At times, we may feel inclined to set goals for the people we manage. But the problem with setting goals for others is that doing so may turn what feels like "play" to them into "work".
A way to circumvent that might be to work alongside others to help them set their own goals, in a way that is aligned with ours. Doing so turns something primarily driven by external factors (carrots and sticks) into something intrinsic.
Some people seem to struggle considerably more under conditions built on extrinsic motivators. And I think these are the people who either produce outstanding work or do a lousy job. There's no in-between.
This may be the reason why prolific people often start as bad students. Even though they are smart, something about working for grades and not having a say in what and how they learn, breaks their spirit.
The reason underperforming students may go on to become masters could be related to them finally finding an environment that drives intrinsic motivation.
And that is the kind of environment we can create when we take our time and let others set goals and find a path to achieve them, instead of dictating them — A place where people can thrive.

From work to "play"

In everything we do, there is a threshold or shared understanding of "good enough". Okay. Sufficient. Average.
Large language models and machine learning are knocking on the door. And while their transformative power can be hard to predict, there is one thing we can be certain about. This technology will set a new, higher, unprecedented standard for the work we put out there.
Output that used to be good will soon become mediocre because now we have tools that can do better. So the only option we have left is to embrace technology and accept the call to level up. To collectively improve our ability to learn and to produce work that has higher quality.
But this time, we'll keep raising the bar. Good things are coming.

The bar has been raised

Even though I'm the first to advocate the idea of <a href="https://moonwith.com/posts/train">showing up every day</a>, I don't believe doing so is a sufficient condition for achieving mastery. Programming every day won't make you a <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html#:~:text=To%20programmers%2C%20%22hacker%22%20connotes,something%20in%20an%20ugly%20way">hacker</a>. Playing chess every day won't make you a grandmaster.
When we start learning a new skill, every day can be a challenge. But after a while, we start getting comfortable. We start enjoying it. We get good enough to be able to play the game without having to put deliberate effort. And the better we get, the less we gain out of just showing up.
The trick to getting better at any skill is to actively seek pain. To break a skill down into microskills and to target, measure and push one of them at a time. Like we do when we work out at the gym.
<h3>To reflect</h3>
If you had to break down a skill you're trying to learn into 5 smaller skills, what would they be? How would your learning approach change? How would you go about measuring your progress in each one of them?

Programming every day won't make you a better programmer

The knowledge, tools and frameworks we learn about in the classroom or in our industry were created by people like us.
Just because something is presented as the default way of doing things, it doesn't mean it is the best approach. Or correct.
Are we accepting what someone else teaches us because they hold some authority or because it's the easy thing to do?
People who care about progress, care enough to take a step back and reassess the current state of affairs. — The mindset is not the one of a contrarian. Or of someone who thinks they're wiser than everyone else who came before them. It's about courage, kindness and integrity with ourselves, our peers and the world at large.
Do we ask ourselves enough times:
<ul>
<li>Does this make sense?</li>
<li>What are we actually trying to achieve with this method or tool? Are we using it blindly or in an intentional way?</li>
<li>Could there be a better way?</li>
<li>What would we improve or do differently?</li>
</ul>
Thank you David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried for shaping the way I see the world through your actions. You inspire me every day.

Cultivate a critical mindset

People who thrive are people who grow in an extraordinary way. They are arguably different than they were one year ago when it comes to the skills they have and the way in which they operate.
It's hard to spot them because you have to know someone and their work well enough to be able to tell the difference.
I think a key distinction resides in the mindset. People who are afraid of embarrassment don’t thrive. So don't be someone who's afraid of embarassment. Understand that every mishap is an opportunity to learn.

Growing vs Thriving

Failing to understand sunk costs can make starting new projects feel like a risk or a distraction. The problem is not starting them. But rather not knowing when to kill them.
The reason I start so many things is because I'm focused on learning. When we're able to butcher projects fast enough, we can harm our reputation on the short-term. But optimising for the long-term payoff is what matters.

On starting new projects

There's something irresistibly charming about smaller cities. They bring us closer together. They provide a sense of community. Intimacy. They bring forward our caretaker traits.
As remote work becomes the norm, smaller cities will slowly supersede large metropolises. Unlike big cities, small places don't have to compromise. They can appeal to a narrow tribe of people connected by the same values or passions.
In the future, the most driven and like-minded people won't have to live in big urban areas anymore. Knowledge will no longer be centralised around large cities. In order to come across the most interesting, thought provoking and creative people, we might have to go to small towns.

