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#410 Excellent Advice for Living

Founders

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  • Use Deadlines To Force Decisions
    • Demand deadlines to force decisions and avoid endless perfecting.
    • Use deadlines to weed out the extraneous and make things different not just better. Transcript: David Senra The first maxim or aphorism that he has here is being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points. The next one is listening well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love, keep asking them, is there more until there is no more? I actually think there’s a lot of these pieces of advice that he gives that work for both your personal and your work relationships. I think that one works for work as well. This one definitely works for work. Always demand a deadline because it weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. A deadline prevents you from trying to make it perfect. So you have to make it different. Different is better. (Time 0:01:24)
  • Demand Deadlines
    • Always demand a deadline, because it weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary.
    • A deadline prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different.
    • David Senra notes that this is a key point in Ed Catmull’s book, Creativity Inc.
    • Without a deadline, people can justify more time and money to make something better. Transcript: David Senra I think that one works for work as well. This one definitely works for work. Always demand a deadline because it weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. A deadline prevents you from trying to make it perfect. So you have to make it different. Different is better. That is so important. It’s actually one of the main points in Ed Catmull, who’s the co-founder of Pixar. He wrote this (Time 0:01:44)
  • Forgiveness Heals The Forgiver
    • Forgiving others heals you even if they never notice.
    • Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself, not necessarily for them. Transcript: David Senra The next one, when you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others. It’s a gift to ourselves. Next one, don’t measure your life with someone else’s ruler. So when I read that, what popped to my mind is my favorite people that I’ve met that are like this, they’re all playing an infinite game in their own way. They’re not measuring their life with someone else’s ruler. They found the game they want to play. (Time 0:02:32)
  • Teach To Learn Faster
    • Teach others to solidify your own understanding of a subject.
    • Explaining forces you to find gaps and deepen comprehension quickly. Transcript: David Senra The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high. So even if your effort falls short, it may exceed an ordinary success. This one, I know it’s true because I experience it all the time. The best way to learn anything is to try to teach what you know. There’s so many times where I hear myself talking about a part of the book and I have to stop myself. I say, wait a minute, I don’t think I actually understand this. I need to go back to that. And then by trying to explain what I learned from reading to somebody else, I actually understand it deeper. (Time 0:04:29)
  • Choose Kindness Over Being Right
    • Choose kindness over being right whenever possible.
    • Prioritize relationships: kindness has no exceptions. Transcript: David Senra Whenever you have a choice between being right or being kind, be kind. No exceptions. Don’t confuse kindness with weakness. Next one. The best way to get to a yes in a negotiation is to truly understand what yes means for the other party. (Time 0:05:00)
  • See The Other Side’s Yes
    • Understand what ‘yes’ means for the other side to reach agreement.
    • Seeing from others’ perspective unlocks negotiation and relationship breakthroughs. Transcript: David Senra So before I sit down to talk to you, I obviously read and reread and reread and reread the highlights over and over again. And the note I left myself probably the fourth or fifth time through reading these highlights was a lot of the great advice that he has in this book is really just understanding how other People view things and the benefit of looking at it from their perspective and not being self-absorbed. He has a lot of different ways to say exactly that. The best way to get to understand somebody, the best way to get what you want, the best way to build a relationship is to put yourself in other people’s shoes. If you’re in a negotiation, understand what yes means for the other party. (Time 0:05:18)
  • Be A Little Better Every Year
    • Improve by becoming a bit better each year and repeat the process.
    • Small yearly gains compound into substantial long-term results. Transcript: David Senra Become a teeny bit better than you were last year and repeat that every year. Here’s another one. Whenever you can’t decide which path to take, pick the one that produces change. Another great one, choose not to be outraged today. Kevin Kelly talks a lot about the importance of your habits. This is the very first time he mentions it. Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits. (Time 0:05:53)
  • Habits over Inspiration
    • Kevin Kelly emphasizes the importance of habits over inspiration.
