*Typing*
You have no idea what you're missing.
Muck Fusk.
Today you should be thinking about Elon Musk.
Not because you like him (nor want to be like him) but because he understands focused resolution better than anyone else. What makes Musk such a successful operator is that he is less an operator and more a bulldozer. At each of his enterprises, Musk pinpoints the dams, jams and bottlenecks that are hindering his growth. He then proceeds to focus all of his time, energy and resources on clearing them.
Once the problem has been resolved, he whips his bulldozer around and wheels on to the next biggest problem. And so on. Consider this approach as you attempt to change you life in this new year. You will likely start today with good intentions. Eat less sugar. Drink more water. Watch less Netflix. Read more books. Frequent less bars. Run more miles. And so on.
Unfortunately, if you are like the vast majority of people, your good intentions will dissipate like smoke in the air before the end of the year. 23% of folks abandon their New Year’s Resolution by the end of the first week. 43% of folks abandon it by the end of the first month. 91% of folks abandon it by the end of the year.
You abandon your New Year’s Resolution when the problem isn’t well defined. So work backwards. What is the biggest hairiest problem you are up against in your life, today? What is a problem that is so formidable that if you were to knock its head off, you’d mount it on your bedroom wall? Once you’ve defined this problem, fire up the bulldozer and work on clearing the SOB with reckless obsession.
Don’t attempt to simply solve the problem. Instead, overwhelm the problem until it no longer exists.
Perfectly imperfect.
There are aspects of yourself you will never be able to change with no amount of therapy, courses, self-help books, silent retreats and mindfulness practices. You can spend your life trying to hide, fix or ignore your imperfections. Or, you can see them as something more…
Somebody who is tenacious isn’t always cautious. Somebody who is courageous isn’t always considerate. Somebody who is creative isn’t always collected. Somebody who is prolific isn’t always profound. Somebody who is loyal isn’t always rational. Somebody who is ambitious isn’t always available.
Your imperfections are the cost of your strengths. They’re the price you pay for being who you are.
Don't outsource your thinking.
I don’t allow my writers to use Artificial Intelligence at Honey Copy. Why? Because I see my writers as more than just writers. They are creative problem solvers who happen to write.
Writers who become overly reliant on AI have the advantage of producing more work at a much lower cost, yes. However, with time they will notice their ability to think creatively begin to atrophy. When we fully immerse ourselves in the writing process, we develop a deeper understanding of the subject we are writing about. This deeper understanding is why writers are indispensable to an agency or enterprise (not simply their ability to write a knee-buckling line).
When writers hire out their writing to AI, they also hire out their thinking. With time, this will cause the writer to not only be a weak writer but a weak thinker, a weak creative and a weak problem solver. If an advertising agency is anything, it’s an outfit of thinkers, creatives and problem solvers.This is why it’s so goddamn important to do your own writing. It’s about so much more than just writing.
Do be a quitter.
Quit in private. Succeed in public.
Quitting projects is a natural part of the creative process (both as an individual and an enterprise). It can also be a deterrent to the sunk cost fallacy, where you continue to foolishly pour time, resources and money into a project that has become a dud.
However, getting in the habit of quitting projects in public can be dangerous to your reputation. It gives the impression that you lack focus and resilience.
Because of this, it’s wise to begin the vast majority of your projects in private. Work on these projects in the dark, far from the influence of the outside world and the constant dopamine drip of online applause.
If after a few months, you still find that you are inspired by the project, then open up the doors to the public. This is a simple way to differentiate between the projects you are truly interested in and the ones you are doing because you *think* others will be interested in them.
It will also keep you from looking like a quitter.