Small cities are the future

The giants we learn about in school. The ones whose shoulders we stand on, were once small. Smaller, less experienced than us. They worried, many times, about crashing. Or about making fools out of themselves. They worried about dying alone.
It can be comforting to know we are all lost. Swirling around this blue planet, somehow, never feeling like we're good enough. Thankfully, it's not about whether we're good enough or not. — It's about who we want to be. Where we want to go. What we want to achieve. And we don't have to listen to the inner voice telling us we're not good enough. Because in the end, that doesn't matter. No one ever became president or broke a global record by accident.
What matters is the goal, the trajectory, our willingness to show up and do the work. The giants we celebrate today probably knew that no one can score without a goal. They took their time to define where they wanted to go. And they kept going. They were bold enough to keep showing up. And they kept growing. — We are perfectly capable of doing the same.
We're capable of daring to go where no one else went before us. Because we're capable of showing up. If we fail, we can get up and try again. And we can keep trying. And we can keep showing up. Until we become the person we ultimately know we can be.

Giants

Even though it might be tempting at times to run away from our problems, doing so won't make them go away.
The nature of most problems is akin to the cartoonist cliche of the snowball rolling over the hill. When left unattended, problems grow. And they grow to create more problems. A small flame left unchecked often leads to multiple firestorms.
Avoiding tough conversations with the people we care about won't make the underlying, interpersonal problems disappear. Resentment tends to build up. And people who were once close to us eventually fade away from our life.
Pretending a debt doesn't exist might provide us with temporary relief. But one bill left to pay can be relatively easy to tackle when compared to eight bills plus penalty fees, a debt collection and a damaged credit score.
To take care of ourselves and the people we love, we must cultivate courage to face our problems head on. To make addressing them directly and early on our priority. Before we run out of options.

Address problems early on, before they become too big

The main difference between being an amateur or a professional has nothing to do with talent. Professionals show up every day. Amateurs come up with excuses or don't make showing up a priority.

Amateurs vs Professionals

At some point in life, we may find ourselves fighting for a place few people ever seem to get to. A job at a remarkable place. A deal with a record label. A signing with a publishing house.
The prospects of getting picked may seem hardly graspable. At times, we may ponder if we're good enough. Or if the phone will ever ring. After all, we're competing with millions of people. Some, with degrees from top tier universities, a better resume, more experience. More connections. Unfair advantages.
We may not get picked today, tomorrow or the day after. In fact, the phone may never ring. But we don't have to wait around. — We can pick ourselves. We can write a new blog post. Paint a new canvas. Make a new song. Build a new product. We can choose to show up and put in the work every single day.
We can decide that we will pick ourselves. Regardless of whether someone out there is listening.

A train that can't be stopped

Building up a new skill or working towards a new goal can be frustrating. Especially when we're just getting started. Our output is often below the level we're acquainted with. And feeling our work is below average can be frightening.
A proven way to get better is to show up consistently. To put in the work on sunny days and rainy days. To show up, even when we feel we're not good enough.
Because it doesn't matter how good we are. What matters is the trajectory. — How good we aim to become. And how much we're willing to improve by deliberately deciding to show up.
With every little step we grow bolder. We grow our confidence. And, slowly, without realising, we can reach a level that might end up surprising us.

Showing up

Sometimes we take on new projects and say 'yes' to opportunities to later realise we should have said 'no'. This happens frequently when we're young. We don't often have a clear sense of purpose or direction. And there is always something new.
The thing about what we call opportunities is that they are only opportunities in light of what we're trying to achieve. When they are not aligned with our goals, they become distractions.
Without a purpose, we don't know how to distinguish distractions from opportunities. We don't know when to say 'yes' and when to say 'no' when opportunities come knocking on our door. We live on autopilot, floating towards different directions as time goes by.
We might one day realise, we're no closer to achieving what we really want in life than we were 10 years ago. We might, inadvertently, end up in places where we're doing something we don't want to be doing. Choose the wrong city to live in. Pick the wrong partner. Pursue the wrong career. Because of this, we might never live up to our greatest potential.
It doesn't have to be this way. Every decision we make about how we spend our time counts. Every day, we have a chance to make little choices that can steer our life towards a better future. We can have more control of what lies ahead if today, we're brave enough to make a decision about what's important for us. — And about what is not.
Reflections:
What is one thing you really want to get out of life?
Can you think about opportunities you pursued recently that get you no closer to achieving it?
--
Thank you <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-zavrieva-ab76625/">Nina</a>, for encouraging me to reflect and take a deeper look into how to make my life goals more concrete and tangible, so I can have a better chance of achieving them.

Opportunities vs distractions

The goal of communication is to convey information. To create an understanding. Yet, we often choose to use words that create obstacles for those we’re trying to reach.
As we gain familiarity within the domain in which we operate, we start adopting acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations used by people in our circle. But using them, ends up excluding everyone else who’s not in on the convention. It damages understanding. It creates obstacles.
a. Whenever you’re working with other people, make mutual understanding a priority above all else. Avoid using acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations.

