Every fortnightly issue takes a founder communication situation β submitted by a reader β and breaks it down through three lenses: the social script, the inner script, and what to actually say. Plus a pop culture parallel you probably didn't see coming.
π White Lies, Force, Flow & the Righteous Brothers
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Hello Friends, πββοΈLet's get unstuck together! Let's dive into three ideas to help you start scripting your best life. Read about stand-up comedian, Nikki Glaser's method for success. IDEA #1: Personal Development is for Everyone. Everyone needs Personal Development. Even successful celebritiesTHE INSIGHT: Nicole Kidman, Bryce Dallas Howard, Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Jackman all have something in common - The interest in growing themselves. "You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now." - Matthew McConaughey
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"Because I believe actually the more you do something, the less frightening it becomes because you start to realize the outcome is not as important as you think." - Hugh Jackman
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"I refuse to let what happened to me make me bitter." - Nicole Kidman
"It is powerful idea to have the wisdom to know the difference between what you can control and what you can't." - Bryce Dallas Howard
TRY THIS: The Fleetwood Mac Special "Tell me (White) Lies" Inspired by Matthew McConaughey's challenge in a Tony Robbins event, he challenged the audience to list down the white lies we tell ourselves. The ones that are in the way of our growth. List them down and question if they are serving you. A reader shared with us that she found comfort in the following belief - As a great communicator and presenter, she doesn't feel the need to prep much ahead of meetings (even technical ones) as she is always able to get by easily. While it seems like a gift, the downside to that is that she doesn't get to deep dive into each meeting as the information and dialogue is skimmed superficially. She deprives herself of the opportunity to learn and grow. IDEA #2: The Art of Flowing (with Action)"...I hesitate to teach the basics, but life is like a bank account. You cannot write a check without first making a deposit."
- Bertha Russell, The Glided Age (HBO)
THE INSIGHT: The concept of the American Dream, the rise of Silicon Valley (Tech Boom) and social media all contributed to the proliferation of Hustle Culture. Then the pandemic arrived and made everyone take pause and evaluate their well being and life's meaning. Eastern philosopher, Lao Tzu's concept of Wu Wei (η‘ηΊ) translates to "non-doing" or "effortless action" to signify harmonious, unforced, natural activity that is aligned with the universe's natural flow. This isn't about not taking action but rather taking action that comes naturally to you. TRY THIS: The "Paying Attention" to Life Exercise Make a list of what is working smoothly in your life and what isn't. Be honest. Are you trying to force something to happen through some engineering? Does it require gestures that are "out of the way" and unnatural? What are things that are happening for you effortlessly? (that you may not have paid attention to) Taking Mrs Russell from the Glided Age as an example. As much as she wanted Mrs Astor to attend her party, she simply did all she could (yes she still had to do some work) to make the other players happy and excited about her party, and then left the issue. Cancelling the party was also a valid possibility that Mrs Russell was at peace with. As much as she wanted a positive outcome, she wasn't attached to it. That illustrates going with the flow but still putting in the effort to make things happen. In this case, her efforts are second nature to her personality. (hence natural) IDEA #3: Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.- Dory, Finding Nemo (Disney, 2003) THE INSIGHT: When will your big break come? What does your big break look like? For Julia Quinn, it was exploring her love for romance novels. As an art history graduate awaiting medical school, she wrote 2 novels back in 1995. They were well received enough for her to give up medical school. Then she kept on writing what she enjoyed and in year 2000 created a book series about a family with many siblings. The family name was Bridgerton. It took the pandemic for TV Producer Shona Rhimes (Creator of Grey's Anatomy) to discover the pleasures of Regency romance. 20 years later, the mainstream world got acquainted with Bridgerton through its Netflix drama. TRY THIS: The Lovin' Feelin' Test The Righteous Brothers made this song, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' famous. I would also recommend checking out the Hall & Oates version. What are some evergreen activities that you genuinely enjoy doing? Even if you might have lapsed on doing them from time to time, you find yourself coming back to it. These are what we call activities you have "Lovin' Feelins' for. It can be your love for planning, making family photo books, going deep into investigating conspiracy theories. Yes, it can be anything. Find those things and see if you're able to expand it and explore making a side gig income out of them. If they all come out negative, then at least you have a list of activities that bring you real joy. Using the power of regret to become awesome
Nikki Glaser is an American stand-up comedian. She started her craft at 18 years old and has only reached mainstream success at 41 for hosting the Golden Globes this year. Her interview on Conan O'Brien's podcast really stood out for me. She spoke about how she prepares for any event to the point of over preparation to avoid the feeling of regret. The regret of not having delivered the joke in the best possible way. THIS MONTH'S SCRIPT NOTES
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Script your Life
Every fortnightly issue takes a founder communication situation β submitted by a reader β and breaks it down through three lenses: the social script, the inner script, and what to actually say. Plus a pop culture parallel you probably didn't see coming.
Hello Friends, Taking pride in what you do is a wonderful feeling. When it becomes the thing you identify with, there may be ego-related complications. Today's issue is about a business owner who has the best systems and processes but can't seem to get her employee to follow them to a T. Thank you to Reader K for suggesting I include photos in the newsletter. :) If you want your issue to be considered for an upcoming Newsletter, just fill out this form. The Situation: Lin is an organized...
Hello Friends, Have you ever tried to explain your expertise to someone with little to no background in your field? How did you find it? In today's issue, we talk about how communications between technical and non-technical co-founders can be tricky and hard to navigate. If you want your issue to be considered for an upcoming Newsletter, just fill out this form. The Situation: Igor is a computer programmer and co-founder of a startup fitness app. His co-founder, Melissa is non-technical and...
Hello Friends, Welcome to March. February was a Lunar focused month. The Lunar New Year celebrations and the start of Ramadan fasting. It was a blend of higher social interaction and solitary introspection. There are people who look forward to gatherings and thrive in them. There are also those that dread and avoid them. As a Founder, it's easy to remain in build / focus mode and make it the default. It may be hard to see value in mingling, socializing and dare I say the word - networking,...