Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Welcome to part two of this book summary.

  • If you have not already, be sure to first watch part 1.

  • Money is not the answer, Guy Kawasaki said it best, it's better to make meaning than

  • to make money.

  • If your goal is to make meaning by trying to solve a big problem in innovative ways,

  • you are more likely to make money than if you start with the goal of making money, in

  • which case you will probably not make money or meaning, plain and simple.

  • Grant yourself permission.

  • Tina explained that over time I've become increasingly aware that the world is divided

  • into people who wait for others to give them permission to do the things they want to do

  • and people who grant themselves permission.

  • Nobody needs to tell you that you can do or should do something, just do it.

  • Tina explains that, she told a friend she planned to write a book, the friend responded

  • "what makes you think you can write a book?" she couldn't imagine taking on such a project

  • without the blessing of someone in a position of greater authority.

  • Some look inside themselves for motivation and others wait to be pushed forward by outside

  • forces.

  • There's a lot to be said for seizing opportunities instead of waiting for someone to hand them

  • to you.

  • So, I started a biomedical incubator at my school, meaning, an organization that helps

  • students create startups in health care.

  • I didn't ask anyone for permission.

  • In fact, two separate faculty who I approached for guidance told me that it was a nice idea

  • but impossible.

  • They had tried the same thing in the past and failed.

  • They were also much more experienced in this sort of thing than I was, so what made me

  • think that it would work out this time.

  • But I gave myself permission.

  • Although a couple months behind schedule, my team and I did not just successfully launch

  • the incubator, but it is now thriving, growing and a source of pride for the university.

  • Those who are successful find ways to make themselves successful, there is no recipe,

  • no secret handshake and no magic potion.

  • Know when to quit.

  • Tina emphasizes that most of us need to know when to quit.

  • We give in to sunken costs the "too-much-invested-to-quit-syndrome" which is a powerful driver of human behavior.

  • We justified the time, effort, suffering and years we devote to something by telling ourselves

  • and others that there must be something worthwhile and important about it or we never would have

  • sunk so much of our lives into it.

  • Tina goes on to explain that quitting is incredibly empowering.

  • It's a reminder that you control the situation and can leave whenever you like.

  • You don't have to be your own prison guard, keeping yourself locked up in a place that

  • is not working.

  • But we are taught that quitting is a sign of weakness.

  • She argues that in many circumstances, it is actually the opposite; quitting is often

  • brave because it requires you to face your failures and announce them publicly.

  • Persistence is to be admired but when does it become foolish to continue working on something

  • that's never going to fly?

  • We often stay in dead-end situations way too long.

  • We often do this when we stay in jobs or relationships that make us miserable, hoping the situation

  • will improve.

  • Tina suggests to do the following; listen to your gut and look at your alternatives.

  • I personally think this is great advice but, listen to this advice carefully.

  • I believe most people give up on pursuits too easily.

  • Tina is not advising you to give up whenever the going gets tough.

  • Have the grit to make it through the challenging times, however, don't be your own prison guard

  • when things are not working out.

  • Choose the right career for you.

  • We often hear that we should follow our passions and use that as a guide to our career choices.

  • This is misleading and simplistic; passions are just starting points.

  • You also need to know your talents and how the world values them.

  • If you're passionate about something but not particularly good at it, then it's gonna be

  • pretty frustrating to try to craft a career in that area.

  • Say you love basketball but you aren't tall enough to compete or you're enthralled by

  • jazz but you can't carry a tune.

  • In both cases, you can be a terrific fan, going to games or concerts without being a

  • professional.

  • The sweet spot is where your passions overlap with your skills and the market.

  • If you can find the spot, then your job enriches your life instead of just providing the financial

  • resources that allow you to enjoy your life after the workday is over.

  • The goal should be a career in which you can't believe people actually pay you to do your

  • job.

  • Tallis philosopher Lao Tzu sums this us up brilliantly; "the master of art of living

  • makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his

  • mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion.

  • He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide

  • whether he is working or playing.

  • To him, he is always doing both."

  • don't be afraid to change trajectories.

  • People who are close to you often expect you to make a decision about your career and stick

  • with it.

  • They want you to be a fire-and-forget missile that zeroes in on a target and pursues it

  • relentlessly.

  • But that's not how life works, it's okay to change course many times before finding the

  • best match for you.

  • I love how Tina compares career trajectories to traveling; "planning a career should be

  • like traveling in a foreign country.

  • Even if you prepare carefully, have an itinerary and a place to stay at night, the most interesting

  • experiences usually aren't planned.

  • You might end up meeting a fascinating person who shows you places that aren't in the guidebook

  • or you might miss your train and end up spending the day exploring a small town you hadn't

  • planned to visit.

