The second part of Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (Amazon affiliate link) is about understanding and overcoming the Resistance that holds us back from being truly remarkable, irreplaceable, and indispensable.

Throughout the book there is a sense of urgency that it is of utmost importance that we pick up the slack and do what it takes to make ourselves or our companies indispensable so that we don’t get left behind. Godin calls us all to be “artists” — changing the definition of “artist” to mean someone who doesn’t approach their work as a replaceable cog. They transform their work — whatever that work is — into an art form, making themselves special, different, and indispensable.

Godin describes art as:

“… a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another”

and

“… a gift that changes the recipient.”

This is immensely important in a world of copycatters who take the path of least resistance. Which, ironically, is Resistance in disguise. Resistance to being great and indispensable. Being a copycat is “safe” in the short run, but destructive in the long run. If you don’t make yourself necessary you will be overlooked and ultimately forgotten.

In a way, I see Linchpin as a huge contrast to The 4-Hour Workweek (4HWW), since 4HWW encourages you to start your own little factory so you can make yourself replaceable and take yourself out of the picture, creating a hands-off approach so that you can traipse around the world like its author Tim Ferriss. Find people who can do the work cheaply, since The World Is Flat due to the miracle of the Internet.

I know that’s not entirely the point of 4HWW — the point is to eliminate work that bogs you down so that you can do what you’re good at by taking advantage of the flattened world, which is where the two books converge.

Back to Linchpin: it encourages you to take advantage of the flat world (perhaps by using the Internet) in such a way that you show yourself to be a unique different voice in a sea of sameness. Isn’t that the essence of marketing in a nutshell, minus the part about the flat world? (Using the flat world is a strategy, but showing yourself to be somehow special is what marketing is all about.)

One of the most interesting things about Linchpin is how much it draws from The War of Art (Amazon affiliate link) by Stephen Pressfield, especially in the second half. In fact, Godin got the name Resistance from Pressfield, since The War of Art is all about fighting the Resistance that keeps you from doing your art. Godin just expanded the notion of “artist” to encompass a lot more than what you do on canvas or the stage.

And like The War of Art, Linchpin has a gutsy no-nonsense approach to what could easily become a self-help book since one of the main messages is to overcome the overprotective lizard-brain that is the voice of fear, judgement, and criticism. Overcoming that fear, that resistance, is hard. It requires a sense of prajna — a Buddhist concept of realizing that the stresses of Right Now will likely disappear and become irrelevant. (Which really boils down to being mature about what’s going on, and getting a sense of the big picture.) Be bigger than the moment. In other words, don’t freak out over every little thing. Pay attention to detail, but keep your eye on the goal. That sort of thing.

The path to mediocrity is paved with fear, because fear is what holds you back from your full potential.

By the way, Chris Guillebeau has a really good interview with Seth Godin here: ART AND PLUMBING: THE INDISPENSABLE INTERVIEW WITH SETH GODIN.