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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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The Proximity Principle summary
Ken Coleman
The Proven Strategy That Will Lead to a Career You Love
15 mins
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The Proximity Principle
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The proximity principle helped Ken Coleman get himself out of a rut and launch a new career.
Do you love your job? If your work is challenging, interesting and aligned with your passions and talents, congratulations – you can stop reading right now! If it’s not, you’re not alone. According to a 2017 Gallup study, 70 percent of the global workforce is dissatisfied. Millions upon millions of folks get up every day dreading what’s ahead of them.
That’s not sustainable. Just ask the author. For a long time, he was part of that miserable 70 percent, toiling away in a dead-end job rather than pursuing his dream of becoming a broadcaster. Sitting on the porch looking at the woods behind his house one morning, he was struck by how far away he was from where he wanted to be in life.
It was in that moment that he had a revelation. He was the only person in the world who could make his dream a reality. After all, other people weren’t sitting on their back porches worrying about how they could help him start a new career. Only he could take the first step on his journey. But how?
That’s where the proximity principle comes in. Here’s how it works: If you want to do what you love, you have to be around people who are doing it and in places where it’s happening. Ken looked through his list of contacts and hit up an old buddy who worked for a leadership training company in Georgia called Catalyst.
The firm was just getting into podcasting, and when Ken offered to help develop a concept in return for a chance to gain some hands-on experience in their recording studios, they agreed. Ken’s first “sound booth” was little more than a repurposed broom cupboard, but that didn’t matter a bit – even if it lacked AC to keep the sweltering Georgia summer at bay, it was a start!
Over the next few years, Ken established a reputation for himself in broadcasting. It wasn’t always glamorous, and there were plenty of moments when he felt like calling it quits, but in the end it paid off. Today, Ken hosts The Ken Coleman Show, one of America’s most listened-to self-improvement podcasts.
That’s all down to the proximity principle. So how can you start using it to achieve your goals? Well, that’s just what we’ll be exploring in these blinks!
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What is The Proximity Principle about?
The Proximity Principle (2019) presents a proven plan for landing your dream job and turning your career dial from humdrum to awesome. Every bit as actionable as it is original, Ken Coleman’s strategy dispenses with shopworn myths about résumés and networking events and tells it like it is. At the heart of his argument is a simple but effective equation: get to know the right people and put yourself in the right places, and the opportunities will start presenting themselves.
Best quote from The Proximity Principle
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. – Scottish mountaineer William Hutchinson Murray
—Ken Coleman
Who should read The Proximity Principle?
- The work-weary
- Self-starters looking for inspiration
- Anyone who loves true stories
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