Archive of posts from May 2022

I’ve spoken to a handful of people this past couple of weeks for whom this was a tough realisation:

Hard things are hard.

People considering pursuing their dreams, but afraid to do so. It’s hard to go and do something different where you have no experience and success isn’t guaranteed. But hard things are hard, not bad.

People considering which type of business they’d like to create. Assessing which type of business would be ‘easier’ when, in reality, all new businesses are hard work, and most of them don’t succeed. But hard things are hard, not bad.

People considering tough conversations they need to have with an employee. Tough conversations are so often the best conversations, ones where real progress is made. They can often be uncomfortable, but hard things are hard, not bad.

Separating ‘hard’ from ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ is one of the most important shifts we make in our pursuit of meaningful work and our growth.

Vive la difficile.

Everyone has some weapons of choice.

Tools may not make the man, but they can be an interesting and insightful peek into the workflows of our peers.

I get asked all the time what tools my teams and I use for creating the things we do. And each time, I wish I had a place I could direct folks so they could learn more about what’s in use, and why.

So I made a “slash tools” page (adamfairhead.com/tools) to detail what tools are in use in my world and in my studios.

Maybe you’ll pick up something you hadn’t seen before that will help you in your work.

Maybe you’ll think about making a “slash tools” page too.

Maybe it’ll help your peers level-up their workflows a little, or give them an idea on how to solve a problem they’ve never solved before.

Time freedom is a beautiful thing, and a great thing to have.

But many confuse “time freedom” with “nothing to do”. That puts their greatest bodies of work at risk, because passion projects usually involve a lot of time, which is in conflict with that conflated goal.

The “nothing to do” test comes to the rescue.

Ask yourself this:

“If you had nothing to do… and nothing you had to do… would you choose to do this anyway?”

I try to spend as much of my time as possible on things I answer with “Yes”.

That way, I keep my time freedom, and do things I want to do.

Consider looking over your calendar, your week, your day, your to-do list.

Which get a “Yes” from you?

What can you do about the rest?

Is there still room for you and your project in your market?

Google has a huge amount of the search market. But there’s still room. And so DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and Brave Search have a place to thrive, for their chosen niches.

Apple and Samsung have a huge market share of the mobile market. But there’s still room. And so Light Phone, Fairphone and Librem have a place to thrive, for their chosen niches.

Your market has huge market players, too. Maybe there are lots of them.

But there’s still room.

The thing about uncertainty…

…is that it’s nothing new.

We’re constantly hearing about market uncertainty, now that stocks are down and inflation is high. But the market was always uncertain… that’s nothing new. The only variable is complacency.

We’re constantly hearing about how the future is uncertain, because of wars and global pandemics. But the future was always uncertain… that’s nothing new. The only variable is complacency.

My plans haven’t changed…

…because uncertainty hasn’t changed, and my plans aren’t based on complacency.

Are yours?

Ever heard these words?

“That’ll never work”?

Psh. They don’t mean it’ll never work. Here’s what they really mean:

It will be very difficult.

It will carry a high chance of failure.

Most people won’t be cut out for it.

Competition is much lower because of that.

It will take a very specific someone to make it work.

And you might just be the perfect fit.

My creative studio doesn’t list any awards.

Why?

Because they’re totally meaningless:

Most creative awards are franchises designed to feed on insecure creatives. They pay to list their work, pay to attend a ceremony, then get offered to open a franchise of their own. Pointless.

The few that aren’t as above, don’t mean your team is good at their work. There’s a distinct difference between good work delivered, good people delivering it, and award games indulged.

Awards have been won. We don’t submit to win, we don’t feature them in our marketing, and we don’t show up to the events.

We do the work of being objectively brilliant for those in our care. That’s enough.

There may be distractions and charades in your industry, too. It’s a choice whether or not we wish to participate. Feel free to exercise that choice however you see fit.

If you make something really great, you may be asking the wrong question.

