“Together is better” – Simon Sinek

Hi everybody! I’m Lu (or MiloufromSaigon), the co-founder of this not interesting WordPress. I’m 23, currently studying communication in Arnhem, a small city located in the east of the Netherlands.

You may ask why we named our page “Procrastinator 2017”, well, it’s because I am the KING of procrastinating (and my co-founder and my girlfriend too, but I know I can easily beat them in this criteria). My special power is to stay at home all day watching movie, YouTube and play games without finishing my homework assignment.

That is almost everything you should know about me, through these reviews, they will unveil more and more about myself, my way of looking at this life and hopefully we can share the same interests.

I spent hours to think about the first movie or book I should review, sometimes it’s hard to make a choice because there is so much food on the table, life buffet. Finally, I had my decision.

“TOGETHER IS BETTER” by Simon Sinek.

I know Simon Sinek from a video on YouTube, where he answered the Millennial question. This video is so good, has so much impacts that I have buy three, not one, three of his book on Amazon, which I have never done before. “Together is better” is one among them.

This book is an illustrated quote book and Simon wants to make it so special that no digital format can do the same: the book is SCENTED. It is made by a company called 1229 and the smell of the pages make you feel like optimism. The truth is, to be honest, its smell doesn’t seem very different from other books, maybe from now on, I can name that kind of smell is “Optimism”.

“Together is better” talks about leadership, not like many books out there, the book almost has only quotes, less educated, more inspiring. It’s more like a comic book with no line of the characters, the story is a metaphor about the real world we live in and it encourages us to change the way we work together. Once you finish the book, you could open any page and let the quote and the illustration inspire you.

As a person who always search for motivation to push myself up, who follow dozens of social media “quotes to succeed” account sort of thing, I must admit that I was quite surprise that I haven’t seen any of those phrases anywhere. No fancy words, the book talks about the true nature of leadership, teamwork, life fulfillment that we may all forget today.

For so long, I thirst to become a leader, a person who has the respect from other, a person who has power, yes, power is the word I am searching for. I made it to be a leader sometimes in the past, but since I’ve read this book, I can now understand what characteristics make a good leader and what to do to become a leader.  “Leadership is not a rank or position to be attained. Leadership is service to be given.”

Furthermore, “Together is better” could help me beat procrastination, how convenient! I’m not going to talk much about this point, instead, I’ll quote: “A vision is like a dream – it will disappear unless we do something with it. Do something big or do something small. But stop wondering and go on an adventure.” I have so many goals, so many desires I want for myself. For my whole life, I spent more time to imagine myself when I achieve that goal, that dream rather than start doing something about it. That me is gone for good.

To finish this, the book is very easy to read. This is the first time I read a book written in English and I finish it within 2 days. And now I open any random page of the book and start reading when I get bored, it’s better than scrolling throughout social media and more helpful, useful am I right?

Thank you, Simon for this amazing and lovely book, I am continuing to read “Leaders Eat Last” every night before going to bed!

One thing that I forgot to mention, at the end of the book “Together Is Better” has a song lyric called “Together is better than one”, the lyrics is the actual handwriting of the author – Aloe Blacc. Let’s hear it, shall we?

https://youtu.be/FvL7zRfx8lo

Yes, that’s how the illustrations in the book look like.

-MiloufromSaigon-

P/s: I insist you all to watch the speak of Simon Sinek about the millennials question, it’s very touching, motivating and inspiring. (https://youtu.be/As8XkJNaHbs) It does have subtitles!