Be more like an Archaeologist
Hey friends, happy Sunday!
I hope your 2021 got off to a good start this week.
I've spent a lot of time working on the offering for the design + development studio I'm building over the coming months and years which has been really exciting to explore my vision - now it's time to execute on that vision.
In other news, I've been jumping into learning video this week. From how to light a shot, record audio, and edit a video there's a lot to filming videos but I'm enjoying the process and will be releasing my first video this week - with the goal of 1 - 2 videos every week this year.
Be more like an Archaeologist
I recently found a great framework for figuring out what you should work on and how to find your interests.
In this post Michael Ashcroft presents the idea of the Architect and Archeologist.
"The Architect designs buildings up front before construction can begin. The design may be adapted along the way as things come up, but the frame is that the building follows the design.
The Archeologist, on the other hand, discovers something hidden underground, makes some guesses about what it might be, and then starts the process of uncovering it. Whenever the truth of what they find differs from their idea, they update their idea."
Most of us spend our lives in Architect mode, we need to have our plans together before we even contemplate taking action, If things don't go to plan we completely stop and start the cycle all over again.
But in most cases action is how you uncover the truth.
This can be applied to all aspects of life.
No level of planning your career will help as much as just trying different things and refining your vision as you go.
As a creator you'll never know your "niche" until you start to take action and uncover it along the way.
I find whenever I'm stuck in a rut unsure what to do next it's usually down to thinking like an architect, all I need to do to get unstuck is start thinking like an Archeologist.
Here are this week's finds:
(Tweet Thread)
This thread from Nick Huber is one of the best things I've read on career advice. He touches on a lot here but this is my favourite idea:
"Software engineers aren’t going to be the leaders of the future.
Folks who can look someone in the eye and build rapport and sell themselves and their ideas will.
Learn to communicate if you want to set yourself apart.
The next generation is severely lacking in this area."
You should definitely check this thread out for some great career advice.
📅 No Meetings, No Deadlines, No Full-Time Employees
(Article)
Sahil Lavingia is building a really interesting company at Gumroad. The company is completely asynchronous, they operate without meetings, deadlines or even full time employees yet the company keeps on growing. This post is a look into how they operate
"People can work on what’s fun or rely on their intuition, because as long as we remain profitable and keep shipping, we tend to get to the important stuff eventually. Our public roadmap helps Gumroad's creators hold us accountable."
🤐 Why You Should Ignore Every Founder’s Story About How They Started Their Company
(Article)
This post goes into detail about why founding stories of companies are almost always non-malicious lies.
I'd extend that further to almost any success story, you always hear about the one decision that seems like it lead to overnight success but you never hear about the 15 years of consistent hard work, the ups, and downs that came before.
End Notes
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Have a great Sunday,
- Stephen