smartcuts and then smarter cuts
TRANSCRIPT
Smartcuts
A shorter cut…
-Austin Walker
Climbing the Ladder
Great American ladder-climbing device is debunked• Only 4 presidents climbed the ladder• Something wrong with this myth if most of
the world’s most successful people don’t follow it
• “Ladder Hackers”• They also create small wins
Small Wins
Small victories can be created, but trading sideways has helped entrepreneurs increase value faster• Bigger or Better game• Success has been taught to be a long-term strategy; it doesn’t have to be
Paying Dues
Many entertainers toil for decades to get their break
While they’re waiting they……
A. Pay their Actors Guild duesB. Hone their craftC. Starve like artistsD. All of the Above
Mentorship
“Mentorship is the secret of many of the highest-profile achievers throughout history”
• Entrepreneurs who have mentors end up raising seven times as much capital for their businesses
• 3.5 x fast growth than those without
Using the mentorship to make your own luck• Women are being taught to be dependent on others• Mentorship programs don’t work• Organic mentorship from a true partner is more effective
than all the others combined.
Organic Mentor Relationship Defined
Two people connect without other interference or design
A personal relationship
Asking advice on other aspects
True care for mentor and mentee health and well-being
Getting “no” when needed
Comfortable with giving someone a tough answer
Owning Failure
Startup Funeral
Small group therapy of small business owners that talk about how their businesses died
Failure has been treated as bad, whereas failure should be glorified
Helps to determine what isn’t necessarily possible
Learn new things that once were not part of the capacity
Risks in the United States are easier to take
Low societal consequence for failure
High tolerance for business failure
Failure isn’t good?
Harvard researchers found that failure was still bad:
Failed entrepreneurs just as likely to fail as someone who’d never run a business
Successful entrepreneurs are likely to continue to succeed more after each success
Where do you start?
We Start With Ourselves
People tend to point to external factors as to why something went wrong
Motivation is decreased in future jobs
Internal factors were only brought in for wins
Flattering results are sought out
Reflect. Restore. Repeat.
Reflect on how personally there was a problem
Restore confidence, grasp the problem, fix it
Repeat on the next failure
Surgically Fixing Problems
Sometimes the best solution isn’t to bring in someone who has experience in the industry or with the problem
Formula 1 pit crew to help order surgical procedures so that there was less mistakes made at children’s hospital
Helped to save about 1/3 more patients
Doctors and nurses communicated better
Programming New Changes
DHH felt if he could put 5% of the effort in a class of the people who got an A and still get a C, that’s amazing
Used same perspective in coding
Didn’t want to repeat himself
Didn’t feel coding should be complicated
Learn How to Think
Finland’s education system has helped turn around its country’s learning ability
Focuses on system that encourages students to learn how to think, not how to memorize
Children use calculators in class
Teachers received at least master’s degrees when teaching at all levels
Depressed Billionaires
Once the momentum has built for years, comes to an abrupt stop, what do you do? Once you’ve:
Become a billionaire
Walked the moon
Completed your life goals
Continuing progress is the answer to fall out of this depression
Start the “Olympic rings” over
“Success is like a lightning bolt. It’ll strike you when you least expect it, and you just have to keep the momentum going.” –Michelle Phan, YouTuber
Innovation
Innovation is about doing something differently, rather than creating something from nothing; that’s an invention
Disruptive innovation: simplification
In order to disrupt, simplifying a product or making it less expensive increases market share
Cutting the Crap
Barack Obama and Steve Jobs wore the same clothes everyday
“I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”
Removing tedious or difficult decisions can improve focus and increase the amount of time left to do what’s important
Proven in experiments that show that making lots of tiny choices depletes one’s subsequent self-control
“Tiny startup companies frequently come up with breakthrough ideas. They start with so few resources that they’re forced to come up with simplifying solutions.”
Thinking Big. Then Big-ger. Then more. Again. Repeat.
“The thing about giant swings is they come with increased odds of failure.”
SpaceX failed multiple times, but got back on the horse with a focused drive to succeed and never give up.