A few days ago, I finished reading “Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work”
Tim Gunn’s story is very inspiring because he came from a humble background and never thought that he would ever be a media person of any kind. However, his people skills, dedication and passion have put him into the position of co-host for reality TV show Project Runway, where he mentors aspiring designers. According to the book, Heidi Klum loves working with Mr. Gunn because he always has excellent advice to offer.
Tim did not start out as a well-spoken gentleman. In fact, in the book, he states that he “was a classic nerd with a terrible stutter” and was “teased and taunted at school”(pg. 13).
He lives with the philosophy that you do not need to be nasty and disrespectful to people in order to get what you want and climb up the ladder in whatever career path you choose. In fact, the nicer you are to others, the better they will react to you and your ideas.
Tim also stated that “the world owes you nothing”. It is through hard work, careful planning, and meeting the right people that you get to where you want to be. He frowns upon demanding divas and gives reasons as to why such attitude will not work.
He also doesn’t believe in trying to get famous fast, and frowns upon those who approach him with the hope (and demand) that he will make them the next star. Those who try to get famous fast are doing it for the wrong reason and people will see through that.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book are:
“People who are used to having things done for them don’t often have a strong grasp on how the real world functions.” (pg. 34)
“Even if you are a really selfish person and are only looking out for your own self-interest, you should treat people well.” (pg. 51)
“My suspicion is that cruelty to those you have power over is insecurity, pure and simple.”(pg. 62)
“As anyone who sticks around in an industry for a while knows, the people who have the best careers and the best lives (and often those who do the best work) are not the demanding, screaming, flinging divas” (pg. 63)
“You don’t have to spend a ton of money to look good” (pg.127)
“My advice to them [people]: Try to take your ego out of it. You don’t make it about you and how hard your life is. You have to focus on what needs to get done and find a way to do it, independent of what your ego may be saying about what you deserve or what is beneath you.” (pg. 233)
If I wrote every single quote that I liked in this book, this post would be far too long to read. So I am going to leave it at that.
However, if you want your own copy of Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work
It is a GREAT read, and I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did!
Aviva 🙂
What great books have you read lately? Share them in the comments below.
