Do your homework and understand the dynamics of the markets you’re interested in. If a particular skill is in high demand but short supply, the value of that skill increases. If a skill is widely available, the wages for that job will be low.
Every organization is concerned, first and foremost, with its own survival. If you can help a company survive and grow, you will be viewed as a valuable resource. If you can’t, then it’s time to get to work on becoming more valuable.
Ultimately, you must decide what’s right for you. But just remember that your skil s don’t exist in a vacuum – they exist in a market. The more you learn about the markets you’re interested in, the more conscious you can be about what to pursue and the type of skil s you want to learn. At the end of the day, the alignment between your skil s and the market 70
REVISE
LIFEWORK
71
Shift your attention away from
what you want (a billion dollars)
Take a moment to reflect on how important
and get deeply, intensely curious
money is to you and why.
about what the world wants and
needs. Ask yourself what you
How much money would you need to do all the things you want to do in life?
have the potential to offer that is
Try to get as specific as you can and actually break down the numbers. When you’re ready, write down that number in terms of annual income.
so unique and compelling...then
develop that potential.
The world doesn’t throw a billion
dollars at a person because the
person wants it or they worked
so hard they feel they deserve it.
(The world does not care what
you want or deserve).
The world gives you money
in exchange for something it
What do you need to do in order to reach this number?
perceives to be of equal or
greater value.
Justine Musk
72
REVISE
LIFEWORK
72
73
For any of the career paths you envisioned in Revise, in a nutshell...
the Dream section, you can ask yourself a few
questions to assess skill/market fit.
For meaning,
What market is the company you’re interested in working for, or starting, in?
The Principles of Meaningful Work
1. Engagement
2. Interests
3. Competence
4. Autonomy
5. Relationships
6. Purpose
How does this company make money? Where does that money
come from?
For meaning
and money,
What type of skills do you need to create value for this company?
How can you further develop these skills?
74
REVISE
LIFEWORK
75
Dream | Test | Revise | Choose | Evolve Choose
Learning to choose
is hard. Learning
to choose well is
harder. And learning
to choose well in a
world of unlimited
possibilities is harder
still, perhaps too hard.
Barry Schwartz,
The Paradox of Choice
76
LIFEWORK
77
In all of human history, there has
7 Rules For Choosing
never been a more abundant time
to be alive. Choices of jobs, schools,
Limit your
mates, cities, restaurants, products
and experiences abound.
Spend less time on
2 choices that don’t matter.
But all of this choice has given rise to a curious phenomenon. The paradox of choice is the idea that too much choice can lead to less happiness, less satisfaction and a paralyzed inability to choose.
Find believable
3
Now that you’ve spent time testing and refining your dreams, you may sources of information.
find yourself facing this paradox. In a world with so many options, how do you actual y pick one?
Choose for the
4
You need rules.
right reasons.
Manage
5 expectations.
Don’t
6 compare.
Commit &
7 appreciate.
78
CHOOSE
79
1. Limit your choices
2. Spend less time on choices that don’t matter
When your brain gets presented with too many choices, it gets over-It takes time and effort to make good choices about the things that mat-whelmed and delays the decision. Ever gone shopping, become over-ter most, but you have a limited amount of mental energy to expend whelmed with all the options, and then left because you felt like you each day.
couldn’t decide? That’s the feeling. The solution is to limit your choices.
The only way to free up time to make better choices is to spend less To make good decisions, limit your choices to options that are real. It’s time on decisions that don’t matter nearly as much in the long run. The not particularly helpful to worry about the implications of a job you next time you’re agonizing over what to wear or where to eat, notice haven’t been offered, just like it’s not particularly helpful to fantasize the mental effort and remember the cost.
about a romantic partner who you’ve never actual y met. If it’s not a real option, you can’t choose it.
If you’re not satisfied with the choices in reach, then do what it takes to generate new options. But they must be real, otherwise they’re just a mythical source of anxiety.
With everything you know now, what are the top three jobs or career Think back on the last few days. Were there any decisions you agonized paths available to you right now? Are they truly available? If not, what over that didn’t end up mattering all the much?
can you do to make them real options?
Try to notice the next time you find yourself doing this again.
