Achieving goals breeds new ones.
A terrible situation creates misery, but a good situation doesn’t imply happiness.
Happiness takes inner work, gratitude for what’s had.
The good life’s a journey, not a destination.
It’s popular to read advice from highly successful people.
Their advice may be good for THEIR situation, but does it generalize to other circumstances?
Here’s my attempt to distill repeated advice from MANY highly successful people across many distinct circumstances:
[thread]
Achieving goals breeds new ones.
A terrible situation creates misery, but a good situation doesn’t imply happiness.
Happiness takes inner work, gratitude for what’s had.
The good life’s a journey, not a destination.
“Overnight successes” are rare, and are often misidentified. If you look closely, usually the person was practicing for 5-20 years before they were an “overnight success.”
Always be improving.
When young, people usually don’t know what they’re going to “do with their life.” That’s fine!
Life takes crazy, unexpected twists & turns.
Plans are great but expect to modify them.
Be adaptable and on the lookout for great, unexpected opportunities
Attempting hard things will bring stress, fear, and anxiety. If you avoid what you fear (more than is warranted by the level of danger) your potential will be curtailed.
Learn to push through your fears to do stressful things that are valuable.
Be thoughtful about who you are friends with, whether you spend enough quality time with your loved ones, etc.
Spending time with the wrong people will waste time or even sap potential.
Make enough time for the people that matter most to you
People will ask many things from you. If you always say yes it will drain energy & focus.
Say “yes” to your loved ones.
For others, consider if you realistically have the bandwidth without taking away from valued priorities. If not, give an authentic “no.”
Exercise regularly, reduce sugar, eat healthy foods that make you feel good, avoid excessive alcohol, meditate regularly, and seek treatment for mental health challenges.
Good health has ripple effects, and will help you achieve your goals.
More from Life
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
Next level tactic when closing a sale, candidate, or investment:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) February 27, 2018
Ask: \u201cWhat needs to be true for you to be all in?\u201d
You'll usually get an explicit answer that you might not get otherwise. It also holds them accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
How to get smarter very fast:
Interact with smart people here on Twitter who have different world-views than you do.
And let them change your mind on something.
Here are the 30 people you should follow (along with my favorite tweet from each)👇👇
Twitter can be terrible if you follow negative people.
It can also be more valuable than a college degree if you follow (and network with) the right people.
You get to look right into their brain and read a daily narrative of HOW they think.
Ok lets go:
#1: @ShaanVP
You know he's all about venture capital based entrepreneurship. I'm about small (non-sexy) business. We disagree on a lot of stuff.
But he's done it and he's won. Bonus follow: @theSamParr (@myfirstmilpod podcast
#2: @fortworthchris
He is where I want to be in 15 years. Has built a massive real estate private equity firm from the ground up. Super grounded with what the way he does business and his podcast @theFORTpodcast is top
#3: @Julian
I'm a scattered thinker and procrastinator.
Julian is a master of clear thinking and simple but effective writing. A world class example of content marketing and
Interact with smart people here on Twitter who have different world-views than you do.
And let them change your mind on something.
Here are the 30 people you should follow (along with my favorite tweet from each)👇👇
Twitter can be terrible if you follow negative people.
It can also be more valuable than a college degree if you follow (and network with) the right people.
You get to look right into their brain and read a daily narrative of HOW they think.
Ok lets go:
#1: @ShaanVP
You know he's all about venture capital based entrepreneurship. I'm about small (non-sexy) business. We disagree on a lot of stuff.
But he's done it and he's won. Bonus follow: @theSamParr (@myfirstmilpod podcast
10 years ago, Netflix spent $0 on original content.
— Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) January 14, 2021
This year:
Netflix: $11B
Apple: $6B
Disney: $1B
+ amazon, hulu HBO etc.
=
$20B+
Here's a crazy startup idea to take a swing at this $20B+ content pi\xf1ata. \U0001f447 Here's a quick business plan \U0001f914
#2: @fortworthchris
He is where I want to be in 15 years. Has built a massive real estate private equity firm from the ground up. Super grounded with what the way he does business and his podcast @theFORTpodcast is top
When buying a deal, every day that goes by, the potential for tunnel vision grows.
— Chris Powers (@fortworthchris) January 7, 2021
Obsessing over executing detailed Due Diligence early and efficiently is paramount to limiting this.
#3: @Julian
I'm a scattered thinker and procrastinator.
Julian is a master of clear thinking and simple but effective writing. A world class example of content marketing and
THREAD: 10 significant lies you're told about the world.
— Julian Shapiro (@Julian) January 9, 2021
On startups, writing, and your career:
