Greetings friends and fans:

We are now 93% of the way through 2017. Well done for making it this far: I'm glad you are not dead yet. You deserve an A grade (93/100), especially considering it's been a tough year on planet earth and for that reason I'm happy to see 2017 dwindling away! And I also feel curiously great about what I can do with the 7% I have left - do you? For me it seems as everyone gets distracted by the holiday season, I find it easier to concentrate.

Related pro tip: If you still have the choice, I advise you not to take time off from work when everyone else does later this month. The worst use of vacation days are ones where everyone else is on vacation too, making the time between Christmas and New Years some of the optimal days to show up at work all year (it's quiet, low stress and you'll be super productive). Americans get so little vacation time - it's wise to be wise in how we use it.

Anyway, there are many goodies in this newsletter - hope you find something you like enough to share. I plan to have one more newsletter before the year is out. Stay tuned and happy Tuesday.

Cheers, -Scott

Video: Live in London

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Mind The Product, you can watch this short talk I gave recently on rethinking how you think about ideas, based on the core themes from The Dance of The Possible, including inspiring tales about the Eiffel Tower, Amazon.com, Vitruvian man and a model of creativity based on losing your keys.

I can give a talk just like this, to help change minds and inspire fresh thinking, at your organization or event in 2018 - just get in touch here.

My 2017 Gift guide

While I'm a fan of making gifts instead of buying them, books, music and art are special cases. In particular I believe the right book, for the right person, at the right time can change their outlook in profound ways like nothing else can. Of course I admit I write books for a living, so I'm far from unbiased! And like most makers, it's the holiday season that I see the most interest in purchasing what I make. And to pay the bills I must do what I can to help that along.

With that in mind, here's a rundown of how my books can make good gifts for people you know, with advice on how to match my books with specific folks. All seven of my books have great review averages on Amazon - it's just a question of picking the right one for the right person.

The gift guide to Berkun's books

Making Things Happen - for anyone who manages people or projects for a living (which is really almost anyone with a fancy job). The book is based on my decade leading software projects, big and small, and all the lessons I wish someone had told me when I started.
The Myths of Innovation - for those with curious minds (active or latent!). I researched the surprising true stories from (ancient and recent) history that explain how ideas really work in the modern world. Great for entrepreneurs, people who love ideas and anyone who is wants to understand why some ideas succeed while others fail.
Confessions of a Public Speaker - a fun and practical guide for how to communicate well to groups of people, with real advice from my actual experience giving 100s of lectures - includes how to develop new material, how to overcome nerves and stress, optimizing practice time and how to deal with the toughest situations. Great for professionals and students.
Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds. For the philosophers in your life and those who like to think and debate. It's my foray into challenging short philosophical essays on subjects like how to learn from mistakes, how to detect BS, street smarts vs. book smarts, and more. A best of collection from the essays on scottberkun.com.
The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work - the behind the scenes story of WordPress, one of the most popular and influential publishing platforms in history. It's also my personal story of managing a 100% remote team for them and what I learned about great workplace culture. Great for managers, fans of WordPress, and those interested in how culture works or the future of work.
The Ghost of My Father - for those who are fascinated by relationships, family dynamics and self-discovery. It's an honest exploration of the implosion of my family at the hands of my narcissistic father, a story I use to explore questions like: who are we? how do we define or redefine ourselves? and how can memory change the present (and vice-versa)? My relationship with my father defined me, until I chose to try and define myself, and the book invites readers to consider making their own powerful choices.
The Dance of The Possible - a fun, short, fast read (literally 2-3 hours) that covers everything anyone who works with ideas in work or for pleasure needs to know. From the three major gaps all creators face, to the dance of finding and pruning ideas, to creative confidence and managing burnout, it's all here. Great for the young and the old who have more creative potential than they realize.

Berkun's gift guide (to things he didn't make)

Just to be fair to other makers in the world, here are some thoughtful gift ideas made by other people.

Activity vouchers for friends / lovers / neighbors - Instead of buying commodities as gifts, give something only you can do personally. These packs of vouchers, or coupons, offer the recipient things that can only be redeamed by you personally: "an honest opinion", help with chores, airport pickups or dozens of other truly helpful and thoughtful gifts that last throughout the year. There are packs for lovers, friends and more. You can of course design your own coupons if you're crafty.
Best portable phone charger (Anker Powercore 5000) - for anyone who travels/commutes, this is one of the best portable phone/iPad chargers: small, lightweight and you can charge it while it charges something else. Everyone complains about battery life but this is a handy way to change things for the better for someone you care about.
UnFlattening, by Nick Sousanis. A visual masterpiece exploring perception, philosophy and the place of humans in the world. It's a graphic novel (e.g. use of a comic book style form but with themes for adults), but a grand example of how this medium can do things for readers ordinary books can not. A great gift for any visual arts or philosophy minded person you know.
Hello Word: Where Design Meets Life, by Alice Rawsthorn. If you make things, whether with your hands or through the organization you work for, you'll be inspired by this history of the profession of design. The most readable and accessible book about design history I've found.
What Should I do with My Life? by Po Bronson - this is the book I'd give to teenagers or adults who are thinking hard (or should be) about making a big change or starting a new adventure (say going to college, a career change or moving to a new place). Unlike many self-help books this one doesn't simply prescribe platitudes - instead it shares stories of people who either made big changes, or thought about it and didn't do it (with a wide range of results). Much like real life, there is no simple playbook for big decisions, but learning about other people's real stories in similiar situations gives you many lifetimes worth of experience to work from and this is the best book I've found for that.
Masterclass gift cards - I generally don't like the idea of gift cards, it's just a little too lazy for people you know personally, but a gift for an education might be an exception. You may have seen the MasterClass ads on Facebook - they have famous artists, actors and performers teach online classes (Steve Martin on comedy, Steph Curry on basketball, Ron Howard on film direction, etc.) The courses aren't cheap, but you can give as much as you like for the gift. Perhaps study their catalog and as part of your gift, list 2 or 3 possibilities you think they'd enjoy, to make it more personal.
And if all else fails, definitely check out etsy.com and their holiday gift guide - it's so easy to find special things made by actual craftspeople.

Best blog posts of the month

I'm back with Ask Berkun posts every Tuesday, rain or shine. Have a question you want to see me write about? It's basically free advice - rent my brain! More thoughtful questions often jump to the top of the queue. Post it here or send me an email, and I'll make the magic happen.

Please spread the word

Most of the words I write are free and I hope to continue doing this forever. If you enjoy what I do it's easy to help:

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