Take Charge of You: Summary
David Novak, the retired chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, and performance coach Jason Goldsmith argue that you do not need a hired coach to keep growing: you can learn to coach yourself. The book works through five steps, from an honest self-coaching conversation and a 'not yet' mindset to a plan, daily action toward your single biggest growth goal, and a habit kept alive by an accountability partner.
- David Novak & Jason Goldsmith
- 2022
- 8 min read
- 8 key takeaways
- 8 ways to apply it
Key takeaways from Take Charge of You
The ideas readers on HourLife upvote the most, in order.
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1
The coach who can help you most is the one who is with you every hour of the day: you.
Novak and Goldsmith's premise is that coaching is a skill, not a job title. Great coaches ask good questions, notice patterns and hold people to their word, and you can learn to do each of those for yourself. The rest of the book teaches how.
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2
Start the conversation with joy: what is getting in the way of it, and what would grow it?
The first self-coaching conversation is not about productivity. It asks where joy is missing and what blocks it, which gets past a list of things you don't want and don't like. Answers to that question tend to point at the goal that matters.
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3
Name one biggest growth goal, and say plainly what reaching it would mean to you.
A list of ten goals is a wish list; one goal is a direction. Writing what it would mean makes the goal personal enough to survive a bad week. If the meaning is thin, the goal probably belongs to someone else.
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4
Turn every 'not' into a 'not yet'.
'I am not a good speaker' is a verdict; 'I am not a good speaker yet' is a starting point. The reframe is small, but it changes what you do next, because a 'yet' invites practice. Catch your nots out loud and add the word.
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5
Stay neutral: don't prejudge what is going to happen.
The authors warn against preconceived notions about how a situation will go. Expecting failure shapes how you prepare and how you read the result. Neutrality keeps you open to the outcome you have not imagined yet.
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6
Humility makes you coachable, so ask others what they see.
Self-coaching is not coaching alone. Other people see habits and blind spots you cannot, and asking them for input is part of the method. The skill is hearing it without defending yourself.
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7
Insight only counts when it becomes a step you take today.
The journey step is where reflection turns into action: list the steps toward your goal, then choose the one for today. A brilliant plan with no step today is just a better-organized wish.
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8
The habit lasts when someone checks on your progress at regular intervals.
Novak and Goldsmith close with strengthening the habit, and an accountability partner is their main tool. Knowing a check-in is coming keeps the goal alive between bursts of motivation. Pick someone who will actually ask.
How to apply Take Charge of You
Turn the ideas into something you can do this week.
Hold your first self-coaching conversation
Set aside thirty quiet minutes and write answers to two questions: what is getting in the way of my joy, and what would grow it?
Write your biggest growth goal
Choose one goal, write it in a single sentence, and add a second sentence on what reaching it would mean to you.
Rewrite three nots as not yets
Write down three things you say you are not. Add 'yet' to each, then write the first practice that would start changing it.
Ask three people what they see
Pick three people who know your work and ask each one question: what is one thing I could do better? Write the answers down without replying.
Recruit an accountability partner
Ask one person to check on your biggest growth goal at a set interval, and agree the date of the first check-in.
Choose today's step every morning
Before opening messages, write the one step you will take today toward your biggest growth goal. Make it small enough to finish.
Check in with your partner
Every two weeks, tell your accountability partner what you did, what you learned and what comes next. Keep it under ten minutes.
Coach yourself through the week
Each Sunday, ask yourself the questions a good coach would: what went well, what got in the way, and what will I try differently?
Nobody is coming to coach you. The good news is that the best candidate for the job is already here.