“Who will buy this?” is the wrong question. It’s what most creators ask of the market. Posting and promoting so that someone—anyone—might try what’s being offered.

“Who will I choose?” is the right question. It’s what so many of us deem a luxury we can’t afford, when really it’s an opportunity made freely available to us.

You don’t have to shout, hoping someone will listen, in hope some might try you once.

Now you can whisper to those you can delight…who will come again…who will tell their friends.

Doesn’t that sound like an easy way to make a truly great body of work?

Doesn’t it sound much more…fun?

There have been generations of business grifters telling you that success awaits…if you can only get the right mindset…

…A mindset trapped within their book. Or hidden behind a secret. Or maybe unlocked at a hot-coal-walking live event. Or from buying their other book. Or perhaps in their reveal-all-but-not-really webinar.

It’s not so.

It’s actually a by-product of mindset, skill, discipline, direction, and luck.

Mindset: Not the think-and-grow-rich manifestation prosperity stuff you’ll find in new books. But the mental resilience, wisdom, courage, temperance and justice you’ll nurture from old books.

Skill: Not the hustler-type designed to position you among the ranks of other grifters. But the type designed to enable you to do a great job of solving real problems for real people.

Discipline: Not the “up at 5am for an ice bath” type you might have found on YouTube. But the ability to keep your promises and see through your commitments of your own accord.

Direction: Not the aspirational “up only” kind, or that sung by soul singer Otis Clay. But the kind that comes from investing time with those who have gone before you, who can mentor you.

Luck: Not the kind from quips about “creating your own luck”. But the kind where your attempts were met by excellent timing and market conditions that were only obvious in hindsight.

‘Success’ may await those who will tell lies to those who want to be lied to…

…But it also awaits those who develop the skills, mind, habits, relationships and conditions to genuinely serve people, and make the world a little better.

New ideas don’t normally sit well with the masses.

If you want mass-market appeal, you’re unlikely to change the culture and make something new. You will attract people who buy things because they’re safe, because they buy how things are, not where things are going.

Similarly, if you want to change the culture and make something new, you’re unlikely to receive mass-market interest. You’ll attract people who buy things before they’re ready, because they’re buying where you’re going, not where you are.

There are more than enough people in both camps, and probably in your industry too.

You get to choose.

I bought my wife and I some headphones about six months ago…

One of them had the mic break within a few weeks. This week, the other stopped producing sound in one ear. Were they better at being headphones than the alternatives, or simply better at being a good deal during checkout?

I bought an MP3 player in 2005…

It was more expensive than the ones I had used before it. I replaced the battery once. It still works perfectly. Was it better at being a good deal at checkout, or simply better at being a great deal over the long-term?

When I take a look at your work…

…Do I see something racing to the bottom, or you providing a great service for a fair price?
…Do I see something that has my best interests at heart, or just yours?
…Do I see something I can trust for a long time, or for just long enough for your warranty to expire?

“Better” is highly subjective, in a market full of empty promises.

Choose your kind of “better” wisely.

Ceremony…

Sounds old and stuffy, doesn’t it?

In many ways it is… which is why it’s being thrown out in so many areas of work and life.

But we’ve thrown out the good parts too.

The business suit may have been a workplace ceremony unsuited to remote desk work… but all the collaborating-in-sweatpants has led to blurred boundaries, such as political or theological debates happening on company time.

We used to mark the lines of professional conduct with the ceremony of attire… and now the ceremony has gone, so has the professional conduct.

Connecting with people used to be tricky… a ceremony of dignifying exchanges at locations we took the time to attend and participate in. Now anyone can tweet “Hey bro” to you at any moment, or sling calendar invites at you without warning nor intent.

We used to invest time lavishing upon our connections before asking of anything in return, giving them time and space to develop and flourish… and now the ceremony has gone for many of us, so has the care and attention.

You’re perhaps as enthusiastic about innovation, progress and inclusivity as I am.