    • Build habits for dependable progress instead of relying on fleeting inspiration.
    • To become the kind of person who never misses a workout, focus on the habit itself.
    • Habits are the foundation of excellence and long-term achievement. Transcript: David Senra To be outraged today. Kevin Kelly talks a lot about the importance of your habits. This is the very first time he mentions it. Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits. Don’t focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout. Rockefeller had a great (Time 0:06:04)
  • Seek Contrarians Who Challenge You
    • Find smart people who will disagree and challenge your choices.
    • Use their pushback to avoid easy routes and take better decisions. Transcript: David Senra Find smart people who will disagree with you. One of my smartest friends, developed a habit. Let me link these two together. He’s developed a habit with me where he will just reiterate advice from founders back to me. So the other day he called me because he noticed that I was trying to take an easy route on something that was important. And all he did to change my mind and really to get me to change my behavior on this was he quoted Napoleon and Lyndon Johnson from Robert Caro’s biographies on him. And he said, if you do everything, you will win. The conversation lasted maybe 60 seconds, maybe 90 seconds. I was like, I got it. I got it. And I hung up the phone and I took the harder, better route, the route I should have taken to begin with. And that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t find smart people that will disagree with me. (Time 0:06:41)
  • Ask Three Times To Reach Truth
    • Push for deeper answers by asking “then again” three times.
    • The third response often reveals the truest motivation or reason. Transcript: David Senra The rule of three in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and then once more. The third time’s answer is the one that’s closest to the truth. (Time 0:07:28)
  • Don’t Be The Best — Be Unique
    • Don’t aim to be the best in a crowded field; aim to be unique.
    • Being the only at something eliminates the need for a resume. Transcript: David Senra Don’t be the best. Be the only. To me, the next one is the importance of just being a higher agency person than most people are. Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them. They are waiting for you to send them an email. They are waiting for you to ask them on a date. (Time 0:07:55)
  • Take Initiative
    • Be a person with higher agency and take initiative.
    • Other people are also shy and waiting for you to reach out.
    • Send the email or ask them on a date.
    • The more interested you are in others, the more interesting they’ll find you.
    • Be interested to be interesting.
    • If someone turns you down, try again later because they might just be busy. Transcript: David Senra People are. Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them. They are waiting for you to send them an email. They are waiting for you to ask them on a date. Go ahead. Another one. The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they’ll find you. To be interesting, be interested. Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you, busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works. Then he goes back to the importance of habit. The purpose of a habit (Time 0:08:01)
  • Take Initiative And Try Again
    • Introduce yourself and take initiative because others are waiting.
    • Retry politely if turned down; a second attempt often works. Transcript: David Senra The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they’ll find you. To be interesting, be interested. Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you, busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works. (Time 0:08:10)
  • Iterate to Improve
    • To make something good, just do it.
    • To make something great, redo it.
    • Redo it multiple times to refine and improve.
    • The secret to making fine things is in remaking them. Transcript: David Senra The next piece of advice is very, again, Rick Rubin-esque. To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just redo it. Redo it, redo it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them. And then when Kevin said earlier that a lot (Time 0:09:47)
  • Responsibility for Mistakes
    • Taking responsibility for mistakes elevates a person.
    • When you mess up, admit it.
    • Ownership of mistakes is powerful. Transcript: David Senra And this next one makes me think of Charlie Munger. Nothing elevates a person higher than taking responsibility for their mistakes. (Time 0:11:57)
  • Protect New Ideas By Separating Processes
    • Separate creating from editing to protect fragile new ideas.
    • Let the creator mind invent freely without immediate judgment or inspection. Transcript: David Senra Separate the process of creating from improving. You can’t write and edit or sculpt and polish or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgment. And so I was able to pull a bunch of these ideas from some of these podcasts I did, you know, seven, eight years ago. It’s the value of keeping track of everything that you’re doing. And so there’s a guy named Charles Ketering. He was a great inventor, founder, and overall polymath. And he says, ideas grow very much like plants. When the shoots first come through the ground, they are quite tender and vulnerable. The proper care is very important. (Time 0:13:41)
  • Nurture Ideas Like Tender Shoots
    • New ideas are fragile and need protection, time, and friends to grow.
