I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Beating a grandmaster at chess
I read this quote and it's got me thinking...
“You could beat a grandmaster at chess if you could move twice every time he moved once.”
— James Currier
How fast you move matters. In chess you don't get to choose your own pace. But in business—especially creator focused businesses—you do.
There are about 50 working weeks in a year. If on Monday you say, "let's decide next week" you just used up 2% of your year.
If you're anything like me, you've got massive goals for the year. Every week counts. Especially in a competitive market like building the creator marketing platform.
At ConvertKit we've formed a new habit this year: when a teammate says, "I'll have that for you next week" we ask, "could you get it for me tomorrow?"
Sometimes the answer is no: it actually takes a week. But more often we just say something like "next week" or "by the end of the week" because it sounds easy, but doesn't promise too much. Then the task just goes at the bottom of the todo list.
Last summer my friend Patrick was in between construction projects, so he redid a section of our backyard. I've never seen someone get so much done. It wasn't that he ran from task to task or was visibly hurried, he just had a clear plan and moved at a steady pace, always knowing what he was going to do next, never wasting a minute.
The result is that in a day he would do what it would take most people three or four days. I want to be the digital equivalent: making a clear plan, then methodically moving to completion.
If you're building something you believe in don't waste a day.
Make decisions, take decisive action.
Don't delay.
***
Here are a few things I've been enjoying this last week:
- I interviewed Packy McCormick about Not Boring, his newsletter that has grown like crazy this last year. I love his take on monetizing with sponsorships, rather than a paid newsletter.
- Lainey Wilson recorded a creator session and it's great. I enjoyed her music in the TV show Yellowstone, so it's fun to have her performing for the ConvertKit audience.
That's it!
Have a great week.
-Nathan
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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