Memes and Motivation 36: Give
Hey Team,
I wrote a thread this week on How to get Promoted that did unexpectedly well. It got me over 250 followers on Twitter, and tens of thousands read it.
Plus, I connected with many amazing people in DMs over it.
So I have a few learnings which I think can be extrapolated from this small win.
If inspired, always write the thread, the tweet, the essay, build the app, etc., because you can't predict winners.
I almost didn't write the thread because I am no longer trying to climb a ladder. Instead, I am desperately trying to make something work from an entrepreneurial perspective. Those are different things, so I felt a thread on how to get promoted would not do well; I was wrong.
People want to learn from you, but what they want to learn most from you seems to be the thing you already accomplished. Not what you aspire to achieve.
This, in hindsight, makes a lot of sense but is not so obvious because we have cognitive biases that tell us if we already know something, it's not worth sharing because others must know it too.
Try the same things more than once, and tweak just enough each time.
This isn't my first thread on how to get promoted that I write; I wrote one a few months back that bombed. And back then, I was actually in the corporate ladder chase still, and the core principles were still the same.
It shows that how you say things and timing matter, just as much as what you accomplished.
Give what you know away.
This seem's counterintuitive but the more transparent you are, the more you give away that others can use to grow, the more people will come out of the wood work to help you. That help from others in return can lead to unexpected successes in what you are trying to accomplish now.
Which makes sense but most of us aren't raised to just broadcast all our secrets publicly.
I like to think my parents did a good job raising me to give but giving and helping colleagues, friends, and acquaintances is easy compared to in public which can come off as braggy or wrong without all the context.
It takes some re-wiring of our upbringing to see that this is the right way to do things, even if it has some risk.
Let's get into a few things I ran into this week from others that might help you too.
Two articles that will get you thinking
Making the unpredictable predictable
A great article by Daniel on his Small Bets philosophy.
Insanity is Doing the Same Thing and Expecting the Same Result
This ties back to my learnings this week, I wrote twice on the same topic and concept, getting promoted, and we saw vastly different results from that.
This article does a good job explaining why.
Two tweets that struck a cord this week:
A hard earned lesson for all builders. Stuff sounds good in your head and potential customers will tell you they have the pain and yes they'll pay you for it.
But in the end you'll only really find out the truth after launching.
Recently I've became convinced that it takes many attempts not just one, to find entrepreneurial success. Perhaps Tweets like this are just me reinforcing my new-found bias, or perhaps this is how the world works.
I will be reporting all along the way on that.
Two memes from this week
SQL Injection attacks on a system are the stuff of nightmares for developers.
We watched Home Sweet Home Alone with the kids last night and in it the Dad is losing his job due to automation, and the Cloud, but as a techie the Cloud jokes were sort of just ok.
This Meme reminds us that Hollywood struggles with their takes on tech.
If you found something useful, or hated something, replying is to this email encouraged.
I am happy to help you if I can too, so reply if you think I can help in some way.
Have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate and if you don't have a great weekend,
Louie