Don't use acronyms

Whether Donald Trump’s Facebook ban and subsequent bans by Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, Shopify, and Snapchat were the right decision, they certainly opened a precedent that puts a free and open internet at risk. Following the crisis at the Capitol, Parler, an app used by far-right extremists was suspended by both Google and Apple’s app stores and Amazon even stopped providing Parler with their cloud services.
This reminds me we don’t own the platforms where we spend so much of our time sharing content and building an audience. We don’t control what happens to them. They can go away over night and our leverage along with it. — That’s what happened with Vine. And what could happen with TikTok or Snapchat.
And the widely publicised ban on the President of the United States sheds light on what many makers go through every day. Apps are taken away, channels are demonetised. Sometimes legitimately, other times by mistakes caused by algorithms.
If you are a maker. If you produce and distribute any kind of content online, the lesson is clear. Have direct access to your audience. Own your platform [1]. — And that is why I’m building my own [2].
[1] - Newsletters are the easiest way to keep our audience. Unlike most platforms where our content lives, they give you data ownership. And email is a standard that won’t be going away anytime soon.
[2] - This blog is powered by Moon. A trivial app built on Flask that acts as a static site generator. There are literally hundreds of tools and frameworks, and a million static site generators out there. The reason I’m building my own is because I want to learn and I think this experience might make me better as a product manager. I’m particularly excited because Moon can be expanded as I acquire more experience and knowledge. To eventually become a fully fledged blogging platform or content management system like Wordpress or Blogspot (naturally, way less sophisticated).

Owning your platform

Integrity is doing what we say we will do. Even when it hurts us. Especially when it hurts us. This requires a sharp and tuned degree of consistency and self-awareness that takes time to grow.
a. Do not make commitments you know you can’t uphold. When we fail to deliver on a promise, we cause other people to have a worse impression of us. Because we use our past actions as information about who we are, failing to deliver on what we set out to do, often damages our own sense of worth. This is also true for when we set personal goals or intentions we fail to work towards. Every tiny action matters.
b. Avoid relying on people who didn’t follow through in the past. We’re not always able to pick who we work with. Having that in mind, we can choose the people we rely on. These are the people we make an active decision to build personal and professional projects with. Because the stakes are higher, we should be especially cautious and not let our hope and dreams blind us. By picking a partner we know to lack integrity, we are corrupting our own sense of virtue and there will always be a price to pay later on.
Better to disappoint early on and to be less ambitious about what we can do than to break our reputation and self-esteem. We deserve to go to bed every night knowing we can trust ourselves. Knowing we can be relied on.

Follow through

Even though we are all different on paper, in reality, most of us act in conformity. — We wear the same shoes, build websites that look the same and have opinions that are not worth to bat an eyelash for.
As Humans, we are great at identifying patterns. We are also often drawn to what is the most familiar without realising.
The problem with familiar, is that familiar, is also boring. Noteworthy subjects stand out because they do something dissonant. Something worth talking about. Something worth spreading. Noteworthy people move the needle.
Because we are all different at the core, we all have an innate ability to produce noteworthy products and ideas. Learning to amplify what makes us unique, can be a way to do so.
Can you stop to think about key traits that define you?
What do people say about you when you’re not in the room?
What are some things that excite you, that normally make most people fall asleep?
Be bold and you might just be rewarded.

Becoming noteworthy

Next time you feel like giving up, realise that, this might be a good indication that you are out of your comfort zone. Do not let that stop you from moving.
Fight or flight mechanisms are a necessary part of growth. Acknowledging that you are overwhelmed. Acknowledging that you want to run or hide, is already half the battle.
Take a deep breath and call someone who can listen. You’ll be stronger tomorrow.

On feeling like giving up

Many people celebrate the work of Pablo Picasso, but often overlook the process that contributed to make him the genius we all know and appreciate today.
At the age of 16, Picasso was living in Madrid. He spent long periods of time at the Prado museum, admiring and copying the works of great artists that came before him, like Goya and Velásquez. His story is akin to the ones told about Beethoven and Benjamin Franklin. The latter transcribed passages of his favourite writers and often tried to emulate their style, in order to improve his own.
The process of copying and reflecting on the work and process of people with more experience than you, enables you to get acquainted with patterns you wouldn't have. And at a faster pace.
Whenever you want to learn a new skill or improve on existing ones, realise that there is, or has been someone out there with more experience than you. With whom you can learn from. There is no shame in copying the work of others when your goal is to learn.
a. Do not try to be original. Originality comes from experience and materializes naturally when you have enough building blocks.
My past experience shows me that jumping and attempting to create something of your own before having the tools to do so, often equates with a lack of self-knowledge. In order to chop down a tree, you must first sharpen the axe.
With enough experience and vocabulary, you can go on to create your own work and improve on the work of others.
In a nutshell:
<ol>
<li>Find a piece of work you want to emulate.</li>
<li>Try to copy the piece in the best fashion you deem possible.</li>
<li>While doing so, close your eyes and try to visualize each step of the process.</li>
</ol>

Essays on work