Extended Book Review – “The Practice: Shipping Creative Work” by Seth Godin

I’m beginning to think I was wrong about this book. I was ready to write this review, and I knew what I was going to say in it – right until the moment I started typing the title. Maybe, just maybe, Seth Godin’s latest book is exactly what you and I need. So, “The Practice” – is it any good?

1. Seth Godin is an acquired taste (which I happen to enjoy)

I think I’ll soon need to publish a Godin list on my Bookshop.org profile – and I believe I’m qualified. For the best part of 20 years now, I’ve been following the guy. I read his books, watched the videos, listened to the talks – once, I managed to see him live and even ask him a question (never underestimate the power of two bald people making eye contact!).

All this is to say, I’m biased. I like me some Seth wisdom, and it usually hits the spot for me. This means that I’m more than likely to buy his next book, and more likely to persevere through what he has to say, even if – at first sight – his latest work sounds like a remix of his earlier stuff.

And this, initially, was definitely the case with “The Practice.”

2. Two great books to read before “The Practice”

There are two other titles – both by Godin – which do a better job at presenting a coherent argument for a particular course of action. This is what you traditionally expect from a book, and these two behave the way a normal book should – once you’re through with them, a set of ideas begins to live and flourish in your head.

“The Dip” is, in the book’s own words, a short guide that teaches you when to stick, and when to quit. This, by far, is my favourite Godin book, and I’d recommend it as “Seth 101” – a perfect introduction. The book’s advice on frequent, strategic quitting has been super helpful on many occasions, mainly because it helped me get rid of some emotional baggage associated with quitting.

But it’s the second part of “The Dip” which really carries a strong message in the way I wish “The Practice” could. When to stick is just as vital as when to quit. You quit a dead end to get more power which takes you through the Dip – a tricky stage which affects most human pursuits, makes learning more difficult, and separates the rookies from the pros. Powering through the Dip brings its rewards soon enough; being “the best in the world” at something is what Seth’s book proposes as a worthy goal.

This ambitious direction is, to an extent, echoed in “The Icarus Deception“. This is a larger book, and in its format it’s closer to “The Practice” – it consists of short sections, some as short as one paragraph. In it, Godin tries to sell readers on the value of picking oneself, being vulnerable, and finding “art” in whatever it is we do.

“The Icarus Deception”, to me, reads like a book which only Seth Godin could write. Every page of it urges you to find the art, the uniqueness, the personal angle on your work – and lean into it. The opening section – one of Godin’s best moments, I think – reads like a script of a superhero movie trailer, starring You, and ends with a remarkably optimistic call to action: “It’s your turn.”

In terms of a structured, reasoned argument, “The Dip” is more than enough to serve as a roadmap. In terms of the motivation, “The Icarus Deception” packs all the fuel you’ll need to get going (and get past, over, or through any excuses).

3. So what good is “The Practice”, then?

If you read the two titles mentioned above, you might not enjoy “The Practice” at first. There, I said it: this might not be the book for you.

Some ideas from this book will look repetitive to you. Some will definitely be a repetition. And you will find, on occasion, that the tone is more reasoned, more steady, at least compared to “The Icarus Deception”.

But I think “The Practice” will still work. Here are three things it could reasonably do for you.

First of all: this book could be the Seth you’ve been hoping for. Not the motivational speaker any more, and not a distant navigator, either. Hearing Seth’s voice on the audiobook recording, you might compare the experience to being coached by a sympathetic, knowledgeable coach of your team. There is the occasional pep talk, sure. But much of “The Practice” is closer to a play-by-play, or a game plan. It’s showing you the rules, pointing out the patterns, and encouraging you to start testing them out.

The next thing you’ll possibly find is this: the bitty, fragmented nature of the book’s sections (over two hundred of them!) doesn’t need to be seen as a weakness. If you’ve been reading Seth Godin’s blog, you’ll know this as his modus operandi. This is his art, this is how he does things. “The Practice” doesn’t revolutionise his writing; few of his books ever went that far. Instead, the book does what it urges others to do – it explores the boundaries of its genre, and uses them as leverage. It may not always work. Among the hundreds of sections, there is a fair amount of misses, duds, non-sequiturs. But overall, you may see “The Practice” as a good delivery model for small, but frequent doses of inspiration and guidance.

This brings me to my final argument in favour of reading “The Practice”. Imagine a timeline in which “The Icarus Deception” and Godin’s latest swap places. You get the cooler, get-on-with-it message in the heady, joyful days of 2012 – and receive the all-guns-blazing, bombastic “Icarus” as you’re emerging, cicada-style, from the depths of 2021. “The Practice” might be the book you need now. It’s gentler. It knows its place. It tries to get you to do your work, just as the other one did; but it recognises that bravery relies on healthy, strong creative habits, and embraces the latter. It may not be the best that Seth Godin is capable of, but “The Practice” might just deliver a tolerable dose of his wisdom for these strange new times.

4. Should you read it?

If you’ve been on the Godin bandwagon for long enough, then most of what you’ll get from “The Practice” is skippable. The two books listed above are great starting points, and will get you to a place where you can work out, on your own, plenty of what “The Practice” tries to deliver.

But if you’re new to Seth Godin – or if you’re re-emerging into the world of creative work, as many of us are these days – then “The Practice” might be just what you need. The book is not a huge investment, time- or money-wise. It doesn’t come with a learning curve. It can be picked up, put down, re-started, re-shuffled at will. I wish most reboots were that easy…go and read it. What’s the worst that could happen?

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