You are only as smart as the people you meet and talk to. Everyone is your teacher.
Entrepreneurship
Commit
When you cross the river, get rid of the boat.
Go
If you think you need all the information before you make a decision then you’ll never act. There are always more data points to analyze. It’s infinite. The trick is to be decisive in the face of incomplete information…and it’s always incomplete.
Momentum in the wrong direction
It’s a lot easier getting into something than getting out.
Buying something is easier than returning it.
Hellos are easier than goodbyes.
Interviewing is easier than resigning.
Hiring is easier than firing.
Signing a lease is easier than breaking a lease.
Falling pregnant is easier than raising a child.
Dating is easier than breaking up.
Starting from scratch is easier than fixing something that’s broken.
Dropping bombs is easier that rebuilding a war torn city.
Life’s operating system is wired to make us commit to something. It’s not wired to help us make the right choice, it’s our hands on the tiller.
Momentum is a powerful thing, but be careful when it’s in the wrong direction. When it’s right, you’ll never look back.
Change your intention
Whatever you are doing, take the attitude of wanting it directly or indirectly to benefit others.
— Pema Chödrön
woulda, coulda, shoulda
Do you ever look in the rear view mirror and re-litigate decisions in your head? The “woulda, coulda, shoulda” shtick. Most of the time it’s not a productive exercise, but it can be enlightening if you use it as a barometer to asses your tolerance for risk and openness to learn.
As you push the envelope you are going to make mistakes. Slip ups are part of being out of your depth and wading into new space. I’d argue that a life of zero defects probably means you aren’t experimenting enough.
Experimenting and trying new things means giving up some of the outcome control, but it also accelerates learning and exercises your risk muscle.
Look back and learn.
Where are you standing? On the edge or in the center?
Staying in the center is safe. It’s stable and you have your footing. Shuffling out to the edge will get your stomach into knots and make you sweat – even if it’s ice cold. That feeling in your stomach is called risk.
It’s a different view of the world out there but you can only see it on the edge…and that knot in your stomach is why most people don’t venture out. I don’t think that feeling ever goes away – but it’s worth it and there’s no going back.
Feeling the flow
You know when you are in the flow. Decisions feel like perfectly paired joints locking together. Opportunities in the form of people, ideas and things uncloak. You don’t look back or forward, there is only now. Recognize and remember the flow feeling. You’ll know it when you feel it.
It’s okay to be persuaded
Humility is the key to new ideas. Smart humble people change their minds all the time. Being smart is not enough if pride is a blocker.
Sycophant moats
Some people surround themselves with a claque and never hear the truth. The politicians and celebrities who do this are easy to spot because they are under the klieg lights in the public domain. An objective observer sees it immediately. It’s cringeworthy because the people inside the bubble think it’s completely normal.
When the truth does catch up with them, and it always does, they refuse to believe it or melt down and replace the messenger with a loyal sycophant comrade.
A moat of sycophants creates an impenetrable reality distortion field. Truth is the only antidote. Don’t be an enabler. Speak truth to power or go spend your time elsewhere.
Live and work with people who hold you accountable, and are quietly confident enough to tell you the truth.
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