But it’s worth taking pause to consider tradition, asking ourselves, “How could some ceremony help my work?”

Pets.com died in the dot com bubble burst, despite raising $82.5 million in its 2000 IPO at $11 a share.

Because in the late 90s, it was a pipe-dream. How could it possibly work that people would buy pet food from a website… and wait for it to arrive… when you can just go to the store?

Before the year was out, it was dead (trading at $0.22 a share on the day of its bankruptcy).

Chewy.com launched in 2011. Most VC money turned away, in no small part due to the Pets.com story.

It’s still alive, a publicly traded business with a $9 billion valuation.

Many tech startups that died in the 90s weren’t ‘wrong’, just ‘early’.

Sometimes, your ideas are early.

That doesn’t make them wrong.

Do you believe in your work?

I mean really, believe in your work?

If so, stop that:

1: It’s perspective, not truth Belief feels like a rally-cry for the future we want. But it’s powered by opinion, not facts. The act of learning, testing, refining and optimising our work based on real evidence leads to growth, not hopes of a better future alone.

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” — Marcus Aurelius

2: Get back into the now Belief puts our hopes entirely in the future. But our work is here today. Our opportunity to develop and take steps exists today. We can start that book or business or project today. Tomorrow is only different because of what we do today.

“This is the mark of perfection of character — to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending.” — Marcus Aurelius

Belief in what tomorrow may bring isn’t necessary.

Today’s actions are what count.

This week I’ve been spending more time with “No”.

With the family news we’ve had this week, it’s challenged me to:

Say no to anything I know I should already say no to… but kept doing because of convenience. Notifications that I should really leave to admin. Calls I’m invited to that don’t come with specific goals, that I should cancel at least until goals are set.

Say no to the things I never thought to but would benefit from… such as ways of doing things or rituals that became culturally normal in my company, but should be shaken off, or projects I should really cancel rather than just pause.

Once you get into the flow of No, you start noticing just how many more things you can say no to, in the spirit of focus and in service of the things that matter most.

Ways of doing things (e.g. my company is totally remote, and totally asynchronous). Requisite tasks (e.g. using software to put any new email sender into purgatory for one weekly touch). Cultural norms (e.g. living within a compound, setting your own hours, or not having Facebook).

You’re probably underutilising ‘No’.

Try using it more. It’s a superpower.

Creators. Remember Sturgeon’s Law.

Sci-fi author Theodore Sturgeon observed the derisive critiques of his niche (that most of it is bad) could be applied to other fields equally well.

Hence Sturgeon’s Law: “Ninety percent of everything is crap.”

If you look upon your industry in dismay, remember Sturgeon’s Law.

If you feel like something’s wrong with you as you look back through sketchbooks and drafts, remember Sturgeon’s Law.

Ninety percent isn’t very good.

But we must persevere through the ninety to discover (or create) the ten.

Are you a mug? Are your customers?

The immediate answer is a sharp, “No! Of course not!”

Let’s go deeper:

The open market is often so keen to not feel like a mug by being outbid by a little, that they feel like a mug by overpaying by a lot. The closing call is so focused on closing an uncertain (and possibly unqualified) lead, that it’s not uncommon to observe FOMO deployed as a weapon.

There is an alternative to all this fear-driven behaviour: Create a No-Mug Zone.

Equipping the open market with a useful, valuable service at a fair price, so your choice of market can feel confident in a fair value transfer. Equipping your sales team (or yourself) with the ability to qualify and disqualify fairly, taking qualified losses simply as product development indicators.

No-Mug Zones aren’t an excuse to hide away from your true value, nor an excuse to not show up for your prospects when they need you to show them the way. But they can change lives, create champions, and make you and those you serve feel great about the value you bring to the market.

Maybe they’ll tell their friends. Maybe their friends will tell their friends.

Maybe it’s the start of something wonderful.

Creators often get stuck on what’s possible. What they’re capable of.

But I made my first sale when I was 5, my first complete video game when I was 11, my first collectible card game when I was 13.

