Mark Sanborn

In his powerful book The Fred Factor, motivational speaker Mark Sanborn recounts the true story of Fred, the mail carrier who passionately loves his job and who genuinely cares about the people he serves. Because of that, he is constantly going the extra mile while handling the mail, and sometimes watching over the houses, of the people on his route, treating everyone he meets as a friend. Where others might see delivering mail as monotonous drudgery, Fred sees an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those he serves.

We've all encountered people like Fred in our lives. In The Fred Factor, Mark Sanborn illuminates the simple steps each of us can take to transform our own lives from the ordinary into the extraordinary. Through stories about Fred and others like him, Sanborn reveals four basic "how to" principles that will help us bring fresh energy and creativity to our life and work: how to make a real difference everyday, how to become more successful by building strong relationships, how to create real value for others without spending a penny, and how to constantly reinvent yourself.

By following these principles, and by learning from and teaching other "Freds", you too can excel in your career and make your life extraordinary. As Mark Sanborn makes clear, each of us has the potential be a Fred. The Fred Factor shows you how.… (mere)

This probably won’t be a long review, but that’s not to knock its worth. In terms of flavor, it’s a rather Colorado-y kind of book, and so kinda ‘American’, if that word can be tied down, rather than whatever the opposite would be, if we can get one image of that, (obvs we can’t lol), although it’s that Mountain West at its best, when it’s not sucked into weird conspiracy theories, and really just wants to keep people practical and productive. Although I looked it up and Colorado actually leans blue slightly, and so it’s not that stereotypical Mountain West I guess. Mark’s also a very accomplished person who travels a lot, although he comes off as very relatable.

Anyway, he touches on different things, like networking and leadership, having and being an employee, and various different success topics, but basically I think it’s kinda a general success habits and principles book, like the Slight Edge; actually it might even be more famous than that other book, but I heard of Jeff before Mark…. I don’t know; I’ll keep this book around. I used to number the passages in books like Leonard Jacobson and Eckhart Tolle, and refer to random ones, but now I’m so good at calmness I kinda accept less than God’s best, so I think I’ll start to number passages in this book and refer to them randomly, instead.

It’s not the sort of book that should be judged based on how complicated it is, or how many ‘interesting things’ you can say about it.

…. Feel good, and make other people feel good. Never neglect people or make them feel inferior.

…. I actually think now that I’ll give this book away, at some point.

It is kinda like the “non-specific” 😉—version of “Lean In”: “Lean In”, from what I’ve read, is like, “women can work like men, and get ahead like anybody else”, right: this is like, “we can ALL work like men; I’m sorry, like a guy named Fred, 😉—was Fred a guy? Yeah, what a coin-ki-dink, right. Well, I guess that men-at-work are an inspiration to all the children, right….

—I can’t pay for this anymore. Take it back.
—“Take it back?” Fuck you! You don’t know as much about this industry as I do, mister: it’s almost like you work somewhere else! Well, now you’re going to pay for that Bad Decision.
—But I can’t pay.
—Well, fuck you! We’ll punish you, and so you’ll pay even more!
—How can I pay even more? What am I supposed to do?
—I don’t know: and I don’t care—(calls) Someone bring me the hot iron!

~Yeah, like, glorifying men at work without talking about what it’s really like for either the majority, or at the very least, more men than are the “Truly Positive, Pro-Social Man At Work”, right…. And the other thing, that does relate to Fred specifically, is that the author praised him for hanging around the postal route on his day off, and it’s like…. Does Fred have no family or friends? Does he not want to read books/improve himself, or even just have fun? Is he a good worker because his work is the, “One Thing In My Life That Works”?

(shrugs) Yeah: this was one of the first “work” books I read, which is why I got so naive about it, right…. Being naive about people just because they make money isn’t much better than hating-successful-people-no-matter-what-they’re-like…. But yeah: life is not all your woo-woo philosophy person you know, who’s like…. I love you all so much: I’m going to leave you all a vague philosophical letter only I understand, when I die, and no money!…. You guys didn’t expect money, did you?…. ~But life is also not, I don’t know: Well, EYE have a job: so go fuck yourself, mister! ~right?…. It is toxic masculinity, so to speak, but ironically it’s at least as damaging to other men, right: the trad wife hides behind the Pepsi machine and shoos her husband, like, You talk to him; I’m afraid of shit, right…. You know: dysfunction doesn’t help anybody—and neither does being naive/avoidant about dysfunction, no matter how well meaning, right.… (mere)