

I went looking through some of the other reviews after finishing because the overwhelmingly positive response genuinely made me wonder whether I had completely missed something. Interestingly, I found several other readers who struggled with some of the same things I did. One reviewer described the book as heavy on platitudes and metaphors but light on meaningful content, while another said the practical "how" was barely developed. Another reader who had enjoyed Godin's previous writing said this one felt like filler and didn't sound like his other books. That doesn't make my opinion more "right" than the readers who loved it, but it did confirm that I wasn't the only person having trouble connecting with the way these ideas were presented.

Ultimately, The Knot was a disappointing read for me. I didn't hate the underlying idea; in fact, I wish the book had spent more time developing it into something practical. I wanted clearer explanations, more actionable guidance, and a LOT less circling around concepts that could have been communicated much more directly.

I've read Seth Godin before, and I'll probably read him again, so one disappointing book isn't enough to make me write him off completely.

However, I can't personally recommend The Knot. Out of an entire book about solving problems and getting unstuck, I walked away feeling like there was very little I would actually use.

Maybe that's the irony here: I kept waiting for the book to untangle its own knot and just get to the point.

Thank you to NetGalley and Authors Equity for providing an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before the Appendices this book is 131 pages … total … and broken into 8 parts! Part 1 "The Knot" is 18 pages chopped into 14 sub-headlined "chapters." They’re not called chapters but … what else would we call them? Wonderfully Digestible Gulps? Let’s go with that! Part 2 "Stuck In Knots" is 17 pages, 6 WDGs. Part 3 "Find The Pin" 12 pages, 13 WDGs. The book is small! Stick it on your toilet. It opens with the wonderful riddle about Buridan’s Donkey who was hungry and thirsty and stuck standing between a pile of carrots and a bucket water and … due to analysis paralysis … he didn’t move towards either and ended up dying of hunger and thirst on the spot. In his usual concise and jab-you-in-the-ribs way, Seth writes: "We want to innovate without really changing anything. We want to move fast and still be certain we’ll get it right. We want to launch a business without risking our savings." We know this. We can’t do both … so we succeed at neither. A few pages later, he calls out actual examples of this "Donkey Trap" as he outs organizations who are "committed to innovation within our established best practices" or who "need to move fast on this rebrand but the stakes are high and we need to get it right." LOLOL. How is a guy who works from a studio (with a wonderful patina!) in the quiet New York City suburb of Hastings-On-Hudson so gifted at shining a spotlight on the corporate fog suffocating big companies? He’s so good. So good! Seth’s mind works so fast that sometimes it can be tough to follow along. He speaks in aphorisms, in metaphors, and says in one sentence what most people say in a page. So while this is a powerful book to help unlock tough problems it’s also … a bit of a sipper. For example, on Page 50 when he says "Three Words Extinguish Entanglements: Tell the Truth", that’s nice, but … hard, right? He keeps going: "How much time and effort can you expend on this problem? Say it out loud. A budget and a calendar." So obvious! But nobody does it. "Strip away the corporate talk, the mission statements, the fog of imprecision," Seth cajoles. We have to get good at seeing problems, naming them, and making a difference. The book closes with the wonderful story of a 79-year-old Maori leader Whina Cooper who led a 30-day march that grew to 5000 people over 700 miles to the capital to denounce the British land takeovers of New Zealand. What happened? Those who have been to New Zealand know the coasts are shared by all, the country has steered itself back from the colonizing forces. Seth closes wonderfully by streamlining himself into an Afterword called "Working with Problems," an Appendix called "The Questions," and a helpful Seth-interpretation "Glossary." Then he closes with "Unknotted, a Path for Changemakers" which I wanted to rip out of the book and stick on my wall. Seth is enlightened. He is wise. And in his latest offering he gives all of us the nudge, and the direction, we need right now. If you respond well to small business case studies, metaphorical motivation, and have had your brain addled enough by phones and social media that you want to read books but don’t want to read long books then this is perfect.

[Tej Dhawan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really eager to read this book and found it informational, well-in-line with other books by Seth Godin. The book derives from the author's deep experience and knowledge across multiple business and non-profit domains. The examples are plentiful and peppered throughout to break from lecture-like monotony and provide diverse perspectives - from tuberculosis treatment and eradication to food security, from building a fighter jet under a new paradigm to unseating restaurant tipping in the United States.

The book breaks down a project, an endeavor, a challenge into necessary components - naming the problem, identifying underlying systems, finding entanglements/challenges, embracing the constraints, acknowledging controlling factors (situations), speaking truth vs selling, sharing the strategy and theory of change, designing with intention and shipping the work. This is a good and time-tested methodology and the previously mentioned examples add color and depth. The chapters are easy to consume and written in plain, non-professorial language.

