I discovered this small gem of an e book called “What Matters Now”.

Presented by Seth Godin, this tiny book is chock-full of inspiring words of more than 60 people with big ideas and something to say.

It is designed to inspire you to make some changes in 2010, and to keep doing work that matters. Every page is encapsulated by a single word and in a micro-essay each contributor expresses their big idea around what they are working on.

One of my favorite micro-essay’s is from contributor Marti Barletta and she writes about:

Strengths
Forget about working on your weaknesses. Focus on supporting your strengths.

I worked on my weaknesses for 40 years to little avail. Still “needs improvement,” as they say. Why? Easy. We hate doing things we’re not good at, so we avoid them. No practice makes perfect hard to attain. But my strengths – ah, I love my strengths. I’ll work on them till the purple cows come home. When we love what we do, we do more and more, and pretty soon we’re pretty good at it.

The beautiful thing about being on a team is that, believe it or not, lots of people love doing the things you hate. And hate doing the things you love. So quit diligently developing your weaknesses. Instead, partner with someone very UNlike you, share the work and share the wealth and everyone’s happy.

Relatedly, women are rather UNlike men and often approach problems and opportunities with a different outlook. Yet books and coaches often encourage us to adopt male strengths and, lacking understanding, to relinquish our own. The irony is, studies show that more women in leadership translates unequivocally into better business results. Wouldn’t it make more sense for both men and women to appreciate each other’s strengths so we all work on what comes naturally?

Marti Barletta, speaker, consultant and author of Marketing to Women and PrimeTime Women; is currently working on her next book, Attracting Women: Marketing Your Company to the 21st Century’s Best Candidates

Inspiring quotes from:

Generosity,

“In a digital world, the gift I give you almost always benefits me more than it costs.” – Seth Godin

Fear,

“His name is Fear. Fear plays the role of antagonist in the story of your life. You must rid yourself of him using all necessary means.” – Anne Jackson

Momentum,

“Not many people in our A.D.D. culture can stay FOCUSED, but those who can are on their way to winning.” – Dave Ramsey

Toughmindedness,

“We live in the age of distraction, of Twitter and multi-tasking and short attention spans. The antidote to these scattering influences is tough-mindedness” – Steven Pressfield

Contributors to this little book include: tom peters, saul griffith, seth godin, tony hsieh, todd sattersten, tim o’reilly, steve pressfield, sally hogshead, robyn waters, ramit sethi, rajesh setty, piers fawkes, phoebe espiritu, penelope trunk, paco underhill, mitch joel, michael schrage

You can view the entire book by clicking on the image below.

Inspired to make some changes in 2010? I am, and I would love to hear your big thoughts!