Millennials and gen Xers were either taught this lesson by their dads, or they weren’t.
This is never more clear to me than when I see how quick some creators are to build their businesses on all-in-one platforms – something that is their email list and their blog and their payment processor and hosts their courses. Or, when authors build their entire businesses on Amazon.
The lesson I bet these creators weren’t taught was, Never buy one of these.
My dad told me to never buy a TV/VCR combo, in slightly more recent years a TV/VCR/DVD combo. The basic logic behind this advice was: If one thing breaks the whole thing breaks.
If the TV or the VCR stops working, you have three choices: Take it in for repairs and have neither a TV nor a VCR while it’s fixed, or get rid of it and buy a new TV and VCR.
The third choice was, Frankenstein together a monstrosity like my grandpa had in his basement: A TV on which only the picture worked, on top of another on which only the audio worked.
It’s easy to see the appeal of the TV/VCR. It’s convenient and often cheaper, if not in money, in time and mental energy. But if one thing breaks, the whole thing breaks.
If their email deliverability tanks, you have to live with it.
If they get acquired and start squeezing out every dime they can, too bad.
If Amazon randomly shuts down your account, there goes your whole business.
Like much advice, there’s a time and a place. If it’s your first apartment and you can’t even afford a garbage bin with a lid, fine, get the TV/VCR at the thrift store. Or if you live dangerously and don’t mind taking the hit if disaster strikes.
But not me. I will not buy a TV/VCR.
Aphorism: “Books…are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with ’em, then we grow out of ’em and leave ’em behind, as evidence of our earlier stage of development.” —Dorothy L. Sayers
So if you say you’re gonna smash 3 pizzas today and watch all of Breaking Bad, and you do it, you’re disciplined.
Though discipline usually has a value judgement attached to it. You gotta exercise and eat healthy. The more “boring” it is, if you do it, people think you’re disciplined.
Sustainable discipline has to lie somewhere in-between. Few of us can stand to be pure hedonists, and if you aspire to only do boring stuff, you’ll fall off the rails. If “discipline” takes a great deal of willpower, you’ll have a hard time staying disciplined.
But if you set up your schedule and environment to make it easy to do the things you intend, and hard to do the things you don’t, you’ll have automatic discipline.
The archetypal example is Ulysses having himself tied to the mast of his ship, so he wouldn’t be tempted by the song of the Sirens. If you want to eat fewer sweets and less alcohol, tie yourself to the mast – don’t keep candy or beer in your house.
But besides making it hard to do the things you don’t intend, you can also make it easier to do what you do intend. If you want to exercise, you’re better off joining the gym on the way home from work than the one twenty minutes away.
90% of discipline is making desired actions easy and undesired actions hard.
Aphorism: “In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.” —Albert Camus
Cool: This pumpkin seed protein (Amazon) is a plant-based, legume-free protein powder. The only I’ve found I can tolerate.
One of the loneliest things about being a creator is, you can’t borrow self-worth.
If you have a degree from a prestigious university, work for a big company others have heard of, and have a title that means something, you have a lot of borrowed self-worth.
Other people know a PhD is a big accomplishment. They know that university has a great reputation. They’ve heard of your employer, and “VP of Sales,” they surmise, is just one step behind President of Sales.
If that isn’t enough to make you feel worthy, you might have lots of well-known clients you can list off. It sounds impressive.
I’ve had a job before. I know, this stuff feels good, and it’s real – it comes from a lot of hard work.
But a lot of that self-worth is due to the hard work of others. It can come from sources as borrowed as the city you live in. How many wannabe screenwriters feel good about themselves just for living in Los Angeles, for example?
Everybody needs self-worth, but that need stands in the paths of many would-be creators. Because to go down the path of creator, you have to leave borrowed self-worth behind.
It takes a while to gain another form of self-worth. Because as a creator you aren’t your degree, your job title, or your clients.
You are only what you make.
