This week Seth Godin is featuring a collaborative eBook on his blog titled “What Matters Now“. This is an interesting concept and compiles 70 vignettes from “big thinkers” to think about for the coming year. This is easy reading and reminds me of an online version of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Nothing life changing or earth shattering here, but it provides a good read from some writers that I really respect.

Here are some of the topics I enjoyed:

• Passion, from Derek Sivers – This is always one of my favorite topics and is the secret to a life well lived. Be passionate about what you do. Here’s a sample of what Derek has to say:
  

  You grow (and thrive!) by doing what excites you and what scares you everyday, not by trying to find your passion.

• Dignity, from Jacqueline Novogratz – Jacqueline founded the charity the Acumen Fund and advocates for the imperative of helping all people find their dignity.
• Neoteny, from Joichi Ito – I liked this one because it was a new word for me, and is defined as the retention of childlike attributes in adulthood. The following excerpt is also something I wish to retain forever.
  

  When we are young, we learn, we socialize, we play, we experiment, we are curious, we feel wonder, we feel joy, we change, we grow, we imagine, we hope.

• Adventure, from Robyn Waters – “Adventure calls. Blaze a new trail. Cross a continent. Dare to discover. Escape the routine. Find a fresh perspective.” I always look for adventure. Life is just too short not to.
• Sacrifice, from John Moore – John emphasizes the need to be willing to lose customers in order to gain customers. Winning companies can’t be everything to everyone. I like the thought, but I like the altruistic meaning of the word even more.

These are just a few samples and it was nice browsing through them. I would love to know what entries were meaningful to you. Leave me a comment.