6 ms·

How to Be Relentlessly Resourceful [a practical guide]

162 points by jasonshen 15y ago

thesash 15y ago
"Step 1 - Learn enough to get a clue." There is so much information available online today about anything you need to know. It's seriously mind boggling to me that people can't seem to figure out how to do things. "I can't figure out how to sync my calendar with outlook" >> hmm, I don't know, let me google that for you: http://bit.ly/y3Zp0E http://bit.ly/y3Zp0E "How do I make this ad 'print ready'?" >> Ditto http://bit.ly/ABlo1I http://bit.ly/ABlo1I "How do I remove the meat from a drumstick?" >> Ditto http://bit.ly/ynAvAb http://bit.ly/ynAvAb "How do I build a realtime web app?" >> Ditto!!! http://bit.ly/xgZHix http://bit.ly/xgZHix I think the problem here is that many people have been trained by years of formal education to approach problems from a perspective that if you need to learn something, a formal process is required to gain that knowledge. What sets people who are "resourceful" apart from those who are not, then, boils down to a fundamental difference in the way in which they approach problems. Instead of assuming that they cannot do something until proven otherwise, resourceful people assume they can do something until proven otherwise.
casca 15y ago
I'd conjecture that one of the biggest barriers for HN folk is acknowledging that they are ignorant about a certain topic. In the Western culture, we are trained from a young age that admitting ignorance is one of the worst things you can do. Initial reactions are to dismiss a subject as "boring" or "irrelevant" but as we get older, we tend to rather bullshit than be seen as short on knowledge.
- th0ma5 15y ago
  could be a bias of those in leadership roles, or those considered to be experts at something... check out "mansplaining"
- jasonshen 15y ago
  Great point. In general we avoid looking bad which is why people downplay of dismiss things they don't know. Even after you DO know what to do, you still often he resistance to avoid doing something because you are afraid of looking foolish.
- gravitronic 15y ago
  How old are you? I found that to be a common trait in myself and friends around the age of 20, but now approaching 30 people in my social network seem to have cooled down the need to assert themselves constantly like that.
lux 15y ago
Funny that developing relentless resourcefulness from step 0 is really similar to Jason's rejection therapy process: Getting over the fear of something in order to take action and learn from the process. Could be the start of a one- or two-week "startup bootcamp" process... :)
- jasonshen 15y ago
  I think everyone finds a different way to build their tolerance for discomfort. Rejection therapy is one of many ways. You can even approach gaining the prerequisite qualities using relentless resourcefulness - learn about overcoming fear, expose yourself to scary situations, repeat.
  - lux 15y ago
    Definitely! My friend swears he's built tolerance for stepping outside of social norms and going for it by watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, then trying to recreate the same social awkwardness in his own life. Not sure that's terribly ideal, but it does appear to be working for him! (Outside of the awkward situations that is, he's been quite successful at breaking into the local music scene in a very short time)
ryanjmo 15y ago
Ok, that article was totally awesome. I have realized the fact that I have difficulty reaching out to people and entities to help me figure out what to do (in general business problems and on technical issues) was something I wanted to work on. I has just set aside 2 weeks where I was going to focus on this. Then yesterday PG's essay and today this. Time to get started. Any other good resources out there about this stuff? :)
- teej 15y ago
  > Any other good resources out there about this stuff? :) Here's the thing. That's a great question to ask, but at this point it can lead you down the road to fake work. You don't need any more resources. You can start improving your skills in the next 12 hours. You need to start failing and you need to start today. Want to get better at reaching out? By the end of today, email 3 people you trust, but don't know personally. Briefly ask them for advice. Don't beg. Indicate that you're working on a tough problem. Show that you've put effort into it. Then push SEND. Don't spend a lot of time agonizing over the email. Don't go looking for pre-written scripts to use. Don't plan out what time of day you'll send it. Don't try to optimize the subject line. Just get your foot in the door. That's all it takes. ----- I think the major thing missing from this article is knowing when to transition states. When do you stop learning and start doing? From my personal experience, the difference between a smart, resourceful person and a smart person is the time taken to shift from knowledge gathering and action taking. The former switches into action mode within hours/days. The latter switches into action mode within days/weeks.
  - jasonshen 15y ago
    Great point teej and thanks for the feedback. I think that transition is one of the hardest things to get right. In general, I'm biased toward doing stuff sooner rather than later. Once you have an idea about something that could maybe work, you should start doing. As time goes on I think it's reasonable to plan more, but when you first start out, the more action, the better. Momentum (or lack of it) is the a major factor.
  - ryanjmo 15y ago
rohit89 15y ago
>> Grit/Not Quitting Sometimes though I end up "not quitting" even though all the signs show that I should move on. Its a thin line and I have difficulty accepting that it isn't going to work out.
llambda 15y ago
