5 ms·

Best Practices For Making Things Happen

79 points by jasonshen 13y ago

kostyk 13y ago
Very good, agree with most of it, especially by leading by example ("modelling others behavior ") and all others.
the_cat_kittles 13y ago
another one i have been really getting mileage out of: "do it (whatever you are trying to get done / get better at) every day", aka the "seinfeld method"
- source99 13y ago
  This one is so much deeper. Everyone thinks Seinfeld was just a funny guy, but he worked harder than any other human alive at being funny. Worked out pretty well for him.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >Everyone thinks Seinfeld was just a funny guy No, I merely think of him as an untalented unfunny hack.
    - source99 13y ago
      If income is used as a measuring stick then Seinfeld is VERY funny.
      - coldtea 13y ago
        So clearly it's a bad measuring stick. For Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are even funnier then. And Lenny Bruce died quite poor.
    - GeneralList 13y ago
      George is getting upset.
  - wcarss 13y ago
    > worked harder than any other human alive at being funny. I don't think that's true, but I also don't think it matters, and the reason why is a very important point about the value of hard work: Hard work, misapplied, is useless. You need to intelligently apply it to be successful. Hard work intelligently applied in a vacuum is nearly useless compared to its effect in the company of accessible mentors. And very hard work for a single instant is worth nothing compared to easy work, done every day, for years on end. Hard work, intelligently applied, with the aid of mentors, over a long period of time maximizes your chances of finding something, doing something, or meeting someone that can lead to wild success. Every one of those factors comes into it, and there are likely plenty more, too. It's complex. Jerry Seinfeld is probably an extremely hard working guy. Is he the hardest-working living human being at being funny? That doesn't matter. He worked hard, he worked smart, he got help, he kept at it, and he got very damn lucky more than once. And more. Hard work was necessary, not sufficient. Just because someone else is working harder doesn't mean you've lost.
drakaal 13y ago
I only care about the best practices for making the RIGHT things happen. The cat can push the vase on the floor and make things happen, that doesn't mean it was the right thing.
- coldtea 13y ago
  Yes, but besides the title, that just says "things happen", the whole post talks focuses on making the right things happen. Were you just ranting about the title? Seriously?
  - drakaal 13y ago
    Seriously? You didn't pick up that NO, this is a worthless post. The cat understands action reaction. That is making a thing happen. The right things are about knowing when to stop and do nothing to let things work out. It is about not just having a list of "if then" statements to run your life. This is a bunch of half-thought through "pearls of wisdom" in the form of "if then" statements none of which will make the right things happen. I might as well pick up a Self Help book written by the founder of an MLM.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      >Seriously? You didn't pick up that NO, this is a worthless post. It might be a "worthless post" but for totally different reason than not telling you what the "right things" are and how to "make them happen". It (rightly) assumes you can figure something such encompassing as your targets by yourself -- and only concerns itself with some of the technical details. Heck, it even gets down to making some "right things happen", like when advising: "Tell people when their behavior is undermining the success of a shared outcome". You'd be surprised how many people DON'T do that. Or this: "If it is 80% done, and getting it to perfect is going to take a lot more effort, ship it, and fix it later."
nnoitra 13y ago
No substance. Just like any other blog that teaches you how to make incredible things happen, offering way too general advice. Just because you can start a blog and write doesn't mean you should.
- contextual 13y ago
  That's your opinion. I took away at least one solid tip and that more than justifies reading it.
- virtualmic 13y ago
  Though I agree with 'no substance' part of your comment here, I strongly disagree with the rest of it. Internet has at last provided a platform where literally anyone can get up to writing and publishing and that only provides it its awesomeness.
  - visakanv 13y ago
    Yup; the ROI on blogging is higher for bloggers than a lot of leisure activities, and the net returns for regular users/consumers is high, too. If I could, I'd make everybody blog, every day. (Unless they have better things to do.)
- deleted 13y ago
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- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- kfk 13y ago
  The making things happen attitude is very unsubstantial. If it was substantial, then everybody could apply it the same way and the world would be an easy place. I find way more difficult to hack attitude than to hack code.
- ScottWhigham 13y ago
  The idea that, at this point in every single reader's life they need "substance" along with ideas, is just a bit much. You, at this point in your life, would want/need more substance but you are just one person. There is a lot of value for other people in reading bullet point lists of these types of things. For example, if these are all things I've known and learned in my 42 years on the earth, a bullet point list serves as a nice, general reminder on a lot of levels. The "I've forgotten more about productivity hacking than most 20 year olds have learned" adage is true here for 40yos. Maybe you are at the point where some of these are recent topics for you - things you've recently learned in much longer format. So you reject it as "Everyone knows this - silly". We all have biases - we just have to view things from others' perspectives sometimes to avoid those biases coloring our outlook.
visakanv 13y ago
I've always been amused/bothered/interested/concerned by how these things always look and feel so intuitive, and it's always "easy" to talk about them, to make a list- the following through is always the hard bit. I think rather than focusing on these principles (which are valid, and true), maybe we ought to get meta and focus on what helps us focus on these principles- modifying our environment, surrounding ourselves with peers and influences that reinforce such reflection, etc.
- qznc 13y ago
  I like Scott Adams "Systems, not Goals" theory. What he calls "systems" is probably similar to your "principles" and I would rather call it "process". :) http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/ http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/
  - visakanv 13y ago
    yep, thinking the same thing with different names!
- jasonshen 13y ago
  OP here. I think getting meta is often a good idea - but sometimes learning tactics is useful. Not everyone does well with abstract ideas and focusing on a specific action which leads to a better outcome can encourage people to think more deeply about it in the future. None of this stuff is easy and I never try to make it seem that way. Talking is not doing but that doesn't mean you shouldn't ever talk and only ever do.

