I don't remember who shared the link
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:26 am
I don't remember who shared the link with me, but I felt very identified reading this post. The original author is John Carlton and I couldn't help but translate it and share it with you; I think it's a very useful list. Well, I didn't translate it literally, but I "platanized" it a bit. Please forgive me for my creative liberties. I myself don't apply them all so I have a lot to learn. I hope it helps you as much as I hope it helps me. Starting a business is like taking a breath and diving into the water.
Friday, 2:15 pm
Reno, NV
Kiai…
One of my favorite Gary Halbert quotes: “There is nothing that cannot be accomplished by a man who refuses to face reality.”
You may laugh, but he meant it. One of the reasons we became fast friends was our mutual outlook on life: whenever reality was inconvenient to our goals, we simply ignored the facts, lowered our gaze, and kept moving forward almost with our eyes closed.
Pictured above is me in high school. I loved basketball and was good enough to become captain of the “B” team in my senior year.
However, as should be evident from the photo, I ran into a wall when I was trying out for the varsity team a year later. The guy blocking me on the jump is taller than me by more than a foot. I was the smallest guy on the team.
And at some point a kind coach was able to take me aside and say, “John, kiddo, I know you love the game… but look at your family. Nobody is taller than 5’10” and basketball is a tall sport. You’re not going to magically grow taller overnight.”
I probably wouldn't have listened to him. I'm like a terrier, a big dog trapped in a small dog's body. Eventually, my poor eyesight and lack of height stopped me from playing sports.
…but I had fun for a couple of years in the meantime.
A few years later, I was trying to work up the courage to try to write a piece, and a professional copywriter told me very seriously that I might as well not try. “It’s too hard,” she said. “You’ll never be a professional writer.”
That was obviously THE BEST thing she could have said to me . I doubt I could have survived the first few years without the internal motivation of having to prove her wrong.
I call it “negative motivation”… and it’s actually one of the most powerful forces available to get things done. I never saw her again, and I don’t even remember her name. So there was no need to rub my success in her face. It was all internal to me, I used her as the “face” for the obstacles I was facing, and I even laughed when I later realized I was in a position to tell her “Fuck you, I did it!”
Yes, my inner ego is an immature fool sometimes. Walking around half vietnam email address resentful, with a rabid dog attitude and a stupidly aggressive and irrational refusal to face reality.
I am also very grateful for that.
(By the way… in the photo above I made the basket… and finished the game scoring 20 points. Easily my best moment in a futile and doomed effort to be a “real” basketball player.)
No, you don't need to be a hostile rebel to be a good entrepreneur...
…but it can help sometimes.
If I have the choice to sit down for dinner with business people in their smart suits, very polite and careful in their conversations…
…or the rowdy crowd of entrepreneurs who break the rules and could be thrown out of the restaurant…
…OK, you know which one I would choose.
I was Halbert's partner for a long time, and one of the most enjoyable parts of that patch was wandering into some new client's offices and creating mass chaos. In a rational world none of the businessmen we dealt with would have tolerated us for more than a few minutes.
But because we brought the “magic” of advertising that actually worked, they HAD to tolerate us, sometimes even pamper us, and even paid us more than they were going to earn on the project.
We weren't bad. We were just arrogant. But both Gary and I had wandered into the corporate world precisely because we didn't "fit in" with normal corporate environments. We were "rebels" by nature, loud and adventurous, eating risky breakfasts with coffee and bread (without jam).
Friday, 2:15 pm
Reno, NV
Kiai…
One of my favorite Gary Halbert quotes: “There is nothing that cannot be accomplished by a man who refuses to face reality.”
You may laugh, but he meant it. One of the reasons we became fast friends was our mutual outlook on life: whenever reality was inconvenient to our goals, we simply ignored the facts, lowered our gaze, and kept moving forward almost with our eyes closed.
Pictured above is me in high school. I loved basketball and was good enough to become captain of the “B” team in my senior year.
However, as should be evident from the photo, I ran into a wall when I was trying out for the varsity team a year later. The guy blocking me on the jump is taller than me by more than a foot. I was the smallest guy on the team.
And at some point a kind coach was able to take me aside and say, “John, kiddo, I know you love the game… but look at your family. Nobody is taller than 5’10” and basketball is a tall sport. You’re not going to magically grow taller overnight.”
I probably wouldn't have listened to him. I'm like a terrier, a big dog trapped in a small dog's body. Eventually, my poor eyesight and lack of height stopped me from playing sports.
…but I had fun for a couple of years in the meantime.
A few years later, I was trying to work up the courage to try to write a piece, and a professional copywriter told me very seriously that I might as well not try. “It’s too hard,” she said. “You’ll never be a professional writer.”
That was obviously THE BEST thing she could have said to me . I doubt I could have survived the first few years without the internal motivation of having to prove her wrong.
I call it “negative motivation”… and it’s actually one of the most powerful forces available to get things done. I never saw her again, and I don’t even remember her name. So there was no need to rub my success in her face. It was all internal to me, I used her as the “face” for the obstacles I was facing, and I even laughed when I later realized I was in a position to tell her “Fuck you, I did it!”
Yes, my inner ego is an immature fool sometimes. Walking around half vietnam email address resentful, with a rabid dog attitude and a stupidly aggressive and irrational refusal to face reality.
I am also very grateful for that.
(By the way… in the photo above I made the basket… and finished the game scoring 20 points. Easily my best moment in a futile and doomed effort to be a “real” basketball player.)
No, you don't need to be a hostile rebel to be a good entrepreneur...
…but it can help sometimes.
If I have the choice to sit down for dinner with business people in their smart suits, very polite and careful in their conversations…
…or the rowdy crowd of entrepreneurs who break the rules and could be thrown out of the restaurant…
…OK, you know which one I would choose.
I was Halbert's partner for a long time, and one of the most enjoyable parts of that patch was wandering into some new client's offices and creating mass chaos. In a rational world none of the businessmen we dealt with would have tolerated us for more than a few minutes.
But because we brought the “magic” of advertising that actually worked, they HAD to tolerate us, sometimes even pamper us, and even paid us more than they were going to earn on the project.
We weren't bad. We were just arrogant. But both Gary and I had wandered into the corporate world precisely because we didn't "fit in" with normal corporate environments. We were "rebels" by nature, loud and adventurous, eating risky breakfasts with coffee and bread (without jam).