TJL #63: Never give up (Daily productivity #38)
Productivity tips that work for me and might work for you
Daily productivity #38
Never give up.
The whole story can be found on the design blog of Automattic and is definitely worth a the full read, but I want to share the final and most important part of the post here:
They were old men—one of them, who leaned forward with a hunch, and always walked as if he were in pain—looked like Moses. I swear he stared through my soul when I tried to go home before 8:00 PM. (We worked in offices then, and you never went home before your boss.) He scared me but I liked him.
Once I asked if he missed the “great” clients he had worked for in the past.
“Great clients?”
“Like Volkswagen.”
“They killed just as many good ads as these guys do.”
“What did you do?”
“Came up with more ads.”
The ability to keep coming up with more ads was why this Moses-looking dude had a roomful of shiny trophies, and I did not. If I wanted a career like his, I would have to seek deeply in my soul for the strength and willingness not to give up.
Career aside, if I wanted to create meaningful work, I would need to develop the patience and willingness to watch people kill my darlings, and come back with newer, fresher, better darlings
Never give up.
Previous TJLs
Read my previous TJLs by following on the links down below:
TJL #6: How to remember the difference between margin and padding
TJL #7: According to Jeff Bezos there are two types of failure
TJL #27: Be aware of the spotlight effect (Daily productivity #2)
TJL #28: Start with the upper-left hand brick (Daily Productivity #3)
TJL #30: Start with writing your README (Daily productivity #5)
TJL #35: Use the Pomodoro technique (Daily productivity #10)
TJL #36: How to handle your negative feelings (Daily productivity #11)
TJL #37: Imagine the work, not the reward (Daily productivity #12)
TJL #38: Separate your writing from editing (Daily productivity #13)
TJL #41: Don't be ashamed to ask for help (Daily productivity #16)
TJL #48: Focus on interests, not positions (Daily productivity #23)
TJL #54: Change your font to Comic Sans (Daily productivity #29)
TJL #58: Manage your time proactively (Daily productivity #33)