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Language: en
everybody welcome to another episode of
impact books today we are reviewing a
book that really hit me hard I'm not an
emotional guy but this book I have to
admit made me kind of emotional it's
beautifully written and it's a human
tale of unimaginable success and pure
raw vulnerability
it's the autobiography of Phil Knight
the founder of Nike and it's called shoe
dog much loved to scribner on this one I
was not expecting this book to be as
good as it is or to hit me as hard as it
did so thank you guys for helping to
make this book actually happen all right
impactful takeaway number one fear does
not have to stop you
Knight openly talked about being afraid
of things and yet he just kept moving
forward everyone told Knight that Nike
was a crazy idea actually back then it
was called blue ribbon and they were
just reselling Japanese shoes but
nonetheless people thought he was crazy
because this was back in a day when
running was anything but popular in fact
it was considered so weird that runners
were routinely in danger of having
things thrown at them while they were
running because people thought it was
nuts that if you have a perfectly
working car why you would be out there
running so not letting other people's
vision of the present or even the future
dictate what you do is such a powerful
thing for anybody out there no matter
what you're trying to do I promise you
somebody somewhere thinks what you're
doing is crazy and you've got to be the
one that has the vision to see things
through in fact they say that vision is
being able to hit a target that other
people can't even see so if there's
something in your life that you really
believe in you've got to have the guts
to go for it and that was one of the
most impressive things that I took out
of this book because we all know the
tale of Nike so as you're reading this
and hearing the story about people
thinking that he's out of his mind you
know where it ends up you know that he
ends up one of the richest human beings
on the planet building this wildly
impressive company so keep that in mind
the next time somebody tells you that
you're out of your mind
all right impactful takeaway number two
you don't need to know what you're doing
to be successful that's one of the
things I absolutely love about this book
is night makes it abundantly clear that
you don't always have to have a crystal
clear vision for what you're trying to
accomplish and certainly you don't have
to understand
every step of the way to get there you
just need an absolute obsessive
willingness to figure it out
night had no idea what he was doing in
the beginning he didn't know how to work
with banks he didn't know how to work
with shoe manufacturers he didn't even
know how to sell in fact he absolutely
hated selling but his thing was he
believed in what he was trying to build
he believed that the world would be a
better place if people were running more
and because of that he was able to go
out and make it happen to keep
relentlessly moving forward to learn how
the Japanese do business to learn how to
sell to learn how to deal with banks how
to build a company
he just kept learning that was one of
the things that really left an indelible
mark on me was going through that
journey with him and watching him start
out as somebody who was way in over his
head it was totally out of his depth who
didn't understand some of the most basic
principles of what he was trying to
accomplish and yet that didn't stop him
from building one of the most enduring
companies that the world has ever seen
and entrepreneurs are always reaching
out to me asking that they don't know
what to do they don't know where to
start and what Knight makes very clear
in this book is you just need to start
and you can figure out the rest along
the way all right key takeaway number
three and this is a big one if you're
going through hell keep going Knight
Chronicles the unimaginable difficulties
that he had building Nike all the time
so they almost went bankrupt the time
that his bank threatened to call the FBI
on him for perceived wrongdoings there
were so many times where you feel that
Knight is literally clinging on by his
fingertips and you think there's no way
he's gonna make it but you're reading it
from the perspective of knowing exactly
what they did with Nike it is so potent
to experience it all with him in real
time and that's one of the really
amazing things about the book is that
it's it's written as if you're right
there with him and so for anybody that's
trying to build something you get this
sense of solving problems you get this
sense of relentless forward momentum you
really feel the truth of Knight that at
his core he's a runner at his core he
understands what it means to be so tired
that you can barely think straight but
you just
keep putting one foot in front of the
other and that was the thing that I
found so thrilling about reading this
book is despite his fatigue despite
wanting to give up so many times despite
all of the sacrifices that he made like
any good runner he just kept putting one
foot in front of the other until finally
success relented and success always
relents to focus energy and time and he
really showed that all right this book
is full of so many amazing quotes that
it really is as always difficult to boil
it down to just three but here the three
that I picked from shoe dog one belief
is irresistible Knight had an absolutely
terrible time selling he hated it he had
multiple jobs in the past we had been
selling and he was abysmal at it unable
to do it and so he asked one fundamental
question in the book why was I good at
selling at Nike and what he realized was
he really believed that if people ran
every day that it would make the world a
better place and that his shoes would
make running a little bit better and so
the more he sold the more that he really
believed that he was doing something to
push humanity forward and that belief in
what he was doing was what people wanted
a piece of that at the end of the day
was what they were buying all right
impactful quote number two this actually
comes from an interview that he did and
I don't remember being said exactly like
this in the book but the book resonates
with this sentiment so powerfully that I
had to pick it if you want to be an
entrepreneur you'd better be prepared
for long hours and dark moments that
really is the price of admission if you
want to build something if you want to
scale something if you want to chase
mastery and turn your passion into
something that impacts the world you've
got to be prepared to work your ass off
and you've got to be prepared to fight
through the times when things get really
hard and it is inevitable that things
will get really hard so reading this
book and seeing such a powerful example
of perseverance was amazing absolutely
intoxicating
alright impactful quote number three the
cowards never started and the weak died
along the way that leaves us ladies and
gentlemen us I absolutely love this
quote there are so many powerful
concepts in the book but that one that
most people never
start and those that give up along the
way never make it to the finish line
is the most important thing that you can
take away from this book that was one of
those ones that stopped me dead in my
tracks because it's a question of
identity who do you want to be do you
want to be strong enough to start then
you start you're never gonna feel strong
enough and that's the amazing thing
about the book is is he's totally
vulnerable he opens up he lets you know
how scared he was the entire time but he
had this strength and the conviction to
start and you just have to start and
then like anything of course there were
times well-documented times where he
wanted to give up but he didn't he kept
pushing forward that to me is the
central theme of this book and if you're
gonna take away anything from it take
away that and that brings me to the last
thing I want to talk about which is how
I plan to use this book in my own life
whenever I'm reading a book that's what
I'm looking for I want to know how am I
actually gonna use this how am I going
to make use of this time reading a book
takes a lot of time so there's gotta be
some payoff and the thing that I got out
of this book was exactly that it's about
the journey it's about the time it's
about the investment in every bit of
investment that you put in this book
you'll be rewarded for seeing such an
incredible example of what it means to
keep going and as cheesy as it is to say
that it's about the journey things
become cliched precisely because they're
true this book was an unbelievable
reminder that sometimes your biggest
strength is a willingness to be
vulnerable and really look at yourself
without the filter of self delusion and
yet despite that sometimes what you need
is enough naivete to believe that you
can actually do what you've set out to
do and it's that contradiction which
makes this book so powerful alright guys
as always there are many amazing
concepts quotes and impactful takeaways
from this book that I haven't mentioned
here so be sure to go to impact Theory
comm for more quotes insights rants all
the amazing powerful takeaways that you
could possibly want and that you can put
to immediate use in your life all right
before I go I want to leave you with one
last quote and those who urge
entrepreneurs to never give up
charlatans sometimes you have to give
sometimes knowing when to give up when
to try something else is genius
however dot dot dot for the rest of that
quote you guys are gonna have to go read
the book and trust me it is well worth
reading alright guys this is a weekly
show so be sure to subscribe and until
next time my friends be legendary
take care
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