Two criticisms: first, I think the book seeks too much simplicity by leaning heavily into meme-worthy sentences. These 4–6-word aphorisms are interesting as callouts but disruptive when reading in book format. Perhaps the author/publisher intend to convert the book into Adam Grant-like memes, constantly posting on socials to drive the book but I found them disconcerting in my reading. Second, the number of industry examples and the constant back and forth between them results in reader whiplash. I struggled to keep track of the various examples and bit-sized case studies sprinkled throughout the book.

Finally, I think the questions at the end of the book are an excellent compilation of things to think about or do. I think their value could increase if the relevant questions were sprinkled throughout the book at the end of each chapter and also presented as a collection at the end.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This is just who i am"
"That might not be true; It might be that this is who you're comfortable being"

I have just started dabbling in self-help books, so this isn't my usual genre.

I thought The Knot (and Seth Godin) presented interesting perspectives. Things that might seem obvious, but that you may never have thought about in quite that way before.

I felt parts of The Knot were more business related, and as a 20-something in a corporate job, those parts didn't really connect to me. I don't see myself starting a business or selling products/services anytime soon, so those sections were less relevant. The parts that related more to identity on the other hand, really connected with me, and were my favorite parts of the book. The author gives helpful perspectives and steps to see problems from the outside and find the root.

"Switching careers at 40 feels like jumping off a cliff. Staying in a job that's quietly erroding your health and purpose, doesn't feel like anything, until it's too late"


I didn't know untill i heard this, that this is exactly something i needed to hear, and a perspective i needed to see. Listening to this self-help book didn't solve my problems and my indecisions, but it made me understand that I tend to live in the middle of a "donkey-problem" as the author calls it. The authors does a good job of tackling living by your past, and feeling like you cant change or chose a diffent future without betraying your former self, and at the same time forcing you to consider what your life will look like if you stay afraid of change.

"The past paid for options, it doesn't choose your future".

All in all I think The Knot did perhaps the most important thing a self-help book can do; it gave me something, and made me see myself and my problems from a from a new side.

[Book Bench · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some problems you solve and some you simply accept and learning to tell the difference changes everything downstream. The author builds that single distinction into a short framework about the hidden entanglements that keep people and projects stuck. I listened in one sitting and the brevity felt deliberate rather than skimpy for most of the ride. The opening framework genuinely rearranged how I look at a couple of long standing knots in my own professional life. There is a creative pleasure in watching a familiar frustration get renamed since a named problem behaves differently than a vague one. I also appreciated the permission baked into the premise because accepting an unsolvable problem frees up real energy for the solvable ones.

The second half stretches the central idea thinner than the first and a few chapters feel like echoes rather than additions. That leanness may actually suit the message since a book about untangling things probably should not tangle itself up in extra pages. The author writes with his usual clarity and the examples stay close to work and craft rather than drifting into abstraction. I finished it wanting to sit with my own list of knots for a quiet hour and sort them honestly. I have already used the solving versus accepting question twice in ordinary work conversations and watched the room relax both times. That kind of portability is the mark of an idea that has been properly distilled.

My husband got the short version over dinner and we spent a happy twenty minutes sorting household knots with it. I suspect I will be quoting the central distinction for years in rooms where it does not even belong. Brevity with substance is a gift and I received it that way. Short books that reorganize your thinking earn their shelf space and this one does exactly that.

[Ammon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seth Godin has written a daily blog post since January of 2002 and I’ve been reading it for at least the last 20 years. What I love most about his blog is how each post distills a truth into something small and digestible, whether he’s teaching marketing lessons through the Grateful Dead, ranting against bad PowerPoint design, or simply breaking down business, leadership, and technology in a way that even the densest among us can grasp.

I’ve backed several of Seth’s Kickstarter campaigns (he always over-delivers) and have read or listened to at least a ten of his books. I’ve rated all of them four stars or higher, and The Knot keeps that streak alive.

Like many of Godin’s books, The Knot feels like it could’ve started life as a series of blog posts. There’s a clear throughline to how the book builds and progresses, but I kept sensing that each chapter could easily have been broken into a handful of standalone posts. For some authors that would be a knock against the book. With Godin, I never felt shortchanged. He’s simply that insightful, and the ideas land whether they come in short, blog-sized chunks or full chapters.

