Book Review: Stick With It

Reviewing business books has mostly been depressing as I’ve found so many of them directly contradict my values and theological understandings as a Christian and prescribe strategies for “success” wholly incompatible with the Christian walk. So I was particularly pleased with the themes Lee Colan advanced in his new book, Stick With It as they avoided such deficits. Colan reminds us (or informs those who weren’t already aware) that perseverance is the hinge on which the doors of success are opened. While strategic planning is necessary for success it is never sufficient; follow through is key.

Colan breaks down perseverance (or adherence as he refers to it) into three essential components:

1. Focus (on our mission)

2. Competence (to complete necessary actions derived from our mission)

3. Passion (for the whole of the work before us and what it stands for)

For each component, Colan provides a detailed blueprint for building and sustaining the intensity necessary to succeed. He includes useful little strategies such as relying on create once- run many times routines, and tracking leading AND lagging indicators of success to verify we are on track.

Perseverance is a lost virtue in American society, that much is clear. So many (myself included) get excited about a shiny new plan and throw ourselves into things with gusto only to slowly fade in enthusiasm and effort a few days or weeks down the line. 21 days to form a habit and all that right? But how many of us actually make it to day 22? Very few I’m afraid. It’s theoretically simple but never easy in practice: plan to stick to the plan! Keep on keeping on. Have the wise been reminding the young, the weak in discipline, the slaves to quick fixes of this key principle for centuries? YES. Nevertheless, Colan’s voice adding to the great chorus of the wise over the millennia on this matter is a welcome one; one more person reminding us of the importance in seeing things through can only help shape our character.

Anyone who has struggled with self-discipline and found that there is a part of himself that has trouble following through with the well intentioned plans the other part of himself drafts in earnest will find value in Stick With It. Hint: that means everyone. Romans chapter 7 reminds us, “²¹So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” Colan provides some clear and useful techniques for stepping on the neck of that slothful sinful nature within us. For those readers who do not subscribe to Christianity, you needn’t worry – Colan never actually references scripture or religion - he simply reaffirms the value of adherence to our mission, be it corporate or personal, and provides practical methods for achieving adherence. But his counsel overlaps so beautifully with scriptural principles that the faithful will easily recognize the wisdom in his understandings and prescriptions whether he intended to present a case for discipleship or not.

Board Game Review: Hues and Cues

Last week we received Hues and Cues from The Op Games. We recently finished playing through Scooby-Doo Escape from the Haunted Mansion (a fantastic game in The Op Games catalogue designed by Jay Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim, and Kami Mandell that you should absolutely pick up to play with your family) and wanted to give another game from the same publisher a go. I picked Hues and Cues because I’ve been pleasantly surprised by other “test whether our minds think the same way” games such as The Mind and Wavelength. In Hues and Cues , players gather around a large central board comprised of 480 graduating colors of the rainbow surrounded by an x-y axis and scoring table. White and black (which are technically not colors) are conspicuously absent as are shades (mixtures of color + black; e.g., grey) and tints (mixtures of color + white; e.g., cream). On each player’s turn, they draw a card with four colors and the x-y axis codes of those colors depicted and they select one. They are in the

Board Game Review: Brass Birmingham

Here’s a story of a lovely lady (spoiler: it’s me) and her pride and how it has led to the discovery of the single greatest board game I have ever played. It’s probably also a good primer for other reviewers on increasing your reach. At GenCon this year, I was perusing the wares of the various booths and my eyes caught a glimpse of two beautiful game boxes. Each had crisp metallic lettering with an old world feel and artwork that radiated European class. I made my way to the booth and waited patiently to speak to to the team manning it as there were many buyers lined up to purchase the games. I didn’t know anything about the games (Brass Birmingham and Brass Lancashire), or the publisher – Roxley Game Laboratory – but I knew I wanted to review one or both of the games. Almost every board game love story I star in in can be summed up this way: I am seduced by the artwork or theme and then I stay for the right mechanics. When the lead rep spoke with me, he gently rejected my request. He

Board Game Review: Lost Cities Roll & Write (A Comparison to the Original Lost Cities)

I really love the card game Lost Cities , designed by Reiner Knizia. When my husband Christopher and I were first getting to know each other, we used to meet up at Starbucks sometimes and play games. Lost Cities was one of our frequent picks. It’s a head to head, two player game in which both players are trying to outscore each other by laying down ascending runs of card suits on a small board between the two of them. There’s a theme laid over the mechanism (completing expeditions in the lost world) but it’s basically pasted on and so that is the last we will speak of it. So there we were, newly in love, eyeing each other across the table, smiling and flirting, and doing our best to beat one another at Lost Cities . It was awesome. And now, with the roll & write genre having made an impressive rebound a few years ago (let’s not forget the mechanism has actually been around since the 50s with Yatzee ), Knizia has ported his award winning game Lost Cities into this format, releasi