Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career (99U Book 2)

Simon Sinek articulated in a rousing talk at our 99U Conference, “We’re not good at everything; we’re not good by ourselves.”

upside of risk is that—no matter what the outcome—we act, we learn, and we grow. And when tomorrow comes, we’re better

exposure to risk. MISTAKES ARE INFORMATION Mine your “failures” for valuable data about what works and what doesn’t. As long as you learn from the process, it’s not a mistake. DIVE INTO UNCERTAINTY Don’t be afraid to live in the shade of big questions. Uncertainty and ambiguity are a necessary part of risk-taking and the creative process. ACCEPT YO

Dweck and Mueller found that children who were praised for their “smartness” did roughly 25 percent worse on the final set of problems compared with how they did on the first set. They were more likely to blame their poor performance on a lack of ability; consequently, they enjoyed working on the problems less and gave up on them sooner.

The kind of feedback we get from parents, teachers, and mentors when we are young has a major impact on the beliefs we develop about our abilities—including whether we see them as innate and unchangeable or as capable of developing through effort and practice.

the best way to practice is in time-limited sprints, rather than for an unbounded number of hours.

Taken together, Dunbar’s and Uzzi and Spiro’s findings imply that the most successful creative projects are generated by teams that include a healthy mix of pre-existing connections, shared experiences, and totally new perspectives. If you’re looking to enhance your creative potential, then being on a team helps. But it’s not enough to be on any ol

When I was training my memory, I kept meticulous spreadsheets to track my performance.

“What problem am I solving? What do I want to create? What do I want to change?”