Seth Godin: The Practice (2020) 📙

Meine Notizen

The practice is all we can control

• „The practice is not the means to the output, the practice is the output, because the practice is all we can control.“ (S. 3)

We need a boss who can trust us

• „What we need is a boss who can trust us enough to look ahead with confidence as we go on this journey.“ (S. 25)
• Ich muss mir vertrauen, dass ich es tatsächlich schaffen kann!
• „It’s time to start training the boss that is you. Time to start trusting your self, trusting the process, and trusting that you are actually as capable as you are. (S. 25)
• „Personalentwicklung“ für meinen Boss, z.B. durch Coaching.

Imposter Syndrome

• „Of course you’re not sure it’s going to work. How could you be?“ (S. 29)
• @ Der Innere Zwerg: Natürlich weiß ich nicht, ob’s funktioniert!
• „It’s a sign that you’re healthy and that you’re doing important work. It means that you are trusting the process and doing it with generosity.“ (S. 29)
• „Yes, you’re an imposter. But you’re an imposter acting in service of generosity, seeking to make things better.“ (S. 30)

Creative people create

• „Do the work, become the artist. Instead of planning, simply become. Acting as if is how we acquire identity.“ (S. 34)

The most generous thing you can do

• „trusting yourself enough to show up and ship the work. The right work to the right people for the right reason.“ (S. 60f)

Save that kid!

• „Our work exists to change the recipient for the better. That’s at the core of the practice. When you’re doing the work for someone else, to make things better, suddenly, the work isn’t about you. Jump in the water, save that kid.“ (S. 65)
• In der Mission von SILBE geht es nicht um mich! Da geht es um den Auftrag, den ich bekommen habe, für andereetwas zu verbessern. Das ist eine Berufung, ein calling – kein Ego-Trip!

The practice is agnostic about the outcome

• „The practice remains, regardless of the outcome.“ (S. 66)
• vgl. Public Lectures: Ich mache sie, unabhängig davon, was dabei raus kommt oder was ich mir an Outcome vielleicht erwarten oder wünschen oder erhoffen würde. Die Ergebnisse kann ich nicht beeinflussen, aber die Practice schon. Der Rest liegt „in Gottes Hand“.

Audience of one vs. work for someone

• „It’s worth pausing for a moment to see the fork in the road again. It’s honorable for your art to be just for you. For you to choose to create for an audience of one. But that’s not professional work, because you’re not on the hook. There’s no one to serve but you and the idea in your head. The other route is to become a working professional, a leader, someone who chooses to ship creative work. And shipping means that it’s for someone. To commit to that path is a brave and generous act. And it puts you on the hook to see the audience clearly enough, and to be brave enough, to develop the empathy needed to create generous work.“ (S. 73f)
• Daily Blog = audience of one. Und das ist auch okay so!
• Public Lectures = creative work for someone => empathy!

Verkaufen = helfen

• „Amateurs often feel like they’re taking something from the prospects – their time, their attention, and ultimately, their money. […] Small-scale theft, all day every day.“ (S. 80)
• „But what if you recast your profession as a chance to actually solve someone’s problems? A doctor who prescribes insulin to a diabetic isn’t selling insulin; she’s generously saving a life.“ (S. 80)
  • Ich habe auch „Patienten“, die meine Hilfe benötigen!
• „Sales is about change: Turning „I never heard of it“ into „no“ and then „yes“.“ (S. 81)
  • Das ist ein Prozess! Keine einmalige Aktion.
• „Not for you, not for your selfish reasons, but for the people who will benefit from the change you created.“ (S. 81)

Lehren vs. Outlets

• „The specific outcome is not the primary driver of our practice. […] The first step is to separate the process from the outcome. Not because we don’t care about the outcome. But because we do.“ (S. 92)
• Ich bin ein Lehrer. Meine „Practice“ ist das Lehren. Das Outlet – und erst recht das Ergebnis – sind völlig egal!

Worrying

• „The time we spend worrying is actually time we’re spending trying to control something that is out of our control. Time invested in something that is within our control is called work.“ (S. 99)

Great architects need great clients

• „What’s missing in the gap between good and great is the simple truth that you can’t be a great architect unless you have great clients. And at the same time, great clients rarely seek out architects who desire to be only good. When the client wants a cheap, easy building, the architect’s desire to do great work is rarely achieved. And when the client wants something important, she knows that hiring a merely good architect is a mistake. It’s tempting to blame the client. But the commitment to be a great architect also requires the professionalism to do the hard work of getting better clients.“ (S. 113)
• Das gilt auch für mich und B41 als Lizenzgeschäft: Ich muss mir die Arbeit machen und jene Kunden finden, die better work tatsächlich wollen. Die das wertschätzen und auch bereit sind, dafür zu zahlen. Das AMS wird das wohl eher nicht sein. Das werden wenige Avantgardisten sein. Zu diesen Avantgardisten sage ich ja, zu allen anderen nein.

Which subgroup?

