I just finished the wildly captivating (and humourous) story about the founding of Nike, to its eventual IPO (ghost) written by it’s co-founder, Phil “Buck” Knight. First off, I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re about to embark on a professional journey – if you’re taking a mid-career break like myself or you’re a fresh grad or deliberately changing jobs OR industries. Below are some of my notes from it:

• I loved the author’s recommendation not to seek a career or a job but a calling. People quit jobs, they burn out during careers but they don’t abandon callings. It’s fine to quit on an approach, but your calling will keep you up at night.
• It takes a team with a high level of talent and mutual trust for great things to be done. Even though the team might not seem impressive on paper, but productive team culture evolves naturally. There’s nothing wrong in being able to call coworkers “Buttfaces” – maybe you actually need this level of psychological comfort?
• The financial reward is never the end goal. I’m sure it helps, but the most fun moments were always along the journey, and there will continue to be much suffering even after you’re “rich”.
• Actions – not ideas – creates supporters. If you’re just talking about your idea, you might have people who dismiss it or think it’s a worthless pursuit. When you start moving, you have initial group of supporters. If you keep moving, you will have have fans. You have to take action.
• If your calling is not your family, it’s going to be incredibly hard to find balance between your family and your calling. I’ve seen plenty of people who do have their calling as their family i.e. the are individuals who spend decades of their lives on their family to the detriment of any significant creative or professional pursuits, and they seem to be completely content with it. However, there are also individuals who just need to scratch an itch that is a creative or professional pursuit, and if you really want to swing for the fences in these cases, you need to be willing to sacrifice some of your personal life.
• Drinks with the team is a sacred ritual!