Better vs. Unique

”…Lots of people talk about getting better at something – but better is not sustainable – and there is always someone who will figure out how to do something even better. As Denise Lee Yohn, author of Fusion: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World’s Greatest Companies, noted, you don’t want to strive for better, you want to strive to be unique! Unique is unstoppable …”

Brand + Culture = Results

(Taken from Vernes Insights scalingup.com/weekly-in…)

The "I’m-not-biased bias"

An strong bias is the “I’m-not-biased bias”, where people tend to believe they have fewer biases than the average other. But you can’t judge whether you’re biased, because when it comes to yourself, you’re the most biased judge of all. And the more objective people think they are, the more they discriminate, because they don’t realize how vulnerable they are to bias.

Excerpt from: getpocket.com/explore/i…

Just because you see does not mean you observe. The difference between seeing and observing is fundamental to many aspects of life. Observation is more than simply seeing something, but rather a mental process involving both visual and thought.

“Calcified” thinking: state of mind where ideas have become so hardened that they are no longer of any use.

The quest for Balance

Few things I learned in life son. That magic is in finding Balance, one of them:

Save a lot - Balance - Spend all that you earn

Eat super healthy  - Balance - A great aged red beef steak 

Wasted with drugs - Balance - Chemical tools

A glass of red wine, Rioja - Balance - A bottle per night

Toyota Prius - Balance - Audi A8

Read a lot - Balance - Trek all surrounding mountains

Play golf - Balance - Visit the mall every saturday

Hyper-Growth business - Balance - Brick&Mortar business

Hustle like Gary Waynerchuck - Balance - Wake up 11am on Saturdays

A mansion - Balance - An average flat in Madrid

British weather - Balance - Living in Cordoba, Spain

Eat a Pizza Hut pizza - Balance - Cook your own Neapolitan pizza at home

Have 10 close friends - Balance - That only friend from the neighbourhood

One picture of your face in every two Instagrams - Balance - Pictures of your cat

Writing a piece like this so far - Balance - Writing for others

Cooking a great authentic neapolitan pizza (Update 2)

My quest to cook a great neapolitan pizza is progressing:

- Dough iteration 5: still not happy with it, testing more fermentation. 62% hydratation. 

- Owen: what an updgrade the Gozney Roccbox is! Cooking in less than two minutes

- Tomato sauce: using San Marzano D.O.P.

- Mozzarella: week point, still need to get something better.

IMG 20190519 000933IMG 20190519 154133IMG 20190519 154139IMG 20190519 160135IMG 20190519 162428

Sahil Lavingia is building a startup on his own terms.

DIL Sahil Lavingia banner

Interesting read, some takeaways stolen from a co-worker:

- *Flexible work* is more important than remote work, Profit sharing is better than equity

- He tries to *hire engineers on a part time basis* so they can have a life outside of the company "I’m trying to make an explicit case to amazing engineers: You can work for Gumroad for 20 hours a week and make $100k a year. Or you can work at Facebook for 60 hours a week and make $250k a year. Would you rather make $100k less a year but get 40 extra hours per week?"

- the VC road is toxic because it *creates an artificial time based thinking* ("by X date next year I need to be at X point")

- being psycho about goals is just as bad as not having goals at all. They should serve as motivation, but not dictate your life. You should think a few steps ahead, but at the end of the day, *no plan survives contact with the enemy*.

- With OKRs, at the start *you want structure because you don’t know what you’re doing*. When you start figuring stuff you, you realize you don’t need a lot of extra stuff. It can be loosely defined.

And:

- Profit sharing with contractors?

- Systems, not goals (Again)

- The value of Twitter

http://cofounder.life/day-in-the-life-sahil-lavingia/

This Tradition is Why Okinawan People Live Longer, Better

In small neighborhoods across Okinawa, friends “meet for a common purpose” (sometimes daily and sometimes a couple days a week) to gossip, experience life, and to share advice and even financial assistance when needed. They call these groups their moai. 

Truly interesting concept for those who had experienced a type of mastermind group experience. Like the one I had at EO chapter in Madrid or the one I am building with some peers, my moai, my foro. 

What is a "lifestyle business"?

Either a VC funded company or a self-funded company. But it looks like the only way to have a business that cares more about well-being than growth is a self-funded/bootstrapped one. Indie.vc as an alternative and the rise of other sources of funding and supporting a tech venture. 

Screenshot 2019 05 07 at 15 55


Growth Vs. well-being is on the talks always. You can care more of the “lifestyle” of your company if you don’t have the pressure to make the return of the investment to your backers. It is the game.

Yes, ok but the strength of a not VC funded company is that it can grow (slower for sure) but at the same time having “lifestyle” impact on team members and founders. 

It is a “lifestyle business” a less ambitious one? Not our case. Measure your ambitious against a benchmark that is not in Techcrunch. 

Reflections from Rand Fishkin about the topic.

Screenshot 2019 05 07 at 15 55

#tw