Thread by @TaylorPearsonMe

Really enjoyed this pod from @tferriss and @level5leaders. -

https://twitter.com/tferriss/status/1097594363474034691

Here are my top takeaways from Jim:

When he asked around as a professor at Standford, he learned that the best professors divide their time up 50/30/20:
50% Creative/New Work (Generating IP)
30% Teaching (Courses, Consulting, Managing)
20% (Admin/Other)

Jim keeps a spreadsheet logging three things:
1. A short journal of what happened on the day

2. How many creative hours he had each day

3. A column on quality of the day from -2 (horrible) to +2 (amazing).

For the creative work column, he tracks a rolling 365-day Moving Average, that can never go below 1000 (to make sure he is hitting his creative work goal.

The combination of the journal and +2 to -2 scale let's Jim go back and search for trends in what causes good and bad days.

Jim's +2 days are either time spent with people he loves or solitary research time where he can get into flow.

Companies that succeed tend to be "hedgehogs" which means they focus on one or a very few things which satisfy three criteria:
1. Passionate about it
2. Ability to be the best in the world
3. Drives the economic engine

The personal version is
1. What you’re Passionate about it
2. What you are encoded for
3. Where you have an economic engine

Jim spent most of his 20s trying to figure that intersection out. He observed himself in a clinical, scientific way to try to see what that intersection is.

Jim called this his "bug book" where he observed himself like a scientist observing a bug.

He got to spend a day with Peter Drucker (epic)

Drucker's guiding question according to Jim: How do we make society both more productive and more humane?

The biggest lesson from Drucker: Don't ask "how can I be successful?" ask "how can I be useful?"

Other lessons from Drucker:

"The only way to paint a masterpiece is to start with a blank canvas.”

"Don't make a hundred decisions when one will do."

Jim has a concept called "the flywheel" which is based on the observation that great careers/companies don't come from "breakthroughs" but consistently pushing on the hedgehog area and letting it gradually gain momentum, like a flywheel.

Jim's personal flywheel:
1. He gets curious about something
2. He creates concepts from whatever he is reading
3. which leads to writing and teaching
4. which leads to impact on the world
5. which generates funding for the next source of curiousity.

Jim has another concept called "Fire Bullets, then cannonballs"

You start firing bullets (small bets) until you have a calibrated line of site on your target, then you shoot a cannonball.

People make mistakes in both directions. They either
A) fire the cannonball without testing with bullets
B) When they have tested, they don't fully commit - When you are ready to shoot the cannonball, don't hold any gunpowder back "just in case".

Jim believes options on creative work have negative value because they keep you from really committing and so you quit too soon.

So it is important to fire bullets first, but when you are locked on, put all your gunpowder behind the cannonball.