Businesses built on repeatable processes, rules, that basically need a person to just sit there and fill a seat, and do nothing more than be a drone with a pulse, you will need to produce a product without humanity, without personalization. You’ll need to lower prices and race to the bottom. Great businesses strive to race to the top.
Markets need human beings, not drones. They need people who are remarkable. With AI being able to do more and more stuff, being human is the only thing we can do to stand out. Whatever AI can do, it can’t be human. Don’t be a robot. BE HUMAN
Consumer Culture - We’ve been taught to consume for happiness. The burst of dopamine, the instant gratification received from consuming is a modern-day curse that people view as a boon.
As factories began getting more and more efficient, the capitalists realized soon they would have more stuff than there was demand for it. Consumer culture was the solution. Once a person in your town has a car, others needed one too. Consumer culture is based on invented needs.
When you ask someone to change something in an existing product, framework, or procedure - you give them a little bit of freedom and autonomy, ask for creativity or originality - more likely than not they’ll change something so little it’s barely noticeable to anyone who isn’t well-versed with the original. This is because they’re afraid - they keep their range of motion small. Don’t do that. Don’t be afraid to go big. Don’t be the guy who changes the tiniest surface element instead of finding a creative solution that goes into the depth of the problem.
We should only learn two things in life - to solve interesting problems, and to lead. The only reason to learn trigonometry or calculus is because it is an interesting problem, one worth solving. Once you’ve solved it - move on to the next interesting problem.
A brilliant author or businesswoman or senator or software engineer is brilliant only in tiny bursts. The rest of the time, they’re doing work that most any trained person could do.
Instead of telling your team what to do, build a team that can figure out what to do instead.
Fear will always exist before doing something crazy, unique, or original. Instead of ignoring it, hiding it, or worse, succumbing to it - ask yourself “where do I put the fear?” Feel the fear, acknowledge it, then proceed.
Gifts allow you to make art. Gifts are given with no reciprocity hoped for or even possible.
In everything you do, it’s possible to be an artist, at least a little
The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship.
Allow people to “thrash”, i.e criticize. But not too late into the project, and don’t allow everyone to thrash. Limit the number of thrashers, even well meaning people with authority.
Failing counts as the thing being “done”. So fail.
You need to come up with 1000 bad ideas before you come up with 1 good one.
Accept that everything is a draft
Manipulated art ceases to be art.
Annoyed at Humans - When fire burns us, we get annoyed at ourselves. But it wouldn’t do us any good to be annoyed at the fire. We give the fire a pass, because we know fire will burn, it’s not gonna change. Human beings are also the same, they aren’t gonna change. When our responses become lessons we try to teach people, we lose. If the projector stopped working in a meeting, you’d be somewhat annoyed, but you’d go on. But if the technician forgot to set up something, you’d be angry at him. Seething. It doesn’t make any sense.
We get a limited number of brain cycles everyday. It doesn’t make sense to waste many of them on situations beyond our control.
We Are Surrounded by Bureaucrats, Note Takers, …
If you build a business filled with rules and procedures that are designed to allow you to hire cheap people, you will have to produce a product without humanity or personalization or connection. Which means that you’ll have to lower your prices to compete. Which leads to a race to the bottom. Indispensable businesses race to the top instead.
If we can measure it, we can do it faster. If we can put it in a manual, we can outsource it. If we can outsource it, we can get it cheaper.
attendance-based compensation (ABC).
I’ve never met someone who had no art in them, though it’s buried sometimes.
Markets are crying out. We need you to stand up and be remarkable. Be human. Contribute. Interact.
Note : With AI being able to do more and more stuff, being human is the only thing we can do to stand out. Whatever AI can do, it can’t be human. Don’t be a robot. BE HUMAN
“Not My Job” Three words can kill an entire organization.
systems everywhere, manuals, rules, and a few people at the top working hard to dream up new ones.
Mediocre Obedience
We’ve been taught to consume as a shortcut to happiness.
You Get What You Focus On
AVOIDING OVERPRODUCTION
Consumer Culture - As factories began getting more and more efficient, the capitalists realized soon they would have more stuff than there was demand for it. Consumer culture was the solution. Once a person in your town has a car, others needed one too. Consumer culture is based on invented needs.
