In your career, the ability to walk, run, and sprint is essential.

There are times when you need to maintain a steady pace for an incredibly long period. Consistency wins.

There are times when you need to move faster than others for an extended period. Preparation wins. 

There are times when you need to push yourself to the absolute limit for a short amount of time. Determination wins.

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Equally important is knowing when to walk, run, and sprint.

Having the ability to size up the race.

If everyone else is walking, does running give you an edge, or will you just tire out today when the real race is tomorrow?

Is sprinting even an option?

Does it do more harm than good to sprint when the expectation is for you to walk?

Can you see a period of walking on the other side of your sprinting, or are you setting yourself up for exhaustion or injury by sprinting too much?

Train to be great at walking, running, and sprinting.

And know when to use each.

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^{Special thanks to BP for this lesson early in my career}

Ten years later, I still reference the lessons from Youngme Moon’s Different.

Too many companies copy/paste the marketing and branding phrases of their competitors, then wonder why they don’t attract new customers.

Too many hiring departments copy/paste the job descriptions used by others, then wonder why they don’t get dynamic candidates.

Too many entrepreneurs try to emulate the incumbents, disregarding nuance in exchange for validation, then failing at conversion.

Differentiation is a way of thinking. It’s a mindset. It’s a commitment. A commitment to engage with people—not in a manner to which they are merely unaccustomed, but in a manner that they will value, respect, and yes, perhaps even celebrate.
-Different, pg 225

There is enough easily accessible data available to make compelling arguments that are wildly different than, or even opposite to, one another.

Data analysis is a level one ability.

Data interpretation is a level two ability.

Our education teaches us that charts and graphs mean facts. Intended to be quickly digested and trusted. 

This trust built up in adolescence is abused by those who understand how to shift axes and sample sizes to their will.

Charts and graphs can be both technically accurate and wildly misleading at the same time. 

The footnotes, samples, timeline, and trends can be bent into a narrative.

The jargon of selection is loosely defined or lightly abused and misused to bend the data to the yielder’s will.

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More reading

5 Ways Writers Use Misleading Graphs To Manipulate You [INFOGRAPHIC]

https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

“If you aren’t a little bit scared, why are you doing it?”

That’s the question my mentor was asking me.

I had spent a few years climbing the corporate ladder, carefully choosing my experiences and building my brand to work towards the role I wanted.

It was right in front of me. I was next in line. I was the shoo-in candidate.

With a single question, he disrupted years of planning and preparation.

Changing my vision for the next few years with six words.

“What scares you about the role?”

I froze. 

I wanted to say “nothing,” but I also knew that it would be arrogant to believe that. 

So he said it for me. 

“It doesn’t scare you enough.”

He knew my goals. He knew my aspirations.

I had clearly stated that I desired exponential development and growth, but I was locked in on a linear opportunity.

It was only my goal because it had been my goal for a long time. 

It was no longer the right goal.

If I wanted transformative professional growth and development, fear and uncertainty had to be a key ingredient.

A goal that appears to be a challenge when you initially set it may be an afterthought by the time you can achieve it.

This was now achievement in title only.

So, I said no. I didn’t even interview – and we took out a blank piece of paper and started with one question.

“What scares you the most?”.

Brainstorming falsely rewards participants with a feeling of contribution.

Having the idea to go on a diet does not lead to weight loss.

Having the idea to learn to play an instrument does not make one a musician. 

Brainstorming is not getting something done.

It’s the low bar.

The free ticket.

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I have never had a hard time finding people who wanted to participate in a brainstorming session.

But when it was time to put in the work to test and implement ideas, those people were gone.

Find committed brainstormers, not single-serving critics. 

Those that understand that ideas have a cost to become a reality.

One may argue that you limit your ideation by requiring commitment, but if the goal is to drive change, is a commitment not more valuable than the volume of ideas?

Organizations don’t change because of brainstorming alone.

Organizations change because of people transforming ideas into reality – and those individuals should be there at the start.

Effective brainstorming starts with selective invitations to brainstorm.