• „You can’t reach everyone. But you can choose who you’ll reach. If you change those people in a remarkable way, they’ll tell the others. […] Once you choose which subgroup to tell your story to, which subgroup needs to change, this group becomes your focus.“ (S. 123)
• z.B. die subgroup der Podcast-Hörer unter den Lifestyle Entrepreneuren im deutschsprachigen Raum. Sie werden mein Fokus, und sie erzählen es den anderen – auch denen, die keine Podcasts hören.

Serving the work

• „The work itself is our client and we owe it something. […] The work is your client. It’s hired you to help you make a change happen. […] There’s a tension, the gap between what the work wants and what the person paying for it wants. Dancing in that gap is the work of creating our art.“ (S. 126)

Avoiding the „what’s it for?“

• „It’s so tempting to avoid the what. In fact, the most honest justification for not answering „what’s it for?“ is „I’m afraid.“ (S. 141)
• „There’s nothing wrong with choosing to go to a conference to have fun, or to hide out from work. But if the „what’s-it-for“ is to advance your connections and trust within your industry, sitting in the back row and offering no connection to anyone can only be described as failure.“ (S. 141)

Das Erfolgsrezept – auch für SILBE (S. 150)

1. Determine who it’s for. Learn what they believe, what they fear, and what they want.
   • vgl. Lifestyle Entrepreneur Manifest
2. Be prepared to describe the change you seek to make. At least to yourself.
   • vgl. SILBE Mission
3. Care enough to commit to making the change.
   • vgl. Practices bei SILBE
4. Ship work that resonates with the people it’s for.
   • fehlt
5. Once you know whom it’s for and what it’s for, watch and learn to determine whether your intervention succeeded.
6. Repeat.
   • Das ist ein Prozess über viele Jahre!

Every author you love

• „Every author you love has published at least one book you won’t like very much.“ (S. 164)
• Sogar Springsteen hat Lieder geschrieben und veröffentlicht, die mir überhaupt nicht gefallen.
• „The practice is consistent, but only in intention, not in execution. Every creator who has engaged in the practice has a long, nearly infinite string of failures.“ (S. 164)
• Deswegen hat Bruce sein Archiv auch so lange unter Verschluss gehalten. Er weiß, dass viele seiner Songs einfach nicht besonders gut sind – zumindest weit nicht so gut wie seine besten. Sein Archiv ist voller durchschnittlicher Songs. Sogar seine Alben beinhalten durchschnittliche Songs – mal mehr, mal weniger. Es ist sehr mutig und großzügig seinen Fans gegenüber, dass er (im Alter) sein Archiv öffnet und auch das teilt, was nicht up to par ist.

Take what you get

• „We don’t ship because we’re creative. We’re creative because we ship. Take what you get and commit to a process to make it better.“ (S. 171)

Being fan-worthy

• „True fans are looking for something peculiar, because if all they wanted was the Top 40 or the regular kind, they could find it far more easily from someone who isn’t you.“ (S. 176)

The internet brings uninvited energy

• „The internet brings uninvited energy, positive and negative, to the work we set out to do. It opens an infinite spigot of new ideas, new tools, and new people for the project. If you want to create your work, it might pay to turn off your wi-fi for a day. To sit with your tools and your boundaries and your process and nothing else. There is a time to engage with the world after we do our work, but right now, we fill the cup and we empty the cup. We sit and type and then we type some more.“ (S. 186)

Merely do the work

• „Merely do the work without commentary or drama or anger. Focus on the change you seek to make and bring intent to the craft. Simply that. Nothing more or less.“ (S. 190)
• vgl. Always do your best – nicht mehr und nicht weniger.

The smallest viable breakthrough

• „Instead of focusing on a masterpiece, ask yourself, What’s the smallest unit of available genius?“ (S. 192)
• „Don’t worry about changing the world. First, focus on making something worth sharing. How small can you make it and still do something you’re proud of?“ (S. 192)

It’s survivable

• „What these first rounds of public work do is establish to the creator that it’s survivable. Show up. Do your best. Learn from it. And then we get to do it again.“ (S. 194)

What right do you have?

• „What right do you have to speak up and offer to make things better? What right to imagine that you have something to contribute? […] I think you have every right. In fact, I think you have an obligation. That’s why we share our planet with you.“ (S. 211)

An assertion is a promise

• „An assertion is a promise. A promise that you’ll try. A promise that you’ll ship. And a promise that if you fail, you’ll let us know why.“ (S. 213)
• Meine Mission von SILBE ist genau so ein Versprechen!

Wenn keiner eine Frage hat

• Dann habe ich zu viel erzählt. Dann habe ich meine Zuhörer mit Informationen erschlagen.
• Dann habe ich keine Spannung erzeugt, keine tension. Dann habe ich meine Zuhörer nicht zum Nachdenken gebracht.
• Dann habe ich keinen breakthrough erzeugt.
• „If, „any questions,“ receives no response, you need to earn more enrollment and make your assertions more clearly.“ (S. 214)
• Wenn niemand eine Frage hat, bin ich noch nicht genug am (wunden) Punkt. Und/oder ich spreche zu den falschen Leuten.

If we care enough, we can learn

• BWL is a skill. If we care enough for our businesses, we can learn. That’s good news!

The three foundations of art

• „The path forward is about curiosity, generosity, and connection.“ (S. 255)