Working Out Loud Quotes

“Reading Working Out Loud by @johnstepper”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“For a while, the first dancer is alone, oblivious to the crowd. As you watch, you can almost feel the discomfort of people in the park as they keep their distance and occasionally glance over. It’s awkward to watch him flail about on his own. After an uncomfortably long time, a second dancer joins him. Now it still feels awkward but a bit less so. When a third person and then a fourth start dancing, it becomes a group, something that’s easier to join. All of a sudden more and more people participate, each doing his or her own dance, each attracting yet more people. Now a crowd is beginning to form. By the end of the three-minute video, hundreds of people are screaming and dancing, racing from all directions to become part of it. The awkward solo dance has turned into a movement people want to join. When you view your work as a strictly solo activity, it can be both uncomfortable and lonely. Looking for and enabling others to join you can fundamentally change your work and how you feel about it.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“There’s a gap…what you’re making isn’t that good…But your taste is still good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point they quit.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“When I look in my e-mail inbox now, almost eighty years later, I see the same problems. Here are a few actual messages I get from professional salespeople, usually people I don’t know who work at companies I’ve never heard of. For example, they’ll routinely frame their requests in terms of what’s in it for them instead of what’s in it for me. Do you have time to talk or meet up? I would value the opportunity for a twenty-minute meeting. They’ll inadvertently make me feel as if their time and effort is more important than mine by offering an exchange of coffee for an hour of my day or by fitting me into their schedule. Let me know, as I have some time over the next few days. Often they’ll simply repeat their self-centered messages thinking that badgering me will change the outcome.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Set up visual cues. These can be simple physical reminders, like a note taped to your computer. For example, if you asked yourself, “What’s the contribution?” every time you sent an e-mail, that would be dozens of opportunities to practice every day. Over time, you would be framing things as contributions without even thinking about it. That alone would be a powerful habit.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Create rituals. Your physical environment can also serve as a set of cues to put you in the right frame of mind for working out loud. Cues might include sitting in your special writing chair with a special notebook and pen dedicated to your new habit or sitting with your laptop and a cup of mint tea in your favorite cafe. Over time, those cues will tell you “Now is the time to work out loud,” and you’ll expend less mental energy getting started.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“You want to develop the habit of regularly reviewing your relationship list and asking, “What do I have to offer that can further develop the relationship?”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Even more importantly, if you loved something and shared it, don’t worry about a response. It’s the expectation of getting something in return that can spoil a gift.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“If you have a mindset that the point of your initial contributions is to get better and get feedback, and you’re framing your work as contributions, then you’ll be more likely to avoid the fate of most people who start contributing and give up.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Generosity, not arrogance. Problem-solving, not desperation. Helpfulness, not selfishness.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Anyone can criticize or accept praise, but initiating a positive exchange is a hallmark of a difference maker.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“people with better networks receive higher performance ratings, get promoted faster, and earn more money.3”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“people with better networks receive higher performance ratings, get promoted faster, and earn more money.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Now the ease of publishing combined with the ease of finding and consuming information makes it simpler than ever to make your work visible in a way that’s helpful to others.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“You can be a delicious, ripe peach, and there will still be people in the world who hate peaches.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“be suspicious of strangers offering too much too soon.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life

“Google yourself. It’s called a “vanity search,” and people do it all the time.”
― John Stepper, Working Out Loud: For a better career and life