Overstaying a party

How often do you overstay a party?

How long do you overstay?

When do you realise it is time to go?

Why do you overstay?

Often, we stay at an event too long.

We might be too tired to go on, yet stay.

We might not have a good time, yet stay.

But we might miss out if we go.

Fear of missing out is often the main cause.

Once you are tired,

Once you stop having a good time,

it rarely will get any better thereafter.

Give to Receive

How often do you do favours?

How often do you request favours?

What is your ratio like?

How do you feel about it?

To receive value, you need to deliver it.

Overly taking is a short-term win.

People will notice at some point.

Overgiving can be a losing strategy.

Strategic giving — to those who deserve it,

Now that is a winning strategy in the long term.

Buttons

How easily are your buttons pushed?

How well do you know your buttons?

Who is good at pushing them?

How do you react to them being pushed?

We all have our buttons.

Pushed buttons elicit feelings of rage.

After rage often follows shame.

Rage and shame are like best friends.

Identify your buttons.

Identify the people who like to push them.

You can remove the buttons;

the fewer you have, the better.

You can avoid the people who push them.

Yet, you cannot avoid yourself.

Sudden or Inattentive

How often do things happen suddenly for you?

How often are you surprised by them?

How attentive are you?

How often are you surprised due to your inattentiveness?

Often, we think something has hit us suddenly.

We are surprised, and we did not see it coming.

Yet if we had paid attention, it would have been obvious.

People around us were waiting for it to happen.

People around us sometimes even warn us.

Yet, we remain oblivious because we choose to.

Be attentive, ask those around you, and listen.

Specialist Knowledge

How do you get information?

How do you research about a problem?

Where do you gain the needed knowledge?

Who do you go to for help?

Getting the right information is worth gold.

Yet, often we do not know where to find it.

It can take a lot of time and resources to do so.

Specialists can be the solution.

In their narrow field of expertise, they will know.

They may be expensive, yet faster and more accurate.

And in the long run, they are often actually cheaper.

Concentration Rage

How easily can you concentrate?

How focused do you get?

How do distractions make you feel?

How do you react to them?

Some of us have a hard time concentrating.

Some of us get deeply focused.

Distraction may make us angry.

So angry that we react with rage.

Find ways to concentrate faster.

Find spaces with fewer distractions.

The people around you will thank you.

As will you.

But others do it

What is something that you should do?

What is something that you struggle with?

Who else is doing it, though?

Why should that be a reason for you to do it?

There are many things we should do.

People advise us to do it.

People expect us to do it.

Yet, we do not want to do it.

And that is perfectly fine.

You are you, not the others.

Essentialism

What are you doing right now?

How essential is it?

How often do you do the non-essential?

How often do you even ask yourself?

Non-essential tasks quickly fill our days.

Often, there is little time for the essential.

The urgent easily beats the important.

Know what you want to achieve.

Then ask yourself at every task:

Is this essential to my goals?

How consciously do you walk around?

How open do you keep your eyes?

How well can you be in the presence?

What have you overlooked when not?

We often walk around with our minds elsewhere.

Thus, we miss so much happening around us.

Life can be full of beautiful surprises,

if you pay attention and see them.

Just as there are horrific surprises,

that are best seen and avoided.

Keep your eyes open, you won’t regret it.

Task Variety

What tasks are you good at?

What tasks are you bad at?

How much variety do you have?

What do you gain from weak tasks?

We try to focus on what we are good at.

This promises to increase productivity.

Yet, counterintuitively, variety increases productivity.

New impulses come from variety.

Do something new or something you are bad at.

This way, variety can bring real impact.

Passive Income

How much passive income do you have?

How do you generate it?

What does passive income mean?

Now, how much do you really have?

Passive income is in high demand.

Everyone talks about it and wants it.

Yet, it is a myth.

There is no output without an input.

Owning any asset that generates income,

comes with strings attached.

Responsibility, headspace, work, or deployed capital.

Thus, be careful which incomes you generate.

Growth Expectation

What are your growth expectations?

How well do you grow?

When do you tend to consider giving up?

How do expectations and growth compare?

Most things tend to grow non-linearly.

If things go well, the growth is exponential.

Early growth is minimal.

After a point, it becomes noticeable.

Many give up before then.

Yet, we are also often late in giving up.

Things worth growing are worth trying longer.

Creating FOMO

How much sought after are you?

How well can you create FOMO?

How often do you succumb to FOMO?

What makes successful FOMO?

Fear of missing out is a real edge.

Elite projects are able to create it.

To create it, we need to find an edge.

An edge that is also rarely found.

What can be your rare edge?

Answer this, and FOMO may appear.

Interdisciplinarity

How constricted are your interests?

How specific is your knowledge?

How open are you to other disciplines?

How often do you engage in interdisciplinary discussions?

We are easily boxed into our knowledge zone.

Many of us like to be knowledgeable.

It is uncomfortable to know little.

True innovation starts with discussion across disciplines.

What topic can you explore that you know nothing about?

You will be surprised how fruitful this may be.

Need to Listen

How well do you listen to others?

How often do you listen to others?

How much do you enjoy it?

How much does it exhaust you?

Listening to others can be enjoyable.

Yet it can also be exhausting.

If we find it interesting, we lean in.

If we find it boring, we struggle.

Some people we listen to with joy.

Others, we despise to listen to.

Half the battle is knowing what and who.

Exhausted Resilience

How resilient are you?

How does this change under exhaustion?

How do you best handle stress then?

How could you shield yourself till recovered?

When we are tired, we are easily stressed.

What usually doesn’t faze us becomes a problem.

Things we normally can solve seem impossible.

Things we usually won’t worry about are on our mind.

Simply, we turn flies into elephants.

The best strategy is to shield yourself till recovered.

If that is not possible, find support.

Others may offer the perspective you need most.

Sitting on hot coals

How often are you waiting for things?

How often do things get tight?

How often does it make you squirm?

How often do things work out?

We often sit on hot coals.

We wait for something important.

It is outside our control.

Nevertheless it is not less important.

Contingency plans are your best bet.

That and taking many deep breaths.

Mean Feedback

How often do you receive unpleasant feedback?

How do you react to it?

How serious do you take it?

Can you take something positive from it, nevertheless?

The sound makes the music.

Schadenfreude or other toxic comments are mean.

The intent behind them is to hurt the other.

Feedback given with the wrong intent is worthless.

Yet, sometimes there is a grain of truth.

If you spend time on the feedback, search for the grain.

Otherwise, you'd better ignore it.

Product ready

When do you deem a product ready?

How do you know what the customer needs?

How well can you design the product?

How do you get the necessary knowledge?

We tend to wait too long for our product launch.

Involving the cusotmers is product design is crucial.

Innovators will gladly buy a half-finished product.

They love to be part of the evolution.

Whenever you think you are ready is too late.

Sell early, get that feedback, repeat.

Economic Decisions

How economic are your decisions?

How principled are your decisions?

What is the trade-off between them?

What are the outcomes?

Sometimes we are put between two options,

choosing the economically rational or,

choosing what is morally just.

Rarely will they align.

Some issues are not worth pursuing economically,

yet they may well be worth pursuing morally.

The opposite is also true.

These decisions are difficult,

thus are worth careful consideration.