Choosing your strategy (with Seth Godin)
1. Mindful Productivity Approach
Approach productivity mindfully to achieve goals without sacrificing mental health, focusing on strategies to work smarter rather than just harder.
2. Define Strategy’s Core
Before embarking on any project or strategy, clearly define “who’s it for” (the specific audience or group you aim to change) and “what’s it for” (the precise change you seek to make).
3. Strategy as a Compass
Adopt a strategy that acts as a compass, providing general direction and heuristics for decision-making, rather than a rigid map that becomes obsolete when conditions change.
4. State Strategy Out Loud
Clearly state your strategy out loud to yourself and others, as this allows for feedback, refinement, and ensures that all steps are logically connected without relying on unstated assumptions.
5. Evaluate Decisions by Process
Assess the quality of your decisions based on the information and goals you had at the time, determining if it was probabilistically the best path, rather than judging solely by the outcome.
6. See Systems, Not Symptoms
To effectively address societal or organizational problems, focus on understanding the resilient underlying systems that perpetuate them, rather than merely observing symptoms.
7. Address Big Problems Incrementally
When tackling large, complex problems, implement small, incremental solutions that improve over time, as this gradual approach can effectively shift entrenched systems.
8. Align with System Incentives
Instead of fighting a system, understand its inherent incentives and work within them to gradually shift behavior, causing the system to produce desired outcomes.
9. Internalize Market Externalities
To make market economies work for good, ensure that the full costs of externalities (e.g., pollution) are internalized and paid by those who create them, allowing the market to adapt quickly.
10. Know When to Drop Strategy
Continuously monitor for “change agents” (e.g., new technologies) that disrupt existing systems, and be prepared to adapt or abandon old strategies to embrace new opportunities.
11. Seek Traction with Early Adopters
When launching a new product or project, prioritize gaining traction with a small, dedicated group of early customers who genuinely love it and will advocate for it organically.
12. Avoid Mass Market Launch
Resist the temptation to target the mass market immediately; instead, focus on iterating based on feedback from early customers to evolve your product for subsequent groups.
13. Embrace Iterative Growth
Recognize that significant success typically stems from iterative growth and sustained effort over time, rather than immediate, explosive “hockey stick” results.
14. Confront Problems with Optimism
When facing problems, adopt an optimistic outlook and bring initiative to the table, as optimists are more likely to contribute to making things better.
15. Humans Process Stories
Recognize that human brains are fundamentally story-processing machines, and that the narratives we create influence our perceptions, decisions, and experiences.
16. Narrative Follows Decision
Understand that your brain’s narrative often rationalizes decisions after they occur, so strive for greater awareness to align your actions with conscious values.
17. Reflect on Decision Stories
Enhance decision-making by actively reflecting on the stories you tell yourself about your choices, ensuring they align with your true values rather than subconscious drivers like status.
18. Leverage Core Motivations
When marketing or influencing behavior, appeal to fundamental human motivators: the desire for affiliation, the pursuit of status, and the need for freedom from fear.
19. Practice Ethical Marketing
Engage in ethical marketing by helping people make choices they will value and not regret, rather than using manipulative tactics that lead to later dissatisfaction.
20. Apply “Mom Test” for Ethics
Use the “mom test” for ethical decision-making: if you wouldn’t be comfortable explaining your actions and their rationale to your mother, it might be unethical.
21. Understand Placebo Effect
Acknowledge the significant impact of the placebo effect, understanding that belief and the stories we tell ourselves can profoundly influence our experiences and well-being.
22. Beware Deceptive Placebos
While placebos can be beneficial, be wary of those sold deceptively, particularly if they don’t genuinely activate a positive brain response or could lead to negative consequences.
23. Strive for Lifelong Improvement
Maintain a mindset of continuous improvement throughout your life, recognizing that benefits can be gained at any age by aligning actions with values and goals.
24. Collect Field Notes
To find areas for personal experiments, act as an anthropologist of your own life: take non-judgmental field notes on your emotions, energy, and ideas for 24-48 hours to identify patterns.
25. Focus Self-Experiments on Challenges
Identify your top three biggest life challenges and brainstorm several potential self-experiments for each, then select and try the most promising ones.
26. Keep Experiments Small, Short
Design self-experiments to be small and short (e.g., 2 weeks to 1 month) to enable rapid learning, quick iteration, and efficient adaptation of your approach.
27. Value All Experiment Outcomes
View all self-experiment outcomes as valuable learning experiences, even if you don’t continue the practice, as they provide clarity and narrow down what works for you.
28. Embrace Iterative Experimentation
Approach self-experimentation as an iterative cycle: learn from each attempt, make adjustments, and repeat the process until you achieve the desired outcome or insight.
29. Use Exposure Therapy
Apply exposure therapy by systematically engaging with stressful situations you fear, pushing through the discomfort to build familiarity and reduce anxiety over time.
30. Systematic Curiosity Practice
Cultivate systematic curiosity by non-judgmentally asking “why” about your feelings and challenges in all areas of life, treating them as opportunities for exploration and debugging.
31. Nonlinear Career Design
Design your career nonlinearly, seeing it as a network of interconnected opportunities to explore without rigid pre-planning, which fosters greater professional and personal growth.
32. Learn in Public Strategy
To build an audience, learn in public by sharing your ideas, early drafts, feedback process, and even progress metrics transparently, fostering connection and investment from others.
33. Trust Colleagues’ Judgment
Combat imposter syndrome by trusting the intelligence and judgment of the people you work with, recognizing that they hired you because they believe in your capabilities.
34. Avoid Culture War Topics
To foster more productive discussions, avoid engaging in “culture war” topics that often lead to anger and signaling rather than genuine consideration of the issues.
35. Prevent Burnout
To prevent burnout, avoid overcommitting to every project and trying to exceed all expectations, as this can lead to exhaustion and poor performance.
36. Join a “Rocket Ship” Company
When seeking career opportunities, aim to join a rapidly growing company (“rocket ship”) where constant needs and changes provide numerous ways to make an impact.
37. Keep Strategies Simple
Aim for simple, direct strategies, as they are often more effective and resilient than complex ones, and are typically best formulated by an individual rather than a committee.
38. Steal Great Strategies
When developing a strategy, look to successful historical models and adapt proven approaches, as fundamental human needs and system structures often rhyme with what came before.
39. Strategy vs. Vision Clarity
When developing a strategy, go beyond a mere vision by identifying the specific system, key individuals, their incentives, and the role of time and game theory in achieving your goal.
40. Balance Affiliation & Status
Strive for a balance between seeking affiliation (belonging) and status (influence), as an overemphasis on one can negatively impact the other.