If the rules don’t apply to you first, then who else can they apply to?
Leaders get the most scrutiny because if I am going to trust you enough to lead me I have to see if you are willing to lead yourself.
Now you can get around this with authority or fear, but those two options have a short leash, and it’s ugly when its over.
Eat your own dog food.
Think about the last time you were thanked, sincerely, for the work you’ve done and what it did for your esteem and quality of your work.
Now realize you have the power to do that to those around you. That is why I like a reminder to do so every day.
Thanking early and often helps communicate your trust in a team, lets people feel seen, and functions as a function to remind you that no, you didn’t do that alone.
Trust me, you didn’t do that alone.
So thank early, thank often, and build bridges. You’ll be better for it.
P.S Building rituals in the morning, especially the right rituals, ensure a powerful day. Reminders (a checklist) helps me do that
Your decisions affect people.
Not in the way you think. We usually think people care about our decisions on the surface, that they “care” because life is all about us (we are natural narcissists.)
However that isn’t it at all. While people may “care” about what we do, odds are they don’t because they too are making decisions and wondering if you care about them.
Your decisions affect people because we live in a complex system. Everything builds on something else; there is no such thing as a clean slate. Because of this, it is imperative, as an impactful decision maker, to understand who and what your decisions affect.
To many teams and folks, this feels like overkill. I would caution you that over-indexing on context may, may lead to a rolled eye or two, but under-indexing can lead to a world war. Sounds extreme, but it has happened.
Now, we may not have the decision power to change the lines on a globe, but we make decisions each and every day that change people on it.
So always contextualize. Find out who is affected by our decisions and then choose if it matters.
Nothing happens in a vacuum.
Back to basics
Aristotle explains first principles this way:
In every systematic inquiry (methodos) where there are first principles, or causes, or elements, knowledge and science result from acquiring knowledge of these; for we think we know something just in case we acquire knowledge of the primary causes, the primary first principles, all the way to the elements. It is clear, then, that in the science of nature as elsewhere, we should try first to determine questions about the first principles. The naturally proper direction of our road is from things better known and clearer to us, to things that are clearer and better known by nature; for the things known to us are not the same as the things known unconditionally (haplôs). Hence it is necessary for us to progress, following this procedure, from the things that are less clear by nature, but clearer to us, towards things that are clearer and better known by nature.
In short – the basics lead the way.
I often need to be reminded about this because, in a rush to prove myself, I’ve looked for the most complicated, convoluted way to make a point.
At best, I “seem” smart. At worse, I look like an idiot. Either way, I don’t move the problem forward.
The basics are the building block in which we can make sustained progress when we are facing a world full of ambiguity. It is for that reason, and my bias, that I want to spend this month writing about it.
Wish me luck.
When things are confusing, it might be best to just go back to basics.
First principles work.
(Wow, my post didn’t post yesterday..stuck in a draft, went ahead and published, but if you were expecting an email, this is why)
What happens when you go back to basics?
When you give up the ego that comes with “time served” and go back to day 1, it’s an admission that “success” doesn’t matter.
I say success with quotes because most of what we call success is just a boast to others. You can say a lot when it comes to the mask that “success” places on ourselves and ego, but that conversation is for another time.
Back to first principles.
Focusing on the basics, what happens when we get from A -> B improves the foundation of all of our work. That takes shedding ego, because we don’t want to feel placated.
Screw that.
The little things matter, especially if we want to take the genius inside of us and share it with the world. That makes a strong foundation.
Our genius is a massive tool to wield, and without a strong foundation to support it, it will crush itself.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 