I just finished a non-fiction book by Steve Sims called Bluefishing. He is the founder of Bluefish a company that pretty much makes anything fun and cool happen for their clients, as long as they can afford it. The main gist of the book is Sims’ lessons on how people can make things happen. Any things. He gives stories and examples of his points and sums up every chapter with short statements of the key takeaways from his recommendations – a playbook, per se.
This book is mediocre but still worth a read. Its an easy and short read so it’s a low risk investment of your time to hopefully get something new and compelling out of it. I liked learning about Sims’ background and how he got to where he is today. And I wish I could afford to use his company’s services!
There is one super awesome thing that I LOVED about this book. The very best part came early and made buying and reading Bluefishing totally worthwhile for me. Sims was describing how he broke the family chain and quit his bricklaying job to free himself to do something; anything, else. It sounds like he had a very supporting father because his pops regularly said to him something that I think is absolutely perfect. Spoiler alert…..
“No one ever drowned from falling in the water. They drowned from staying there.”
Awesome. I love this quote. Its almost as good as my favorite water quote of all time by Heraclitus: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
Of course, neither of these quotes are about water. They are about life. I hope Steve Sims is honored for me to put his dad in the same class as Heraclitus so lets stick with Steve’s dad for this blog post.
Personally, I don’t let negative things fester in my life. If something bad happens to me, I learn from it, change what I can, and move on. Some people drown in their sorrows. I refuse. I think this is a great lesson for work as well.
We all fall in the river. Frankly, shit happens. Who gets credit for that quote, by the way? Probably some caveman because shit has always happened and it always will again. When falling in the river, the key is to either get out right away or swim around for a bit and explore, but eventually get the heck out of there.
So when a company falls in the river, is it because of one person’s situation or is it the result of collective disfunction? Either way, every individual should understand they can get out of the river on their own, but it sure isn’t a bad idea to yell for help. Someone else on the team can throw a rope or dive in as well to help get out together. The trick with this scenario is many people are afraid to admit they made a mistake or that they are in over their head. Living in fear is never good, at work or home. And its easy to feel overwhelmed because, well, shit happens. Learn from it and get out of the river!
There are some other interesting tips in Bluefishing. I’m a big proponent of professional and personal development so I recommend reading this book just in case you find yourself struggling in the river. Steve Sims has some ideas on how you can get out.