50 Lessons I Wish Learned Early In My Career


  1. The guy with crazy fashion style rarely has the winning ideas.
  2. Don’t be scared to share your ideas.
  3. There are planners and there are executors. The latter is rarer.
  4. Numbers matter
  5. You need to let the bad ideas out to make way for the good ideas to come out.
  6. No matter how hard you try not to, you will fail. So, just make sure you fail hard.
  7. The only thing worse than not being gossiped about is not being gossiped about.
  8. Thrashers, bashers and gossipers won’t get tired of bashing, thrashing and criticizing. So, it’s useless to try and stop them and utterly insane to pay attention to them.
  9. You need at least two sets of formal clothes.
  10. Travel as much as you can. 
  11. Know about sports, popular culture, music, entertainment, underground culture, psychology, poetry, archaeology, anthropology and just about everything you can get your hands on. You will be able to use that somewhere along the way.
  12. Have a career path, be precise and include deadlines.
  13. Avoid working on weekends.
  14. You need a real happy life outside work.
  15. Research is important.
  16. Know what you want people to think of you and make sure they know it within 11 seconds of meeting you.
  17. Be polite.
  18. Test your products and your competition.
  19. Listen to all ideas.
  20. Never turn down and idea until you fully understand it.
  21. You’ll think better when you have enough sleep.
  22. The loudest in meetings isn’t necessarily the best in the room.
  23. Talk with your target market and observe them live.
  24. Ask others to take a look at your work. It doesn’t mean you will follow them but they might provide perspective you may have missed.
  25. You’re not perfect and never will be so don’t stop improving.
  26. Be as articulate as you can be. Study it if you’re not.
  27. Learn as many languages as you can.
  28. Watch lots of movies and listen to lots of music.
  29. It pays to sit down and be silent sometimes.
  30. Whatever you do or say, always remember, YouTube is watching.
  31. If you lie, you will get caught.
  32. If you don’t know, ask. Don’t pretend you know.
  33. Never be ashamed of what you don’t know. It’s more shameful to keep on not knowing.
  34. Don’t be afraid to hand out that calling card.
  35. The best way to get people to agree on something is to make them feel like it was their idea.
  36. People like feeling good about themselves.
  37. Don’t reserve an idea. Use it now.
  38. Listen to as many conversations as you can.
  39. Give others a chance to help.
  40. No matter how great the friendships that will be formed, remember that people go to that place to earn money and have a career. That’s their priority.
  41. For every 1 yes, there’s  50 nos.
  42. Great ideas come from the unconscious but your unconscious still needs facts, numbers and research materials. Otherwise, all it will produce are BS.
  43. Edit mercilessly.
  44. Whatever kind of product or work you put out, assume that you will never have a chance to defend it.
  45. Be kind whenever you can.
  46. KISS - Keep It Short and Sweet
  47. Return people's favor, always say thank you, greet people and praise them when appropriate. 
  48. Aim to be the greatest that has ever done your work. 
  49. Never go to something unprepared. 
  50. No matter how creative or how great your work, if you don't know how to sell it, it's useless.

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