79 points by jasonshen 13y ago

Very good, agree with most of it, especially by leading by example ("modelling others behavior ") and all others.

another one i have been really getting mileage out of: "do it (whatever you are trying to get done / get better at) every day", aka the "seinfeld method"

source99 13y ago
This one is so much deeper. Everyone thinks Seinfeld was just a funny guy, but he worked harder than any other human alive at being funny. Worked out pretty well for him.
- coldtea 13y ago
  >Everyone thinks Seinfeld was just a funny guy No, I merely think of him as an untalented unfunny hack.
  - source99 13y ago
    If income is used as a measuring stick then Seinfeld is VERY funny.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      So clearly it's a bad measuring stick. For Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are even funnier then. And Lenny Bruce died quite poor.
  - GeneralList 13y ago
    George is getting upset.
- wcarss 13y ago
  > worked harder than any other human alive at being funny. I don't think that's true, but I also don't think it matters, and the reason why is a very important point about the value of hard work: Hard work, misapplied, is useless. You need to intelligently apply it to be successful. Hard work intelligently applied in a vacuum is nearly useless compared to its effect in the company of accessible mentors. And very hard work for a single instant is worth nothing compared to easy work, done every day, for years on end. Hard work, intelligently applied, with the aid of mentors, over a long period of time maximizes your chances of finding something, doing something, or meeting someone that can lead to wild success. Every one of those factors comes into it, and there are likely plenty more, too. It's complex. Jerry Seinfeld is probably an extremely hard working guy. Is he the hardest-working living human being at being funny? That doesn't matter. He worked hard, he worked smart, he got help, he kept at it, and he got very damn lucky more than once. And more. Hard work was necessary, not sufficient. Just because someone else is working harder doesn't mean you've lost.

drakaal 13y ago

I only care about the best practices for making the RIGHT things happen. The cat can push the vase on the floor and make things happen, that doesn't mean it was the right thing.

coldtea 13y ago
Yes, but besides the title, that just says "things happen", the whole post talks focuses on making the right things happen. Were you just ranting about the title? Seriously?
- drakaal 13y ago
  Seriously? You didn't pick up that NO, this is a worthless post. The cat understands action reaction. That is making a thing happen. The right things are about knowing when to stop and do nothing to let things work out. It is about not just having a list of "if then" statements to run your life. This is a bunch of half-thought through "pearls of wisdom" in the form of "if then" statements none of which will make the right things happen. I might as well pick up a Self Help book written by the founder of an MLM.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >Seriously? You didn't pick up that NO, this is a worthless post. It might be a "worthless post" but for totally different reason than not telling you what the "right things" are and how to "make them happen". It (rightly) assumes you can figure something such encompassing as your targets by yourself -- and only concerns itself with some of the technical details. Heck, it even gets down to making some "right things happen", like when advising: "Tell people when their behavior is undermining the success of a shared outcome". You'd be surprised how many people DON'T do that. Or this: "If it is 80% done, and getting it to perfect is going to take a lot more effort, ship it, and fix it later."

nnoitra 13y ago

No substance. Just like any other blog that teaches you how to make incredible things happen, offering way too general advice. Just because you can start a blog and write doesn't mean you should.

contextual 13y ago
That's your opinion. I took away at least one solid tip and that more than justifies reading it.
virtualmic 13y ago
Though I agree with 'no substance' part of your comment here, I strongly disagree with the rest of it. Internet has at last provided a platform where literally anyone can get up to writing and publishing and that only provides it its awesomeness.
- visakanv 13y ago
  Yup; the ROI on blogging is higher for bloggers than a lot of leisure activities, and the net returns for regular users/consumers is high, too. If I could, I'd make everybody blog, every day. (Unless they have better things to do.)
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
kfk 13y ago
The making things happen attitude is very unsubstantial. If it was substantial, then everybody could apply it the same way and the world would be an easy place. I find way more difficult to hack attitude than to hack code.
ScottWhigham 13y ago
The idea that, at this point in every single reader's life they need "substance" along with ideas, is just a bit much. You, at this point in your life, would want/need more substance but you are just one person. There is a lot of value for other people in reading bullet point lists of these types of things. For example, if these are all things I've known and learned in my 42 years on the earth, a bullet point list serves as a nice, general reminder on a lot of levels. The "I've forgotten more about productivity hacking than most 20 year olds have learned" adage is true here for 40yos. Maybe you are at the point where some of these are recent topics for you - things you've recently learned in much longer format. So you reject it as "Everyone knows this - silly". We all have biases - we just have to view things from others' perspectives sometimes to avoid those biases coloring our outlook.

visakanv 13y ago

I've always been amused/bothered/interested/concerned by how these things always look and feel so intuitive, and it's always "easy" to talk about them, to make a list- the following through is always the hard bit. I think rather than focusing on these principles (which are valid, and true), maybe we ought to get meta and focus on what helps us focus on these principles- modifying our environment, surrounding ourselves with peers and influences that reinforce such reflection, etc.

qznc 13y ago
I like Scott Adams "Systems, not Goals" theory. What he calls "systems" is probably similar to your "principles" and I would rather call it "process". :) http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/ http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/
- visakanv 13y ago
  yep, thinking the same thing with different names!
jasonshen 13y ago
OP here. I think getting meta is often a good idea - but sometimes learning tactics is useful. Not everyone does well with abstract ideas and focusing on a specific action which leads to a better outcome can encourage people to think more deeply about it in the future. None of this stuff is easy and I never try to make it seem that way. Talking is not doing but that doesn't mean you shouldn't ever talk and only ever do.