    • Treat early concepts like tender shoots or babies in a maternity ward. Transcript: David Senra New ideas are fragile and new ideas need friends. Next piece of advice, if you’re not falling down occasionally, you’re just coasting. This next one reminds me of Henry Ford’s great aphorism that money comes naturally as a result of service. Kevin Kelly writes, perhaps the most counterintuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you’ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom. Next one. Keep showing up. 99% of success is just showing up. (Time 0:14:55)
  • Prioritize Friends Over Money
    • Invest in friendships because they often outperform money in value.
    • Friends can provide solutions money cannot, so prioritize relationships. Transcript: David Senra Almost anything money can do, friends can do better. Next one, forgiveness is accepting the apology you will never get. See how many times he talks about this over and over again, about freeing yourself of this burden. (Time 0:15:31)
  • Imagination’s Potency
    • Anything real starts as fiction of what could be.
    • Imagination is the most potent force in the universe.
    • You can improve your imagination.
    • It’s the one skill that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows.
    • Many entrepreneurs agree with this conclusion. Transcript: David Senra Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe, and you can get better at it. It’s the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows. It’s amazing how many of these pieces of advice other entrepreneurs agree with and have arrived at the same conclusion. When crises strike, don’t waste them. No problems, no progress. Michael Dell told me in the episode I did with him and on the David Center feed, in our conversation, (Time 0:16:30)
  • Imagination’s Power
    • Anything real starts with imagining what could be.
    • Imagination is the most potent force, and you can improve it.
    • It benefits from ignoring what others know.
    • Crises are opportunities for progress; if there isn’t one, create one to drive change.
    • When invited to something in the future, consider if you’d do it tomorrow, acting as an immediacy filter. Transcript: David Senra Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe, and you can get better at it. It’s the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows. It’s amazing how many of these pieces of advice other entrepreneurs agree with and have arrived at the same conclusion. When crises strike, don’t waste them. No problems, no progress. Michael Dell told me in the episode I did with him and on the David Center feed, in our conversation, he says, if you don’t have a crisis, make one. You get people excited, motivated, and you drive the necessary change that you need in your business. Next one, when you get invited to do something in the future, ask yourself, would I do this tomorrow? Not too many promises will pass that immediacy filter. So I told you I was reading this book on Warren Buffett and he was, you like to keep his calendar very clear. (Time 0:16:30)
  • Use The ‘Would You Do It Tomorrow?’ Filter
    • When offered future commitments, ask if you’d do it tomorrow.
    • Use immediacy to filter out low-priority promises. Transcript: David Senra With and have arrived at the same conclusion. When crises strike, don’t waste them. No problems, no progress. Michael Dell told me in the episode I did with him and on the David Center feed, in our conversation, he says, if you don’t have a crisis, make one. You get people excited, motivated, and you drive the necessary change that you need in your business. Next one, when you get invited to do something in the future, ask yourself, would I do this tomorrow? Not too many promises will pass that immediacy filter. (Time 0:16:48)
  • Rule of Seven in Research
    • You can find out anything if you’re willing to go to seven levels of research.
    • If the first source doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next.
    • If you’re willing to go to the seventh source, you’ll almost always get your answer. Transcript: David Senra This one was very new to me. I’ve never heard this one before. Rule of seven in research. You can find out anything if you’re willing to go to seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next and so on down the line. If you’re willing to go to the seventh source, you’ll almost always get your answer. This one I just forwarded to a friend that was dealing (Time 0:17:56)
  • Go Seven Levels Deep In Research
    • Persistently pursue answers by moving down seven sources.
