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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

by 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
  Nice, sounds good. Funny, I always worry about the timing of sending emails. Got to get over that one, ha. I sent one email out, I guess I have two more to do.
deleted 15y ago
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by ryanjmo 15y ago

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
Nice, sounds good. Funny, I always worry about the timing of sending emails. Got to get over that one, ha. I sent one email out, I guess I have two more to do.

deleted 15y ago

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