Aphorism: “The innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.” —Niccolò Machiavelli
Book:Madame Bovary (Amazon) is an incredibly well-written classic, an allegory for the conflict between romanticism and rationality.
There’s what you say is important, then there are your actions.
You may say you want to be a writer, but if you don’t spend time writing, you don’t.
Economists call this “revealed preference,” but it’s also described by the adage, “Actions speak louder than words.”
But actions work in a cycle. How you spend your time shapes your preferences so you spend more of your time that way.
This is why your first hour is so important.
You may say you hate the drama on social media, but if you spend the first hour of your day doomscrolling, you love the drama on social media. You’ll spend much of the subsequent hours doomscrolling, if not physically, mentally.
How you spend your first hour is a revealed preference of what matters to you. But if you make a conscious decision to change how you use that first hour, not only will you affirm what matters to you, you’ll do so all day.
Put your moments where your mouth is.
Book:1491 (Amazon) tells what is known of the civilizations in the Americas before Columbus.
Cool:truInside: Election is a fantastic documentary about the making of the greatest film in the history of the world: Alexander Payne’s Election.
The recent breakthroughs in AI have been around long enough we now know better than to simply tell ChatGPT, “write a book.”
Those of us with taste, anyway. Some see the outcome and think writers are doomed. ChatGPT is a bad writer’s idea of a good writer.
I don’t see AI yet as a viable alternative for creative work. It’s great at helping understand a subject better, through conversation. It can also supplement your own brainstorming.
The real “alpha” in AI is using it to execute complex processes you’d otherwise need to hire an expert for, but more likely wouldn’t have bothered with. AI has been indispensable for me as I piece together Shopify, Meta Shops, Google Merchant Center, and more to create a sustainable direct-sales channel. As Amazon gets inundated with a tidal wave of AI-generated crap, authors like me are using AI to “make our own Amazons.”
AI can help you execute your vision, but it’s not a substitute for taste. If you have poor taste, what you create with AI will be bland and unoriginal. If you have good taste, AI can help you quickly and effectively execute good ideas.
AI is a taste multiplier.
Aphorism: “success = talent + luck great success = a little more talent + a lot of luck“ —Daniel Kahneman
Before I pressed publish on Mind Management, Not Time Management, I took a moment to write how I felt.
I discovered I essentially wanted to become a baby, free of responsibilities, and have my parents take care of me again.
In other words, I was panicking, wishing I was wearing a diaper, yet shitting my pants anyway.
But this feeling was nothing new.
The first time you ship a big project, you inevitably come across some moment of panic like this. It more commonly comes towards the end, as you fear putting it into the world will be the social equivalent to having a giant piece of spinach permanently lodged between your front teeth.
You never stop having these feelings. You merely learn to recognize them as part of your natural process. When you were a kid and you got a shot, you cried. As an adult, getting a shot still hurts, but your perception of the pain has changed through experience.
I pressed publish on Mind Management, and it’s sold more than 40,000 copies. I’ve felt similar publishing How to Sell a Book, and I expect I’ll always feel this way when I press publish.
I know my panic patterns. Know yours, too.
Aphorism: “An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.” —Gustav Flaubert
Cool:LMNT (Amazon) is my favorite, salty af, electrolyte supplement.
Best, David P.S. How to Sell a Book is available now through my store.
You’re moving, but it’s not always clear you’re making progress. You need to have faith that a moment will come when you are done.
And just when you think you’re close, you find the last 10% takes 90% of the time and effort. Yet sometimes, all at once, everything comes together, and the door swings open.
Like cracking a safe, if you don’t finish, all you’ve done will mean nothing. Sure, you can rationalize that you’ve learned something, but that doesn’t change the fact that the treasure – the money, the recognition, or the simple sense of accomplishment – remains locked away.
Like cracking a safe, as you move, you’re listening carefully for things to fall into place. You need the right combination of passion, taste, and personal motivation to find the finishing combo.
Book:Aristocrats (Amazon) explains what they are, and their history in Britain.