I’m generally not a fan of authors narrating their own audiobooks, but Seth is an exception (alongside Malcolm Gladwell and a handful of others). It’s not that his voice is especially pleasant or that he delivers some dramatic, accent-filled performance. It’s that he’s a natural storyteller, and nobody tells his stories the way he does.

Text: 🪢🪢🪢🪢
Audio: 🪢🪢🪢🪢🪢
Overall: 🪢🪢🪢🪢.5

If business or self-help are among your favorite non-fiction genres, don’t hesitate to pick up The Knot.

Disclaimer: Received a free advance reader copy (ARC) from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by Seth Godin, and I now understand why he is such an admired thinker and author; his wisdom and insights truly shine through. The Knot is packed with thoughtful questions and guidance designed to help you examine, loosen, and ultimately unravel whatever “knot” you’re facing.

Godin doesn’t just offer a checklist of solutions. Instead, he asks the kinds of strategic questions that can shift the way you look at whatever you’re facing in the first place. And there are A LOT of questions. In fact, there are so many that the book includes an entire appendix devoted to them, which I actually loved.

I especially appreciated the discussion about figuring out whether you’re dealing with a problem or a situation. That distinction gave me a different lens for thinking about challenges. I also found the sections on entanglements and systems particularly illuminating and felt like they added another layer to how I can think about complicated dynamics.

There are also some great additions at the end of the book, including a glossary of terms and ideas and UnKnotted: A Path for Changemakers, which walks you through a series of questions to help apply the concepts.

There is honestly so much packed into this relatively short book that I finished it feeling like I had only scratched the surface. I can easily see myself reading it again, this time slowing down even more to really absorb and work through the questions.

Thought-provoking, insightful, and the kind of book that keeps working on your brain even after you’ve put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Authors Equity for the gifted copy.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up The Knot because I liked the idea that maybe we're not always stuck because the problem is too difficult—sometimes we're stuck because we're trying to solve the wrong problem altogether. That ended up being the biggest takeaway for me.

The concept behind this book is really interesting. It encourages you to step back and ask whether you're dealing with a problem that can actually be solved or a situation that simply needs to be accepted. That shift in thinking felt practical and made me stop to reflect on a few areas of my own life and work.

I also liked the idea of identifying the "knot" that's keeping you from moving forward. Sometimes it's an old commitment, unrealistic expectations, or simply trying to hold onto two things that can't exist at the same time. Those were the moments that stood out the most.

Where this lost me a little was that I wanted more direction. There are plenty of examples and stories throughout the book, but I kept waiting for a more structured framework that showed exactly how to apply these ideas. By the end, I understood the concepts, but I wasn't sure I had the practical tools to immediately put them into action.

Overall, I think this is a good read if you enjoy books that challenge the way you think about leadership, business, or personal growth. It isn't packed with step-by-step advice, but it does offer some thoughtful perspectives that will probably have you looking at your own "knots" a little differently.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Melanie Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure to listen to an advanced copy of Seth Godin’s "The Knot” before it becomes available to the public on September 22nd.

With an introduction from Mel Robbins (whom I love), I was very excited to see what I could learn.

"The Knot" looks at the problems that keep people stuck even when they are working hard and trying to make progress. Seth Godin calls these hidden conflicts “entanglements.” They can come from sunk costs, other people’s expectations, outdated identities, or the desire to change without accepting any risk or loss.
I liked the distinction between problems that can be solved and situations that need to be accepted. That sounds simple, but it is easy to waste time trying to fix something outside your control while avoiding the uncomfortable choice that could actually move you forward. My INTJ problem-solving and systems-oriented personality sometimes leave me frustrated because I want to fix everything I know how to fix. This book was a good reminder that sometimes you just have to let something play out because it isn’t something you have control over.

These two quotes really stood out to me:

"One thing at a time, and lots of things over time.”

"The mediocre compromise gives us something to do but not a way to succeed. This is the consensus trap, a path where we value unanimity more than impact.”

Anyway, it’s a great read if you have the chance.

[SD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is my 7th Seth Godin book, and perhaps the 12th or 13th I've read.  What I like most about his books is that I always come away inspired with ideas and steps to implement. Nothing feels out of reach or impossible.  I was particularly interested in this book. It felt like he was speaking directly to me. Beyond being narrated by the author. There are times when no matter how much you know, think you know, work, or ... you still get in your own way.  Take a few hours and allow yourself to be reminded and relearn how to be honest with yourself about what is stopping you from solving the problem, and move yourself towards "creating conditions for change rather than simply hoping for it". 

