“Managing Oneself” by Peter F. Drucker. 

3/5 rating. 

Book #19 of 2020. Read April 1, 2020.

This is a short, simple book about better understanding yourself. While it is a pretty dry read, it will take much less than an hour and give you some good ideas about ways that you can become a better worker, faster learner, and more impactful human being.

Since the book is so short, I’m just going to give some of the more insightful quotes and leave it up to you to read the rest of the book: 

– “It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.”

 – “And how a person performs is a given, just as what a person is good at or not good at is a given.” 

– “Values, in other words, are and should be the ultimate test.” 

– “But most people, especially highly gifted people, do not really know where they belong until they are well past their mid-twenties. By that time, however, they should know the answers to the three questions: What are my strengths? How do I perform? and What are my values?” 

– “Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.”

Additional Quotes:

“One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.”

“Whether personality be a matter of nature or nurture, it surely is formed long before a person goes to work. And how a person performs is a given, just as what a person is good at or not good at is a given.”

“To work in an organization whose value system is unacceptable or incompatible with one’s own condemns a person both to frustration and to nonperformance.”

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