80
CHOOSE
LIFEWORK
81
3. Find believable sources of information
4. Choose for the right reasons
Ray Dalio, one of the most accomplished investors on the planet, We’ve spent a lot of time exploring the fundamental drivers of fulfil ment describes a believable person as somebody who has done something for exactly this reason. If you optimize for The Principles of Meaningful successful y three times or more. In other words, they have a track Work – engagement, interests, competence, autonomy, relationships record of success that makes them a credible source of information.
and purpose – you’ll do great.
You get to choose which books you buy, videos you watch and pod-Be wary of choosing for the wrong reasons – external factors like mon-casts you listen to. When you have easy access to the best, most cred-ey, status or appearance are not sustainable drivers of satisfaction.
ible people in the world on virtual y any topic, why would you choose to listen to anyone else? This guide draws only from the most credible, believable sources for exactly this reason.
When you do research on A Day in the Life and curiosity conversations, seek out the most believable people you can find.
Reflect back on the people you identified for A Day in the Life and curios-For any job or career path, ask yourself the following questions. They ity conversations.
will look familiar by now…
Are there any highly believable people you can add to your list of people to learn from?
Does it challenge you?
Would you work with people you will
l
earn from and enjoy?
Does it energize you?
Does it help improve other
Are you good at it?
people’s lives?
To what extent do you get to decide
how to do the work?
82
CHOOSE
LIFEWORK
83
5. Manage expectations
What expectations can you reasonably set for yourself this year?
EXAMPLE
transition out of my
If you set impossibly high expectations, it will be equally impossible current job into a full-for reality to match up.
time role on my new
career path
The key isn’t to have low standards, but to be realistic about how the world works. One trick is to free yourself from long-term expectations about your “life” or your “career.” Your life will evolve over a long period of time with lots of twists and turns. Focus your expectations on a shorter, more manageable time frame. If you keep your focus on what you can control and what you can do
now, you’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish over
the long haul.
For this quarter?
EXAMPLE
complete one project
that helps me land
that full-time role
This week?
EXAMPLE
schedule three curios-
ity conversations
84
CHOOSE
LIFEWORK
85
6. Don’t compare
An opportunity cost is the perceived benefit you could have received but passed on to take another course of action. They are the things you
“wish” you had about the career you didn’t choose.
Think of a moment over the last few days when your mind has wan-dered to another job, another place or another person.
Opportunity costs are real y dangerous because the comparisons are usual y 1) false and 2) upsetting. Your imagination tends to dwell on the How did that comparison make you feel? Write it down.
surface-level benefits while ignoring the messier realities.
As Theodore Roosevelt said, “comparison is the thief of joy.”
Don’t do it.
Are there any less-than-ideal realities of that same job, place or person that your mind may have glossed over?
Write those down, too…these are the parts we usually tend to forget.
86
CHOOSE
LIFEWORK
87
7. Commit & appreciate
Choose, in a nutshell...
Once you’ve dreamed, tested, revised and chosen for the right reasons, it is time to commit. You can use a simple but powerful practice to derive enduring satisfaction from your choice — gratitude.
To overcome the
The more time you spend feeling appreciation for all the positive aspects of your choice, the better you’ll feel. A regular gratitude practice reaps benefits across all aspects of your life.
paradox of choice,
While you’re at it, learn to practice the art of savoring. Savoring is the 3
ability to attend to all the joys and pleasures of an experience. Start The mindfulness apps
you need rules.
with a savoring visualization for the simple act of mindful eating3 and Headspace and Calm
then explore it in other areas of your life.
have great guided
audio visualizations
for mindful eating
and gratitude.
Limit your
1 choices.
Spend less time on
2 choices that don’t matter.
Can you identify one thing to be grateful for about your current situation?
Write down one thing and then feel free to add others as they come to mind.
Find believable sources
3 of information.
Choose for the
4 right reasons.
Manage
5 expectations.
Don’t
6 compare.
Commit &
7 appreciate.
88
CHOOSE
LIFEWORK
89
Dream | Test | Revise | Choose | Evolve Evolve
You don’t have
to see the whole
staircase, just take
the first step.
Martin Luther King Jr.
