“The notion of being able to communicate with dozens or hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands or more (!) people in real time speaks directly to the power of the internet. But think about how crazy this is if you’re trying to convey the ‘real’ you to this audience. It just doesn’t work and it never was going to. It was all a lie wrapped in a dream. You weren’t built to scale.”
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett
In last week’s For The Interested newsletter I shared a post from Darius Foroux in which he offered 10 practical answers to 10 practical questions a reader sent him.
I loved the format and invited readers to send me a set of questions to answer in a similar way.
Alyssa Powell took me up on the offer (thanks!) and sent the following questions about everything from launching projects and entrepreneurial efforts, to relieving stress and feeling alive.
“Doing one thing at a time isn’t about boring yourself into efficiency. There can still be room for exploration if you create clear boundaries. Build your sandbox, and then you can play in it.”
“One writes out of one thing only — one’s own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give.”
“Pauses aren’t easy to embrace. For many speakers, even the briefest pause can feel like an interminable silence. That’s because we tend to think faster than we speak.”
“A small to-do list of 5–10 items, if completed day in and day out, will put you far ahead of everyone else.”
“The best work takes twenty times longer than you’ve planned. The best work happens when everybody else goes home. The best work happens when you’re poring over the details. And the best work happens when you GET that creating something kick ass doesn’t happen on your first attempt.”
“No one in the history of mankind became happy or successful without help. Realize that you’re not alone.”
“Writing and marketing a new book is just like running a business. You start with an idea and a lot of unproven assumptions and your goal is to prove those assumptions as quickly as possible while investing as little capital and time as possible.”