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Seth Godin: "Quit what you'll never be #1 at." is isomorphic to PG: "You shouldn't worry about prestige." http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html http://www.paulg

Seth Godin: "Quit what you'll never be #1 at." is isomorphic to PG: "You shouldn't worry about prestige." http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html because if you quit what you'll never be #1 at, you'll almost always be left with something that seems not-serious, a toy, like you're shirking responsibility. That's ok. You just haven't made it prestigious yet.

anthuswilliams 16y ago
Perhaps 'yet' is the operative word. There are things you are not #1 at. There are things that you are unlikely to ever be #1 at, but you still have a tiny chance. And then there's what Seth Godin is talking about. These are the activities at which you know, deep-down, you will never succeed, and for which all attempts at improvement are merely self-deluding masturbation.
revorad 16y ago
It's hard to differentiate from being lazy though. That's what I struggle with most. [EDIT] Jeff Bezos said it best: "The thing about inventing is you have to be both stubborn and flexible. The hard part is figuring out when to be which!"
- akkartik 16y ago
  Yeah, that's hard. Best advice I've encountered is to always quit to a new project, not just quit without any idea what's next. So if you don't have any ideas on what's next, keep doing what you're doing. That's discipline.
  - revorad 16y ago
    I agree, I think of it as A/B testing to better ideas. But there's always the danger of never shipping anything.
    - akkartik 16y ago
      A/B testing, that's a good way to think about it, thanks. Here's another rule of thumb: try to quit at a reasonable milestone. Did you accomplish something you can put on your resume? Write down what you learned. Are there any open questions that you could answer with just a few hours or days of effort? Do you have a story you can tell friends over dinner? All these are milestones of various magnitudes that you can feel good about to various extents. But yeah, in general there's no perfect test.

anthuswilliams 16y ago

Perhaps 'yet' is the operative word. There are things you are not #1 at. There are things that you are unlikely to ever be #1 at, but you still have a tiny chance. And then there's what Seth Godin is talking about. These are the activities at which you know, deep-down, you will never succeed, and for which all attempts at improvement are merely self-deluding masturbation.

revorad 16y ago

It's hard to differentiate from being lazy though. That's what I struggle with most. [EDIT] Jeff Bezos said it best: "The thing about inventing is you have to be both stubborn and flexible. The hard part is figuring out when to be which!"

akkartik 16y ago
Yeah, that's hard. Best advice I've encountered is to always quit to a new project, not just quit without any idea what's next. So if you don't have any ideas on what's next, keep doing what you're doing. That's discipline.
- revorad 16y ago
  I agree, I think of it as A/B testing to better ideas. But there's always the danger of never shipping anything.
  - akkartik 16y ago
    A/B testing, that's a good way to think about it, thanks. Here's another rule of thumb: try to quit at a reasonable milestone. Did you accomplish something you can put on your resume? Write down what you learned. Are there any open questions that you could answer with just a few hours or days of effort? Do you have a story you can tell friends over dinner? All these are milestones of various magnitudes that you can feel good about to various extents. But yeah, in general there's no perfect test.