Brainwashed

Seth Godin's Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself
Though I couldn't figure out why he called it the "lizard," I think Seth brings up a valid point. The Lizard is in everyone. Some are more affected by it than others, but everyone has at one time or another felt like avoiding doing something for fear of being laughed at. I think a lot of students were probably skeptical about having blogs for fear of making dumb posts or what have you. They defeated the lizard by being willing to try something new and share it with the class and rest of the world. I don't know if you can necessarily ignore "the resistance," but I'm sure you can fight it.

I thought the section on failure was interesting. It goes hand in hand with the lizard section. Failure is one of my biggest fears probably because I don't want to be laughed at. But life without failure wouldn't be life. You can't expect to succeed all the time. Failure brings experience which brings success. You have to be willing to try new things, possibly succeeding or failing, and have the experience to come out better next time. I don't know that failure should be expected, but it definitely shouldn't be unexpected either.

I wouldn't say these exercises are a complete waste of time. I personally like Finding Your Howl more than this exercise, but I still wouldn't say it worthless. I just feel that most of the things explained in Brainwashed are things I've already known or assumed. Other students, however, might not have thought about such things or related it to their major/projects/career goals. Now it's time for me to sleep. :)