Cool: The WHAM! documentary (Netflix) tells the story of the group that launched George Michael’s music career, with an inspiring story of how at only 20 he self-produced “Careless Whisper.”
Best, David P.S. This is the last week to save huge on all my audiobooks, on platforms other than Audible. For example Mind Management is only $1.99 on Apple, B&N, and Chirp.
Research shows a reward can trigger action. Rewards can also lead to complacency.
Research shows a punishment can kick you into gear. A punishment can also incite rebellion.
Research shows a goal can be a guiding beacon. A goal can also be a limiting barrier.
Research on motivation is essentially useless, when it comes to your creative projects.
Maybe freedom gives you energy, or you crave structure. Maybe you love competition, or you prefer collaboration. Maybe stress lights a fire inside you, or it burns you out.
It depends on the project or the stage of the projects. Most of all, it depends upon you.
You must become a master of your own motivation. Constantly attempt to motivate yourself, and see what happens. But when you fail to do what you intend, don’t be crushed – be curious.
Anything can be motivating, or de-motivating. Become the world-renowned expert on what motivates you.
Forget the research and do your own me-search.
Aphorism: “Learn from other people’s successes and failures, but do your own thing.” —Mark Zuckerberg
A book is outdated the moment it’s printed. The tech improves before a product is shipped.
The universe is in a constant state of change. Your bananas go bad, a hole wears through your favorite socks, your go-to cereal gets discontinued, and the rotation of the earth is slowing as galaxies grow farther apart.
So to finish a creative project is an unnatural act. Your thoughts, skills, tastes, and the nature of the matter you’re trying to wrangle change. There are a thousand decisions you could’ve made differently, and the moment before you ship they leap out in high relief.
Whenever I “finish” a project, the moment Doc plugged those wires together in Back to the Future comes to mind.
Your challenge as a creator is to grab the loose ends, pull against resistance, and bring them together for just long enough to proclaim, “it is done!”
Then hope lightning strikes.
Aphorism: “In story, we concentrate on that moment…in which a character takes an action expecting a useful reaction from his world, but instead the effect of his action is to provoke forces of antagonism.” —Robert McKee
Book:This is Strategy (Amazon) is Seth Godin’s new guide to making better plans and thinking strategically in a complex world.
Best, David P.S. One form of resistance keeping you from finishing is The Finisher’s Paradox.
Just because you expect it to fail doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build it.
There are three kinds of projects: white swans, black swans, and gray swans.
Black swans have little chance of succeeding. You’re not sure why you’re building it, who it’s for, or how it will turn out.
White swans are nearly certain to succeed. You know exactly why you’re building it, for whom, and how it will turn out.
Gray swans mix together elements of white and black swans. It fits into a clear category, but you’re adding a twist.
If white swans are nearly certain to succeed, why not just build white swans? Here’s why:
Black swans are nearly destined for failure, but there’s a tiny chance they’ll succeed beyond your wildest dreams. White swans are likely to succeed, but their potential is limited. Gray swans aren’t as assured of success as white swans, but more so than black swans, yet with more potential than white swans.
White swans fit right into a category. Black swans create new categories. Gray swans are a twist on an existing category.
The white swan is your how-to book. The black swan is your impassioned manifesto, free on ebook. The gray swan is your conceptual self-help book.
The white swan is your corporate training video. The black swan is your immersive choose-your-own-adventure project. The gray swan is your experimental horror flick.
The white swan is your freelance Oracle database consulting. The black swan is your whimsical AI experiment. The gray swan is your SaaS with a few more features than the competitors.
The projects you’re most sure will succeed often have the most mediocre potential. So choose wisely.
Book:Good Work (Amazon) is Paul Millerd’s exploration in redefining work and reclaiming your inner ambition.
Cool:Motion built what we were trying to build at Timeful: an AI-driven calendar that plans your tasks around your schedule.
Best, David P.S. The graphic above is from my upcoming book, How to Sell a Book. This week is your last chance to preorder for 10% off.
