🏴 On excitement, self-sabotage, and megalomania. Ten Bullets.

To the obsessed,

Here are your weekly Ten Bullets.

Ten ideas to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession.

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Last year, my life changed because I took the step to hire others to help with my content/creative work. It was with talent from the Philippines, and their work-ethic/fluency blew me away. 

I was able to afford hiring multiple creatives and animators given the low costs, which led to unbelievable growth for my content.

But, it did take endless hours of vetting, and a ton of wasted time with bad employees.

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From me:

1. On excitement:

Most of success is:

1. Waiting for these moments/opportunities

2. Recognizing when it’s the right mission, and when it’s just initial hype

After the ecstasy of a new idea wears off…what’s left? If there is a steady excitement that sticks with you..that gets you up in the morning,.that keeps you up at night..

That may be the mission to devote your life to.

2. On going down on a different path:

Ever since I was a kid I couldn't go after what everyone else went after.

Being 'one thing' a doctor, or lawyer. Or anything that fit in a 'box.’

All felt too achievable.
Too easy.

I knew I had a different level of intensity and patience-and felt I had to apply it to something different.

Towards goals with no specific end, no specific name, no specific category.

Doing something no one's ever done.
In a way no one's ever done it.

At times this made me feel lost- because I felt like I couldn't learn from anyone.

Because no one's gone done the path before.

In reality, that's BS.

Because you have to learn- from everything and everyone-to do something that is truly unique.

But if you feel this way/ recognize it. Embrace it.
Cherish it.

Push yourself to survive walking down a path no one's been on before. It won't be easy - you will walk through fire that never ends to get down it.

But once you do- you show the way for everyone else. And encourage a select few to create new paths of their own.

[Shared on Instagram]

3. On extremes:

An extreme life requires tolerating extremes- externally and internally.

From The Obsessed:

4. On success:

Worth reading this tweet a few times.

5. On founder obsession and megalomania:

"Rarely discussed in studies of entrepreneurial startups is just how lonely it can be out there with a revolutionary new product, no competition, and a market that doesn't seem to get what you are doing.

You can try to hide in the echo chamber of your own team, but eventually you have to go outside and deal with investors, analysts, and potential customers.

And when all of them are skeptical, even dismissive, it becomes increasingly difficult to retain the supreme confidence you need to keep going.

That's why many of the great entrepreneurs are arrogant and obsessive to the point of megalomania.

They sometimes have to be to take their solitary vision and make it real."‘

— Michael S. Malone, The Intel Trinity (via Founders Podcast)

Megalomania is one of my favorite words, that perfectly depicts many of The Obsessed. Defined as:

• the delusional belief that one is important, powerful, or famous, as a form or symptom of mental disorder.

• obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others.

• is a mania for great or grandiose performance

6. On self-sabotage:

7. On posting:

Incredibly true. Put a phone in front of your face, post to whatever audience you have every day, and in a year, your life will have changed forever.​

8. On obsession:

"I seriously got to the league by watching YouTube and living in the gym. There’s no other way to explain it.

- Joel Embiid (via Trung Phan)

9. On change:

“What is the difference between a living thing and a dead thing? In the medical world, a clinical definition of death is a body that does not change. Change is life. Stagnation is death. If you don't change, you die. It's that simple. It's that scary.”

― Leonard Sweet

10. On great ideas:

"You can tell a startup idea is good when the first thing you ask is “How did this not exist already?” 

- Garry Tan

"That's true for ideas in general. If an idea seems simultaneously novel and obvious, it's probably a good one." - Paul Graham​

If you enjoyed this, forward it to an obsessed friend.

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