Archive of posts from March 2026

What’s the difference between a fit and unfit person?

Or someone with lots of savings or not much savings?

Or someone with a good marriage or a bad marriage?

Or someone with a vast skillset or a weak skillset?

Lots of things.

But one of those things is that the former always invests a little bit daily, and the latter always thinks they could do something about it tomorrow.

A little bit daily makes all the difference.

Toyota and Lexus.

MAD and MB&F.

iPhone 17e and iPhone 17 Pro.

Bundled membrane keyboards and hot-swappable mechanical keyboards.

Book and signed book.

Some people want the accessible one, others want the elevated one. It’s not really up to us to decide for them, or what their reasons should be for choosing one over the other.

Take how our StrategyComics product has an accessible option (bespoke strategy, wrapped in a selection of pre-made stories) and an elevated option (same strategy, entirely bespoke story and artwork).

Many want the accessible option. Some want the elevated one. Their choice.

What might your accessible and elevated options be?

What won’t they dare do?

A money-back guarantee? “That’s crazy, we can’t afford that!”

A cheaper option? “That’s crazy, we can’t sustain that!”

A more expensive option? “That’s crazy, no one will pay that!”

A version that lasts forever? “That’s crazy, no one will value that!”

A version that only lasts one week? “That’s crazy, people want longer than that!”

See how every single one has a knee-jerk reaction about how it can’t be done?

Those knee-jerk reactions are lazy. Of course they can be done.

The question isn’t whether or not it’s possible.

The question is which ones do your audience want, that you dare do?

Small, forgettable, similar bodies of work are quick to build.

Heck, LLMs can probably do most of the heavy lifting for you, if you’re that way inclined.

And it’s good news. Because it means those types of work are going away, their value diminished by the hordes of hustlers looking for their big gold biscuit.

The things worth making are slow to build. Things that require patience, discipline, care, commitment, craft, and time.

All things the hustlers don’t have.

So whatever you plan on building next,

Let it slow, let it slow, let it slow.

When we work on two projects at once, how clever we feel.

Like a productivity monster.

Perhaps you’re chipping away at one, maybe an LLM is researching another, and there you are. Doing multiple things.

Badly.

Multitasking usually only slows us down.

Single-tasking usually feels like we’re slowing us down.

But it’s the other way around.

Your uniqueness should push people away.

Not everyone, but some of them.

The wrong ones. Those its not intended for.

Because the act of being clearly “not for them” is often exactly the action required to be clearly “just for me” for those you wish to serve.

A louder, faster “No” from the wrong ones is precisely the signal you should be looking for.

The wrong No means the right Yes.

If you go big, go hard, spend big to look big, you hurt yourself.

Your runway goes away.

And everyone needs a runway, no matter how big their operation becomes.

So really, your competition isn’t your competitors.

Your competition is your costs.

If your runway is longer than theirs, you have space for the brave work you seek to build.

Last August I wrote:

Good, compassionate, committed people are better than AI.
AI is better than Bad, lazy, selfish people.

What’s fascinating is how the line isn’t moving, but people are.

Good talent is starting to “phone it in” to AI, intoxicated by the ease.

And from that ease, comes atrophy.

And from that atrophy, comes people who aren’t good at their thing anymore.

And so they change their position, from being better than AI to being worse. Not because of competency, but because they stopped being as good, or as committed, as they used to be.

Shame.

This is my 3000th post on my blog.

Some are great. Most are alright. Some stink.

That’s fine.

Keep hitting publish. The reps that count.

The gift of producing great work, is the opportunity to produce more great work.

The gift of producing mediocre work, is the opportunity to get better.

The only bad work is whatever was made in haste to make a quick buck.

Other than that, it’s all good. Just keep producing.

“What if I ship my work and they don’t like it?”

So what?

Lots of people won’t like it.

It’ll be too happy, too sad, too light, too dark, too professional, too silly, too loud, too quiet, too safe, too edgy, too something.

It’s not for them.

If you ship your work and they don’t like it, that’s great, they’re making room for those it’s for.

Ship away.

“If you’re not embarassed, you shipped too late.”

Nonsense. Survivorship bias at its finest.

If you find yourself listening to that, feeling anxious about wanting to do better but wanting to satiate the quotes…

…ignore them. Do better anyway.

The world doesn’t need more mediocre work, yet most will ship it anyway.

Focus on better. It’s what you do best.

When we make OK work, we have to speak for it, to anyone who will listen.

When we make great work, it has a voice of its own, to those it was made for.

Which would you prefer?

If you think outbound is icky, this one’s for you.

Think of what the most “dreamy” invite you could receive from any company could be. What would it be?

Someone coming over to give you free tickets to Disneyworld doesn’t count. That already means something to you.

Instead, imagine a local restaurant opened up. Imagine, they come to your house with hot food and say, “Hello, I made you this. If you hate it, we’re sorry. But if you like it, just ring the number on the bottom of the plate and we’ll come over tomorrow, cook you a three-course meal in your kitchen, for free.”

So you accept the free food. You like it, so you call the number. They come over, cook an amazing meal, and they say it’s to show you what their food is really like — a delicious meal and a lesson in making delicious food at home too. They ask if you’d like to book a reservation for your birthday when it rolls around, and they’ll prepare your favorite meal for it. You say yes, of course.

You go, it’s wonderful, and you feel so good about the place you can’t help but go again. And again. As a show of gratitude, as well as for a good meal. Each time you go, they teach you a bit more about how to cook like they do, so you can take the magic home.

You continue going because it’s a night off of cooking, and you love what they do. You take all your friends there, because it’s a place of meaning for you.

And every time you cook at home, you cook better, and when you cook better, you think of them.

That’s outbound.

Still think outbound is icky?