    • If the first source can’t help, ask who to ask next until level seven. Transcript: David Senra I’ve never heard this one before. Rule of seven in research. You can find out anything if you’re willing to go to seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next and so on down the line. If you’re willing to go to the seventh source, you’ll almost always get your answer. (Time 0:17:58)
  • Hire For Attitude, Train Skills
    • Hire for aptitude and attitude, train for skills.
    • Value naivete: first-time practitioners often produce breakthroughs. Transcript: David Senra Experience is overrated. Most breakthrough accomplishments were done by people doing them for the first time. Therefore, when hiring, hire for aptitude and attitude, and then train for skills. This is how you apologize. Quickly, specifically, sincerely. Don’t ruin an apology with an excuse. (Time 0:18:31)
  • Apologize Fast And Specifically
    • Apologize quickly, specifically, and sincerely without excuses.
    • Don’t dilute apologies with justifications; accept responsibility plainly. Transcript: David Senra Quickly, specifically, sincerely. Don’t ruin an apology with an excuse. For the next one, the note I have is 100 times longer than the actual maxim. (Time 0:18:42)
  • Pay Attention to Incentives
    • Always pay attention to incentives, as they are a powerful force.
    • Charlie Munger says that even though he is in the top 5% in understanding the power of incentives, he still underestimates them.
    • Appreciate the superpower of incentives because it’s a wise guide and simple precaution in life.
    • Never think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.
    • Perhaps the most important rule in management is to get the incentives right. Transcript: David Senra For the next one, the note I have is 100 times longer than the actual maxim. Pay attention to incentives. The note is just this quote from Charlie Munger that I absolutely love. Charlie says, I think I’ve been in the top 5% of my age cohort almost all my adult life in understanding the power of incentives, and yet I’ve always underestimated that power. Never a year passes that I don’t get some surprise that pushes a little further my appreciation of the incentive superpower. This maxim is a wise guide to a great and simple precaution in life. Never, ever think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives. Perhaps the most important rule in management is get the incentives This one is great and could lead you to an unexpected career. (Time 0:18:48)
  • Incentives Drive Behavior And Surprise
    • Always consider incentives because they power behavior and surprises.
    • Charlie Munger called incentives a superpower worth constant attention. Transcript: David Senra This maxim is a wise guide to a great and simple precaution in life. Never, ever think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives. Perhaps the most important rule in management is get the incentives This one is great and could lead you to an unexpected career. (Time 0:19:12)
  • Make The Important Your King
    • Focus on the important, not the urgent; the urgent is a tyrant.
    • Let the important be your king and protect your time accordingly. Transcript: David Senra The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. To build strong children, reinforce their sense of belonging to a family by articulating exactly what it is that makes your family distinctive. They should say with pride, our family does X. More great interpersonal advice. Outlaw the word you during domestic arguments. This too is excellent. I think if you looked at all my notes, I think excellent, or this is excellent, is the one that just reappears over and over again. Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist, you don’t have to ignore the multitude of problems that we create. You just imagine how much our ability to solve problems improves. Focus on the important. I love this piece of advice. Focus on the important. The urgent is a tyrant. The important should be your king. (Time 0:19:56)
  • Praise People While They’re Alive
    • Praise people while they’re alive and write it down for lasting impact.
    • Timely compliments matter more than eulogies ever will. Transcript: David Senra Don’t reserve your kindest praise for a person until their eulogy. Tell them while they are alive when it makes a difference to them. Write it in a letter so they can keep it. (Time 0:20:54)
  • Own Mistakes And Move On
    • Take ownership of mistakes immediately and use them to improve.
    • Blunt acknowledgment fuels better decision making later. Transcript: David Senra Don’t aim to have others like you, aim to have them respect you. This is something that’s going to come over and over again. And you see in every single biography to get to one good idea. You’ve probably gone through hundreds, if not thousands of bad ideas. (Time 0:21:32)
  • Bad Ideas Precede Good Ones
    • A multitude of bad ideas is necessary to find one good one.