The more desperate, the more frustrated, the more hopeless one feels, the weaker they are in resisting the allure of the illogical, the mythical, or to embrace conspiracy.

A side effect of misfortune is the erosion of logic. 

When we’re down to our last dollar, the thought of turning it into $1.50 does not bring any joy, but the thought of a miraculous event that turns it into a million does. 

No matter how farfetched. 

Conspiracies offer the lotto ticket of hope, the dopamine drip reward of imagining a world that provides an escape from the one we currently despise.

The desire for these miracles creates demand for any voice, any claim that offers a shot.

A supply of lies meets the demand for hope.

Customers spending their last dollar on hope because they believe it is all they can afford.

When developing a new skill, investing the time to learn how to  ______ the right way yields exponential returns. 

If you learn to do it the right way now, you save yourself the cost of unlearning and relearning in the future.

Prevent future regret. 

Spend time learning but “Get to good, then get going.”

Obsess about the fundamentals, but stop there.

Spending time learning a new skill has value, but this phase has diminishing returns.

It can turn into an obsession. Driven by the fear of trying.

If you have never shot a basketball before, the first lesson you receive on form provides a once in a lifetime value.

The second lesson can still be valuable, but less so. This trend continues.

At a certain point in skill acquisition, the value of the first attempt > the value of theory.

The failure of your first attempt is more valuable than your fifteenth lesson. 

When in doubt, try.

A few of my highlights and reflections from the book, Lives of the Stoics, by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

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An athlete isn’t thinking on the court or field; their movements come from the muscle memory of their training, guided by their intuition. It’s from this flow state, rather than from conscious deliberation, that excellence – moral or physical – emerges.

Aristo, pg. 29

Reflect on where intuition exists for you, then practice, with frequency and intensity. Profit.

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Still, has yelling ever deterred a contrarian?

Aristo, pg 32

If anything, yelling at a contrarian is equivalent to telling them that they win. Old wisdom. Hard to follow. 

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There is no better definition of a Stoic: to have but to not want, to enjoy without needing.

Chrysippus Pg. 46

This phrase cleared up a common misconception and one I was struggling with.

A Stoic can enjoy the finer things, admire them, and take pleasure in them.

But also be perfectly happy without them.

Grateful for their presence.

Indifferent to their absence. 

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…a controversial plot that sought to redistribute some of Rome’s land to its poorest citizens

Antipater, pg. 71

Wealth inequality has been around for a lot longer than one would think. If wealth exists, is wealth inequality a natural byproduct?

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Panaetius was the first Stoic to believe that virtue was not self-sufficient, claiming that strength, health, and material are also needed. 

Complements enhance even the most desirable characteristics. 

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You can and should be interested in everything, the Stoics taught, because you can and should learn wisdom from everything. The more you experience, the more you learn, and paradoxically, the more humbled you are by the endless amounts of knowledge that remain in front of you.

Posidonius, pg. 100

The act of trying or learning new things is a win-win.

Learning what you don’t enjoy doing is every bit as powerful as learning what you do.

The worst case is that it provides a reference point that leads to the next attempt being more accurate.

Imagine if when you bought a losing lottery ticket, you learned that you never needed to play those numbers again. Every ticket, even the losers, help you get closer to winning.

The best case is you find something you love. 

When another person says “I am wrong”, does this make you think more or less of the person?

Does it feel like a victory for you when they admit it? 

Do you feel a power shift in your favor because of the admission of the mistake?

Do you use this moment, actively and passively, to discount other actions and ideas?

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Or do you welcome their ability to admit mistakes?

Do you respect the humility to admit wrong? 

Do you admire the confidence they have in sharing weakness with you?

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Your reaction to the recognized flaws of others says more about you than them.

Being a person that people feel comfortable being wrong around is an honor.

The more shades of gray that exist, the more alluring the simplicity of black and white become.

Understanding your shade of gray takes a lot of work.

And even though you put in all the work to define it, it changes.

Slowly, quickly, inconspicuously.

A struggle to define.

A bore to describe.

The allure of simplicity beckons.

Black. White.

So much easier than gray.