The Case Against Morning Yoga, Daily Routines, and Endless Meetings

1. Become the best at one specific thing. 2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try. The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.

For the head of the curve — we need to remind ourselves that our careers are defined by the highest moments of the biggest swings. Let’s maximize these opportunities. Make a Master Plan, and then pick a direction and go! Embrace more serendipity, talk to more interesting people, take more swings, and go deep on your craft. Proactively position yourself to jump into action when 10x moments emerge, and create the opportunity to pour resources (time, people, capital) into a project that catches on.