When Your Purpose Is 1-of-1

In the short term a 1-of-1 purpose will almost always fail. Every day is yet another moment that people didn’t follow your vision and the world failed to transform according to your ideas. The failures are literally limitless.

With a longer view, however, this process looks different.

Focusing on that 1-of-1 purpose — rather than where we and other projects might have similar aims — has been transformational in clarifying who we need to be for this project to reach its potential.

The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of

When you’re focused on something few others are thinking about, you find yourself constantly making the case to yourself and others that your vision is worth pursuing and worthy of other people’s attention. This ongoing need to justify your work creates a significant emotional overhead

To power through pain and uncertainty, we must feed our psyches with action and energy.

Increase the surface area of the idea — Each release is a chance to help more people see the world the way we see it. They’re opportunities to connect with people by showing them how our ideas can match their needs and fulfill their desires.

It was a years-long process of trying, failing, and iterating to find the language and expressions that would make what felt clear to us obvious to others.