Yesterday I got this wonderful email of a very good friend. He read my blog series on how I do things I want to do: Face, Focus and Roll. He added a few things, I thought were too good to leave in my inbox:
Don’t blog about the same things, don’t make people ‘re-consume’;
Do small things;
Don’t get (social) media involved;
Do it 100%;
Be less heroic and more effective, it’s not about you, it’s about the thing you are working on;
We should only publish things when they are finished, don’t finish things quickly in order to publish more;
“Bianco e nero e se son rose fioriranno.” - Do it honest and if is good it will blossom;
Get small, get quite, get glocal. Don’t be the Britney Spears of your project you’re working on;
There’s a lot of exciting things going on in my life. However when you choose not to follow the average path it’s not always easy. But to get things done and create a reach I do three things: I face, focus and roll.
The next weeks I’ll make three blogposts about those categories. Last week I wrote about ‘FACE’ and ‘FOCUS’, here’s the third and last post:
ROLL
Make mistakes, make fun Don’t care about making mistakes. Fail and then fail better, you’ll be better only when you try. So keep trying, enjoy small improvements.
The best answer is a question When people ask you questions and you don’t know the best response. Answer with another question. Such as: “What do you think would be the best?”. It’s a matter of keeping it simple, you don’t know everything, accept that, figure out together.
Accept you’re not perfect Mention it, it takes a lot of stress away knowing that things won’t always work at once. Please explain people. Strive for the best, but don’t shoot yourself when you did not get it all. You can’t do more than 100%
Delete your facebook account Seriously? Well I actually should. But since I need I have nearly 4000 people supporting my foundation online, I cannot just put it aside if it were nothing. But if I could start over I would. I hate facebook, it wastes my time, it’s addictive, it’s not supportive. I use an app called Self Control to block myself from both facebook and twitter when I need to roll and focus. I think this graph will help you quiet a lot to roll better.
Don’t be a politician Stop debating, arguing, trying to convince people, campaigning and launching good one liners. Just make stuff and show it. The problem of politicians is that they’re short term, one day flies, your projects are long term and more efficient. You’ll be there forever. Politicians are coming up with terribly good arguments for terribly bad ideas, they win and that sucks. Don’t be one.
Don’t invent things that already exsist, support and join There was a long time I had plenty of ideas and really hated the fact when someone came up with a similar idea. I tried to explain others why my invention was much better. Now I endorse every idea I love, I help and make it work. In the end it’s about the idea not about you.
You cannot do everything Share your ideas you don’t have time for. I put them online on another little blog. People can pick them up and go on with them. I love that, otherwise, nobody would realize them.
Work hard Nothing goes for free. To get things done you need to work hard.
The art of saying no Dieter Rams [link = clip], SirJonathan Ive’s favorite designer, made a list of ten design principles. One of his design principles was as follows: “Good design is as little design as possible”. Why? Because it concentrates on the essential aspects that are needed. This can be applied to anything: good work is as less work as possible: less is just better. Only work on just those things you think are most important. Say no to the rest.
Conclusion
Whenever you are running a business or doing something small or bigger, face reality, keep focus and most of all: roll.
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There’s a lot of exciting things going on in my life. However when you choose not to follow the average path it’s not always easy. But to get things done and create a reach I do three things: I face, focus and roll.
The next weeks I’ll make three blogposts about those categories. Two days ago I wrote about ‘FACE IT’, here’s the second serie:
FOCUS:
Make it work Get things off the ground. Start doing, it’s ok when something is not really finished: the secret is that it will never be. Don’t talk about the future, do something now instead of later. Get it done, get it out.
Breathe A recent research showed we perceive our days longer when we breathe slowly and with consciousness. Do so. Sleep enough and breath slow, take your time, do one thing at the time. Finish one task after an other, just that.
Announce and talk when doing There’s always people who are fascinated by you and what you achieve. Keep them up to date, announce, even when unfinished. Talk when doing, online. Ask questions, listen carefully, don’t judge, try to understand.
Be honest and straightforward Make mistakes and if you do: announce them too: explain to people, why this happened to you, what you learned from it. People will accept it. Don’t hide, be transparant and direct.
Criticism is publicity Love it, it means people follow you, are interested and serious about your existence. Not everyone will love you, maybe they hate your accent or the way you do your presentations or just the way the media puts you in the picture. But don’t lose yourself in it. Accept it, don’t reject it. Listen and understand. So what if you disagree, move on and get your stuff done, when they’re not moving forward.
Ghandhi hit the nail saying:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Ask for help Don’t be afraid. Ask your heroes too. Make your questions short and precise. I have friends who are true heroes to me. Try not to waste their valuable time.
Do you have other focus tips you think I should add?
There’s a lot of exciting things going on in my life. However when you choose not to follow the average path it’s not always easy. But to get things done and create a reach I do three things: I face, focus and roll.
The next weeks I’ll make three blogposts about those categories. The first serie:
FACE IT:
You’re hypocrite and inconsequent Yes you are. And that’s fine, because nobody is perfect. Not everything is the best decision at once. When we grow, we learn that some directions are better than others. Being a vegetarian and being polite isn’t always the best combination. Try to be less hypocrite and incosequent, but please don’t feel sorry when you are a little.
We don’t know why we live Don’t take decisions based on things others think are necesarry, base your decisions on your initution. Live life like it is a blank sheet of paper. Fill it with the most beautiful things possible and don’t take it too serious.
Media doesn’t care if you drop dead, there’s enough content to publish Never make your goal: media attention. Media just need page fillers and juicy content to publish. Just get your own stuff done. Send it to them, make them talk about you, but don’t trust them, don’t expect anything from media. They’ll never quote you correct, they will picture you the way they think is the most interesting. Attention is great, but achieving your goal is better.
You are not Steve Jobs, and that’s fine The man was great at keeping focus, yelling at his people and making groundbreaking products with wonderful teams. No offense but he’s no better then you are. Everything he did, you can do too, in your way, with different views. Be happy with who you are, don’t force yourself being someone you are not.
Time and money are inventions Money made us poor and time made us late. Don’t mind being poor and late since humanity made those up. Perceive everything as relative. Define your own values. Think about what really matters to you.
I’m eager to hear if you have any other things to add. Please leave a reply in the comments!
