The Benefits of Thinking 10x Versus 10%
“I interviewed Astro Teller [for my book Bold]. Astro is the head of Google X (now called ‘X’), Google skunkworks. . . . He says, ‘When you go after a moonshot—something that’s 10 times bigger, not 10% bigger—a number of things happen. . . .’
“First of all, when you’re going 10% bigger, you’re competing against everybody. Everybody’s trying to go 10% bigger. When you’re trying to go 10 times bigger, you’re there by yourself. For me, [take asteroid mining as an example]. I don’t have a lot of asteroid mining competition out there, or prospecting. Or take human longevity, trying to add 40 years in healthy lifespan with HLI. There are not a lot of companies out there [attempting this].
“The second thing is, when you are trying to go 10 times bigger, you have to start with a clean sheet of paper, and you approach the problem completely differently. I’ll give you my favorite example: Tesla. How did Elon start Tesla and build from scratch the safest, most extraordinary car, not even in America, but I think in the world? It’s by not having a legacy from the past to drag into the present. That’s important.
“The third thing is when you try to go 10 times bigger versus 10% bigger, it’s typically not 100 times harder, but the reward is 100 times more.”
More Excellent Questions from Peter
“One of the questions is: ‘Is there a grand challenge or a billion-person problem that you can focus on?’
“Three to five billion new consumers are coming online in the next 6 years. Holy cow, that’s extraordinary. What do they need? What could you provide for them, because they represent tens of trillions of dollars coming into the global economy, and they also represent an amazing resource of innovation. So I think about that a lot, and I ask that.
“The other question I ask is, ‘How would you disrupt yourself?’ One of the most fundamental realizations is that every entrepreneur, every business, every company will get disrupted. I’ve had the honor of talking with Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, in his leadership team meetings. The same thing for Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, and for Cisco and for many companies. I ask them, ‘How will you disrupt yourself, and how are you trying to disrupt yourself? If you’re not, you’re in for a real surprise.’ Find the smartest 20-somethings in your company. I don’t care if they’re in the mail room or where they are. Give them permission to figure out how they would take down your company.”
Peter’s Laws
Peter has a set of rules that guide his life. His 28 Peter’s Laws have been collected over decades. Here are some of my favorites:
Law 2: When given a choice . . . take both.
Law 3: Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
Law 6: When forced to compromise, ask for more.
Law 7: If you can’t win, change the rules.
Law 8: If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
Law 11: “No” simply means begin again at one level higher.
Law 13: When in doubt: THINK.
Law 16: The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
Law 17: The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. (adopted from Alan Kay)
Law 19: You get what you incentivize.
Law 22: The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.
Law 26: If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
* * *
Sophia Amoruso
Sophia Amoruso (TW/IG: @sophiaamoruso, girlboss.com) is the founder and executive chairman of Nasty Gal, a global online destination for both new and vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories. Founded in 2006, Nasty Gal was named Fastest Growing Retailer in 2012 by Inc. magazine, thanks to its 10,160% three-year growth rate.
Sophia has been called “fashion’s new phenom” by Forbes magazine, and she has become one of the most prominent and iconic figures in retail. She recently founded the #Girlboss Foundation, which awards financial grants to women in the worlds of design, fashion, and music. Sophia’s first book, #GIRLBOSS, is a New York Times bestseller and has been published in 15 countries.
Jumping and Building a Plane on the Way Down
“I like to make promises that I’m not sure I can keep and then figure out how to keep them. I think you can will things into happening by just committing to them sometimes. . . . I had started to leave feedback for my customers on eBay saying [things like], ‘Hey, coming soon, nastygalvintage.com.’ [Not long after, I realized], ‘Oh, shit, I better build a website. I better actually do this.’ So I figured it out, launched the website, and when I launched the website, eBay decided to suspend me around the same time. It was not a transition, it was literally: ‘I’m going to try this website thing, and I hope I can go back to eBay if it doesn’t work out.’ It became apparent pretty quickly that that wasn’t going to be an option. I got suspended for leaving the URL in the feedback for the customers.”
A Day That Ends Well . . .
TIM: “When you were CEO of the company, on a day when you look back and you’re like, ‘Fuck yeah, I kicked ass today,’ what did the first 60 to 90 minutes of your day look like, or what were your morning routines?”
SOPHIA: “A day that ends well is one that started with exercise. That’s for sure.”
✸ Who do you think of when you hear the word “successful”?
“I just really want people to remember that they’re capable of doing everything that the people they admire are doing. Maybe not everything, but—don’t be so impressed. I guess that’s where my head goes. . . . There’s no reason that you can’t have the things that the people you admire have. ‘Success’ sells this kind of ultimate destination when—even though I’ve accomplished something, and you [Tim] have accomplished something—I told you I was crying last night. It’s not like, ‘I’m done, I’ve arrived’ or anything like that.”
