Everything I Know summary

There’s plenty of so-called “expert advice” out there that says it’s smart to try and fit yourself into some cookie-cutter business model. But Jarvis is here to tell you that such advice is bullshit.

In fact, he hates advice altogether. That said, he does believe that the best way to be inspiring and attract people to your business is to be true to your unique self, and to be different than what’s already out there. In other words: be weird.

There are all kinds of learning preferences, and some people are perfectly suited to the structure that schools and universities provide. But sometimes there can be a limit to how much you can learn from reading or listening to a lecturer – you need to go out and learn by doing.

Whatever your craft may be, learning by doing is the best way to develop and improve that craft. Jarvis doesn’t regret dropping out of college to work at a web design company because he knows that he learned a lot of valuable lessons on the job that he wouldn’t have learned at school. Only after spending a few years as the company’s creative director did he feel confident enough to venture forth and start his own business.

Once you’ve made the first step of having a great idea that speaks to who you are and what you value, it’s time to move on to the second step: overcoming the obstacles that are keeping you from realizing that idea. You may think that the obstacles are big and plentiful, but the good news is that many of them can be overcome by thinking differently and adjusting your outlook on the challenges ahead.

For example, you or someone you know may be a perfectionist – someone who doesn’t like to take on a project unless they know it’s going to come out flawlessly. No one wants to put out bad work, but if everyone only put out work they believed was absolutely perfect, the marketplace would be pretty empty.

Success doesn’t eliminate a person’s fears. It just creates new worries, such as the fear of not living up to the previous success!

So it’s safe to say that everyone has fears about putting their own work out into the world, no matter who they are. This is why it’s important to really care about what you do and to have those strong values in place. It may not make the fears go away, but it should reduce them, since you’ll be less invested in how others respond.

Fear of failure is just one poor excuse for not doing something you really want to do. The other big reasons are not having enough time and not having enough money, but these barriers are far from insurmountable.

As far as time goes, you always have choices to make and you can always choose to prioritize one thing over another. So instead of spending time on social media, you can start writing your own book and, if you don’t have much money, you can self-publish it as an e-book, which is what Paul Jarvis did.

You’ve probably heard someone say it as a form of career advice: “Follow your passion.” It sounds nice, but, in reality, following your passion isn’t enough. You also need to put time and effort into developing your craft, generating as many ideas as you can and questioning whether your passion is aligned with your values.

The better advice is to find your intersection, and this happens by knowing your passion and where it intersects with your skills and how those skills help others.

Now that we’ve gotten the excuses out of the way, it’s time to stop procrastinating and start your own adventure. So let’s get moving on your great idea for a product or service that can truly help people and make the world a little bit better.

If you need some inspiration to get started, it’s not a bad idea to look carefully at the work of people you admire. But keep in mind that there’s a big difference between copying, theft and mimicry.

No matter what kind of adventure you’re planning to start, it all begins by taking a moment to ask yourself some important questions: What are my intentions and motivations? What are my core values? With the answers to these questions you can create your rallying flag and a mission statement that will help guide your decisions.

Getting a big project started can be overwhelming. So much so that it’s often filled with moments where you’ll be tempted to give up. So, to keep your momentum going, it’s good to figure out how you can break down the launch of the project into small, doable steps.

The key message in these blinks:

There’s nothing like doing your own unique work that reflects your values. Exciting, innovative work comes from people who break free from bland corporate thinking and do their own thing. Everyone, even successful people, has fears about exposing themselves to criticism and failure, but these fears can be overcome. Failure and criticism are not the end – in fact, they can be helpful in providing ways to learn, pivot and continue creating even better work.