90
LIFEWORK
91
We’ve come a long way together
Deliberate practice has four main elements:
and we’re already starting to get
excited about what’s ahead for you.
EFFORT
EXPANSION
FEEDBACK
REPETITION
requires
builds on your
generates clear
involves a high
focused
existing
response on
frequency of
attention
capabilities
your perfor-
the activity
At this point, you’ve al owed yourself to dream freely, you’ve tested mance
those dreams, revised them and maybe you’ve even made a choice.
As you go forth into the world, there are two final concepts you should The principle applies to all aspects of your life — your knowledge, your know — Deliberate Practice and Mindset.
skil s, your relationships and more — and is one of the most powerful techniques you can use to enhance your abilities.
These are two of the most powerful tools you can use to grow smarter, stronger and more confident every day.
The importance of deliberate practice can be seen across disciplines. In basketbal , Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors is the best shooter in the history of the NBA. Curry is legendary for the way he deconstructs Deliberate Practice
key skil s and works tirelessly to improve them. He has an array of dril s for his footwork, dribbling, defense and shooting. Each drill is a focused activity intended to improve a specific part of his game, with a built-in feedback mechanism.
Bill Gates reads over 50 books per year.
The exact same principles apply to leadership, design, finance, market-Warren Buffett read over 500 pages per day when he was starting his ing, problem-solving or creative skills.
investing career, and he still spends nearly 80% of his time reading.
Stanford psychology professor and best-sel ing author Carol Dweck For a young Oprah Winfrey, books gave her “the power to see
cal s the mentality behind deliberate practice the “growth mindset.”
possibilities beyond what was al owed at the time.”
Georgetown computer science professor and cult favorite author Cal Newport refers to it as the “craftsman mindset.” Both terms describe When asked how he learned to build rockets, Elon Musk replied, “I the same approach towards learning. It describes a relationship with read books.”
growth where you constantly expand the boundaries of your abilities. It views difficulty through a positive lens – each chal enge is an opportu-Reading books is one of the most powerful forms of deliberate practice.
nity for growth.
Deliberate practice is a focused activity with the specific goal of You know that feeling when you are trying to learn something new and improving performance. As Buffett says: “That’s how knowledge works.
your head starts to hurt? Or the way your body feels when you’re push-It builds up, like compound interest.”
ing yourself? This is when the magic happens.
If you recognize the feeling of that struggle, you’ve also felt what it’s like to reach the other side. To learn something new. To get stronger. To solve a difficult problem or reach a challenging goal. This is the feeling of deliberate practice.
In the lifelong jo
urney of personal growth, deliberate practice should be one of your favorite companions.
92
EVOLVE
LIFEWORK
93
An entrepreneur’s circle
might look like this:
Here is a simple tool you can use to decide which assets
you want to grow in a deliberate way. (Reminder: your
assets are your talents, knowledge, skills and network.)
Virtually all jobs can be reduced down to 8 or fewer key areas that need to be done extremely well. This circle helps you identify which assets you want to focus on to improve overall performance.
Here is what Steph Curry’s
What might your circle look
circle might look like for the
like for the career path you’re
game of basketball:
most interested in?
Write yours down.
94
EVOLVE
LIFEWORK
95
Mindset
Starting this week, identify the most valuable areas where you can Don’t forget you
With the power of deliberate practice on your side, there is only one grow your knowledge, skills and/or relationships. This could mean can always email
obstacle that still stands in your way.
learning new skills, meeting specific people or reading certain types questions to
q@hiwright.com or
of books. Block out dedicated time this week, and every week, to text 415-993-3943
This obstacle is as formidable as it is familiar. But first, a parable.
deliberately grow these assets.
A farmer, a geologist and a real estate
The real estate developer looks at
developer travel together to view an
the land and thinks, “I wonder what
acre of land near the coast.
I could build here?” The zoning
requirements, building costs and a
Once they arrive the farmer looks at
beachfront hotel come to mind. The
the land and thinks, “I wonder what
developer is excited about the proj-
I could grow here?” Thoughts of the
ect’s financial prospects but annoyed
soil, weather and different crops come
by the inevitable legal battle with
to mind. The farmer is excited about
environmental protection groups.