Category: A Matter of Time
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Your craft and your business model
If you’re doing something creative, you’re going to have to make a decision at some point: Are you going to try to apply your craft into a structurally difficult business model? Or are you going to find a different—less prestigious, less crowded, easier—business model to apply your craft? In writing, the decision is to spend…
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What if that’s what it takes?
In the 1990s, Jay Jenkins started his first record label. He had signed artists to record, but they weren’t following through on their commitments. Things were falling apart. When his friend told him, “You might as well do it yourself,” Jay’s first thought was, “I’m not a rapper, I’m a hustler.” In his book, Adversity…
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Success vs. happiness
You suffer. You know you are capable of something great, and yet it feels like nobody sees that. Maybe it’s depression, or pain of another sort. It feels like there’s a hole inside of you. You think you can fill this hole by pursuing your art and achieving success. This goal gives you hope, motivation,…
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Make your business the case study
If you run a web design agency, you may find yourself too busy working on client work to spruce up your own website. If you’re a freelance writer, you’re too busy ghostwriting for clients to put pen to paper for your own thoughts. If you’re in marketing, you promote your client’s products, but you don’t…
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Yardsticks and patience
Ailian Gan believes that it took Seth Godin four years of blogging every day before he found his style and started writing like he does today. It’s tempting to use that as a yardstick; for me, I’m two years into blogging every day, and hopefully I’ll get there in another two. The reality is, there’s…
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Make the present catch up to the future
When you make a prediction about the future, you are putting your reputation on the line. If your prediction comes true, people trust you more. If your prediction doesn’t come true, people trust you less. When you are working with people’s expectations, making a simple prediction, “I’m going to get this thing done today,” helps…
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Pursuing vs. ensuing
There are two extremes at how you approach a goal. Pursuing: At one end, you are in pursuing mode, chasing the goal directly, stopping at nothing to achieve it—you are going to get it, or you will die trying. You say no to the many inessential items because they are distractions. You do your best…
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100 times
If you’re getting started on something and think that a person’s advice is going to help you, you should reach out. If you don’t hear back from them, don’t give up yet. Instead, whatever you’re doing, try it 100 times. For example, if you’re trying to write a book, write 100 articles. (Or 100 pages,…
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Something to respond to
Several years ago, I suggested that responding was a powerful way to make more creative work. Advice columns and call-in radio shows are relatively timeless examples of this dynamic. You can also flip this advice and apply it to someone else: if you want to hear or understand somebody’s thoughts, give them something to respond…
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Preparation is not an excuse for procrastination
This post will be most useful for people who experience a tendency to overthink. In The Score Takes Care of Itself, Bill Walsh writes that luck would decide 20% of the final score of the average football game. While that 20% was out of his control, he could still prepare and plan for the other…