What I learned this year

People who achieve raelly amazing things are extremely detail-oriented, not the pump shit out indie-hacking mentality. Both have their places, but true innovation does not come from simply pumping out ideas.

The only way to get people to respect you as a generalist is to have done something very hard successfully.

11pm is not an early bedtime.

Capitalisation, grammar and spelling is cool. Don’t turn off auto-caps and stop typing in stupid slang at work.

Be ambitious. Extremely ambitious. People far stupider than you are achieving far bigger things than you dream of.

Don’t put a timeline on discovering obsession.

Goals can change and that is OK. Just make sure you set the new intention clearly, make sure it is not a negative or fearful version of you setting it, and own it.

Tiny, tiny goals are the key. Set a bigger vision than you are comfortable within, and smaller goals than you think you can do. A 5 minute daily goal is a wonderful goal, to be celebrated.

Helping someone with depression is a big burden, but it will help you learn more about yourself too.

People who get excited over small things and remain optimistic over stuff other people find dull are usually winners.

Shame will hold you back more than any other trait.

Prayer allows your body to feel what your mind cannot.

Creating helps you to feel when you feel feelingless.

If you’ve ignored the same message or email more than 5 times, block the message.

Technological and creative progress is true sci-fi. This is where you want to be.

You don’t have to be doing something entrepreneurial all the time. Sometimes, just apply your entrepreneurial mindset to your work.

What’s cool to you is lame to someone you respect, and vice versa. Treat everything as cool and you will see the good in it all.

You need 9 hours of sleep, whether you like it or not. The only solution to fitting into the 9-5 work culture is to sleep early.

Give your best to people that are kind and encouraging, even though they are miles ahead of you.

Integrity is everything. Don’t lie to yourself or others about when or why you’re not showing up properly.