Diary Of A CEO

A learning experience that I’d never encountered before. Which is that I gained the most amount of value from this book as soon as I decided to put it down.

Maybe that’s a bit of hyperbole coming through… In any ordinary world, I could address my thoughts on this book by simply saying that I didn’t enjoy it, nor did I finish it. But where’s the value and learning in that?

I’m not the type of person who could say that the book is complete garbage (because it’s clearly not), otherwise, I would have thrown it in the bin, or gone the more medieval route and taken a flame to it. Lately, I’ve been enjoying books of the narrative persuasion so it could just be the wrong time to read this. Maybe I’m at a point in my life where these 33 laws don’t currently strike a chord. Maybe I’m just looking at it the wrong way.

I’m not willing to completely write The Diary Of A CEO off because it came so highly recommended. I’ve wanted to pick it up and read it for quite some time now and I’ve even sought out podcasts where Steven Bartlett is a guest because I do think he is quite a charming and charismatic guy. So maybe the problem is I set my expectations too high.

I seriously considered postponing my monthly book write up in lieu of having something substantial to report from this read but the more I thought about it, the more I enjoyed the idea of a challenge. All of my write ups so far have been positive, there’s no denying that. I’m someone who would typically shy away from publishing anything negative for fear of some sort of confrontation. But I don’t think Steven is going to read this, and if you’re one of the people who recommended the book to me, my experience shouldn’t take away from your own enjoyment.

Ultimately, this book was simply not what I expected it to be. I expected the book to be much more closely related to Steven and either the stories of his businesses or the conversations he’s had on his podcast. Some of these lessons did touch on this but I felt like for the charisma that Steven possesses, the stories felt vague, hollow and distant. Again, I know this book wasn’t written just for me but I was hoping to get a more personalised look into the ‘diary’ of the CEO. I wanted it to be real, I wanted it to be gritty, but instead, what I ended up getting were some eventual Google searches to see if the book was ghostwritten.

There was a feeling of insincerity that continued to hold me at arms-length. Maybe it was the external, borrowed stories and research studies, maybe it was the provocative titles — “You Must Piss People Off”, “You Do Not Get To Choose What You Believe”. I know what you’re thinking. “He got you, He pissed you off and now you’re talking about it. Marketing 101”. And I don’t disagree with you there but when he eventually rolls back each of these bold statements to some over-simplified and very basic lessons I couldn’t help but feel a lack of substance and connection.

I get it. Who am I to sit here and critique someone else’s work like this? I haven’t written a best seller… But to me, this just highlights the fact that we’re all humans with different interests, expectations and tastes which is something I hope to remember every time I share my own story and what I’ve learned from it. So, Steven, thanks for that.

I need to add some positivity so here are a few words that I did enjoy about how we look at our lives and our health. This is part of a chapter about our health being the first and most important foundation regarding anything we do, and on that, I couldn’t agree more.

“I have a strong enduring belief that none of us actually believe we're going to die — This is so clearly evidenced by how we live our lives, the petty things we worry about and the attitude to risk.”

He then goes on to share his experience with covid and how that made him look at his health in a different light. This is what I would have liked more of. This feels like it is a note from the diary, however, it was part of a chapter that covered no more than 4 pages. Maybe this is something I relate to on a deeper level due to my own experience so it’s no wonder that I was left wanting more.

Does any of what I’ve said in this review matter at all? People love this book and part of me can see why. I just know that for now, it’s not for me. I have neatly folded the corner of page 234 with the hopes that I will come back to it one day and maybe more time and a different set of circumstances will get it to land differently.

I said at the start that I learned more from putting this book down so I can’t finish without explaining what that all means.

This is the second time ever that I’ve not followed through on reading an entire book. The only other time it’s happened to me was when I left a copy of The Righteous Mind at an Airbnb in Portugal. Even then, I bought a backup copy years later to finish what I’d started. The ability to put down a book is something that has led me to question why I read.

Is it because I have some internal counter of books that I’ve read? Does my library signal my status? Does it determine my intelligence?

My conditioning on reading is one that I’ve never really updated since I was told to read at school where it was much more of a chore. Now, I get to read what I want, and largely that has led me to pick up some truly interesting books, in some cases, ones I’ve been thoroughly excited to read. This isn’t something I have to do, it’s something I do because it’s an escape, a way to relax, and a way to learn.

So the value in being able to put this book down has affirmed that what I read is entirely my choice, and there’s a certain sense of liberation in that which I’d be interested to see if anyone else has experienced.

Since then I’ve picked up ‘Slow Productivity’ from Cal Newport and have loved what I’ve read so far. The anxiety of finishing is gone, and the love for picking up the book has returned.

Again, this isn’t a bad book, it’s just not a good book for me. But I know far too many people have been stuck trying to grind their way through a book they’re not enjoying and as we should all know by now, life is far too short for that.