When a six-year-old kid beats the other kids at tennis, that kid is more likely to be encouraged to play more, or to get a coach, and pretty soon, they’re much better at tennis than the others.
When a musical group has a single that gets some buzz on Spotify, they’re more likely to be able to find a producer or even a label.
When a candidate polls well early in a race, they’re more likely to get donations, attract consultants, run ads and not be encouraged to drop out…
There are clearly scarcity-based competitions in our culture that reward early success. Acknowledging this (however unfair or suboptimal it is as a sorting mechanism) leads us to two very different sets of tactics:
One alternative is to dramatically overinvest and overprepare for your debut. If early head starts are rewarded, be sure you have one. This can even involve entering school a year later, or running for dog catcher instead of the senate.
The other is to acknowledge that even though head starts are sort of random and often reward the wrong folks, you’re going to ignore them. Make sure you have the resources and resolve to develop your following and your skills regardless of how well you do in the first interactions. Day by day and drip by drip.
Most people try to do both, and doing both almost guarantees you’ll burn out.
May 22, 2023
Sooner or later, we find a place to hide. A place of security or sustenance. A place of safety.
That sort of foundation can give us peace of mind and open the door to possibility.
But, it’s possible that we can turn it into a trap as well.
A situation so perfectly created that we’re stuck. Stuck without forward motion, stuck with a narrative of insufficiency or suffering.
The places we inhabit are external, for sure, based on how the world treats us. But they’re often internally driven as well, a story that felt comfortable for a while. But if that story has created a stable place of ennui, dread or dissatisfaction, it might pay to find someone who can help us see that it’s possible to move on.
May 21, 2023
More hope.
More health.
More security.
More innovation.
More breakthroughs.
More connection.
More creation.
More joy.
The climate movement doesn’t have to be about asking individuals to bear the burden of systemic problems. It’s not about living with less.
It’s about demanding more.
From your employer, your community, your local government, your country.
The more we ask for change at the top, the more we work to change our systems, the more likely we are to get it.
May 20, 2023
The little person at the control panel, the one who sees what the retina produces, the one who decides, the one who speaks up…
(This is the dualist solution to the free will problem–yes, I have a physical body, they say, but I also have a little human inside of me that gets to make free decisions separate from that…)
Anthropomorphism is a powerful tool. When we encounter something complex, we imagine that, like us, it has a little person at the controls, someone who, if we were at the control panel, would do what we do.
A tiger or a lion isn’t a person, but we try to predict their behavior by imagining that they have a little person (perhaps more feline, more wild and less ‘smart’ than us) at the controls. Our experience of life on Earth is a series of narratives about the little people inside of everyone we encounter.
Artificial intelligence is a problem, then, because we can see the code and thus proof that there’s no little person inside.
So when computers beat us at chess, we said, “that’s not artificial intelligence, that’s simply dumb code that can solve a problem.”
And we did the same thing when computers started to “compose” music or “draw” images. The quotes are important, because the computer couldn’t possibly have a little person inside.
And now, LLM and things like ChatGPT turn this all upside down. Because it’s essentially impossible, even for AI researchers, to work with these tools without imagining the little person inside.
The insight that might be helpful is this: We don’t have a little person inside of us.
None of us do.
We’re simply code, all the way down, just like ChatGPT.
It’s not that we’re now discovering a new sort of magic. It’s that the old sort of magic was always an illusion.
May 19, 2023
Marketers seek to make an impact, and that takes interest. Three ways to spell the key word:
Peak interest can’t get any higher. It never happens at launch. It’s the result of cultural change and an idea moving through the population.
Peek interest happens when there’s scarcity of information and we’re offered a glimpse.
And piqued interest is the result of tension. Something that isn’t as we expected. Perhaps it’s imminent, overdue or merely curious…
You almost never get all three at the same time. That’s okay, as long as we plan for it.
May 18, 2023
Our job as professionals is to show up and do the work. Not simply respond to incoming or do the chores, but to create and innovate.
And yet, some days feel more conducive than others. There are moments when it simply flows.
When the surf’s up, cancel everything else. Don’t waste it.
Postpone the dentist, outsource the grocery shopping and leave your email for now.
Make hay.
May 17, 2023
If everyone visits a factory and takes a sample, it goes out of business.
But if everyone in the community takes an idea, that idea goes up in value.
The best marketing advice I have for someone writing a book is simple: Write a book that people want to share with others. And then make it easy for them to do so.
That’s such a simple concept, and yet it’s overlooked in one media sector after another.
If you want to build a vibrant non-profit, create one where your donors do the fundraising.
If you want a hit TV show, write one that your viewers want to talk about with friends.
And if you want your software to be effective, embrace the network effect so that it works better for all users when your users bring in new users.
The five-pack is one way I’ve discovered to amplify this horizontal spread. My new book comes in a discounted set of five, with 25 free limited-edition booklets included. Each generous leader ends up with 4 extra books and 25 booklets to give away.
Of course, not everyone will choose to share an idea. But some people thrive on being nodes in the network, improving the systems that are in close proximity. When they have an efficient, leveraged tool to spread an idea, they’re more likely to do so.
People don’t share a concept because it helps the creator of the idea. They do it because it helps them. When they’re surrounded by people listening to the same music, talking about the same issues or doing work in a complementary way, things get better.
May 16, 2023
I had a great idea for a post, my best blogging of the year, in fact. I worked it all out when I was driving, but when I arrived, it was gone.
Vanished.
So I went searching for it, trying out dozens of possible ideas.
I never found it. But I did find five other posts, posts that never would have been worked out if I hadn’t been looking for the other one.
That’s how snipe hunting works. It’s not actually about the snipe.
May 15, 2023
Once you use your plates every day, they cease to be the good china.
Of course, the plates didn’t change. Your story did. The way you treat them did.
The same goes for the red carpet. If you roll it out for every visitor or every customer, it ceases to be red.
May 14, 2023
They’re essential. The house begins to stink if we don’t take out the garbage.
But at work, while they might be essential, they may not be important. At least, not important enough for us to spend a lot of focus on.
Chores are:
- Repeatable
- Proven
- Low risk
- Fairly impersonal
The bills have to get paid. But they might not have to be paid by you.
Entrepreneurs, artists and freelancers often spend a lot of time on chores. We justify this because outsourcing chores to others costs money, and in this moment, money is tight.
But that’s not the real story.
The truth is that if we stop doing chores, we have to do real work instead. The things that aren’t repeatable or proven. The things that are emotionally difficult, creatively challenging or simply requiring exploration and guts to pursue. If we succeed at this work, there will be plenty of money to pay to get the chores done.
Doing chores cheerfully and with skill is a fine hobby. But it might not be what you need to do right now.
May 13, 2023