✸ Advice to your 30-year-old self?
“It doesn’t get any easier . . . the challenges are bigger with bigger things.”
“A good comedy operates the exact same way a good mystery operates. [Which is] the punchline is something that is right in front of your face the whole time and you never would have put your finger on it.”
Spirit animal: Seagull
* * *
B.J. Novak
B.J. Novak (TW: @bjnovak, li.st) is best known for his work on NBC’s Emmy Award–winning comedy series The Office as an actor, writer, director, and executive producer. He has appeared in films such as Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks. He is the author of the acclaimed short story collection One More Thing and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Book with No Pictures, which has more than 1 million copies in print. Last but not least, he is co-founder of li.st, a new way to create and discover lists about anything and everything.
“Any time I’m telling myself, ‘But I’m making so much money,’ that’s a warning sign that I’m doing the wrong thing.”
Looking back at his career, B.J. noticed that he could have stalled in a number of places. Instead, he became very well known for The Office and other mega-successes. How did he repeatedly choose the right fork in the road? He attributes a lot of it to heeding the above rule of thumb.
If you find yourself saying, “But I’m making so much money” about a job or project, pay attention. “But I’m making so much money,” or “But I’m making good money” is a warning sign that you’re probably not on the right track or, at least, that you shouldn’t stay there for long. Money can always be regenerated. Time and reputation cannot.
Getting VIPs When You’re a Nobody
One of B.J.’s extracurricular activities as a Harvard undergrad was putting on a show called The B.J. Show with another kid conveniently named B.J. During their senior year, the two B.J.s decided to put on a show, and thought to invite Bob Saget to perform. They’d heard that the wholesome Full
House star was, in fact, a really filthy standup comic.
But how could two no-name kids get a massive celebrity to come for free?
B.J. Novak (henceforth “B.J.”) came up with two ideas. The first was to “honor” Bob at the Harvard Lampoon, hoping that he would agree to perform in order to receive an award. The second part of the pitch was that all the proceeds of the show would go to charity. This approach was so successful that B.J. used it repeatedly later in life: When possible, always give the money to charity, as it allows you to interact with people well above your pay grade.
B.J. cold-called Saget’s management, pitched all this, and it worked like a charm. He talked to Saget’s manager (who later became B.J.’s manager). Saget came to Boston with Jonathan Katz, the creator of Raising Dad (their new show at the time), they liked B.J.’s edgy writing style, and they offered him a job on their staff.
Get the Long-Term goal on the Calendar Before the Short-Term Pain Hits
The first time B.J. tried standup comedy at an open-mic night in L.A., it was a disaster. It took him 3 months to work up the courage to get back on stage. B.J. advises first-time comics to book their first week of shows (open mic commitments) in advance, so they can’t quit after the first performance. He learned that you can’t make each night a referendum on whether to continue or not. “I was really bad for a while, but let’s say you do 20 jokes and 3 of them get pity laughs—well, those are the 3 you keep. And then, after a while, 1 of them always does well—well, that’s your opener. And now 2 of them do well—well, you have a closer. . . . It evolves that way.”
TF: Schedule (and, if possible, pay for) things in advance to prevent yourself from backing out. I’ve applied this to early morning AcroYoga sessions, late-night gymnastics training, archery lessons, etc. Make commitments in a high-energy state so that you can’t back out when you’re in a low-energy state.
To Go Big, Aim Small (And for Tech, If You Can)
B.J. said it was bizarre when The Office became so successful because they weren’t aiming for a huge national success. They were just trying to achieve “cult status” with a small and loyal following. One factor that made a difference: the launch of the Apple iTunes store. Their cult following was very young and tech-savvy, which made them a huge hit on the iTunes store, even though they weren’t a huge hit on NBC at that point. The Office was one of the first shows to be an online hit, and it created one of the first viral drivers for a primetime TV show.
TF: Once again, see “1,000 True Fans” (page 292). By design, The 4-Hour Workweek benefited from the launch of Twitter at the SXSW conference circa 2007, where I gave a keynote presentation. I was deliberately aiming for tech early adopters. I’ve done this for each book launch since, embracing different technologies that are uncrowded but gaining influence quickly (e.g., Product Hunt, BitTorrent Bundles).
On Working with Steve Carell
B.J. once brought a bunch of jokes to Steve Carell, who said, “These just feel like jokes to me.” For Steve, comedy was a by-product of authenticity. This is the difference between a kid who knows he’s cute and one who doesn’t (the one who knows he’s cute isn’t cute).
The Importance of the “Blue Sky” Period
The season writing process for The Office began with the Blue Sky Period, which was B.J.’s favorite part of every year.
