One piece of unsolicited advice

My one piece of unsolicited advice? Read Kevin Kelly’s 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice. It’s genius.

Here’s my top ten (in the context of a Thought Leaders Practice):

1. Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.
2. Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.
3. Don’t be the best. Be the only.
4. Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them, they are waiting for you to send them an email, they are waiting for you to ask them on a date. Go ahead.
5. Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works.
6. The purpose of a habit is to remove that action from self-negotiation. You no longer expend energy deciding whether to do it. You just do it. Good habits can range from telling the truth to flossing.
7. The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they find you. To be interesting, be interested.
8. Show up. Keep showing up. Somebody successful said: 99% of success is just showing up.
9. Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgment.
10. If you are not falling down occasionally, you are just coasting.
11. Perhaps the most counter-intuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you’ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom.
12. There is no limit on better. Talent is distributed unfairly, but there is no limit on how much we can improve what we start with.
13. The universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success. This will be much easier to do if you embrace this pronoia.

And yes, I managed to squeeze 13 into my top ten.