  • I guarantee that the things you're likely to remember from this journey are those that

  • weren't on your original schedule.

  • Don't be in a rush to get to your final destination.

  • The side trips and unexpected detours quite often lead to the most interesting people,

  • places and opportunities.

  • Like Steve Jobs said, "you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect

  • them looking back".

  • The road ahead is always fuzzy and full of boundless uncertainty.

  • It's critical to surround yourself with incredible people.

  • By surrounding yourself with quality people, you increase the quality of the opportunities

  • that flow your way.

  • Great people support one another and build valuable networks and create a steady stream

  • of new opportunities.

  • It's also important to reassess your life and career relatively frequently.

  • This self-assessment process forces you to come to terms with the fact that sometimes

  • it's time to move on to a new environment in order to excel.

  • Most people don't assess their roles frequently enough and stay in positions for years longer

  • than they should settling for sub optimal situations.

  • Become lucky; what do you mean "become lucky", you can't change that.

  • Actually, lucky people share traits that tend to make them luckier than others.

  • First, lucky people take advantage of chance occurrences that come their way.

  • They don't go through life on cruise control, they pay attention to what is going on around

  • them and are able to extract greater value from each situation.

  • Lucky people are also open to novel opportunities and willing to try things outside of their

  • usual experiences.

  • They're more inclined to pick up a book on an unfamiliar subject, to travel to a less

  • familiar destination and to interact with people who are different than themselves.

  • Lucky people also tend to be optimistic and expect good things to happen to them, this

  • becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  • Because even when things don't go as expected, lucky people find ways to extract positive

  • outcomes from the worst situations.

  • Their attitude affects those around them and helps them to turn negative situations into

  • positive experiences.

  • Tom Kelly, author of The Art of Innovation says that "every day, you should act like

  • a foreign traveler by being acutely aware of your environment".

  • In everyday life, we tend to put on blinders and cruise down well-worn paths rarely stopping

  • to look around.

  • But as a traveler in a foreign country, you see the world with fresh eyes and dramatically

  • increase the density of your experiences.

  • By tuning in, you find fascinating things around every turn.

  • Here are a few other brilliant points that I want to touch on briefly; one of my favorite

  • tips from the book that I use often in my daily life is the following: there will be

  • difficult situations where you are not sure how to behave.

  • One way to figure out how to handle these situations is to imagine how you will describe

  • what happened later.

  • Meaning, if you had to tell the story to someone later of what happened, which way would you

  • be proud to tell the story?

  • Behave in that manner.

  • Take responsibility for your mistakes.

  • Knowing how to apologize is important.

  • Simply acknowledging that you messed up goes a long way.

  • There's no need for long speeches and explanations, just say "I did not handle that very well,

  • I apologize".

  • Another skill rarely taught in school is negotiation.

  • A common mistake of negotiation is making inaccurate assumptions, such that the two

  • sides have opposing goals.

  • Parties often share interests even when they believe they're on opposite sides of an issue.

  • Learn the art of helping others.

  • As Guy Kawasaki says "you should always try to be a mensch".

  • He continues, "a mensch helps people who can't necessarily help them back".

  • Of course, it's easy to be generous to someone whom you think will be able to help you but

  • being a mensch means helping others even if you're pretty sure they cannot help you.

  • You can call it karma if you'd like, but people who are generous and helpful to others are

  • those that others want to help in return.

  • Never forget that the world is very small and you will likely bump into the same people

  • time and time again.

  • Protect and enhance your reputation, it's your most valuable asset and should be guarded

  • well.

  • Excuses are bullshit.

  • We use excuses to cover up the fact that we didn't put in the required effort to deliver.

  • There's a big difference between trying to do something and actually doing it.

  • We often say we're trying to do something; losing more weight, exercising more etc.

  • But the truth is, either we are doing it or we are not.

  • In summary, never miss an opportunity to be excellent.

  • Life is like investing.

  • Imagine starting with $100 with a 5% return versus investing the same $100 with a 105%

  • return.

  • The values compound over time, that's what happens in life, you get out of life for what

  • you put in and the results are compounded daily.

  • Give yourself permission to challenge assumptions, to experiment, to fail and to test the limits

  • of your abilities.

  • Don't take yourself too seriously nor judge others too harshly.

  • Have a healthy disregard for the impossible and seize every opportunity to be excellent.

  • That is it for this video, thank you all so much for watching.

  • If you liked the video, make sure you press that Like button.

  • New videos every week, so hit subscribe if you have not already and I will see you guys

  • in that next one!

Welcome to part two of this book summary.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it