    • Quantity of attempts composes the path to quality outcomes. Transcript: David Senra Back to kindness. Compliment people behind their back. It’ll come back to you. Back to the importance of focus and deadlines. You don’t need more time because you already have all the time you’ll ever get. You need more focus. (Time 0:21:51)
  • Limit Hours, Not The Work
    • Limit your hours, not the work; you can’t finish an infinite mission.
    • Use calendar and delegation to show true priorities and buy others’ time. Transcript: David Senra Everyone’s time is finite and shrinking. The highest leverage you can get with your money is to buy someone else’s time. Hire and outsource when you can. Your best response to an insult is you’re probably right. Often they are. Be strict with yourself, forgiving of others. The reverse is hell for everyone. Fear makes people do stupid things. If you can avoid seeking the approval of others, your power is limitless. (Time 0:22:08)
  • Act Your Way Into New Thinking
    • Change behavior first to rewire thinking; acting out change is easier.
    • Behavior leads thought more reliably than thinking leads behavior. Transcript: David Senra Writing down one thing you are grateful for each day is the cheapest possible therapy ever. If you meet a jerk, ignore them. If you meet jerks everywhere every day, look deeper into yourself. I love that one. And this one, this next one, I’m going to have to read twice. This is gold. It is much easier to change how you think by changing your behavior than it is to change your behavior by changing how you think. Act out the change that you seek. It is much easier to change how you think by changing your behavior than it is to change your behavior by changing how you think. Act out the change that you seek. (Time 0:23:42)
  • Guard Your Prime Time And Rest Regularly
    • Protect your most productive time of day and schedule regular breaks.
    • Sabbaths, vacations, and aimless walks are essential for sustained top performance. Transcript: David Senra Figure out what time of day you are most productive and protect that time period. Greatness is incompatible with optimizing in the short term. To achieve greatness requires a long view. The greatest teacher is called doing. Courtesy costs nothing. The consistency of your endeavors, exercise, companionship, work, is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what we do occasionally. Efficiency is highly overrated. Goofing off is highly underrated. Regularly scheduled Sabbaths, sabbaticals, vacations, breaks, aimless walks, and time off are essential for top performance of any kind. (Time 0:26:22)
  • Balancing Persistence and Knowing When to Quit
    • Schedule regular breaks, vacations, and aimless walks, which are essential for top performance.
    • Don’t focus on getting through tasks quickly; instead, find tasks you enjoy doing.
    • When sharing news, deliver the bad news first to end on a positive note.
    • You need the ability to persist until something works, and the ability to quit when it doesn’t.
    • Rely on others to help you distinguish between the two. Transcript: David Senra Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible. Instead, aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing. When you have good news and bad news, give the bad news first because we remember how things end more than how they begin. So elevate the ending with good news. Here’s three things that you need. Number one, the ability to not give up something until it works. Number two, the ability to give up something that does not work. Number three, entrust in other people to help you distinguish between the two. (Time 0:27:10)
  • Know When To Persist And When To Quit
    • Keep trying things until they work, then give up quickly on what’s failing.
    • Use others to help judge which to persist with and which to abandon. Transcript: David Senra Number one, the ability to not give up something until it works. Number two, the ability to give up something that does not work. Number three, entrust in other people to help you distinguish between the two. Ask anyone you admire. (Time 0:27:31)
  • Write Headlines Like They Matter
    • Craft strong headlines because most people read only the headline.
    • Spend extensive time on subject lines and headlines to boost attention. Transcript: David Senra And that’s actually a very old idea from a lot of the great copywriters. David Ogilvie, Claude Hopkins. This is what David Ogilvie said about this. I think this applies to so much more than email too. He says the headline is the most important element in most ads. On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar. If you haven’t done some selling in your headline, you have wasted 80% of your money. A change in headline can make a difference of 10 to 1 in sales. I never write fewer than 16 headlines for a single ad. (Time 0:28:11)
  • Collection of life advice
    • Denying or deflecting a compliment is rude; accept it with thanks.
