A friend of mine shared a conversation he had with a filmmaker for Netflix. The filmmaker said that he focused on spending 40% of his time on paid, commercial work, and 60% of his time on his own creative projects. Ironically, the creative projects were what led to most of his clients anyway. I’ve been thinking about this story more and …
from total bust to #1 on Hacker News in under 24 hours
This past week, Eric and I released the second issue of our digital publication, the update. The update is a quarterly publication of editorials, trends, and stories happening outside of Silicon Valley — following in the same vein as our podcast, upside. It takes quite a bit of work to produce. We source and edit editorials from guest contributors, write …
going out of your depth
I felt really dumb this week. Every now and then, I find my way into an event that makes me feel like a total fraud. And this week that was the first annual Capital Camp. Capital Camp is put on by a couple big names in the finance world — Patrick O’Shaughnessy (host of the Invest Like the Best podcast …
it takes time to become technically good
Last week I wrote about how easy it is to see the exceptional. The example I gave was Evan Spiegel, the then-23-year-old founder of Snapchat, or Mark Zuckerberg…but there is a standard distribution curve for ability in anything you’re interested in. Those at the far right of the distribution curve – people with abnormal results – are very few, but …
seeking validation by chasing the pudding
There’s a running joke amongst my friends that I love attention and constantly seek validation. Like all jokes, there’s some truth to it. And I think it used to be even more true. We’re kind of raised on validation – your parents tell you that you did a good job with some sort of task, then sports define winning and …
two years into the journey
Two Aprils ago, I walked into the company boardroom for a leadership meeting. We were told that our company was transitioning all of our resources over to a new product. I was also told that my role would be changing a lot. I knew then it was time for me to leave, and I put in my notice the next …
on the cusp
I’ve felt a strange sense that’s been getting stronger and stronger over the last few months. It’s hard to put a name to it, but I’d describe it as the feeling of being on the cusp. It just feels like the work I’ve been doing for the past several months have landed me near the doorstep of some sort of …
experience ladders: why YOU are right for the job
A common theme that has come up in conversations this week in the Unreal Collective community is the struggle with self deprecating thoughts and head trash. We are our own worst enemies. I think it’s a cultural thing — part of where our society is right now. When we see beautiful highight reels on social media showing all the COOL stuff …
too late, too aware, and the many forms of imposter syndrome
Working with and being around so many creative, entrepreneurial people, I see a common “excitement arch” play out a lot. It looks like this: someone has an idea for a project, product, or even specific niche. They get super excited, and in the span of a few hours, are totally bought in on this idea. Then they will start doing …
boundaries: the dark side of being motivated
As I’ve gotten better at building a life of my own design, I find myself really only spending time on things that I actually, really want to spend time on. What a great place to be. Rarely do I have any problem with “motivation” — when your work is totally in the realm of things you have enthusiastically chosen to …