Category: Expectations
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Ordinary inspiration, extraordinary work
As of March 2024, Pokémon had sold over 480 million copies of its game. That’s 28 years after the company released the first Pokémon games, Pocket Monsters Red and Green, in Japan. You’d think that there were high expectations, or a grand vision, that drove the movement that would earn the name Pokémania—but art director…
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Disappointment and writing
Michael Lopp wrote a simple post about what you can expect your writing to do for you. The one that caught my attention was, “45% will do much worse than you expect when published.” That is a high percentage, but it sounds right. Writing—and all sorts of creative endeavors, really—means becoming very familiar with disappointment.…
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Ladders as liberating rules
Aaron Renn made a mistake early in his career. He attended Indiana University in Chicago, and he started his career in mid-tier corporate consulting. At the time, he didn’t have a clear perspective on the possibilities outside of his small town. He writes, “My choices were extremely high ambition by the standards of that community,…
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Waking up from the trance of hesitation
Sometimes you can control how something turns out. Sometimes, you can’t. You only have so much energy in your life. If you dedicate your attention to controlling how one project turns out, you will need to let go of how the other projects turn out in that present moment. If you don’t, you’ll start to…
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The minimum
Whatever your job is, there is a good chance you can get away with doing the minimum. You can fall into a pattern of slipping on deadlines, asking for more time, and not staying on top of a project. It’s less than a regular effort; it’s the minimum. If you add just enough value to…
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Optional vs. required vs. prohibited
Are you more likely to do something when it’s optional, required, or prohibited? Which frame of a task energizes you more? For example, what if the reading lists in English class weren’t framed with required reading—but completely optional ones? What if the descriptors were creative and interesting enough to get students to give it a…
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What went right?
The things that go wrong get the most attention. That makes sense, because somebody needs to correct them. The problem happens when the things that go wrong get all of the attention. You may even start to only notice things going wrong. Focus on the things that didn’t go wrong—the things that went right. When…
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The architect and the assignment
An architect takes in their latest assignment: to rescue a wealthy client’s plans gone wrong. The client has high hopes for it, and believes it has the potential to be a landmark and a part of their legacy. The main problem is there is very little time. She has two weeks to do it. In…
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There is no failure
When Virgil Abloh was planning his lecture at RISD, he decided that he was going to make a product on campus and that would be the subject of his talk. He would need to take this assignment in between all of his other prior commitments, such as leading his self-initiated fashion label Off White. He…