I find these sorts of "n steps to greatness" guides to be suspect: sure, some of this advice is useful but a lot of it is simply common sense and little of it expands upon the original essays it cites; at worst it boils down to a set of platitudes that may or may not benefit you given the actual context. The problem here is there's no correct way for everyone and by creating a list of potential actions people may be led to think they're just not capable when in fact what they should be doing is finding a path that works for them and not caring what some guy on the Internet claims is the right way of doing things. For instance, telling someone to be assertive or to keep trying until it works is a specious claim; it's not incorrect all the time of course, but often people miss because they just don't get the social context they find themselves in, not because they haven't tried enough times. If your attitude is, "I'll do this until it works" you risk being reflective and trying to decipher the cause of failure. Who knows, this might be an exact fit for some people. But for others, I would steer clear and find your own path to greatness, sans self-help gurus.
- jasonshen 15y ago
  Thanks for providing your thoughts. I completely agree that there is no correct way for everyone and I never claimed this anywhere in the article. Moreover, this post is not about how to achieve "greatness". It is not even about reaching any sort of end state - it is merely describing a process that pg has said is correlated with good startup founders. I think that the problem with your advice (which by the way also puts you in the category of "some guy on the Internet") is that "finding your own path" is even more vague and platitude-y. But again, I mostly agree with you. I am simply offering my own perspective on the concept of "relentless resourcefulness". Thanks again for adding to the discussion.
- zeroboy 15y ago
  A thought: why do people go to church to hear the same Bible stories time and time again? Why read motivational quotes and inspirational stories over and over? Wouldn't one time be sufficient? I don't think so. People need the regular positive reinforcement and reminding. I know I do. Jason Shen's stuff is like a shot of vitamin c for me. It's a good thing.
- 15y ago
georgieporgie 15y ago
'Resourcefulness' is entirely dependent upon knowledge of and experience in a particular area. For example: let's say my motorcycle just stops running. 15 years ago, I'd have stood there dumbfounded, looked through a shop manual with near-zero comprehension of anything in it, and eventually given up and asked for help. These days, I'd immediately begin checking fuses, grab a multimeter and begin probing common fault areas (faulty kickstand or kill switches, etc). People sometimes comment that I'm resourceful or creative, or noted for the fact that I remain calm and go into problem solving mode in situations like this. But that's completely, entirely, solely due to the fact that I spent years upon years learning the mechanics of vehicles fairly intimately. I understand the whole system well enough that I can understand what is wrong, form and test a hypothesis, and take action. Similarly, I'm a decent and resourceful programmer. But if you tell me to go chat up VCs for funding, I'm going to be completely lost. How could I possibly have the slightest idea how to go about that? I have absolutely zero experience in anything even vaguely related to that. Furthermore, I don't want experience in that, because I recognize that I'm far better off focusing on my strengths than my weaknesses (something eschewed by the self-improvement crowd, but a well-demonstrated fact). I find the whole thing kind of weird. Of course a founder who has a background in schmoozing is going to do a better job of schmoozing, but that says absolutely nothing about resourcefulness. This whole thing stinks of confirmation bias to me.
- llambda 15y ago
  > Furthermore, I don't want experience in that, because I recognize that I'm far better off focusing on my strengths than my weaknesses (something eschewed by the self-improvement crowd, but a well-demonstrated fact). Exactly right. The self-help "guru" scene is based on very little fact (or should I say, based heavily on cherry-picked facts) and instead focuses on "mind over matter", e.g. if you just try harder you'll get it sooner or later (and be damned good!). Absolute snake oil. > This whole thing stinks of confirmation bias to me. That's all self-help has ever been: one guy says he has a process, a method, another guy agrees that the first guy was on to something, but he has a slightly different remix that maximizes its effect. Rarely is this stuff based on actual research or science. Further, I don't really think pg's point was that you can somehow follow a guide to resourcefulness and become resourceful, rather he was making an observation about the quality of "resourcefulness" in some founders, i.e. the founders that ended up being most capable and noting that such people who have said aptitude need but a word to get going. I don't dispute that; I have no experience with it. But I do dispute the notion that you can come up with some method that will make me magically better and base it on nothing but conjecture and confirmation bias. Edit: Consider this, after ten-thousand hours of practice you might master some craft: but the implication isn't that I can sit idly at my computer, hitting the keys here and there and then after some set amount of time I've magically mastered it. No. Mastery only comes after countless hours, days, weeks, months, years, even decades of passionate and careful dedication; no guide is going to make you suddenly better at something you lacked talent in without significant investment. And well, once you're investing passion and time, what do you need some guide for?
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