For 2 to 4 weeks, the writers’ room banter was each person asking, “What if . . . ?” over and over again. Crazy scenarios were encouraged, not penalized. Every idea, no matter what, was valid during this period. The idea generation and filtering/editing stages were entirely separate. As B.J. explained, “To me, everything is idea and execution and, if you separate idea and execution, you don’t put too much pressure on either of them.”
“I consider being in a good mood the most important part of my creative process.”
B.J. typically spends the first few hours of his day “powering up” and getting in a good mood, until he gets an idea he’s excited about, or until he has so much self-loathing and caffeine that he has to do something about it. (See Paulo Coelho, page 511.)
It can take B.J. hours of walking, reading newspapers over coffee, listening to music, etc., before he hits his stride and feels he can write, his zone generally occurring between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Says B.J., “I find that being in a good mood for creative work is worth the hours it takes to get in a good mood.”
He added, “I read the book Daily Rituals, and I am demoralized by how many great people start their day very early.” For lifelong night owls like me, it’s nice to know that when you get started each day seems to matter less than learning how to get started consistently, however your crazy ass can manage it.
No Artisanal Aspirin
Every day, B.J. has the same coffee: a venti-size, black Pike Place coffee from Starbucks. He has found that brewing his own coffee at home is too unpredictable, and is “like getting artisanal Tylenol.” He wants a standard dose of caffeine.
If He Taught a Comedy Writing Course
P.J. O’Rourke, one of the big National Lampoon editors, said that if he ever taught writing or English, he would assign parodies, because you really learn something when you attempt to parody it. B.J. would therefore assign parodies of literature that students were reading and studying in other classes. This would open them up. Mischief is critical in comedy.
And for Screenwriting Specifically . . .
These are the screenplays B.J. would have students study:
Casablanca broke the form from its time period, and now it is the form.
Pulp Fiction completely breaks the form chronologically.
Ferris Bueller narrates the movie to the camera.
The Naked Gun will do anything for a laugh.
Adaptation completely comments on itself and breaks all of the rules.
Learn How to Persuade (and Laugh)
B.J. likes and recommends two podcasts related to debating, the second of which is completely farcical: Intelligence Squared and The Great Debates.
Shoeboxes of Cahiers
B.J. uses a Moleskine Cahier notebook for jotting notes down throughout the day. He likes it because it is much thinner than a standard Moleskine notebook, so it’s easier to carry around, and he has a feeling of accomplishment when he finishes one. He orders different colors, and he also buys huge batches of shape stickers. Any time he starts a new notebook, he writes his name and phone number on the first page and puts a sticker in the top left of the book, which lets him know which notebook he is currently using. He doesn’t date them, which can be problematic, but he feels the lack of dates aids the creative process in some capacity. He keeps the untranscribed notebooks in a white box, and he uses a red box for those he has already transcribed to his computer.
✸ B.J.’s playlist for working
“Morning Becomes Eclectic” radio program, which has commercial-free new music from 9 a.m. to 12 noon every weekday.
Sirius XM #35—Indie music
“Early Blues” Pandora station
✸ Who do you think of when you hear the word “successful”?
Shakespeare, because he made things that were moving, permanent, and popular.
✸ Most-gifted books
The Oxford Book of Aphorisms by John Gross because it contains the most brilliant one-liners in history. You can spend hours on a page, or you can just flip through it.
B.J. also recommended Daily Rituals by Mason Currey for anyone who would enjoy seeing the daily routines of legends like Steve Jobs, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens. “It is so reassuring to see that everyone has their own system, and how dysfunctional a lot of them are.” Small world: I actually produced the audiobook version of Daily Rituals.
✸ Advice to his younger self
B.J. was very anxious during the first season of The Office because he was always trying to write something extra on the side that he never had time to finish. He really didn’t stop
to enjoy the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience of The Office. B.J. wishes he had told himself back then that it was a very special time in his life, and that he should own it and enjoy it, instead of being so nervous, for what ended up being no reason at all.
“And you know what I also tell people all the time? If Will Smith isn’t in a movie for 3 years, you’re not walking around saying, ‘Where’s Will Smith?’ Nobody’s paying attention to anyone else at all. You think everyone is, but they’re not. So take as long as you want if you’re talented. You’ll get their attention again if you have a reason to.”
✸ Favorite documentaries
Catfish—“It’s a cliché, but it’s a brilliant, generation-defining documentary.”
To Be and to Have—“This is a beautiful and simple film about a one-room school in France, and what happens over the course of one year.”
The Overnighters—“This covers oil exploration in North Dakota, which has become perhaps bigger than the Gold Rush in the 1800s, due to the process of ‘fracking.’”
How to Say “No” When It Matters Most
“The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.”
—Lin Yutang
“Discipline equals freedom.”
—Jocko Willink (page 412)
This chapter will teach you how to say “no” when it matters most.
It will also explain how I think about investing, overcoming “fear of missing out” (FOMO), and otherwise reducing anxiety.
Tools of Titans Page 39