Hard things are only hard until you figure them out.

So the question isn’t really what’s possible, is it?

The question is if it’s worth it on the other side of the challenge… if the body of work we’ll end up with is something we’ll be really, really proud of.

Don’t ask if you’re worthy of the task.

Ask if the task is worthy of you.

It doesn’t have to be hard:

A difficult project doesn’t have to be hard. When looked at in small enough steps, each step is easy. If it’s still hard, you didn’t break it down small enough.

A long day doesn’t have to be hard. Every day is the same length, the only difference is our relationship with the time. If it’s still long, change the relationship.

A tricky conversation doesn’t have to be hard. They’re only hard when you’re stuck on a particular outcome – where you’re trying to control external matters rather than simply internal matters.

A challenging creative brief doesn’t have to be hard. It’s either something you know how to do, or not. If you know, do. If you don’t, learn, then do.

There’s a pattern to all of these things: the variable is internal, and thus entirely within our control to change as we see fit.

Hard is a choice. As is easy.

Ever get lucky? Where projects, teams and life goals just fall into place?

That has not been my experience.

We don’t need luck:

Build in spite of luck. Your project may not go viral. It may take an eternity to find the right support, if you ever find it. It may feel harder to make progress than you ever thought. Build in spite of all that.

Love in spite of luck. Stakeholders, clients, partners and peers may leave you in the lurch at precisely the wrong moment. Life may carry more troubles than you care to share. Love in spite of all that.

Grow in spite of luck. You may not meet or know the right people for the longest times, or discover the teachings that help you elevate your mind until later in life. Grow in spite of all that.

Pity those for whom luck has stolen the opportunity to develop grit, resilience and love.

Is the market in a bad state at the moment?

Or is it merely sometimes up, sometimes down, and currently the latter?

I can’t bring myself to lament a market in which:

• Uncommitted creators stop creating
• Uncommitted community members and traders find something else to do
• Brand-builders continue to build brands
• Loyal fans are rewarded by those brands, forging even stronger relationships

In times of change, it’s worth reminding yourself of your focus.

There is opportunity here for those who do.

Making cool things sometimes takes a long time.

And when they take a long time, sometimes progress feels erratic.

Sometimes you feel it. Other times you don’t.

Creative ceremony fixes this.

Here are some examples of creative ceremony:

One thing. I’m working on this single thing. Focused attention is like using a chisel with a hammer.

One place. I’m going to sit in this chair in this room to produce this work. This is the magic chair.

One sound. I’m going to listen to this track, or this album, or this genre, or this silence. This is the sound this magic will be made to.

One goal. I’m going to achieve this goal, if nature and fortune permit. I will not be distracted from that goal.

One phrase. When I sit, I will say the magic words that mark the start of this session. Before I rise, I will say the magic words that mark the end of this session.

Add a little to your routine.

Making cool things sometimes takes a long time… and this kind of ceremony might help you focus on the right things while feeling a keener sense of progress along the way.

For a long time, talk wasn’t cheap.

The few who represented the many with ‘talk’ — the CEOs, the MPs, the spokespeople — made the ‘doing’ possible for the many.

And the many who did the ‘doing’ didn’t need to talk… they needed to listen.

That’s changing.

Everyone has a voice now.

Everyone is learning to talk. Some better than others… some with original ideas and noble goals, and many others simply ramble incoherently.

But many nouveau-talkers have lost the art of ‘doing’.

The ability to do as they say.

To go where they point.

To prove what they claim.

To deliver what they promise.

The barrier of opportunity is still very low: say, do, go, prove and deliver.

Today I was asked, “Are you doing work that really matters to you?”

What a lovely question, I thought! It’s a privilege to be able to answer “Yes: I’m doing work that matters to me.”

I’m intimately aware of how profoundly beneficial one of the bodies of work we’re building currently can be to a great many people. I’m mindful that the joy and enthusiasm I give and receive that body of work is not a commodity among us. Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Just that you do the right thing. The rest does not matter.” The culture change in the roadmap is, by all accounts, “the right thing” in this case.

