Why + How - outsight

When creating something of meaning, it's far more effective to concentrate on the effort and process rather than just the end result.

We find this idea heavily analyzed in Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy emphasizes the importance of embracing struggle and effort as intrinsic to achieving anything significant.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Understanding and committing to the purpose behind any effort makes the journey, however arduous, worthwhile.

This doesn't mean ignoring the importance of those feedback loops connecting our actions to their outcomes—they're actually crucial in execution. However, Nietzsche would argue that the gap between input and outcome is where true growth and transformation occur.

In nearly every worthwhile endeavor, there exists a significant time gap between the work you put in and the eventual payoff. Embracing this journey, with all its challenges and struggles, and focusing on the quality of one's efforts will ultimately lead to more fulfilling and successful outcomes. It's within this process, this becoming, that we find and become capable of harnessing true potential.

A lot of s.c. high-performing people, whether entrepreneurs or managers, can fake it.
They can fake it quite well, actually.

There’s generally one aspect of work life people, no matter how skilled or experienced, can’t fake: motivation.

And in the end, it all boils down to motivation. People may have the talent, know all the tricks, the motions of the play—but if they don't feel like doing something, it shows, and it likely won't be good..

Things might even get done at times, but it'd leave an empty feeling, and that feeling compounds over time, diluting motivation the more it is carried forward.

People are more likely to do something they're terrible at, if they really want it, rather than something they're great at, if they don’t.

Being sought by motivation is a passive act, as motivation can't be actively sourced. Giving someone agency of letting go and being sought by it, is the best thing someone can do fo others' growth.

How we handle time is one of the key factors in our ability to execute on any vision.

This is not an attempt to devalue the importance of face-to-face meetings, or their virtual equivalents—rather, a memento of their true value and potential. Treating meetings as a precision instrument, reserved for when their value is undeniable, is one smart principle to go by.

We ought to be strategic and intentional with meetings, ensuring they are reserved for moments when collaboration is absolutely essential to the quality of an outcome. Bringing five people into a room, or a virtual equivalent, for an hour equates to a five-hour expenditure of collective brainpower. How often does this investment really move the needle?

More often than not, a thoroughly written communication can achieve the same if not better results with far less time spent.

Taking the time to write is actually an act of greater care for other people's time than any meeting can ever be—a beacon of trust in their ability to work asynchronously, taking ownership in their own time.