How to win without luck.
Cultivate a winning mindset when the numbers are small.
In 2018, I worked on a video project that completely changed my perspective on what a winning mindset looks like.
Some friends of mine were starting a video production company and asked if I wanted to be a part of a spec project they were doing.
*Production companies create spec projects that are self-funded to show potential clients the quality of work they can produce
I joined the project, not knowing what to expect.
Right from the start, I was blown away with the amount of preparation, communication and effort these guys were putting into the project.
It didn’t make sense to me.
“They aren’t getting paid for this, why were they going so hard on it?” my young, naïve self thought.
I remember asking them “Isn’t this a little overkill for a project you aren’t getting paid for?”
And what they said changed my thinking forever.
Here’s what they said:
“While yes, this project has a budget of $0, we are treating it with the same seriousness and level of preparation that we would a $50k production.
By doing this, we are building the skills and discipline necessary to execute on a $50k production, whenever that project comes.
Also, the output of all this preparation and effort will be a video that looks as if it cost $50k to make, which will be an effective sales tool when going to pitch more videos at that price point.”
I was in awe of their attitude and approach.
And I decided that it was much better than my approach of “Isn’t this a waste of time?”
The final video reflected the time and preparation they put into it.
It was beautiful.
And so it was no surprise that several months later these guys were shooting a bunch of big budget projects.
They had done the work.
They deserved the big budgets.
The Fire and the Wood
“You get out of it what you put into it.”
I bet you’ve heard that cliche before.
I can still remember my basketball coach telling us this.
Turns out, much like all cliches, it contains a core truth about life.
A foolish man looks at the fire and demands heat before giving it any wood. Whereas a wise man understands he must contribute wood in order to receive heat.
You see this pattern everywhere.
The people who go first and carry the risk attract all the rewards and the people who wait for rewards to be given to them get none.
The guy always starting conversations with strangers has a ton of friends.
The influencer giving out daily tips and tricks attracts a large following.
The person planning a bunch of get togethers has a thriving social life.
The personal trainer helping a bunch of people for free at the gym ends up with a ton of clients.
Very rarely do you get offered an opportunity that you don’t deserve.
It happens, but a great way to get these opportunities flowing is to do the work to deserve them.
When the numbers are small…
Jim Rohn, one of the OG personal development speakers has a great talk where he emphasizes the importance of taking care of things when the numbers are small.
He highlights a common (but delusional) way of thinking:
Once I have more money coming in, I’ll be better with money.
Once I have more friends, I’ll be better at nurturing relationships.
Once I have more employees, I’ll be better at leading them.
Once I have more responsibility, I’ll be more reliable.
Rohn suggests that this is backwards thinking, arguing that you’ll never get to the bigger numbers if you can’t manage the small numbers well.
If you can’t be financially responsible with $1000, what do you think is going to happen when you get ahold of $10,000?
If you can’t manage 1 employee, how the hell are you gonna be any better when there are 100 employees to manage?
Rohn argues that by focusing on being excellent when the numbers are small, you build up the skills and discipline to manage bigger numbers.
Rohn would be proud of my production company buddies.
They handled the small project well, which, in turn, made them worthy of bigger projects.
Wrap Up
Hope you enjoyed this super duper awesome blog! Working on being more consistent with writing this year.
If anyone is curious about my writing process, here it is:
Read a lot, ask a lot of questions, constantly observe the world around me, reflect on my own personal experiences a lot
Keep an ongoing list of interesting insights, thoughts and ideas I’ve had that I want to write about
Keep a list of personal stories that help me explain those insights, thoughts, and ideas in the blog (example: the video production company story from the beginning of this blog)
Carve out 4 hours on Sunday morning to write
When Sunday morning comes, go to a coffee shop, turn on Do Not Disturb, put my headphones on (with noise canceling on of course), then write, write, write until the piece is good enough to publish.
Send it to a
couple friendsmy mom to make sure grammar isgoodwellawesome.Schedule it to post Monday morning!
El Fin
IMPORTANT: If you made it this far, I need you to REPLY BACK to this email and tell me what city you live in. I like knowing where my readers are. Your reply will not go to everyone, it’ll only go to me.
Until next time,
Flickman
Links (🚨🚨New Segment Alert🚨🚨)
I’m going to start adding relevant links to the end of these blogs.
Hey Matt, I'm from Iasi, Romania. Your content goes hand-in-hand with The Craftsman Mindset. Do you mind if I recommend your Substack from my publication? Cheers!
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