I came away with several nuggets to noodle on. Things that I will need to hold onto during the slower months.  If you remember nothing, remember how to name faux fear. It can hold you back more than anything, in my opinion. Secondly, remember to design your system, whatever it may be, with intention and practical empathy. I strongly recommend bookmarking the glossary as it has all the "good stuff" for you; if you're like me, you can quickly refer back to it and be back in the moment of impact the word or phrase had on you.

Upon completion, I found myself pulling out the older books - my favorite still is Purple Cow and thumbing through them, wondering why I hadn't returned to them sooner.  "Perfect is a process not a place"

Happy Reading!

[Takara Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of advance copy received from NetGalley

The Knot by Seth Godin was phenomenal. It put words to something I’ve experienced but haven’t always known how to explain: sometimes the hardest part of solving a problem is recognizing what’s actually keeping you stuck.

What stayed with me most was how clearly the book shows the cost of spending too much time trying to make a decision. While you’re waiting to feel certain, you can lose time, momentum, and opportunities to work toward the life you want. Godin’s examples pushed me to look beyond the obvious answer, consider the solution I might be ignoring, and ask what it would take to actually follow through. I also appreciated the distinction between problems we can solve and situations we need to accept.

Mel Robbins’s foreword was a welcome addition, especially because her ideas in The Let Them Theory connect so naturally with the book’s message about knowing what is and isn’t yours to change. As someone who can struggle with indecision—and with knowing when it’s time to turn a dream into a goal—I found this book both relevant and inspiring. It reminded me that making a choice means owning it, trusting my purpose and vision, and taking a step even when I can’t guarantee the outcome.

I’d highly recommend The Knot to anyone who is ready to take initiative in their own life, stop waiting for the perfect moment, and leave their excuses behind.

[Bonnie Grover · Rating 3 out of 5]

We spend a lot of time working with problems, but not nearly enough focused effort on solving them.
Is it a problem or a situation?
What is the change we hope to make?
Who is affected by the problem?
Do we have the resources we need?
Do we have the knowledge we need?
What is the risk in trying to solve them problem?
Real heroes don’t throw themselves into deep water alone. If this problem is worth saving, it’s worth dedicating the time and resources we need to find the others. We don’t need everyone, but we certainly need someone. Several someones. When we enlist the others, we create connections and resilience, and from those interactions, change begins. You can’t solve a systems problem without changing a system.

This book provided a great list of questions worth asking when looking at personal and business problems. I loved that it was dedicated to “Joyful makers of change” and then went on to list leaders and friends past and present.

The three holes in a pretzel are a reminder of what’s important. Each hole asks a question: How can I be of help? What’s stopping me? What am I unwilling to give up? You can’t untangle a pretzel. The knot is baked in. You can’t unknot a pretzel without ruining it. But each of us has the chance to solve the problems in front of us and we can do it together.

[Staceyann2007 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Knot: NetGalley thank you for offering this book as an auto-listen option. I have some decisions that I am struggling with in my life and this short book actually gave some great insight into the pitfalls of making decisions. Things that stuck out: and or but decisions: I want to do this and I want to do that versus I want to do this but I want this as well… I think this trips me up a lot of times! More lines for thought:
-Entanglement with the short term gets in the way of our long term. Yes!
-when a situation is going to exist regardless of our actions, we don’t need to let it occupy space in our heads. Any time we spend trying to solve a problem we can’t change takes away from time we could be putting towards problems we can actually change. So TRUE!
-what he had to say about fear and entanglement was also very good
-all of our work up to this point isn’t a waste it is a gift to our future self… like training to be a lawyer for years only to become a writer instead. The past paid for options for today. You don’t have to accept them.
This book had a lot of good thoughts. I find that books like this do a good job of laying out the reasons that problems occur and the roadblocks… but then you walk away without tools or answers to how to move forward or change. That happened here.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Knot: Problems Can Be Solved

This book was so great!

I am so glad I checked out this book.

I got a lot of actionable and valuable business and leadership knowledge from this book.

As a big problem solver myself, I found this book gave me a lot more information on how to practically solve business and strategy problems - some that I didn't even think of.

The book is filled with a lot of really solid examples of companies that Godin has researched, and I really enjoyed the way the chapters were laid out.

Being a big Godin fan for years (I have read 10+ of his books already, with Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? and This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See being some of my favorites of his), I knew I was in for a treat!

Definitely check out this book if it sounds up your alley, and you could use some untangling!

Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy.

