It is difficult to face every situation with a smile. I’ve discovered one trick that helps make even the toughest moments in life acceptable: approach every situation – good or bad – as an opportunity to learn. It may not turn coal into cheesecake, but at least you can walk away with the most important spoil of war: a life lesson. Few people will help you navigate life this way. It’s up to you to step back from the situation, take notes and review. The more you reflect on life’s lessons, the more prepared you will be to tackle any problem. With the poise and experience to tackle any problem, you may yet find yourself less unhappy and more excited by all that life has to offer.
Do Not Build A Product You Don’t Use
What’s the point? How could you possibly believe in what you’re doing? How could you understand what you are doing? Or why you’re doing it? Or who you are doing it for? If you don’t use the product you’re building, how can you really understand the value it provides? The way it works and the way it doesn’t? How and where it fits in the marketplace? If you do not use the product you are building, how can you truly inspire your team to believe? Inspiration, relevance, and quality comes from the top. If you don’t do it, how can you expect anyone else to? How can you genuinely market to customers and ask them to? How can you build a successful business you’re not invested in?
Keep Your Eye On the Prize
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by failure, errors, bugs, hurdles and drama. Rough patches and setbacks are never fun. You can either throw up your hands, whine and get beaten down by them – or you can look past and move forward. Focus operates hand-in-hand with success. If you keep your eye on the prize and ignore the rest, you can still cross the finish line in good time. Do what you can to put the stress, pain and drama aside for the time being. Go for a walk, eat a meal, take a nap – whatever it takes to cleanse, reset and get back on the horse. Man up, get the job done – and then complain.
Life Echoes
I sit beside this exact fire once every few years with old friends – most of whom I had not seen since the fire before it. In moments like these, everyone can catch up, let go and share in timeless togetherness again. As if the last fire occurred in the not so distant past, conversations and idiosyncrasies flashback in ways that challenge the passing of time. Reunions often cathartically reorient your core and priorities. You remember who you were, remember who your friends were and remind each other. Save for a few nostalgic campfire stories, the echo of your past happens subliminally. It feels like reverberation in your memory – like a moment worth reliving. Reunions enrich the soul. Without losing yourself to total nostalgia, I recommend assembling them as often as you can.
Hierarchy Does Not Work Anymore
In a world where everyone in an organization needs to be on the same page, hierarchy can be fatal. The time it takes for information to travel up and down the ladder, pass decisions up to the qualified decision maker, and fix broken translations will derail your team. Hierarchy in an information-age company turns into a big clumsy game of telephone, a jumbled mess of words and directives totally unacceptable and avertable in a world ripe with efficient communication technology.
Hierarchy today helps only in one scenario: eliminating the time it takes to collectively vote on a decision that needs to be made. In some situations, big decisions need to be made quickly without consulting the committee. That said, the time it takes to disseminate and re-orient everyone around the decision may take as long or considerably longer than taking the time to vote in the first place.
An efficient organization awards every member of its team the autonomy and trust to make decisions and solve problems when they arise. An efficient organization rallies everyone around a core mission and invites everyone to shape objective extensions of that mission. An efficient organization promotes true transparency, total accessibility, and the free-flow of information. Everyone who needs to have a say has a say. No one is left out. And no one needs to answer to anyone but themselves and their work.
Scratch the Productivity Itch
All too often I find it difficult to thoroughly engage in entertainment, conversation or recreation if I jump in having left active tasks incomplete. You cannot always push plans back to make room for completing the task, but it can make a big difference in helping you enjoy yourself if you find extra time to get the job done. Better in most scenarios to show up late and fully connect with the moment than stick to the calendar with a head full of unsolved problems. Fight the habit of tardiness and never accept it as a personal trend, but forgive yourself if it means victory, understanding on the part of the people you keep waiting, and an untarnished engagement. After all, your original plans can double as a celebration if you complete the task at hand. Get it done and go have a good time.
Take the Scenic Route
On the path to branching out and exploring life, consider taking the scenic route. The most direct route seldom overlaps more sensational routes. Whether on purpose or by accident, take the road less traveled. With or without a map, the adventure can take you to new places and allow you to see things few people take the time to see. Detours open doors to new restaurants, neighborhoods, architecture, nature and people. Who knows what you might find or connect with. Just one day per week, budget an extra ten minutes for your commute and try a new path. See where it takes you. Who knows? You might fall in love.
