“Consider every project you’re left with after you’ve stripped the nonessentials, and then weigh their value based on their potential for achieving your larger goals. This shift will force you to get comfortable with the fact that you’ll have to say ‘no’ to a few great opportunities.”
“Email is the only universal platform. We think about Facebook being huge, but it’s the one platform that has more users than Facebook, Twitter, or any of these things. Every single person has an email address.”
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” — Benjamin Franklin
It’s easier to come up with excuses not to do things than it is to summon the courage to try.
But Annie Franceschi’s new book Permission To Try: 11 Things You Need to Hear When You’re Scared To Change Your Life can help you overcome those excuses.
Following is my interview with Annie — who runs the small business branding agency Greatest Story Creative and is a For The Interested newsletter subscriber — about what it takes to give yourself permission to try and what happens when you do.
“Practically every iPhone setup decision has tradeoffs. I will give you optimal defaults and then trust you to make an adult decision about whether that default is right for you.”
“The paradox of boredom is that it makes you feel tired, sluggish, and just disinterested. But it may actually spur you to action. It may get you to make changes that would be positive for your life.”
“Successful people focus on only a few priorities — they go all in working on those. So if you’re a salesperson, for example, you shouldn’t just cold call everyone in the book. You should focus on a few great prospects and work obsessively hard on those.”
“It’s understandable that we overfill our lives — we are usually acting on desires, and not giving full contemplation to what we want in our lives and what we don’t want.”
“Picture this: a room full of senior Square leads, gathered for an important review meeting. Everyone is looking at their computer, in complete silence, interrupted by bursts of clickety clack. 30 minutes later, the conversation starts.”
“There’s a very thin line between talent and skill. It’s difficult — if not impossible — to distinguish the two.”