162 points by jasonshen 15y ago

"Step 1 - Learn enough to get a clue." There is so much information available online today about anything you need to know. It's seriously mind boggling to me that people can't seem to figure out how to do things. "I can't figure out how to sync my calendar with outlook" >> hmm, I don't know, let me google that for you: http://bit.ly/y3Zp0E http://bit.ly/y3Zp0E "How do I make this ad 'print ready'?" >> Ditto http://bit.ly/ABlo1I http://bit.ly/ABlo1I "How do I remove the meat from a drumstick?" >> Ditto http://bit.ly/ynAvAb http://bit.ly/ynAvAb "How do I build a realtime web app?" >> Ditto!!! http://bit.ly/xgZHix http://bit.ly/xgZHix I think the problem here is that many people have been trained by years of formal education to approach problems from a perspective that if you need to learn something, a formal process is required to gain that knowledge. What sets people who are "resourceful" apart from those who are not, then, boils down to a fundamental difference in the way in which they approach problems. Instead of assuming that they cannot do something until proven otherwise, resourceful people assume they can do something until proven otherwise.

casca 15y ago

I'd conjecture that one of the biggest barriers for HN folk is acknowledging that they are ignorant about a certain topic. In the Western culture, we are trained from a young age that admitting ignorance is one of the worst things you can do. Initial reactions are to dismiss a subject as "boring" or "irrelevant" but as we get older, we tend to rather bullshit than be seen as short on knowledge.

th0ma5 15y ago
could be a bias of those in leadership roles, or those considered to be experts at something... check out "mansplaining"
jasonshen 15y ago
Great point. In general we avoid looking bad which is why people downplay of dismiss things they don't know. Even after you DO know what to do, you still often he resistance to avoid doing something because you are afraid of looking foolish.
gravitronic 15y ago
How old are you? I found that to be a common trait in myself and friends around the age of 20, but now approaching 30 people in my social network seem to have cooled down the need to assert themselves constantly like that.

lux 15y ago

Funny that developing relentless resourcefulness from step 0 is really similar to Jason's rejection therapy process: Getting over the fear of something in order to take action and learn from the process. Could be the start of a one- or two-week "startup bootcamp" process... :)

jasonshen 15y ago
I think everyone finds a different way to build their tolerance for discomfort. Rejection therapy is one of many ways. You can even approach gaining the prerequisite qualities using relentless resourcefulness - learn about overcoming fear, expose yourself to scary situations, repeat.
- lux 15y ago
  Definitely! My friend swears he's built tolerance for stepping outside of social norms and going for it by watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, then trying to recreate the same social awkwardness in his own life. Not sure that's terribly ideal, but it does appear to be working for him! (Outside of the awkward situations that is, he's been quite successful at breaking into the local music scene in a very short time)

ryanjmo 15y ago

Ok, that article was totally awesome. I have realized the fact that I have difficulty reaching out to people and entities to help me figure out what to do (in general business problems and on technical issues) was something I wanted to work on. I has just set aside 2 weeks where I was going to focus on this. Then yesterday PG's essay and today this. Time to get started. Any other good resources out there about this stuff? :)

teej 15y ago
> Any other good resources out there about this stuff? :) Here's the thing. That's a great question to ask, but at this point it can lead you down the road to fake work. You don't need any more resources. You can start improving your skills in the next 12 hours. You need to start failing and you need to start today. Want to get better at reaching out? By the end of today, email 3 people you trust, but don't know personally. Briefly ask them for advice. Don't beg. Indicate that you're working on a tough problem. Show that you've put effort into it. Then push SEND. Don't spend a lot of time agonizing over the email. Don't go looking for pre-written scripts to use. Don't plan out what time of day you'll send it. Don't try to optimize the subject line. Just get your foot in the door. That's all it takes. ----- I think the major thing missing from this article is knowing when to transition states. When do you stop learning and start doing? From my personal experience, the difference between a smart, resourceful person and a smart person is the time taken to shift from knowledge gathering and action taking. The former switches into action mode within hours/days. The latter switches into action mode within days/weeks.
- jasonshen 15y ago
  Great point teej and thanks for the feedback. I think that transition is one of the hardest things to get right. In general, I'm biased toward doing stuff sooner rather than later. Once you have an idea about something that could maybe work, you should start doing. As time goes on I think it's reasonable to plan more, but when you first start out, the more action, the better. Momentum (or lack of it) is the a major factor.
- ryanjmo 15y ago

rohit89 15y ago

>> Grit/Not Quitting Sometimes though I end up "not quitting" even though all the signs show that I should move on. Its a thin line and I have difficulty accepting that it isn't going to work out.

