<p>Who is the author of Bet on Yourself?</p>

<p>The author of Bet on Yourself is Ann Hiatt.</p>

<p>How many chapters are in Bet on Yourself?</p>

<p>Bet on Yourself has 10 chapters. </p><ol><li><div>Chapter 1: Introduction</div></li><li><div>Chapter 2: Taking the First Leap</div></li><li><div>Chapter 3: Embrace Your Uniqueness</div></li><li><div>Chapter 4: Developing a Growth Mindset</div></li><li><div>Chapter 5: Overcoming Fear and Doubt</div></li><li><div>Chapter 6: Building Resilience</div></li><li><div>Chapter 7: Embracing Failure</div></li><li><div>Chapter 8: Finding Your Passion</div></li><li><div>Chapter 9: Taking Calculated Risks</div></li><li><div>Chapter 10: Creating a Winning Mindset</div></li></ol>

<p>How many pages are in Bet on Yourself?</p>

<p>Bet on Yourself contains 200 pages.</p>

<p>When was Bet on Yourself published?</p>

<p>Bet on Yourself was published in 2021.</p>

Personal Development

Bet on Yourself Book Summary - Bet on Yourself Book explained in key points

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Bet on Yourself summary

Name: Bet on Yourself
Rating: 3.6 (28 reviews)
Author: Ann Hiatt

Ann Hiatt

Recognize, Own, and Implement Breakthrough Opportunities

3.6 (28 ratings)

13 mins

Topics

Inspiration Leadership Career Progress Self-Help Success

Table of Contents

Bet on Yourself
Summary of 3 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 3

What’s in it for me? Learn to invest in yourself and shift your mindset to achieve success.

Do you ever feel like you're just going through the motions at work – punching a timecard, completing your tasks, and collecting a paycheck without a sense of purpose or progress? Many of us can relate, but it doesn't have to be that way.

This Blink to Ann Hiatt’s Bet on Yourself shows how to take control of your career and achieve your full potential, even if you don't see a clear path forward. Drawing on lessons from her unlikely trajectory from college graduate to Silicon Valley executive assistant, Hiatt provides a blueprint for professional fulfillment.

The key – if it wasn’t already obvious – is to get out of your comfort zone and bet on yourself. We don’t have space to cover all of Hiatt’s tips for how to do that in this Blink, so we’ll focus on three of the big ones: building a solid foundation, adopting a growth mindset, and cultivating resilience.

Ready for some inspiration on how to stop simply existing in your job and start thriving? Learning these skills will put you on the path to achieving your biggest dreams, even if the odds seem stacked against you. After all, when you bet on yourself, there's no limit to what you can accomplish.

Build a foundation

Ann Hiatt didn’t grow up rich, but the lessons she learned from her family built the foundation for the principles that helped her succeed in Silicon Valley. One of the most important lessons she recalls is that with hard work and big dreams, you can create exponential results. In other words, the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts.

Hiatt’s dad was the first person to model this concept for her. He grew up on a potato farm in Idaho but wanted something more, so he pursued and ultimately achieved his dream of becoming a fighter pilot in the US Air Force. Hiatt grew up in the uncertainty of a military family, with the constant possibility of being uprooted for a new assignment – or even of her father being killed during a training accident.

She also learned many lessons from her mom, a military spouse. While stationed in Alaska, Hiatt’s mother started a preschool for the local military families. She also took up painting, ceramics, and other artistic pursuits so she could follow her own dreams amid the isolated Alaskan military community.

From these roots, Hiatt learned to be brave and to pursue big dreams despite the odds – because the risk was worth it. She also learned that growth was linked to sacrifice; often, we have to give up what we have in the moment for the possibility of a brighter future.

Hiatt had always wanted to succeed. But at the beginning, her dreams seemed out of reach. After all, she admits, she wasn’t naturally perfect at anything – she was never the smartest in her class nor the best at any physical endeavors. Instead, she had to overcome her fear of not being good enough. And this is where the importance of having a growth mindset comes in.

