Taste, Conviction, Elon Musk

I love this framing by Jillian Hess:

Too often, we think of notebooks as a way-station: a necessary stop en-route to the perfected, polished work of art. But what if the notebook is the work of art? What if the process of taking notes is the point?

I’m thinking about how many people were one or two iterations away from the right formula, but lacked the conviction to stay the course, the understanding that minor, subtle, successive changes can drastically influence outcome. I’m thinking about how self-doubt makes more people abandon a vision than competition or lack of funding ever will.

“When you’re a race horse, the reason they put blinders on these things is because if you look at the horse on the left or the right, you’re going to miss a step. That’s why the horses have blinders on. And that’s what people should have. When you’re running after something, you should not look left or right — what does this person think, what does

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I’m thinking about conviction, because it is so rare.

A lot of people start off with conviction, but life, hardships, and other people’s opinions get in the way, and they stop believing in the greatness of their own ideas.

I’ve met intelligent types with lots of skills and advantages at their disposal. But they usually don’t know where to go with the... See more

I was talking to a friend about why we decided to invite only paying believers to the Sublime private beta. My answer is that charging early for a product creates high expectations, and in aspiring to meet those expectations, we are held accountable to deliver a product you love and trust. My answer is that growing Sublime the right way is more imp... See more

Our desires, motivations and behaviors are constantly being shaped by incentives and systems we aren’t even aware of. So much genius and money has gone into a metaphor that assumes all humans desire is status and likes and influence and convenience and efficiency.

Yes, humans want all those things. But we also want to be inspired. To be delighted. T... See more

I’m thinking about how malleable the world is, and how easy it is to forget that. The world has, many times throughout history, reconfigured itself around strong visions.

Our desires, motivations and behaviors are constantly being shaped by incentives and systems we aren’t even aware of. So much genius and money has gone into a metaphor that assume... See more

My note to self from reading the book: “THINGS LOOK GOOD AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY, NOT DURING.” Tesla and SpaceX were not built. They were willed into existence, against all odds.

SpaceX failed to launch many times, and was ridiculed by many people. After their third (or fourth) failed launch, Elon sends an email to his team: “ SpaceX is in this f... See more