It's not between you and your boss, your critics, your editor, your competition, your spouse or some other outsider. The essential confrontation, of course, is with yourself. You are your own biggest critic. And your own biggest competitor. Now that it's easier than ever to pick yourself, the question is, "why haven't you?" And now that it's easier to ignore the competition and become a category of one, the question is the same. Our instinct is to externalize the forces that are holding us back, but in fact, that's not the problem, is it? via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

If you want to cool your house to 68 degrees fahrenheit quickly, setting the thermostat to 62 degrees isn't going to get it temperate any faster than if you set it to 68. It blows full cold until it hits the number, then it stops. (For those down under where it is winter, the opposite is also true--extreme thermostat settings won't warm you up any faster). via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

No need to read the whole book, I can just glance over the Cliffs Notes... I get it. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

It's easy to imagine habits like a scotch after dinner, biting your nails or saying, "you know" after every sentence. An event or a time of day triggers us, and we go with the habit. It's easier than exploring new territory--it's merely a thoughtless response to an incoming trigger. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Here's how a storekeeper makes sure the store is working: She sits at the register and watches. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Here are some online tools I've been using with a lot of satisfaction. Of course, your mileage may vary: via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Let's assert that you're almost certainly not going to be the very first person to live forever. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

The most common thing people ask me about is how to get picked, a shortcut to success, a way to spread an idea or build a platform without doing a particularly large amount of hard work. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Perfect doesn't mean flawless. Perfect means it does exactly what I need it to do. A vacation can be perfect even if the nuts on the plane weren't warmed before serving. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Why is it so hard for organizations to understand what Tony did with customer service at Zappo's? Instead of measuring the call center on calls answered per minute, he insisted that the operators be trained and rewarded to take their time and actually be human, to connect and make a difference instead of merely processing the incoming. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Forty years ago today was my first bout of speaking in front of an audience. (And as I remember it, I approached it as a fight, not an opportunity.) I was distracted, nervous and not particularly well received. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

That's what it said on the side of the semi roaring down the highway. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

In We Are All Weird, I argued that many factors are pushing us to get ever less normal, at least when it comes to cultural choices and what we buy, what we do and who we do it with. The bell curve that for so long defined mass is melting, with the outliers gaining in number, credibility and impact. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

The media-pundit-advertiser industrial cycle has discovered that turning life into a sporting event (with winners and losers, villians and heroes and most of all, black and white issues) is profitable. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

I've done this longer than any professional project I can remember, and I still consider it a joy and a privilege. I write and edit every word myself, and always have. This is me, unvarnished. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Consider travel as an example: via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

You're probably familiar with the free-rider problem. That's what economists call a situation in which someone benefits from the entire community paying for something without contributing themselves. It becomes a problem when others feel like suckers and then similarly drop out. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

The tried and true is beyond reproach. It's been tried, and of course, it's true. True because it worked. In times of change, though, most of the tried is in fact, false. False because what used to work, doesn't, at least not any longer. Sure, it might be what you've always done. But that doesn't make it true, or right, or best. It just means that you already tried it. The nature of revolutions is that they destroy the perfect and enable the impossible. Seeking out the tried and true is the wrong direction for crazy times. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

As an organization grows and industrializes, it's tempting to simplify things for the troops. Find a goal, make it a number and measure it until it gets better. In most organizations, the thing you measure is the thing that will improve. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

If your project or organization depends on knowing things that other people don't know (but could find out if they wanted to), your days are probably numbered. Ask a travel agent. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

If you tell me about service and quality and customer focus, you haven't answered my question, because a hundred other brands stand for that. If you are what others are, then there's nothing here to own or protect or build upon. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

You're actually not teaching them a lesson, because the people who most need to learn a lesson haven't, and won't. What you're actually doing is diverting yourself from your path as well as ruining your day in a quixotic quest for fairness, fairness you're unlikely to find. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Mistakes! A series of failures as you follow a path of persistent long-term effort characterized by ongoing learning and a reputation that improves over time.The giant flame outGiving up in the dipShortcutsNot startingThe critic, on the sidelinesEmpty hypeThe scam, the short-sighted selfish pitch via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading

Seven early bird tickets left for my event next month. Hope to see you there. Also, last few days to apply to my paid summer internship. I'm seeing some absolutely extraordinary talent. Late applications aren't accepted. via sethgodin.typepad.com Continue reading