In medical TV dramas, losing consciousness is something that happens suddenly and dramatically. We can all tell… the body is still there, but the mind is gone, at least for now.
Unfortunately, this happens in real life. At work. In our personal lives. For a few minutes or even a decade or more.
We stop noticing. We fail to appreciate. Most of all, we stop making decisions.
Sheepwalking.
You probably don’t need a medical intervention. Instead, we simply have to find the guts to wake up.
Choice brings responsibility, and responsibility is often accompanied by fear.
That’s okay. You can’t run a marathon without getting tired, and you can’t do important work when you’re asleep.
PS thanks to everyone who responded to yesterday’s post. We sold way more than half of the limited-edition boxes in less than a day. I apologize that international ordering didn’t work in the morning, but the problem is now fixed. Thanks for your patience.
It took less than 48 hours. Thank you for making it happen.
Original post below:
[Lots of links in this post… US offer is here, international is here.]
Ideas travel horizontally.
Not from the creator to the audience as much as from one person to another.
It’s easy to misunderstand the insight of Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans. Decades ago he argued that the long tail is fueled by circles of people who lean in and support a creator’s work. 1,000 people who show up when there’s something important going on. 1,000 fans who care enough to enable an individual to create something worthwhile.
That matters. But that’s not what makes it so powerful.
Ideas that spread win.
The 1,000 fans go first, yes, but they also spread the word. Part of the creator’s job is to give the true fans something worth talking about, something that advances their mission.
When we make spreading the word worthwhile, the word gets spread.
It’s seven copies of the book (which comes out in about six weeks), a collectible chocolate bar from Askinosie with a trading card inside, a deck of 54 strategy cards and three month’s access to purple.space, including full access to the Marketing Seminar and Strategy Course as well. The retail value is over $700. I’m working with my publisher and Porchlight to sell the whole box of joy for below cost, less than $125 in the US.
Why overdo it?
Because ideas spread horizontally. Because someone with seven books is likely to give six away. Because I believe that when people have a better understanding of how to use strategy to make things better, they’re going to want to have their colleagues join them on the journey.
And because it’s fun.
It’s fun to interact with the true fans. Your questions and stories and heroics make me think more clearly and find new ways to extend the work. And what an opportunity design and create packaging for chocolate bars, trading cards and a strategy deck as part of my day job.
It all ships in a few weeks. If it’s something you’re interested in, I hope we made enough.
Click here to see all the details. International orders (no chocolate, sorry), please click here instead.
A sense of entitlement is a trap, because bitterness demands more evidence and seeks to maintain dominance over the other emotions.
When we’re busy looking for more reasons to be bitter, we’re not taking the time to do generative work, to connect and to find opportunities to make things better. These are the enemies of bitterness… it’s easy to make bitterness worse by seeking more reasons to be bitter.
The marketing consultant told the client that they have to post three times a day on LinkedIn. “It doesn’t matter if it’s good.”
The SEO consultant explained that the website had to be loaded with keywords, and that a big budget needed to be set aside to develop inbound links.
And the job seeker is instructed to make sure that the resume is AI-friendly and checks every possible box.
Feeding the algorithm works when you’re the only one doing it. It works when you seek to fit right into the middle of the lane. And it works if you’re willing to outfeed everyone else–at least until the algorithm changes.
But while someone is going to win that lottery, it’s probably not going to be you.
The alternative is to be uncomfortable. To create remarkable work and leave scale to others. To figure out how to show up in a way that is generous and distinctive, and to refuse the bait that others take when they decide that feeding the algorithm is their best option.
They call it ‘crowd control’ for a reason. If you’re in a crowd, it’s quite likely someone is trying to control you.
If you’re posting on social media or any platform with an algorithm, the real question is: do you work for the algorithm or are you committed to working for the people who want to go where you hope to take them?
That person that’s not like you, from way over there, the one that’s on the other team–it’s hard to imagine what they’re dealing with. They don’t believe what you believe, they haven’t experienced what you’ve experienced.
And the person right next to you, the one you’re sure you know so well–they are also dealing with a story and a situation that you can only guess at.
Empathy is really difficult. It’s generally worth it. Because empathy is the key to connection, trust and community.
Perfect is useful. It’s an absolute measure, a north star, a chance to improve our work.
But it’s also a shortcut to persistent dissatisfaction.
Compared to perfect is helpful when we’re creating something.
But it’s also worth noting that perfect is unattainable. What’s on offer is never perfect, but what’s on offer might be exactly what we need right now.
Solo mediocrity is rampant, of course. We know that toasting the bread before making the sandwich makes it more delicious, but in service of convenience and speed, we skip a step.
It becomes a conspiracy when more than one of us is involved.
The freelancer who offers cheap and ordinary work finds customers who willingly engage with them.
The small company that gets worn down by the constant pressure to simply do a bit less and care a bit less, and decides to follow the mass market where it seems to want to go.
The thing about these conspiracies, though, is that many people have to go along for them to work.
In a big car company, it might take the agreement of 30 or 50 people before the new line gets to be a bit less magical. If just one or two folks stood up and said, “not on my watch,” the conspiracy wouldn’t work.
Like most conspiracies, this one isn’t a secret, nor is it well organized. It’s simply the result of short-term market pressures pushing individuals who used to care a lot to care a bit less.
The next time things are going well, when a project is about to launch, when a meeting has been successful, when the sun is shining… take your phone and go for a walk.
Hit record on an audio app and make a twenty-minute audiobook. Talk about what you know, what you see, what you hope for. Talk about the change you seek to make and how you’re going to get there.
And then save it.
Save it for when you need to hear from that person who recorded it.
It might become the best audiobook you own.
September 1, 2024
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