“We teach people to take initiative and become remarkable artists, to question the status quo, and to interact with transparency. And our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems
The typical indoctrinated response is that great work and great art and remarkable output are the domain of someone else.
they never bought into this self-limiting line of thought.
The Tiny Range of Motion
Note - Don’t be afraid to go big.
We ask someone to do something wacky or original and they change the tiniest surface element instead of finding the root of a creative solution.
The essential thing measured by school is whether or not you are good at school.
Learn only two things 1. to solve interesting problems, and 2. to lead
“What should I do next?”
The only reason to learn trigonometry is because it is a momentarily interesting question, one worth sorting out.
The experience could have been merely ordinary, merely another bit of good -enough. But it’s not. It’s magical. It was created by someone who cared, who contributed, who did more than he was told. A linchpin.
accurately see the truth, understand the situation, and understand the potential outcomes of various decisions. And now imagine that this person is also able to make something happen.
The law of linchpin leverage: The more value you create in your job, the fewer clock minutes of labor you actually spend creating that value. In other words, most of the time, you’re not being brilliant. Most of the time, you do stuff that ordinary people could do.
A brilliant author or businesswoman or senator or software engineer is brilliant only in tiny bursts. The rest of the time, they’re doing work that most any trained person could do.
Depth of knowledge combined with good judgment is worth a lot.
Rick Wagoner lost his job at GM because he told everyone what to do (and he was wrong). Far better to build a team that figures out what to do instead.
She applies artistic judgment combined with emotional labor.
She solves problems that people haven’t predicted, sees things people haven’t seen, and connects people who need to be connected.
The Troubleshooter
“Where do you put the fear?”
The linchpin feels the fear, acknowledges it, then proceeds.
Personal interactions don’t have asymptotes. Innovative solutions to new problems don’t get old. Seek out achievements where there is no limit.
The linchpin says, “I don’t want a job that a non-linchpin could get.”
An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally.
Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient.
The moment you are willing to sell your time for money is the moment you cease to be the artist you’re capable of being.
will not feel complete until I give a gift.”
the insight without dogged persistence over a decade would have been worthless.
“where should I do art?”
Gifts allow you to make art. Gifts are given with no reciprocity hoped for or even possible.
In everything you do, it’s possible to be an artist, at least a little
Instead, focus on the audience that you choose,
Note: I want to make art for some geeks.
The moment this happens, the artist is no longer an artist.
call the process of doing your art “the work.” It’s possible to have a job and do the work, too. In fact, that’s how you become a linchpin. The job is not the work.
Passion is caring enough about your art that you will do almost anything to give it away, to make it a gift, to change people.
This means being willing to surrender elements that you are in love with in order to help the other parts thrive and spread.
Art, at least art as I define it, is the intentional act of using your humanity to create a change in another person.
“Real Artists Ship”
“Creativity is an instinct to produce.”
The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship. Shipping means hitting the publish button on your blog, showing a presentation to the sales team, answering the phone, selling the muffins, sending out your references.
victim of late thrashing.
Relentlessly limit the number of people allowed to thrash. That means you need formal procedures for excluding people, even well-meaning people with authority.
Appoint one person (a linchpin) to run it.
Successful people are successful for one simple reason: they think about failure differently. Successful people
Discomfort means you’re doing something that others were unlikely to do, because
You’ve probably guessed what happens when you have a great backup plan: You end up settling for the backup. As soon as you say, “I’ll try my best,” instead of “I will,” you’ve opened the door for the lizard.
One way to become creative is to discipline yourself to generate bad ideas. The worse the better. Do it a lot and magically you’ll discover that some good ones slip through.
The race to make average stuff for average people in huge quantities is almost over.
Becoming more average, more quick, and more cheap is not as productive as it used to be.
Make excuses involving lack of money.
Spend hours on obsessive data collection. (Jeffrey Eisenberg reports that “79 percent of businesses obsessively capture Internet traffic data, yet only 30 percent of them changed their sites as a result of analysis.”)
Excessively criticize the work of your peers, thus unrealistically raising the bar for your work.
Ship deliberately average work product that will certainly fit in and be ignored. Don’t ask questions.
Criticize anyone who is doing something differently. If they succeed, that means you’ll have to do something differently too.
When you say it out loud (not think it, but say it), the lizard brain retreats in shame.
Accept that everything is a draft.