4.2/5

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Knot is a concise and thought-provoking book about why we become stuck and how we can approach problems more effectively. Seth Godin offers a helpful distinction between problems that can be solved and situations that must be accepted, encouraging readers to examine what is truly preventing progress. The book’s greatest strength is its ability to give clear language to familiar frustrations. The ideas are presented in an accessible and practical way, making it easy to connect them to challenges in both personal and professional life. I especially appreciated the emphasis on recognizing conflicting priorities, questioning assumptions, and creating the conditions necessary for meaningful change. At times, I wished some of the concepts had been explored in greater depth or supported with more detailed examples. However, the book’s brevity is also part of its appeal. It is focused, easy to read, and filled with ideas worth revisiting.

Overall, The Knot is a useful and encouraging read for anyone who feels stuck or is trying to determine which problems deserve their time and energy.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something so refreshing about a book that trusts you to just get it without over-explaining. Seth Godin's newest does exactly that. The whole idea sits on this simple, almost obvious once you hear it truth: some problems can actually be solved, and some situations just need to be accepted, and most of our stuckness comes from not knowing which one we're dealing with.

What really stuck with me was the reminder that sometimes not choosing is still a choice. I read that line and had to put the book down for a second. It's one of those small shifts in perspective that quietly rearranges how you think about the things you've been avoiding, whether that's a work decision or something way more personal.

I will say, it's a quick read and I found myself wanting a bit more meat on the bones when it comes to actually applying the concept. The first half hit harder for me than the back half, which felt like it could have gone deeper into the how instead of just the what. But even with that, the core message is strong enough to carry the whole thing. This is the kind of book you finish in an afternoon and then find yourself thinking about for weeks.

[Ro U]

This was my introduction to Seth Godin, and I get the hype now, even if I ended up a little more mixed than I expected.

The core idea of The Knot is good: most stuck problems aren't unsolvable, they're just tangled up in something unnamed (a sunk cost, an old promise to yourself, an audience you're quietly performing for, etc). Once he says it, you can't unsee it, and that alone made the book worth picking up.

Where it lost me a little was the pacing. The front half sets up the concept but circles the same point more than once before moving on, which felt like padding for something this short. The back half is much stronger, with real questions to help you locate your own knot, and that's the part I'll actually use.

I also wanted it to go further, especially on the identity-based entanglements. It gives you a solid framework and then leaves you to do the harder work alone, which might be the point, but it kept this from feeling like a complete gut punch.

Good ideas, useful back half, just not quite as tight as I wanted. 3.5 stars, and enough to make me curious about his other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Authors Equity for the ARC!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

The Knot isn’t a book that hands you the answers. It’s a book that changes the way you look at the questions.

What I appreciated most was the practical framework. Instead of telling you to simply work harder or think differently, the book encourages you to step back, identify what’s actually holding you in place, and decide whether you’re facing a problem that can be solved or a situation that needs to be accepted. That shift in perspective alone makes the book worthwhile.

For me, this wasn’t a life-changing or deeply provocative read, but it was a valuable kickstarter. It challenged me to look at complacency differently and recognize how easily it can hide behind systems, routines, and “the way we’ve always done things.”

If you’re a leader, builder, creator, or someone responsible for driving change, you’ll probably find yourself highlighting plenty of passages and thinking about how to apply the framework to your own work.

A solid four-star read that gives you practical tools to help untangle the problems worth solving.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and was so excited.I have followed Seth’s writing for years and consume a lot of his content. Because of a drive for summer vacation, I also listened to portions of the audio book. Both versions were great. At the core of the book is that we are often focusing on the wrong aspects of problems that need to be solved. Seth does a great job applying examples from history and modern day on why this is the case.

I enjoyed how he approached the concept of systems and how they start out as good things but then eventually evolve to serve the system itself. As we confront new challenges (ai for example), we as humans and organizations need to think three layers down to see what we are doing and how it will enable the intended and unintended systems.

I liked the approachable style and will be revisiting the passages I have highlighted in the future.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not going to lie, I picked this up because it includes a forward by Mel Robbins.

I found this book to be insightful. As a broad overview, as to the issue of problems and/or situations which the author methodically separates for the reader.

I found this book to have a great insight. As to how we approach problems and look at them and what might be getting in the way of solving a problem. Curious to turn over a problem with real world examples throughout the book.

Bringing in the social and other broad spectrums, systemically, in our way. But also with the heavy tone of what our actions are causing, as it pertains to problems as well.

When we are faced with problems, it all comes down to how we approach those problems. Are we optimistic or pessimistic? How we react and engage in these problems may create more problems. Leading us to fatigue and wasted effort.

I loved the points of connection where this book also related to Let Them by Mel Robbins.

Thank you to Netgalley and Authors Equity for an early release copy in exchange of my honest review.