THE FIRST
THING
Think about this
every day:
“The question isn’t
who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” ~ Ayn
Rand
If you aren’t
comfortable with this attitude, it’s hard to be awesome. Sorry. You
can be good
enough without being assertive, but to a large extent, being
awesome requires that you initiate, take action, and chart your own
course through the norms of mediocrity.
HARD
WORK
Working your ass
off, at least during specific seasons in life, is also a
prerequisite for being awesome. This goes at the top, because if
you don’t like hard work, good luck.
I hung out with
J.D. Roth in Portland a few weeks ago, and we talked about the big
success of his personal finance
site. Guess how many hours a week he has worked on the site
since going full-time last year?
60 HOURS
EVERY WEEK.
That’s right,
aspiring bloggers – you too can have 70,000+
readers and write your own ticket to internet fame – but
it won’t happen by playing World of Warcraft every
night.
If you aren’t
blogging, the same principle holds true with most other work that
is worth doing. Yes, I know about things like life / work balance,
taking time off to rest, and so on. Those are things you do
after you’ve created your world of awesomeness. Jason
Calacanis put it best, “If you want to work 9-5, get a job at the
Post Office.”
Still reading? As mentioned, those first two are prerequisites.
They also serve as filters, because lots of people give up on
self-determination and hard work. Assuming you can stick with it,
it gets easier from here on out.
THE GENERAL WORKPLACE
In any given work environment, almost everyone is focused on one
goal: to make themselves look good. If you can change things around
and focus on making other people look good, you’re well on the way
to being awesome. In some environments (certainly academia), this
is exceedingly rare behavior.
Showing up to work is expected. Showing up early, prepared, and
with a good attitude is remarkable (sadly).
Present solutions, not problems. If you can present solutions to
other people’s problems, you’ll go far. Contribute big ideas,
including some that you know are likely to fail.
You’ve probably heard this before: “If you want to get something
done, ask a busy person to do it.” To be awesome, be the busy
person who gets things done.
MEETINGS & EMAIL
From time to time you’ll arrive at a meeting where it’s not
clear who is in charge. Examples: a collaborative school project, a
work project among colleagues of equal rank, etc. Here is how to
handle this:
Step 1: Assess the situation to determine the
leadership skills of the other attendees. Remember that your goal
is to get things done and make other people look good.
Step 2: Take initiative without taking control.
Be helpful, ask questions, and offer to accept tasks on behalf of
the group.
Step 3. At the end of the meeting, provide a quick
wrap-up based on the actions the group agreed to. “OK, so
Jon will do this task and report back, I’ll do the other research…”
and so on.
Step 4. If no one else is openly taking notes, do it
yourself. Type them up and send them out to the
participants within 24 hours of the meeting.
A Note on Notes: being the recorder accomplishes two things. 1)
You are viewed as awesome for taking the initiative and capturing
information for everyone else, and 2) You get to put your own bias
on how the notes are written.
A wise person once told me, you don’t have to be the first
person replying to every convoluted email thread. That just shows
everyone that you live on your email. Instead, show up at the end
and contribute something of value. Your comments will come to be
viewed as the deciding word instead of the kneejerk reaction. The
next time, people will look forward to your response and wonder
what’s wrong when you haven’t written in.
Don’t use rude autoresponders. A rude autoresponder looks like
this:
What were you thinking in writing to me? I am too important to
be bothered by inane requests like yours. I may or may not get back
to you, and if I do, it will probably be a while. Have a nice
day.
Those are not the exact words (usually), but that’s the implied
message. If you must use an autoresponder, like when you are
traveling or otherwise not checking email very often, be polite and
gracious.
RELATIONSHIPS
Overdeliver in your personal relationships. Give more than you
get. Never find yourself in relationship debt.
Never make excuses about being too busy, not having enough time,
etc. People who are awesome make time for what’s important to
them.
From time to time, you’ll screw up. This is how you
apologize:
“I’m really sorry. It was completely my fault. I hope you’ll
forgive me, and here is how I am addressing this in the
future.”
If you forget to do something you’ve committed to do but
remember it later, do it right when you remember.
Buy thank-you cards and write 2-3 every day. Use your calendar
to keep up with the birthdays of as many people as possible. Write
real birthday notes or cards instead of Facebook posts.
Whenever a casual relationship is coming to a close (the class
ends, colleagues move to another project, etc.) write the person a
quick email. “I enjoyed working with you… thanks for doing a good
job.”
When bad things happen, you can forgive the following: mistakes,
weaknesses, shortcomings. (No one is exempt from these things, even
awesome people.)
When bad things
happen, you should worry about the following: dishonesty, passive
aggressive behavior, chronic tardiness, whininess. (These patterns
do not usually get better with time.)
Practice
the art of radical
exclusion with people who waste your time. This is NOT being
impolite – it is showing respect for the people you have
committed to serve.
Remember that people will basically act the same no matter who
they are around. If the people you hang out with are always
complaining about other people, chances are they probably complain
about you too. The point is: don’t put others down when they’re not
around, or at least make sure you’re comfortable with whatever you
say being repeated.
GOOD VERSUS EVIL
Reward the behavior of other awesome people, and stop rewarding
mediocrity. Tip 20-25% for good service at a restaurant. For the
rare occasion when service is awful, don’t tip at all.
When you find
yourself in a conversation with someone who likes to argue all the
time, you may be tempted to respond, but you’ll regret it in the
end. Just walk away.
Always focus on
core motivations. When presented with a request, analyze the
situation by thinking about exactly what the person wants from you.
(Hint: it is not always what they are explicitly asking for.)
Keep up the
positive momentum. Look to the future, not the past. The U.S.
election last fall was framed as a choice between the past and the
future. Guess who wins a contest between old and new?
Never be a critic
without presenting an alternative. Remember that no statues are
erected to critics, and no one is remembered for shooting down
other people’s ideas.