Many times we look at failure and see utter ruin. We’re homeless, starving, humiliated and abandoned by our friends and family. All from not having a project ship on time. Or getting fourth place in the Olympics. Fear has caused us to overemphasize the doom that awaits us failing, so […]
Category: success
The Worst Piece in Your Portfolio
In the visual art world, there’s a saying that you’ll get hired by the worst piece in your portfolio. What this means is not that the person hiring is going to fall in love with your worst piece – it means that you’re going to be judged by the weakest […]
Fear or Love?
When we choose to respond to something, there is a choice to be made. We can choose to act from a place of fear, scarcity, and a zero-sum game where if someone else wins, you lose. This choice is one of selfishness, pain, and insecurity. Alternatively, we can choose to […]
Level Setting
I like to think of skill acquisition and progression like levels in a video game. If you’re a level ten at something, you’re in the best of the world, and you’re likely celebrated and/or paid for it. If you’re a level one, you’re just starting out and have very little […]
Blueprints
Blueprints are great for constructing a building that works for when the blueprint was drawn, but if circumstances and times change, the blueprint quickly becomes obsolete. Especially in uncertain times, we want clear, tested, de-risked answers to life. And why wouldn’t we? If you could have the exact blueprint to […]
Leading At Scale
In an ideal world, as a leader you’d be able to trust your team to make decisions and then let you know. You hired people who are great at doing what they do – which is why you hired them in the first place. So let them do their work, […]
Defining Success
Success can be elusive in the way that everyone’s idea of success is different. Some people define success through goals. They think “I’ll be successful when I do X.” Others, like myself, define success through process. We think “I’m successful as I do X.” It’s a subtle difference, but one […]
Easy Vs Effective
Easy and Effective often seem mutually exclusive. This isn’t not always the case, as sometimes easy solutions can also be effective. That said, you need to make sure when you’re choosing a solution that you prioritize Effective over Easy.
Skills Can Be Learned
The problem isn’t that people don’t believe that skills can be learned. The problem is that people don’t realize that a lot of things that we assume are natural talents are actually skills. Drawing and painting? Music? Dance? Charisma? Entrepreneurship? Trust? Leadership? These are all things that most people think […]
Who is Tim Ferriss?
In the work I do, almost everyone knows who Tim Ferriss is. However, when I go talk to my friends from college, almost none of them know who he is. In the work my wife does, everyone knows who Nathan Fowkes is. However, when I talk to anyone who doesn’t […]