Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?: And Other Provocations, 2006-2012 Read Online Free PDF

can say to them, “Are we there yet?”
Like Your Hair Is on Fire
    In the U.S., the next two weeks are traditionally the slowest of the year. Plenty of vacations, half-day Fridays, casual Mondays, martini Tuesdays … you get the idea.
    What if you and your team go against type? What if you spend the two weeks while your competitors (and the forces for the status quo) are snoozing—and turn whatever you’re working on into a completed project?
    So, here’s the challenge: assemble your team (it might be just you) on Monday and focus like your hair is on fire (I have no direct experience in this area, but I’m told that hair flammability is quite urgent).
    Do nothing except finish the project. Hey, you could have been on vacation, so it’s okay to neglect everything else, to put your email on vacation auto respond, and your phone on voice mail and to beg off on the sleepy weekly all-hands meeting and to avoid the interactions with those who might say no.
    And then finish it. Finish the website or the manuscript or the business plan or the suite of tools. No, this isn’t a great week to do outreach or make a pitch. That’s not the goal. It’s to finish that project that’s been stuck too long. Finish it or cancel it.
Looking for a Reason to Hide
    I’ve seen it before and I’m sure I’ll see it again.
    Whenever a business cycle starts to falter, the media start wringing their hands. Then big businesses do, then freelancers, then entrepreneurs, and soon everyone is keening.
    People and organizations that have no real financial stress start to pull back “because it’s prudent.” Now is not the time, they say. They cut budgets and put off investments. It’s almost as if everyone is just waiting for an excuse to do less.
    In fact, they are.
    Growth is frightening for a lot of people. It brings change and the opportunity for public failure. So if the astrological signs aren’t right or the water is too cold or we’ve got a twinge in our elbow, we find an excuse. We decide to do it later, or not at all.
    What a shame. What a waste.
    Inc.
magazine reports that a huge percentage of companies in this year’s
Inc.
500 were founded within months of 9/11. Talk about uncertain times.
    But uncertain times, frozen liquidity, political change, and poor astrological forecasts (not to mention chicken entrails) all lead to less competition, more available talent, and a do-or-die attitude that causes real change to happen.
    If I weren’t already running my own business, today is the day I’d start one.
Is Effort a Myth?
    People really want to believe that effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media:
politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a wink
lottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big payday
sports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquire
Hollywood celebrities with the talent of being in the right place at the right time
failed CEOs with $40 million buyouts
    It really seems (at least if you read popular media) that who you know and whether you get “picked” are the two keys to success. Luck.
    The thing about luck is this: we’re already lucky. We’re insanely lucky that we weren’t born during the Black Plague or in a country with no freedom. We’re lucky that we’ve got access to highly leveraged tools and terrific opportunities. If we set that luck aside, though, something interesting shows up.
    Delete the outliers—the people who are hit by a bus or win the lottery, the people who luck out in a big way—and we’re left with everyone else. And for everyone else, effort is directly related to success. Not all the time, but as much as you would expect. Smarter, harder-working, better-informed, and better-liked people do better than other people, most of the time.
    Effort takes many forms. Showing up, certainly. Knowing stuff (being smart might be the luck of the draw, but knowing stuff is the result of effort). Being kind when