Ruminations on The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt & Jeff Cox

I had to read The Goal, which is a business book about a man who has to save his production plant by seeing aspects of the inner workings of the plant in a new light and making unheard of changes for one of my major classes. I thought it was okay, but well done for what it was. It was written in a novel style and although the subject matter was kind of boring, the style kept me attentive through the end. It was very informative yet told in a palatable way, that even I, who does not know the slightest thing about production plants or managing a firm or company was able to follow along and understand.

But my review and impressions of the book on it's own as it is, is not the point of what I took away from my experience with it. One of my goals this year is to do what I can, and have peace with the things I can’t, that are out of my control. I find my major coursework hopeless and dry at times, it's difficult to feel motivated or interested enough in the content to follow along wholeheartedly. So going into this class about management, I was less than excited or enthusiastic. But when I found that one of the first major assignments was to read this book, I realized that this task was doable for me. I could have put off reading this book and then look up summaries at the last minute to study for the exams and complain about how arbitrary the exam questions and class is. I’ve done this more often than I care to admit in many of my classes, stumbling through confusing homework and numbers and equations, yet knowing deep down I could be doing more to prevent this: working harder and smarter. Why should I follow through with that fate in this class when one of my strengths is… reading? I realized, finally, something I could do: read a book. It was all so easy, just read the book, like I do for fun all the time anyways. I immediately borrowed this copy from my school's library that must be older than me by far, and read it all in the week they permitted me to keep it. I followed along with the reading notes my professor provided, although and I honestly can’t say whether or not I will ace the class or midterm, I can say that this was something I identified that I was able to take control of and I’m proud of myself for getting through the whole thing, not a single page skipped or neglected. 

I liked one of the quotes that highlights how little recognition hard work usually receives. One of the most difficult parts of life and going through the motions is working ourselves to the bone and the fact that really, no one cares. Everyone’s doing the same or their own thing, too busy to pay attention to the little things that keep the fabric of our society and lives from falling apart at the seams. But we still do it, for ourselves, for others, for the common good. And that’s worth everything, even reading a slightly boring business book.