The good fortune of building important things with people I love being around is not a matter I take for granted.

Are you doing work that really matters to you?

I hope very much that you can answer ‘Yes’, too. And if you can’t, I hope very much that you will do something about that.

Working quickly slows me down.

I get so much more done when I work slowly:

Giving room for ideas to germinate and be explored means resilient, winning ideas emerge faster.

Taking time on the production of your work means you won’t have to ‘go back and do that one part again later.

Giving 20 slow, dedicated minutes to my daily post lets me explore an idea more thoughtfully and effectively than 40 rushed, distracted minutes ever could.

It takes time to get more done faster.

Which is better…

Being full-on, or just… on?

“Full-on” is when you hold nothing back, give everything, no rest nor prisoners taken. It sounds noble on Twitter, and looks glamorous on Instagram.

“On” is when you do the right amount of work, give what it needs, then rest. It focuses less on entrepreneurial martyrdom, and more on producing good work and living a good life.

You need not seek shelter in the majority paying lip service to the former.

Rest is not the enemy of your goals.

“Full-on” is.

Take ‘deserve’ out of the equation:

“I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.” – Jack Benny accepting a Emmy

Some don’t feel they deserve the success they desire. And so they either sabotage their efforts, or lament from inaction.

Some don’t feel they deserve the troubles they suffer. And so their suffering is even greater, their peace a casualty.

Feeling deserved or undeserved doesn’t appear to help much, then, does it.

What if we set aside deservedness, and pursue our bodies of work as is in our nature to do, free from the passions and vices, with resilience, calm and peace?

How much more could we achieve from such a resilient place?

“Humans don’t mind hardship, in fact they thrive on it; what they mind is not feeling necessary. Modern society has perfected the art of making people not feel necessary.” – Sebastian Junger

The idea of machines taking our work is ridiculous to many, obvious to some.

To the many, it’s ridiculous because they can’t handle the idea of not being paid. This is why their work will dry up; they want to keep pushing the button for money.

To the few, it’s haunting because they fear the idea of being unnecessary. This is why they will be necessary; they will continue to bring humanity to the market as the market requires it.

Concern yourself about the dollars to worry about your obsoletion.

Concern yourself with your fiduciary responsibility to serve your fellow man to never have a reason to concern yourself about the dollars.

There’s good greedy and bad greedy.

A good-greedy investor buys when others are selling in fear. This investor knows that when reason yields to emotion, reason is nevertheless the better signal to follow.

A bad-greedy investor won’t derisk ahead of turbulence, despite still maintaining a plentiful upside. We call these people ‘gamblers’.

A good-greedy business expands into new territories with host-beneficiary relationships, development their reach so they can support more people, using complimentary businesses as force-multipliers.

A bad-greedy business assaults new territories with brute force, hoping to ‘dominate the market’ at the expense of potential strategic partnerships that could have taken them so much further as a team.

There’s good greedy and bad greedy.

Know which one you’re being.

Last night, we had an idea.

Within a few hours, we raised $50,000 for that idea.

Then executed the idea.

By the morning, it was successful.

This is the power of collaboration, working together, and a willingness to look after others.

Marcus Aurelius said, “That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.”

Focus on yourself at the expense of others to experience isolation, stress, and hunger.

As Seneca put it, “They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.”

Instead, consider invest in the hive… and watch what happens.

What did Henry Ford know about NFTs?

This:

“The most surprising thing I found about business was the large concern for finance and low concern for service.” – Henry Ford

When leaders focus on finance, their work thrives on hype, leaving the market to lick its wounds when the hype subsides.

When leaders focus on service, their work thrives on service, leaving the market to advocate for the great work being done.

Finance focus leads to everyone wishing service existed.

Service focus leads to everyone taking care of the finances.

Which will you focus on?