    • If you have success but feel like an imposter, remember that you are ordained to work on things that only you can do.
    • Make others feel important and search for overlapping areas of agreement.
    • Miraculous things can be accomplished if you give it 10 years.
    • When stuck, explain your problem to others as part of your troubleshooting process. Transcript: David Senra This one’s good. Denying or deflecting a compliment is rude. Accept it with thanks even if you believe it is not deserved. When you have some success, the feeling of being an imposter can be real. Who am I fooling? But when you create things that only you with your unique talents and experience can do, then you are absolutely not an imposter. You are ordained. It is your destiny to work on things that only you can do. Make others feel they are important. Constantly search for overlapping areas of agreement and dwell there. Disagreements will appear to be edge cases. Miraculous things can be accomplished if you give it 10 years. A long game will compound small gains that will be able to overcome even big mistakes. That’s a great line. A long game will compound small gains that will be able to overcome even big mistakes. A wise man said, before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, is it true? At the second gate, ask, is it necessary? At the third gate, ask, is it kind? The only productive way to answer, what should I do now, is to first answer, who should I become? Most articles and stories are improved significantly if you delete the first page of the manuscript. Start with the action. Getting cheated occasionally is a small price for trusting the best of everyone because when you trust the best in others, they generally treat you better. When you are stuck, explain your problem to others. Often simply laying out a problem will present a solution. Make explaining the problem part of your troubleshooting process. This is why I think Munger said that even if you’re not seeking advice, it is useful to be able to organize your thoughts with someone that you trust and admire. (Time 0:30:09)
  • Accept Compliments Graciously
    • Accept compliments with thanks instead of denying them.
    • When you have unique talents, don’t dismiss your role—own it with gratitude. Transcript: David Senra Accept it with thanks even if you believe it is not deserved. When you have some success, the feeling of being an imposter can be real. Who am I fooling? But when you create things that only you with your unique talents and experience can do, then you are absolutely not an imposter. You are ordained. It is your destiny to work on things that only you can do. (Time 0:30:12)
  • Talk Through Problems To Find Solutions
    • Explain problems aloud to others as part of troubleshooting.
    • Verbalizing often reveals solutions you couldn’t see alone. Transcript: David Senra Most articles and stories are improved significantly if you delete the first page of the manuscript. Start with the action. Getting cheated occasionally is a small price for trusting the best of everyone because when you trust the best in others, they generally treat you better. When you are stuck, explain your problem to others. Often simply laying out a problem will present a solution. Make explaining the problem part of your troubleshooting process. (Time 0:31:23)
  • Declutter To Protect Time And Joy
    • Remove possessions that no longer bring joy to free time and space.
    • Pare down to what matters and avoid comparing inward life to others’ outsides. Transcript: David Senra This goes back to not measuring your life with someone else’s ruler. Do not compare your inside to someone else’s outside. Don’t bother fighting the old, just build the new. (Time 0:32:07)
  • Build The New To Replace The Old
    • Change things by building new models rather than fighting the old.
    • Obsolescence beats opposition as a change strategy. Transcript: David Senra To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Do more of what looks like work to others, but it’s play for you. It’s a great question to ask yourself. (Time 0:32:22)
  • Check If Today Scales To A Year
    • Ask if today’s actions repeated daily would lead to your desired future.
    • Use that check to prioritize tasks that compound toward goals. Transcript: David Senra Pay attention to what you pay attention to. For maximum results, focus on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems. (Time 0:32:38)
  • Thinking for Yourself
    • It doesn’t matter how many people don’t appreciate your work; the only thing that counts is how many do.
    • When you truly think for yourself, your conclusions will not be predictable.
    • David Senra had a three-hour conversation with the founder of Shopify, Toby Luque, and it was recorded for his other podcast.
