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Kindle Notes & Highlights
It’s time for companies to stop asking their employees to breathlessly chase ever-higher, ever-more-artificial targets set by ego.
We’re in one of the most competitive industries in the world. In addition to tech giants, the software industry is dominated by startups backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. We’ve taken zero. Where does our money come from? Customers. Call us old-fashioned.
Chaos should not be the natural state at work. Anxiety isn’t a prerequisite for progress. Sitting in meetings all day isn’t required for success.
The human experience is so much more than 24/7 hustle to the max.
The opposite of conquering the world isn’t failure, it’s participation.
Goals are fake. Nearly all of them are artificial targets set for the sake of setting targets.
These made-up numbers then function as a source of unnecessary stress until they’re either achieved or abandoned.
Chasing goals often leads companies to compromise their morals, honesty, and integrity to reach those fake numbers.
Leave a lasting impression with the people you touch and worry less (or not at all!) about changing the world.
Seeing a bad idea through just because at one point it sounded like a good idea is a tragic waste of energy and talent.
NO PAIN, NO GAIN! looks good on a poster at the gym, but work and working out aren’t the same.
If you get into the habit of suppressing all discomfort, you’re going to lose yourself, your manners, and your morals.
Companies love to protect. They protect their brand with trademarks and lawsuits. They protect their data and trade secrets with rules, policies, and NDAs. They protect their money with budgets, CFOs, and investments. They guard so many things, but all too often they fail to protect what’s both most vulnerable and most precious: their employees’ time and attention.
Machines can work 24/7, humans can’t.
Modern-day offices have become interruption factories.
Companies love to declare “We’re all family here.” No, you’re not.
Whenever executives talk about how their company is really like a big ol’ family, beware. They’re usually not referring to how the company is going to protect you no matter what or love you unconditionally. You know, like healthy families would. Their motive is rather more likely to be a unidirectional form of sacrifice: yours.
An owner unknowingly scattering people’s attention is a common cause of the question “Why’s everyone working so much but nothing’s getting done?”
never forget that not having done something before doesn’t make it easy. It usually makes it hard.
It’s not worth trading sleep for a few extra hours at the office. Not only will it make you exhausted, it’ll literally make you stupid.
it’s still frequently seen as heroic to sacrifice yourself, your health, and even your ability to do your job just to prove your loyalty to THE MISSION.
If it’s easier for work to claim a Sunday than for life to borrow a Thursday, there ain’t no balance.
doesn’t matter how good you are at the job if you’re an ass. Nothing you can do for us would make up for that.
It’s really easy to fall for someone’s carefully crafted story. Great pedigree, great school, impressive list of previous employment.
Focusing just on the person and their work is the only way to spot them.
The quickest way to disappointment is to set unreasonable expectations.
To be paid fairly at most companies, it’s not enough to just be really good at your job. You also have to be an ace negotiator.
Give it a try sometime. Don’t meet, write. Don’t react, consider.
Commit to an idea. See it through. Make it happen.
Always keeping the door open to radical changes only invites chaos and second-guessing.
That’s really the answer to new ideas that arrive too late: You’ll just have to wait!
many best practices are purely folklore. No one knows where they came from, why they started, and why they continue to be followed.
When you stop discussing costs, you know they’re going to spiral.
If the boss is constantly pulling people off one project to chase another, nobody’s going to get anything done.
These half-baked, right-in-the-middle-of-something-else new ideas lead to half-finished, abandoned projects that litter the landscape and zap morale.
Promises pile up like debt, and they accrue interest, too. The longer you wait to fulfill them, the more they cost to pay off and the worse the regret.
Promises are easy and cheap to make, actual work is hard and expensive.
Ultimately, startups are easy, stayups are hard.
https://www.history.com/news/8-historical-figures-with-unusual-work-habits.
