Linchpin notes Part III

from the book, Linchpin by Seth Godin.

• So, what's left is to make -- to give -- art.
• If there is no sale, look for the fear.
• Fear self-fulfills. Confidence self-fulfills as well.
• MIT is now free online. [response to excuse you don't have access to first class education or college]
• Your work is to ship. Ship things that make change.
• Whichever way the wind of resistance is coming from, that's the way to head -- directly into the resistance.
• Embrace the itch [anxiety] from the start, but don't scratch it. You sat with the anxiety; you didn't run from it or bargain with it. You stayed. 
• Idea of building a platform before you have your next idea, to view the platform building as a separate project from spreading your art. 
• Technique Seth uses to make stuff: 1. Write down the due date. Post it on the wall. Ship on this date, done or not.
• 2. Write down every single notion, plan, idea, sketch, and contact. Invite many people. This is where the thrashing and dreaming begin. 
• 3. Put all the notes/cards into a database. Thrashing playground. This is the very last chance they have to make the project better. 
• 4. One person (that would be you) goes through the database and builds a complete description of the project. Outline or model, etc. The blueprint. 
• 5. Take Blueprint to a few select people. They can approve it, cancel it or suggest a few improvements. 
• 6. Say, "If i deliver what you approved, on budget and on time, will you ship it?
• 7. Don't proceed until you get a yes.
• When you haven't set up a judge and jury for your work, you get to do art that doesn't alert the resistance. 
• Power of unreciprocated gifts. The very fact that gift giving without recompense feels uncomfortable is reason enough to take a moment to find out why.
• We can't repay him is precisely why his gift is so valuable. Linchpin thinking is about delivering gifts that can never be adequately paid for. 
• You best give a gift without knowing or being concerned with whether it will be repaid. The magic of gift system is that the gift is voluntary, not part of a contract. 
• 150 people in a tribe max. 
• You couldn't charge interest on a loan to anyone in your tribe. Strangers paid interest.
• Real gifts don't demand reciprocation and the best kinds of gifts are gifts of art.
• Gifts bring the two closer together, creating a tribe. 
• First circle - close friends; second circle - acquaintances/business people; third circle - fans, don't know them personally... we profit most when we make first and third circles as big as we can.
• Transactions distance parties from each other. Gift-giving does opposite. Lack of a transaction created a bond between giver and recipient, and perhaps surprisingly, the giver comes out even further ahead. 
• A key element for the artist is the act of giving the art to someone in the tribe.
• If I give you a piece of art, you shouldn't be required to work hard to reciprocate, because reciprocation is an act of keeping score, which involves monetizing the art, not appreciating it.
• If I touch you in any way, you then have two obligations: to make us closer, and to pass it on, to give a gift to another member of the tribe. 
• Artists are indispensable linchpins. Art is scarce; scarcity creates value. Gifts make tribes stronger. 
• Most successful people in the world are those who don't do it for the money.
• Three ways to think about gifts: 1. Give me a gift!; 2. Here's a gift; now you owe me, big time; 3. Here's a gift, I love you. #1 and #2 capitalist misunderstandings of what it means to give or receive a gift. The third is the only valid alternative.
• For some artists, the benefits are all internal. Creating art is an intrinsic good, something they enjoy. They don't want anything, don't seek anything, and if they're particularly resolute, won't get anything. 
• Artists don't give gifts for money. They do it for respect and connection and to cause change. So the best recipients are the ones who can reciprocate in kind. With honest gratitude. With clear reports about change that was created. With gifts that actually cost us, not tiny gratuity or faux appreciation. 
• As soon as you draw the map and mechanize and monetize emotional labor, you ruin it.
• As big business has realized that people crave connection, not stuff, they've tried to institutionalize it, measure it, and reward it. And they fail every time.
• If you appreciate a gift, consider saying, "thank you and ..." and how i used it, how it changed me, small detail about gift and its effect. 
• Money is a poor substitute for respect and thanks. Respect is the gift you can offer in return.
• How do I know what art to make? How do i know what gifts to give? The answer is the secret to your success. You must make a map. 
• You must become indispensable to thrive in the new economy. The best ways to do that are to be remarkable, insightful, an artist, someone bearing gifts. To lead. The worst way is to conform and become a cog in a giant system. 
• If you accept that human beings are difficult to change, and embrace (rather than curse) the uniqueness that everyone brings to the table, you'll navigate the world with more bliss and effectiveness. 
• Our inclination is to give fire a pass, because it's not human. But human beings are similar, in that they are not going to change any time soon either. 
• Ability to see the world as it is to begins with an understanding that perhaps it's not your job to change what can't be changed. 
• Attachment sign #1. use telekinesis and mind control to remotely affect other people; #2 - how you handle bad news. Learn what you can learn; then move on. It's not a personal attack. It Just Is.
• quadrant of the Linchpin -- right effort in the right place can change the outcome, and she reserves her effort for doing just that. 
• When a vendor or a customer must choose between an organization working hard to defend the status quo and one that's open to big growth in the future, the choice is pretty simple.
• Record biz -- blinded by their attachment to the present and their fear of the future. 
• That's why outsiders and insurgents so often invent the next big thing -- they don't start with a tangled past. 
• Art is the act of navigating without a map.
• She started doing her old job in a new way.
• If your agenda is set by someone else and it doesn't lead you where you want to go, why is it your agenda?
• In the old-school factory, the twin taskmasters are the manual and the assembly line. The manual tells you what to do, and the assembly line keeps the work coming. It's not your job to decide.
• Our work changed, but our psyches didn't.
• The alternative is to draw a map and lead.
• You can either fit in or stand out. Not both.
• The gift represents effort. Achieve goal by giving selfless gifts, and those benefit everyone.
• Restaurants and concerts -- not merely about the music or the food. It's about joy and connection and excitement. 
• only way to make it as a trapeze artist is to leap. Linchpin who leads change is able to do just that: leap.
• Transferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion. 
• No one is pushing you to stand out.
• "If only" is a great way to eliminate your excuse du jour. 
• You've calmed yourself in the face of anxiety, or done something for no compensation, or solved a problem with an insight. If you've done it once, you can do it again. Every day.
• Most of what people do all day is roach stomping. The little tasks that distract us from the art of the work, that slow us down and wear us out. 
• Nothing about becoming indispensable is easy. If it's easy, it's already been done and it's no longer valuable. 
• What will make someone a linchpin is not a shortcut. It's the understanding of which work is worth doing. The only thing that separates great artists from mediocre ones is their ability to push through the dip. Some people decide that their art is important enough that they ought to overcome the resistance they face in doing their work. Those people become linchpins.
• Dignity is more important than wealth. Respect matters. Gift of connection, of art, of love -- of dignity. 
• When your boss gives you a script to read, or when you crib something from a how-to book, it almost never works. That's because you're not telling the truth, you're not being human, and you're not being transparent.
• When the interactions are genuine and transparent, they usually work. When they are artificial or manipulative, they fail.
• We can sense it when you read the script because we're so good at finding the honest signals.
• Only successful way to live in a world of honest signals is to give the genuine gift. Genuine gifts, given with the right intent and a respectful posture ... we believe. When we believe, a different relationship can occur. One about "us," not just "you." But only if you cease to manipulate me and stop doing your job. Do your art instead.