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- How Public and Humiliating Failure Leads to SuccessYesterday
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One of the most interesting things we’ve discovered… is that [people] are more motivated by the fear of looking bad than by the hope of getting millions of dollars. So if you want to get millions of dollars, put yourself in a position where failure will be public and humiliating. —Paul Graham
Paul Graham is a man who knows what he’s talking about. He founded Viaweb then sold it to Yahoo! for $46 million. After that, he didn’t just lay on the beach, but went on to start Y Combinator, a sort-of startup factory. He’s seen what success looks like and what failure looks likes.
That quote comes from a talk he gave about why some of the startups he funds succeed and why others fail. Every year he picks out promising teams of people who want to start companies. In order to make sure these fledgling companies do well, he holds a weekly meeting where they have to present what progress they have made — in front of the other teams.
In Graham’s estimation, it’s the fear of looking stupid that leads these groups to push themselves. You have to work hard to have something substantial to report each week.
If you’re looking to succeed, try puting yourself in a position to fail. Wa
- 6 Ways To Say ‘No’November 11 2008
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The fastest way to free time in your schedule is also the hardest: learning to say ‘no’. It’s a tricky endeavor, doubly so when the person asking something of you is in a position of authority. Here are some suggestions to make the process less painful:
- Repeat the ‘No’. People expect a conversation to go this way: “Can you help with with project X?”, “I’m sorry I can’t”, “Oh please? I’m really in over my head.”, “Alright, what do you need?” Do not give in to this. When you say no, you have to learn to hold your ground.
- No Excuses. Never, ever give an excuse for why you can’t do something. If you give an excuse, it puts you on the defense. The person asking will now launch into an attack on why your excuse isn’t (to them) satisfactory. (Not offering excuses, is a good rule in general, not just for saying ‘no’.)
- Not Enough time “I’m sorry, I’d like to be able to help right now, but my current project take up all of my available time.” For lots of workers, this is the truth. You must not over schedule yourself and, more importantly, you must not let others over schedule you.
- The Conditional ‘no’ Agree to help, but only if X number of other people agree to help as well. This is the best method for friends who want to move house, or want volunteers to help them
- Never Forget Anything Ever Again with iFlashNovember 8 2008
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Every six months or so, one of my flatmates moves out and we need to find a replacement. At the end of the interview process we ask them to write their contact details on a pad of paper.
Every time, they don’t know their phone number.
“I just got a new phone,” they say. “I haven’t learned the number yet.”
But they lie. How do I know? I used that same excuse when I moved into the flat and was asked for my number. Truth was, I just plain didn’t remember, but felt stupid saying so.
The number of devices out there, leaping at a chance to hold important pieces of information is staggering. It’s so easy to let them be our outboard brain. Were it not for teachers and their tests, I’m sure the kids-these-days would find the idea of using their brain to remember things archaic.
I don’t think this lack of memory is necessarily a bad thing. It’s no worse than the deterioration of mental arithmetic since the invention of the abacus.
However, there are times that you may want to remember things.
If you want to keep your memory up-to-date, then Iflash is a great program to help you do so. It’s a flash card database, with one great advantage: it asks the flash cards you have the most difficultly with the most often. If I have five mi
- How To Write An Effective Email in 6 StepsNovember 4 2008
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Having trouble writing a coherent email to your family or co-workers? Here are six tips to help you through the process.
1) Keep it Short
Keep your email as short as possible. Writing a long email is a way to ensure two things:
- You will never get a response because…
- Your email will never be read
The rapidity of typing makes it too easy to spew a long, ill-formed messages onto another person. If you had to write emails by hand, you’d be a lot more succinct. Cut your email down to the bones. But, this is a harder task than you think, as Abe Lincoln once wrote: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
2) Limit Email to a Single Topic
Never write an email that covers many subjects. If you actually want a response, you need to make it easy for the other person to respond — the first way to do this is not overwhelm them with multiple tasks.
If you have many unrelated things to discuss with your recipient, send each one as a separate message.
3) Make it Clear
Emails are far too easily misunderstood. Therefore, make sure the email is as clear, unambiguous and easy to understand as possible. This means avoiding abbreviations, and brushing up on your
- Easy Way to Keep Track of How Much Time Has Passed Since You Did SomethingOctober 30 2008
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The ‘days ago’ counters are a handy way to keep track of how long ago something happened. Simple to use, there is just a button on the front that keeps track of how many days it has been since you pressed it. While the days ago counters are intended to keep track of expiring food, there are a number of motivational ways to use them. For example, keep track of how many days it’s been since you’ve worked on a project or exercised. I have three sitting on my desk, and love them.