UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship

by M.J. DeMarco

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone. ~ Thomas Carlyle, Philosopher

Your soul will resonate its desires and discontent when faced with quiet or minimal distraction; for example sleeping, showering, or during a massage. How are you responding to your soul’s voice? Is it denied? Ignored? Muzzled with the intense demand of meaningless work? Distracted by a television? Honored?

Sunday evening is the litmus test for a SCRIPTED existence—how do you feel about the impending Monday? Excited? Or dour and cheerless?

Herds are organized for economic purposes: slaughter, shearing, milking. Herd with the crowd and you will get predictable results designed for the crowd.

If a death clock suddenly became visible and advertised your life rations for easy viewing, say your smartphone, would you spend your time differently?

If your brain was a separate person who spoke to you daily, would you label it a friend and an ally? Or a nay-saying enemy?

The shortcut scam is the idea that extraordinary results can be achieved by uncovering a secret bypass or a miracle weapon, and such can skirt the real hard work that actually creates the extraordinary results.

Real, permanent change does NOT come from event idealism or from shortcuts. It comes from a daily, regimented process woven into the fabric of your life, automatic and nearly instinctual.

Success is simpler than you think: ax the shortcut, honor the process-principle, and do the necessary work.

Success is more about what you need to STOP doing versus START doing.

The hardest part of the process-principle is repetition; greatness is a lot of small things done daily.

The special scam is a double-edged belief that our innate talents are enough to accomplish our dreams—OR that our innate talents are immovable, fixed characteristics immune from improvement.

the special scam says, “I wasn’t born with that kind of talent” or “I’m great; I don’t need to improve.” Both justify avoiding the grind of improvement.

Comparison is the path to perpetual misery.

Stop hunting money and start hunting value. Money is not prey. Instead, erase “money” from your vocabulary. Vow to never utter the word again. As a producer, start thinking of “money” as value-vouchers—a store of perceived value produced, communicated, and delivered to the world.

Wiseman explains that unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine, talking to the same types of people, traveling the same routes to work, while lucky people spread variety into their lives.

You choose the interpretation of your life events and then you choose how to act on that interpretation.

An extraordinary life is won on offense; it is then preserved through defense.

When wealth now is traded for a promise of wealth later, you’re snipping body parts.

Move from hearing your brain to watching it, as if it were a detached entity unto itself.

At first he was excited, but it later faded. As the job dragged on, he ignored his soulful whispers clouded by his confirmation bias. He wasn’t happy. His hobby was art, and he no longer had time or passion for it. He was working long hours and exhausted by the weekend. His relationships suffered. And yet, his righteousness kept him at that job for years, convincing him over and over “this is your dream job.”

It is perfectly okay to give up a dream job if it no longer serves your desires. Listen to your soul and avoid confirmation bias

We’re all perfectly imperfect. Including our heroes. While doing X, Y, and Z might have worked for Jobs, it might not work for YOU. Every one of us needs to stop hero-worshiping mortal beings and be our own heroes. Be a hero to your wife, to your family, and to your children. Stop trying to write your story with someone else’s pen and, instead, start using your own.

momentum paralysis keeps you chained to your past while wasting away your future.

Real change comes from identity and self—not from interim motivations jump-started by books or YouTube binging. Basically, you have to BE what you want to become FIRST so the actions can follow. Don’t TALK about it; BE about it. BE. ACT on being. Then HAVE.

When you identify as an entrepreneur, you will do whatever it takes to quit your job and succeed as one because your identity seeks congruence. Identified as an “employee looking to quit,” and your identity is congruent with the status quo—you won’t do what’s necessary, and instead, actions become convenient and trivial.

Simply put, you’ll never grow into the person you need to become because you’re too busy avoiding transformative pain.

Daily UNSCRIPTED pursuits are challenging and fraught with discomfort—expect passion to abandon you during the grind but return once the feedback loop fires.

The great happiness secret is autonomy. Freedom. The ability to feel in control of your life, to stockpile options, mobility, and whatever else you self-determine and endorse.

Basically, intrinsic improvement and growth (competence), freedom (autonomy), and family (relatedness) are core constituents of happiness.

So, perhaps the secret to well-being isn’t the wonder twins or a new Harley but simply self-growth and autonomy while sharing connectedness with others.

You see, companies grow geometrically, and sometimes exponentially, based on what our neighbors and peers say, not what advertising says.

If you’re taking risks and spending precious time to build a business, for the love of God, make sure your investment goes toward your brand and not someone else’s.

If you’re an entrepreneur scoping for ideas, the best are the hard ones because the difficulty represents the opportunity. When difficulty doesn’t exist and the Commandment of Entry looms, another red flag is hoisted: you aren’t solving any problems. Think about that.

You see, once again, we’re back to the process-principle. Executional excellence is all about the process, the daily rituals and sacrifices, and the commitment. It is your process that matters, not the goals.

If there’s a book inside you, by all means, write it. If you want to sit at home and day-trade the stock market, go ahead and do it. However, expect the expected: Any venture crowded with opportunists and easified entrepreneurs will require executional excellence for victory. And that means, prepare to do what others will not.

Your Price Professionalism Price Ambiguity Compelling Story (About Us) Ease of Ordering Label/Packaging Design Website Design Affiliations or Associations Cleanliness Customer Service Guarantee Crisp, Clean Photos Refund Policy Public Reviews Included/Excluded Ingredient Celebrity Endorsements Ambiance Comfort Product Features Security Payment Options Shipping Speed or Cost User Interface Bribed Reviews Employee Photos Website Recently Updated

Worth writing down

If you sell food or a personal product, every ingredient is a value-skewing opportunity.

This section on value skewing is essential

You see, your job is to identify every value attribute in the global pool, with the explicit intent to uncover skewing opportunities. The more attributes skewed without disrupting other skews (say price), the more sales you will win.

Getting a job and being responsible is never failure. When you identify as an entrepreneur, a job is simply a means to an end, a part of your unfolding story.

before you can do what you love, you have to do what you hate.

An UNSCRIPTED lifestyle should be challenged regularly. Whenever life gets routine or mundane, it potentially signals it’s time for a new pursuit.

One week of real market engagement is more valuable than one month of market research and analysis.

You see, if you postpone action until you have all the answers that pave execution, you’ll never get started. NEVER.

Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.

Find the environment that gives you your best workout. Not just with fitness, but with life. Find that city, country, church, coffee shop, or band of new friends that supports and inspires you.

For the UNSCRIPTED entrepreneur, the paycheck pot is the end game—a passive-income system of financial instruments that pay your bills, fund your lifestyle, and throw off regular cash you can count on. Such financial instruments can be bonds, ETFs, options, stocks, bank deposits, investment trusts—anything that delivers a published, predictable yield. It could even be a low-cost mutual fund,