llambda 15y ago

I find these sorts of "n steps to greatness" guides to be suspect: sure, some of this advice is useful but a lot of it is simply common sense and little of it expands upon the original essays it cites; at worst it boils down to a set of platitudes that may or may not benefit you given the actual context. The problem here is there's no correct way for everyone and by creating a list of potential actions people may be led to think they're just not capable when in fact what they should be doing is finding a path that works for them and not caring what some guy on the Internet claims is the right way of doing things. For instance, telling someone to be assertive or to keep trying until it works is a specious claim; it's not incorrect all the time of course, but often people miss because they just don't get the social context they find themselves in, not because they haven't tried enough times. If your attitude is, "I'll do this until it works" you risk being reflective and trying to decipher the cause of failure. Who knows, this might be an exact fit for some people. But for others, I would steer clear and find your own path to greatness, sans self-help gurus.

jasonshen 15y ago
Thanks for providing your thoughts. I completely agree that there is no correct way for everyone and I never claimed this anywhere in the article. Moreover, this post is not about how to achieve "greatness". It is not even about reaching any sort of end state - it is merely describing a process that pg has said is correlated with good startup founders. I think that the problem with your advice (which by the way also puts you in the category of "some guy on the Internet") is that "finding your own path" is even more vague and platitude-y. But again, I mostly agree with you. I am simply offering my own perspective on the concept of "relentless resourcefulness". Thanks again for adding to the discussion.
zeroboy 15y ago
A thought: why do people go to church to hear the same Bible stories time and time again? Why read motivational quotes and inspirational stories over and over? Wouldn't one time be sufficient? I don't think so. People need the regular positive reinforcement and reminding. I know I do. Jason Shen's stuff is like a shot of vitamin c for me. It's a good thing.
15y ago

georgieporgie 15y ago

'Resourcefulness' is entirely dependent upon knowledge of and experience in a particular area. For example: let's say my motorcycle just stops running. 15 years ago, I'd have stood there dumbfounded, looked through a shop manual with near-zero comprehension of anything in it, and eventually given up and asked for help. These days, I'd immediately begin checking fuses, grab a multimeter and begin probing common fault areas (faulty kickstand or kill switches, etc). People sometimes comment that I'm resourceful or creative, or noted for the fact that I remain calm and go into problem solving mode in situations like this. But that's completely, entirely, solely due to the fact that I spent years upon years learning the mechanics of vehicles fairly intimately. I understand the whole system well enough that I can understand what is wrong, form and test a hypothesis, and take action. Similarly, I'm a decent and resourceful programmer. But if you tell me to go chat up VCs for funding, I'm going to be completely lost. How could I possibly have the slightest idea how to go about that? I have absolutely zero experience in anything even vaguely related to that. Furthermore, I don't want experience in that, because I recognize that I'm far better off focusing on my strengths than my weaknesses (something eschewed by the self-improvement crowd, but a well-demonstrated fact). I find the whole thing kind of weird. Of course a founder who has a background in schmoozing is going to do a better job of schmoozing, but that says absolutely nothing about resourcefulness. This whole thing stinks of confirmation bias to me.

llambda 15y ago
> Furthermore, I don't want experience in that, because I recognize that I'm far better off focusing on my strengths than my weaknesses (something eschewed by the self-improvement crowd, but a well-demonstrated fact). Exactly right. The self-help "guru" scene is based on very little fact (or should I say, based heavily on cherry-picked facts) and instead focuses on "mind over matter", e.g. if you just try harder you'll get it sooner or later (and be damned good!). Absolute snake oil. > This whole thing stinks of confirmation bias to me. That's all self-help has ever been: one guy says he has a process, a method, another guy agrees that the first guy was on to something, but he has a slightly different remix that maximizes its effect. Rarely is this stuff based on actual research or science. Further, I don't really think pg's point was that you can somehow follow a guide to resourcefulness and become resourceful, rather he was making an observation about the quality of "resourcefulness" in some founders, i.e. the founders that ended up being most capable and noting that such people who have said aptitude need but a word to get going. I don't dispute that; I have no experience with it. But I do dispute the notion that you can come up with some method that will make me magically better and base it on nothing but conjecture and confirmation bias. Edit: Consider this, after ten-thousand hours of practice you might master some craft: but the implication isn't that I can sit idly at my computer, hitting the keys here and there and then after some set amount of time I've magically mastered it. No. Mastery only comes after countless hours, days, weeks, months, years, even decades of passionate and careful dedication; no guide is going to make you suddenly better at something you lacked talent in without significant investment. And well, once you're investing passion and time, what do you need some guide for?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]