Smartcuts

A shorter cut…

-Austin Walker

Climbing the Ladder

Great American ladder-climbing device is debunked• Only 4 presidents climbed the ladder• Something wrong with this myth if most of

the world’s most successful people don’t follow it

• “Ladder Hackers”• They also create small wins

Small Wins

Small victories can be created, but trading sideways has helped entrepreneurs increase value faster• Bigger or Better game• Success has been taught to be a long-term strategy; it doesn’t have to be

Paying Dues

Many entertainers toil for decades to get their break

While they’re waiting they……

A. Pay their Actors Guild duesB. Hone their craftC. Starve like artistsD. All of the Above

Mentorship

“Mentorship is the secret of many of the highest-profile achievers throughout history”

• Entrepreneurs who have mentors end up raising seven times as much capital for their businesses

• 3.5 x fast growth than those without

Using the mentorship to make your own luck• Women are being taught to be dependent on others• Mentorship programs don’t work• Organic mentorship from a true partner is more effective

than all the others combined.

Organic Mentor Relationship Defined

Two people connect without other interference or design

A personal relationship

Asking advice on other aspects

True care for mentor and mentee health and well-being

Getting “no” when needed

Comfortable with giving someone a tough answer

Owning Failure

Startup Funeral

Small group therapy of small business owners that talk about how their businesses died

Failure has been treated as bad, whereas failure should be glorified

Helps to determine what isn’t necessarily possible

Learn new things that once were not part of the capacity

Risks in the United States are easier to take

Low societal consequence for failure

High tolerance for business failure

Failure isn’t good?

Harvard researchers found that failure was still bad:

Failed entrepreneurs just as likely to fail as someone who’d never run a business

Successful entrepreneurs are likely to continue to succeed more after each success

Where do you start?

We Start With Ourselves

People tend to point to external factors as to why something went wrong

Motivation is decreased in future jobs

Internal factors were only brought in for wins

Flattering results are sought out

Reflect. Restore. Repeat.

Reflect on how personally there was a problem

Restore confidence, grasp the problem, fix it

Repeat on the next failure

Surgically Fixing Problems

Sometimes the best solution isn’t to bring in someone who has experience in the industry or with the problem

Formula 1 pit crew to help order surgical procedures so that there was less mistakes made at children’s hospital

Helped to save about 1/3 more patients

Doctors and nurses communicated better

Programming New Changes

DHH felt if he could put 5% of the effort in a class of the people who got an A and still get a C, that’s amazing

Used same perspective in coding

Didn’t want to repeat himself

Didn’t feel coding should be complicated

Learn How to Think

Finland’s education system has helped turn around its country’s learning ability

Focuses on system that encourages students to learn how to think, not how to memorize

Children use calculators in class

Teachers received at least master’s degrees when teaching at all levels

Depressed Billionaires

Once the momentum has built for years, comes to an abrupt stop, what do you do? Once you’ve:

Become a billionaire

Walked the moon

Completed your life goals

Continuing progress is the answer to fall out of this depression

Start the “Olympic rings” over

“Success is like a lightning bolt. It’ll strike you when you least expect it, and you just have to keep the momentum going.” –Michelle Phan, YouTuber

Innovation

Innovation is about doing something differently, rather than creating something from nothing; that’s an invention

Disruptive innovation: simplification

In order to disrupt, simplifying a product or making it less expensive increases market share

Cutting the Crap

Barack Obama and Steve Jobs wore the same clothes everyday

“I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

Removing tedious or difficult decisions can improve focus and increase the amount of time left to do what’s important

Proven in experiments that show that making lots of tiny choices depletes one’s subsequent self-control

“Tiny startup companies frequently come up with breakthrough ideas. They start with so few resources that they’re forced to come up with simplifying solutions.”

Thinking Big. Then Big-ger. Then more. Again. Repeat.

“The thing about giant swings is they come with increased odds of failure.”

SpaceX failed multiple times, but got back on the horse with a focused drive to succeed and never give up.