Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr Seuss
I love this little book and recommend it as a great read whatever your age.
It might surprise you to know that thousands of copies are given away each year as graduation gifts. The same book can be found on the essential reading lists of top CEOs too, perhaps the only children’s book to regularly achieve this.
If you’ve already read this book, its influence will be easy to see here.
If you haven’t read it, maybe I can tempt you to explore a little further…
A friend loaned me his copy a few years ago and I was immediately hooked.
OK, maybe not immediately because I thought Dr Seuss was just for pre-schoolers but after a few pages there was no turning back. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! is a book about experience and choices but it puts a smile on your face too. It’s an incredibly positive book but not in an unrealistic way, despite the unreal pictures on its pages.
Although it’s all of this and more, Oh, The Places You’ll Go! could also be called nothing more than a picture book for kids but take a closer look and some simple ideas start to appear. Useful ideas like not making up your mind immediately if you’re uncertain. Liberating thoughts like it’s OK not to have all the answers. Practical notions like whoever you are, some things will go well, some not so well but you’ll be able to deal with it all.
Plus you get a 98 and three quarter percent chance of success at the end.
OK, so the percentages aren’t scientific but at the very least, there’s more to this book than just laughs. Why else would parents, graduates and business people keep recommending and reading it year after year?
I was half-way through writing The Career Explorer’s Journal when I read this book and the ‘What ifs’ started pouring in: What if a career book could be more encouraging? What if the reader (not the writer) could be at the heart of the story? What if our careers could be seen in a positive light? What if we gave ourselves permission to explore?
Small things that lead to bigger things don’t always have to be books, they don’t always have to be serious either. In truth they can be anything. I only shared this story because it’s part of my journey. You’ll have an experience and a story of your own too, we all do. One day you might even want to share it and talk about it here. I hope you do.
Our stories of one thing leading to another are the places where careers come to life. The moments where everything starts to make sense. The points we never move backwards from. Whatever they are and whatever form they take for you, here’s to the little things, the little steps and to watching out for them. And here’s to a book that puts a smile on your face and gives you the confidence to ask a question or two. That’s what it did for me after all.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! in the Dr Seuss memorial
(Thanks to ForestForTrees on Flickr for sharing this image)
(See his whole 8-photo set here Dr. Seuss National Memorial & Sculpture Park)
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Why not start a new conversation with a comment below…
Oh, The Places You’ll Go on work/life fusion
Wikipedia on Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
One thing leads to another, Part 1
“What if a career book could be more encouraging? ”
What a wonderful breakthrough moment… how easy it is for obstacles to fall away when we can see what it is we *really* mean to be doing. When it’s not about us, but the little bit of difference we can make…
In writing, in careers, in work, in life….
Very true Joanna, something does change when we can speak simply. Pressure is lifted and as you point out, some obstacles don’t look as big or rock-solid as before.
I’m very grateful for breakthrough moments like these. In my experience they’re rare, they come from unexpected places and they’re all too easy to miss.
Despite all that, somehow they still manage to find us and we still find them. Now what could be more encouraging than that 🙂