    • Senra reflects that it was nearly impossible to predict what Toby’s answer would be when asked a question, because he truly thinks for himself. Transcript: David Senra The only thing that counts is how many do. When you truly think for yourself, your conclusions will not be predictable. I read that sentence right before and then read it after. I had this long three-hour conversation with the founder of Shopify, Toby Luque. (Time 0:32:56)
  • True Thinking Leads To Original Views
    • Independent thinking yields unpredictable, original conclusions.
    • Truly thinking for yourself prevents predictable conformity. Transcript: David Senra When you truly think for yourself, your conclusions will not be predictable. I read that sentence right before and then read it after. I had this long three-hour conversation with the founder of Shopify, Toby Luque. The conversation was recorded for my other podcast. That was exactly my experience talking to Toby. I can’t remember another conversation where if you ask him a question, it’s nearly impossible to predict what his answer will be. And I think it’s because he truly thinks for himself. When you truly think for yourself, conclusions will not be predictable. (Time 0:32:59)
  • Encourage To Catalyze Perseverance
    • Offer encouragement to others; a few words can change someone’s path.
    • Positive affirmation can catalyze long-term perseverance and success. Transcript: David Senra My favorite example from history of this is a young Henry Ford leading his idol, an older Thomas Edison. Henry Ford’s explaining his idea to build, mass-produce a car that has an internal combustion engine. And when Ford was finished, says Edison banged a fist on the table so hard that the dishes around him jumped and said, young man, that’s the thing, keep at it. (Time 0:33:33)
  • Be An Evangelist, Not A Critic
    • Thrive more when you promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
    • The world has enough critics already, more evangelists are needed.
    • Focus on the good stuff, life is short. Transcript: David Senra This next idea I bleed with everything. I think the world has enough critics that we need more evangelists. You will thrive more when you promote what you love rather than bash what you hate. Life is short. Focus (Time 0:34:17)
  • Promote What You Love
    • Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate to thrive.
    • Evangelize positives; energy spent criticizing yields less long-term traction. Transcript: David Senra Life is short. Focus on the good stuff. To get your message across, follow this formula used by ad writers everywhere. Simplify, simplify, simplify, then exaggerate. (Time 0:34:26)
  • Master The View Through Others’ Eyes
    • Seeing from others’ eyes is a golden ticket for empathy and persuasion.
    • Mastering this view unlocks design, persuasion, and heartfelt connection. Transcript: David Senra Your golden ticket is being able to see things from other people’s point of view. This shift enables heartfelt empathy. It also allows you to persuade others, and it is key to great design. Mastering the view through the eyes of others will unlock so many doors. That is a great thought. Mastering the view through the eyes of others will unlock so many doors. (Time 0:34:47)
  • Change Your Story About The Past
    • Reframe your past by changing the story you tell about it.
    • What matters is your response to events, not the events themselves. Transcript: David Senra You can’t change your past, but you can change your story about it. What is important is not what happened to you, but what you did about what happened to you. To earn dignity with your flaws, own up to them and make sure you push on things that matter. Worry is ineffective. (Time 0:35:15)
  • Ask And Advise Toward Their Wants
    • Ask people what they really want and then advise them to pursue it.
    • First ask for what you want; clear requests work in life and business. Transcript: David Senra The best way to advise people is to find out what they really want to do and then advise them to do it. You choose to be lucky by believing that any setbacks are just temporary. If nobody else does what you do, you won’t need a resume. First, always ask for what you want. This works in relationships, business, and life. Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets. Unwavering honesty will help seal in trust. (Time 0:35:37)
  • Choose To Be Lucky And Keep Learning
    • Believe the universe conspires for your success to create luck.
    • Life lessons arrive in the order you need them; stay alive to keep learning. Transcript: David Senra This is one of my favorite lines in the entire book. Choose to believe that the entire universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success. And then this is the perfect place to end. Life lessons will be presented to you in the order they are needed. Everything you need to master the lesson is within you. Once you have truly learned a lesson, you will be presented with the next one. (Time 0:36:59)