From the library
The Second Mountain
David Brooks, 2019
In one paragraph
Brooks on the difference between the first mountain of career and reputation and the second of commitment to something outside yourself. The contribution is the diagnosis that the second is usually entered through failure rather than chosen. Most useful in the middle of a career that is working and does not feel like it counts. Least useful if you want method; it is a moral argument with memoir attached, and the register will not suit everyone.
Where this sits in the operating system
Purpose & Meaning
Purpose & Meaning
People & Relationships
Mental Models & Decision Frameworks
Key insights
The first mountain is career and reputation. The second is commitment to something outside yourself, and it is usually entered through failure.
Four commitments carry a life: vocation, marriage, philosophy or faith, and community.
A moral argument with memoir attached. The register is earnest and will not suit every reader.
Recognise it early
The failure and the correction sit side by side deliberately. Read the left column asking whether any of it is already true of you.
Achievement relapse
Vague purpose
Ritual drift
Solo journey
Talk over action
The same idea, argued differently
Angela Duckworth
Plato
Ron Chernow
Thomas J. Stanley
The full breakdown
Before you close this
Naming the specific moment you will act roughly doubles the odds you do.
Reference
- Author
- David Brooks
- Published
- 2019
- Category
- Self-Help
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