Invisible Content – You don’t see this…

My takeaways from –
Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

By Shane Snow

Finished listening to this book  and have been sharing some key nuggets with friends.   Jill Donahue made a great summary of the key areas and insights of the books here.
Here are the main smartcuts, with my takeaways:
  1. Hacking the ladder: Open wide my eyes and mind and strategically find ways to pivot.  DHH who created Ruby on Rails also mastered race car driving and rose to competitive heights by hacking the ladder.  Don’t hit hard in all areas just because that’s how it has been done, try “selective slacking” and “switching ladders”. Parlay like in the game “Bigger of Better”, accumulative small wins  can mean starting with a toothpick and ending with a car of more!
  2. Training with masters: the quality of relationship matters; open, vulnerable, journey-focused mentorship makes a big difference.
  3. Rapid feedback: used intensely by “The Second City” that trains the best comedians. Fail early when stakes are low and to become more fearless.
  4. Platforms: Leverage great environments, tools and thinkings already built. Why Finnish education has been working.  Setting up the system for success.
  5. Catching waves: One word: Skrillex
  6. Superconnecting: beats networking
  7. Momentum: Build up potential energy (keep putting out valuable work) so that when opportunity strikes, momentum is harnessed. Think Michelle Phan.  (I am thinking Sterling K. Brown, overnight success decade or more in the making).
  8. Simplicity:  Pear down to deliver the best
  9. 10X thinking: Inspire and transcend