Hiatt’s junior high choir conductor taught her that we’re always capable of improving, and that failure isn’t inherently bad – actually, it’s necessary for improvement and growth. With this in mind, Hiatt decided to bet on herself. She took calculated risks that pushed her out of her comfort zone, and which prompted her to work hard and rise to the occasion.

Another big lesson Hiatt learned in her formative years was to empower herself by figuring out the overall purpose of the tasks she received. While working at a music software company, she made the mistake of not paying attention to what she’d thought was a mindless copying task. But the blurry copies she produced couldn’t be used by the sales team for outreach to potential customers. Hiatt had to repeat the task – but now that she knew the packets’ purpose, she did her best to create professional-quality copies that would represent the company well.

With these lessons in mind, it’s time to take a look at your own situation: Are there ways you can proactively push yourself in your current role? What tasks are you executing mindlessly? Could you impact the bigger picture if you got creative with those tasks? Alternatively, are there any familiar tasks you prioritize while avoiding others that might push you out of your comfort zone and encourage your growth? Take a few moments – or as much time as you’d like! – to consider these questions before moving on to the next section.

Get out of your comfort zone

Fresh out of college, Hiatt managed to convince Jeff Bezos to take a chance on her and hire her as his executive assistant. How exactly did she pull off the leap from being a new graduate to working with corporate royalty? Well, part of it was luck. But it also had to do with both the hiring philosophies of tech companies and the way Hiatt purposefully created opportunities for herself.

According to Hiatt, tech companies look for smart people with drive. Their rationale is that you can teach a smart person the necessary skills, but it’s much harder to teach someone about intrinsic motivation. And what about the ways Hiatt encouraged growth in her career? She prioritized learning and skill-building – always finding ways to have meaningful impact in her roles and seeking out unique opportunities, like being an early employee in startups.

Cultivate resilience

One of the biggest realizations Hiatt has had in life is that to succeed spectacularly, you have to be OK with failing spectacularly as well. You have to build up resilience and be willing to embrace failure – because it’s often through failure that the greatest lessons are learned. Hiatt outlines three key things that can help you build resilience in life: using failure as a learning tool, knowing how to pivot, and taking calculated risks.

Using failure as a learning tool is basically what it sounds like. It’s about looking for lessons in every failure, and being willing to risk embarrassment because you know failure is just another opportunity to learn and inch further toward your goals. Hiatt saw this firsthand when working under Bezos. He pursued his goals of long-term growth instead of short-term profit, risking the displeasure of investors and failure as he learned how to do things no one had done before in the e-commerce realm. It took years for his vision and the company’s hard work to pay off, but Amazon’s achievements now speak for themselves.

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What is Bet on Yourself about?

Bet on Yourself (2021) traces Ann Hiatt’s career path and explains the principles and habits that helped her achieve success. Though Hiatt didn’t have a clear trajectory in mind when she started working, she knew the types of experiences she craved and the sense of purpose she wanted to find. Use Hiatt’s roadmap to discover how to achieve your specific dreams and reach your potential – even when you aren’t exactly sure where you’re headed.

Bet on Yourself Review

Bet on Yourself (2022) is a book that encourages readers to take control of their lives and make bold choices. Here's why this book is worth reading:

With its inspiring stories and practical tips, it empowers individuals to step out of their comfort zones, embrace change, and pursue their dreams.
The book provides valuable guidance on self-belief, resilience, and overcoming obstacles, helping readers develop a strong mindset for success.
Through real-life examples and personal experiences, the author shares actionable strategies that can be applied in various areas of life, making the book highly relatable and engaging.

Who should read Bet on Yourself?

People seeking ways to take control of their career
Those curious about habits that build success
Anyone wanting to achieve their dreams

About the Author

Ann Hiatt has worked with and for some of the biggest giants in the tech industry, including Jeff Bezos, Marissa Mayer, and Eric Schmidt. Along the way, she’s learned invaluable habits and principles that anyone can employ to advance in the workplace and achieve their vision of success. Through her consultancy, she now helps global leaders empower their teams and turn their goals into a reality.

Categories with Bet on Yourself

Personal Development Motivation & Inspiration Career & Success Management & Leadership

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