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March 5 - July 14, 2018
I want to encourage people instead to look for the small. To be on one medium in a place where people can find you. To have one sort of interaction with one tribe, with one group where you don’t have a lot of lifeboats.”
Please don’t play the busy card. If you spend 2 hours a day without an electronic device, looking your kid in the eye, talking to them and solving interesting problems, you will raise a different kid than someone who doesn’t do that.
“I think we need to teach kids two things: 1) how to lead, and 2) how to solve interesting problems. Because the fact is, there are plenty of countries on Earth where there are people who are willing to be obedient and work harder for less money than us. So we cannot out-obedience the competition. Therefore, we have to out-lead or out-solve the other people. . . .
if you are feeling stuck, it’s all about The War of Art and The Art of Possibility.
Because if I hadn’t had those bumps, I wouldn’t be me, and I’m glad I’m me.”
Roasting your own beans is more important than any other thing you can do, if you want to make coffee. I think there’s a metaphor there. I know there’s a metaphor there. Which is, you can spend a lot of time trying to fix stuff later but starting with the right raw materials makes a huge difference.”
No idea is so big that you can’t take the first step. If the first step seems too hard, make it simpler. And don’t worry again if the idea is bad. This is all practice.”
“I don’t give explanations anymore, and I’ll catch myself when I start giving explanations like ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t make it. I have a doctor’s appointment that day. I’m really sick. I broke my leg over the weekend’ or something. I just say, ‘I can’t do it. I hope everything is well.’”
“Forget purpose. It’s okay to be happy without one. The quest for a single purpose has ruined many lives.”
One teacher spent 45 minutes on slide after slide of equations that could be summed up with, “If you build a crappy product, people won’t buy it.” No one needed to prove that to me, let alone drown me in calculus to do so.
Blergh. So do I.
Business school = curriculum + network.
As Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson’s legendary first trainer, famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Lesson #1: If you’ve formulated intelligent rules, follow your own f*cking rules.
Have the founders ever had crappy service jobs, like waiting tables or bussing at restaurants? If so, they tend to stay grounded for longer. Less entitlement and megalomania usually means better decisions and better drinking company, as this stuff normally takes quite a few years.
Commit, within financial reason, to action instead of theory.
Learn to confront the challenges of the real world, rather than resort to the protective womb of academia.
Huh... Protective womb, eh.
“Losers have goals. Winners have systems.
As cold and heartless as it sounds, this might be true.
Scott believes there are six elements of humor: naughty, clever, cute, bizarre, mean, and recognizable. You have to have at least two dimensions to succeed.
This involves choosing projects and habits that, even if they result in “failures” in the eyes of the outside world, give you transferable skills or relationships.
“What persistent skills or relationships can I develop?” versus “What short-term goal can I achieve?”
“Writing is a skill that requires practice. So the first part of my system involves practicing on a regular basis. I didn’t know what I was practicing for, exactly, and that’s what makes it a system and not a goal.
think what matters is the degree of focus and the commitment you have to that focus.
Basically, your brain isn’t capable of processing everything in its environment, or even coming close. So the best it can do is set up these little filters. And the way it sets its filters is by what you pay attention to. It’s what you spend the most energy on. . . . That’s how you set your filter.
As soon as that question came up, he semi-interrupted her and he said, ‘Only Rosie O’Donnell.’ That, my friend, is hypnosis. He took an anchor that everybody could visualize, and his core audience already had a negative impression. Their negative impression of Rosie O’Donnell almost certainly was bigger, stronger, more visual and more important than whatever Megyn Kelly just said. . . .
Check your facts’ is what I call the ‘high ground maneuver.’
Diversification works in almost every area of your life to reduce your stress.”
But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one specific thing. 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
I always advise young people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice.
You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix. . . . At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal.
“But that’s what’s fun, as it takes a lot of the pressure off. Winning the Olympics is a very big goal, it’s a very stressful goal to have. So it’s nice to have something else to offset it. Everything was so serious at the time and that was just my way of dealing with it.”
“In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue.”
Huhh. Probably why new jargon pops out every now and then...
Find a new category you can be first in. It’s not as difficult as you might think.
“First what?” In other words, what category is this new product first in?
made no attempt to trademark or protect it. Instead, I propagated it as widely as possible as quickly as possible, seeded it in media interviews, conference keynotes, articles, and elsewhere.
Jargon-coiner!
“Creativity is an infinite resource. The more you spend,the more you have.”
when I was able to start to monetize my craft, I did so at a very high price point.
“Good content is the best SEO,”
Amplify Your Strengths Rather Than Fix Your Weaknesses
I was actually vilified for sharing trade secrets.”
Specialization Is for Insects (As Heinlein Would Say)
“If I’ve learned anything from podcasting, it’s don’t be afraid to do something you’re not qualified to do.”
As I’ve also heard said, “Amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.”
Brilliantly stated.
If you understand principles, you can create tactics.
My point is not ‘write longer.’ It is ‘do not worry about space.’
An openness to indirect paths means I don’t obsess over selling my “content,” and I never have.
If you want to increase your income 10x instead of 10%, the best opportunities are often seemingly out of left field (e.g., books → startups).
“Success” need not be complicated. Just start with making 1,000 people extremely, extremely happy.
First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan.
Second, you must have a direct relationship with your fans.
Damn. Time to stretch my introverted comfort zone a little bit wider...
True fans are not only the direct source of your income, but also your chief marketing force for the ordinary fans.
