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Principles of Applied Stupidity Paperback – October 19, 2011
| Justin Locke (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
| Price | New from | Used from |
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- Print length198 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherJUSTIN LOCKE
- Publication dateOctober 19, 2011
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.45 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100615207928
- ISBN-13978-0615207926
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Product details
- Publisher : JUSTIN LOCKE; 2nd edition (October 19, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 198 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0615207928
- ISBN-13 : 978-0615207926
- Item Weight : 9.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.45 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,555,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #28,180 in Business Management (Books)
- #29,292 in Leadership & Motivation
- #31,109 in Success Self-Help
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Justin Locke spent 18 years playing bass with the Boston Pops before becoming an author and speaker. He shares amusing stories about his adventures in the amazing world of a major orchestra.
Check out the attached videos of Justin sharing stories from "Real Men Don't Rehearse." To have him speak to your group or organization, contact the Eagles Talent Speaker Bureau or contact him directly via his website (justinlocke.com).
Justin is also the author of two musical plays: "Peter VS. the Wolf" and "The Phantom of the Orchestra." These programs for family concerts have been performed for hundreds of thousands of children on four continents, in five languages.
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Locke busts these myth, which are implanted in our minds right at birth. But the best part is that he provides clear and realistic strategies for deprogramming yourself and freeing yourself from all the learned bullshit that makes us so unhappy and unsuccessful.
The author rightly shows that stopping to prove how good and smart we are in order to be accepted is truly liberating. In other words, stop caring about what others think about you will free you. It will also make you more creative and successful. Instead of following the herd.
When I said that this book is deep, I was thinking, for instance, about how conforming is wonderful for the elites who can then dominate the masses of conformists. Also, when Locke says that doing nothing often brings success, he's awful close to the Taoist principle of doing less. Indeed, we often agitate and accomplish nothing significant in the end, while by doing nothing, things often sort themselves out and people around us will solve the problem. The author's not saying that we should always do nothing all the time but that we often should.
And to illustrate how concrete the book is, Locke gives examples of how not following the rules rules. He says that someone barging into a director's office will always triumph over the many who politely filled out job applications according to the rules, only to have their resume wind up in the waste basket. I've been through this very experience. I asked to meet the director at one time, without thinking that I wasn't supposed to. The director took a liking to me, and I got the job.
I got a whole lot out of this book. Like I said, it's down to earth, lively, deep and certainly very useful
I grew up in a home and school environment where being "stupid" (translation: if you didn't have an answer or comply... like right away) was akin to being ungodly and being "smart" was richly rewarded. So for most of my life, I struggled with coming up with answers, solutions and obedience to everyone (anyone!) else's issues and whims, often to my detriment.
When I started reading Justin's book, I had to nervously chuckle at the ways people get sucked into other people's schemes through feeding the "smartist" beast. So I decided to put the Principles to the test. Luckily, by reading the book, I was able to identify some of these situations which come up more often than you can imagine.
I was asked to figure out how to do something online by a friend. Usually I'm pretty good at figuring something out in this arena, but it does take some time (sometimes lots of time). I simply responded with "I really don't know" because I really didn't. Case closed! I don't know if it ever got resolved or not and, frankly, it's not my problem. I was shocked at how well it all worked.
Thanks, Justin, for the great advice!
