Book notes: Second Act by Henry Oliver
Second Act is a book about late bloomers. I listened to the audio book.
In my mental library, this book is part of a trilogy with Range and Talent about how to do your best work.
The book probably only gets published because it’s about late bloomers, but I can’t think of any part of it that is only applicable to late bloomers.
I thought about survivorship bias basically the entire time I was listening to the book. Some of it is definitely embedded in here, but some wisdom is too.
A common theme in Oliver’s late bloomers is earnestness. Earnestness to the point of being annoying to their contemporaries. I think earnestness is a quality that ages really well.
Many of the lessons I took from this book can be reduced to the sorts of things a youth baseball coach would say to me during practice. This is related to the earnestness.
The need to move through periods of exploration and exploitation at different stages of a career is a lens that will stick with me. If you think your potential is capped in your current situation, it’s probably time to turn the dial towards exploration. This is not one I got in youth sports.
Another lens I’ll remember is “making yourself a big target for luck”. The book introduced me to Austin’s types of luck:
- Luck from motion — when you get an opportunity because you’re out in the world doing interesting things
- Luck from awareness — when you notice an opportunity is available to you (or you’re open to it)
- Luck from uniqueness — opportunities that come to you because of your unique interests, passions, and projects
Networks are important because of the influence they have on your aspirations. You need to be around people that expand your idea of what’s possible through words and actions.
It’s really important to (appropriately) display your work. People can’t bump into you if they don’t know you exist.
Caring is a source of alpha. Ray Kroc was one of the late bloomers. McDonald’s dominance made more sense when I better understood how much Ray Kroc cared. His passion for french fries isn’t something I share, but it makes sense that he of all people created the dominant fast food company. He cared more than anyone else!
Being a little reckless can be a good thing as you age. He cites a study (I think this one) where people who make a life change by flipping a coin are ultimately happier when it forces them to change rather than stick with the the status quo.
People who keep trying have more successes and more failures than those that don’t. Chaos and failure are not to be avoided but part of taking many chances at success. You do your best work when you do your most work. Quantity precedes quality. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Courage / not counting yourself out is underrated. Believing that you have the ability to be excellent is not sufficient for becoming excellent but it is necessary. This is increasingly important with age. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Recommended if you, like me, hope your best work is ahead of you.
2024-12-29