Explore, Expose, Educate
For most of us, school held our hand through learning. Adults expected us to show up, study and graduate. I cannot speak for you, but the structure of institutional learning failed to inspire me to pursue learning beyond the walls. Some teachers made a difference and instilled within me the value of lifelong learning – but the curriculum never asked for it. For shame. I’ve worked very hard post-college to open books, study new things and apply learning on my own. Many things self-taught have made me considerably more competitive in the job market, comfortable with business and well-rounded as person. Sound good?
The single biggest piece of advice I have for anyone looking to better themselves: expose yourself to activities, culture and people you do not yet know or understand. Do things you’ve never done. Try things without a second thought. No prejudices. No fear. You really did not have a say in what you learned growing up – why be picky now? Wipe away those inhibitions and get back to your education! Mix it up, kick-start the brain. Live, learn and love life.
The Three-Step Interview Process
Interviews by themselves are not sufficient for thoroughly realizing your connection with a potential candidate. It takes at least three of the following steps before you can even scratch the surface:
Vocational Interview – classic meet and greet to dissect the position together.
Social Interview – drinks, meal, exercise or games to test a cultural fit.
Portfolio – collect samples of past work like writing, formulas, apps, design, etc.
Shadowing – an observational half-day tour of the office, team and work ahead.
Co-Piloting – a hands-on tour of the job, shared and observed in part by an employee.
Contract Work – full trial of a person’s skills and autonomy to complete a project.
References – a second opinion from people who worked with the candidate before.
The more involved your interview process is, the better. Candidates who make it through show true dedication to the position ahead. There’s always a way to work with someone in advance of hiring them, even if it means tours or co-piloting after hours or remotely.
My Daily Reading List
I read a lot these days, more than I ever have in my entire life. Almost all non-fiction. Very few books lately, almost all blogs and web news by industry. In addition to the 4,500+ emails I consume, I flip through nearly 8,000 articles every month across 57 subscriptions (with probably a 15% engagement rate).
Many people have asked me what I read, so I’ve decided to share key items on my list. This batch is ever-changing – I am very open to suggestions or criticism. I subscribe to all the following through Google Reader:
Web Tech News
Techmeme
TechCrunch
Mashable
Engadget
Google’s Blog
Gmail’s Blog
YouTub’s Blog
Venture Hacks
Film
/Film
The Playlist
Mondo: The Blog
Entrepreneur & Venture Capitalist Blogs
AVC – Fred Wilson’s Blog
Continuations – Albert Wenger’s Blog
Both Sides of the Table – Mark Suster’s Blog
Only Once – Matt Blumberg Blog
Seth Godin’s Blog
Experiments In Lifestyle Design – Tim Ferriss’s Blog
Reinventing Business – Bruce Eckel‘s Blog
Vinicius Vacanti’s Blog
TechStars
Feld Thoughts – Brad Feld’s Blog
Mendelson’s Musings – Jason Mendelson’s Blog
McInBlog – Ryan McIntyre’s Blog
Seth Levine’s Blog
Peter Levine’s Blog
Jeff Jordan’s Blog
Scott Weiss’s Blog
Ben Horowitz’s Blog
Marc Andreessen’s Blog
John O’Farrell’s Blog
David G. Cohen’s Blog
Ask the VC
Foundry Group
Architecture
Desire to Inspire
A Daily Dose of Architecture
The Architecture Blog – Architecture pictures!
Inhabitat – Green technology, design and architecture
Comedy
Cracked
#Hollywoodassistants
Presidential Pickup Lines
Bonkers World
Texts From Bennett
Other
Zelda Universe – Legend of Zelda news
The Shirnal – Shirl’s travel log
The Domino Project – The future of publishing
Dr. Greer’s Blog – Extraterrestrial disclosure
Optimal Fitness Hub – Health hacks
Insights from the Corner Cubicle – Garrett Dallas’s Blog
Quantified Self – Life tracking
Information Is Beautiful – Infographics
Brain Rules – Neuroscience and life application
Craig Ormiston 