current motivations

You can’t solve a problem you don’t understand. You can’t lead a field you haven’t immersed yourself in. You must go down the rabbit hole. You must go deep. You must swarm the topic.

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

-Mary Oliver

In solopreneurship, constraints force creativity. Unless you’re making a lot, you can't throw money or people at most problems. You have to think your way through them and make sacrifices. Surprisingly, this often leads to better outcomes.

When you look back at the most fruitful moments of your life years from now, you’ll be surprised to discover how many of them unfolded amid a big loss or a crisis or in the face of a giant unknown.

the things that have always worked will always work: solve real problems for real people and learn how to communicate that very, very clearly and well. There will always be something shiny to chase and distract from the essentials; the difficult part is to keep doing the things that have always worked.

An approach where the goal is not an outcome with a distinct finish line. Instead, a goal could inform the process or system I’d need to commit to that would typically precede reaching my goal. So, instead of having the goal to save $10,000, I’d commit to saving 20 percent of every inflow... indefinitely. And when I did this, I tended to exceed... See more