Pretending you know what you’re
doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
It takes crazy discipline to do nothing between projects. It means that you have to face a blank wall and you can’t look busy. It means you are alone with your thoughts, and it means that a new project, perhaps a great project, will appear pretty soon, because your restless energy can’t permit you to only sit and do nothing.
Attempt to create only one significant work a year.
The second approach is to sit with the anxiety, don’t run from it. Acknowledge it, explore it, befriend it. It’s there, you’re used to it, move on. No rewards for worriers. No
But your shenpa is a reflex that forces you to answer every criticism with a defense and a criticism in return.
“Thanks for the feedback, boss,” you say. Then you repeat the feedback in your own words, to confirm to him that you heard him, and you walk away. It
Why didn’t the entire day get ruined? Because you didn’t scratch the itch.
Internet diet
Then say, “If I deliver what you approved, on budget and on time, will you ship it?” Don’t proceed until you get a yes. Iterate if you must, but don’t get started simply because you’re in a hurry. Do not accept “Well, I’ll know it when I see it.” Not allowed.
the winners are once again the artists who give gifts.
It’s difficult to be generous when you’re hungry. Yet being generous keeps you from going hungry. Hence the conflict.
Linus and the core team responsible for Linux will never need to look for work again, because as you give more and more to the friendlies, the list of people willing to pay you to do your work always grows.
Manipulated art (even the art of service) ceases to be art.
Great work is not created for everyone. If it were, it would be average work.
The diamond cutter doesn’t imagine the diamond he wants. Instead, he sees the diamond that is possible.
Abandoning your worldview in order to try on someone else’s is the first step in being able to see things as they are.
Annoyed at Intent
If you get burned by fire, you can be annoyed at yourself, but being angry at the fire doesn’t do you much good.
Our inclination is to give fire a pass, because it’s not human. But human beings are similar, in that they’re not going to change any time soon either.
When our responses turn into reactions and we set out to teach people a lesson, we lose. We
The whiner has no passion, but is extremely attached to the worldview he’s bought into. Living life in fear of change, the whiner can’t muster the effort to make things better, but is extremely focused on wishing that things stay as they are. I’d put most people in the newspaper industry in this corner. They stood by for years, watching the industry crumble while they resolutely did nothing except whine about unfairness. Almost all the positive change in this industry (like The Huffington Post and YouTube) is coming from outsiders.
Here’s another way to describe the two axes: One asks, Can you see it? The other wonders, Do you care?
The same mindset that drives someone to stay in their home during a hurricane is at work. Just because you want something to be true doesn’t make it so.
The linchpin has figured out that we get only a certain number of brain cycles to spend each day. Spending even one on a situation out of our control has a significant opportunity cost.
Binny didn’t ask for permission to do her job better; she merely decided to.
Author Steven Johnson hates the board game Candyland and all board games like it. I hate them even more than he does. “I realize that games of pure chance have a long history, but that doesn’t make them any less moronic,” he writes. Here’s how Candyland is played: You pick a card and do what it says. Repeat.
The world just gave you control over the means of production. Not to master them is a sin.
Patients who were given colostomies (an operation in which a large portion of the colon is removed) were measured on their long -term happiness. The patients who were told that the situation was permanent, that they would need to live with a bag their entire lives, ended up being happier than those who were told that there was a chance they’d recover use of their colon. The stressful part is the hoping.
Anyway, near the beginning of most of these comics was a scene where a stranger would meet the team. Inevitably, the heroes would introduce themselves. Of course, Batman or Superman wouldn’t need an introduction, but the lesser (lower -rent) heroes had to speak up and describe their superpowers. “I’m the Wasp. I have the ability to shrink to a height of several centimeters, fly by means of insectoid wings, and fire energy blasts.” Some fancy marketers might call this a positioning statement or a unique selling proposition. Of course, it’s not that. It’s a superpower. When you meet someone, you need to have a superpower. If you don’t, you’re just another handshake.
You don’t start with the confidence of the company; you earn it.
When you talk to people who are committed to their art, what you’ll discover is this: they never stop giving. They don’t give for a while, hoping to get, and then, once they cross a threshold, become takers. Instead, they have a posture of always giving. That’s what they do, because they are artists, not cogs. They are linchpins, not replaceable employees.
So, what’s smart? Living life without regret.