Jeff Wang Blog

I finished reading  Originals, – by Adam Grant.

• Adam Grant, who is rated the best professor at UPenn Wharton’s Business school, is an organizational psychologist who has written several #1 NYT books. In Originals, he discusses how Non-conformists (procrastinators, slow people, and other different personality traits) succeed in life with their increased creativity
• This is my book review and 15 points on HOW TO BE ORIGINAL

1. Question the default
   • Don’t take the status quo; ask why they exist in the first place and how to improve
2. Triple the number of ideas you generate
   • Every innovator swings and misses; more swings, more hits!
   • Baseball players hit 1/3
3. Immerse yourself in a new domain
   • Broaden your frame of reference
   • As a great scientist learns art forms, broaden your skills
   • Job rotation
   • Learn a new culture (work in a new foreign country)
4. Strategic Procrastination
   • In the midst of generating ideas, stop midway
   • Allow yourself to incubate current ideas and foster more while on break
5. Seek feedback
   • Radical transparency about feedback (Principles by Dalio)
   • Accept and champion feedback from peers and enemies
6. Balance your risk portfolio
   • Balance your risk areas (an entrepreneur who has a day job)
   • Mitigate risk in many aspects of life, so you can TAKE risks in others
7. Highlight reasons NOT to support your ideas to make virtues clear
   • Describe 3 biggest weaknesses of your idea to understand virtues
   • Harder it is to create more weaknesses, you begin to realize virtues
8. Make Ideas more familiar
   • Repeat yourself for unconventional ideas.
   • EXPOSURE and mix your new ideas with old ones, by using analogies and comparisons
9. Speak to a different audience
   • Speak to disagreeable people who share your methods
   • Challenge authority and use your enemies to help shape you
   • Tough people with similar approaches
10. Be a tempered radical
    • manage emotions
11. Motivate yourself differently when committed/uncertain
    • When determined, focus on progress left to go (How close you are to reaching target!)
    • When unmotivated, focus on how far you’ve ALREADY gone (You’ve done so much; don’t quit now!)
12. Don’t try to calm down
    • When nervous, turn anxiety into excitement and enthusiasm instead of trying to suppress it
    • Don’t say “just calm down” instead say “I am excited”
    • Nervous and excitement = synonyms
13. Focus on the victim who is harmed, NOT the perpetrator
    • Focusing on perpetrator fuels anger and wrath and negativity
    • Focus on victim = positive anger to channel into positive action instead of revenge
    • Instead of harming the harmer, help the harmed
14. Realize you are not alone
    • Even just 1 ally who believes in your vision can tackle the problem together will make you much more successful
15. If you don’t take initiative, status quo will persist
    • Exit, Voice, Persistence, Neglect = 4 ways to respond to dissatisfaction
    • Might be good to take action (exit) if other methods don’t work

Grateful Day 85: I am grateful for naps

Reading Day 26: It’s crazy how much reading I’ve done this month, just like how much magic I did in February

I’ve already read 12 books this year and I plan to hit 50 for 2018!