willie jackson

Blog

  • Learning how to learn

    I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina almost two months ago.

    I don’t know Spanish, so learning it has been a goal of mine, despite being able to get along here with a remarkably small amount of it at your disposal. I’m passionate about the written and spoken word, so it’s been a fascinating and gratifying adventure.

    The adventure hasn’t unfolded in the way that I expected, though. Instead of just learning Spanish, I’ve been learning about accents, dialects, the peculiarities of the language, and the language (vocabulary, for example) itself.

    It’s natural to want to learn how you say certain phrases in Spanish and think that you can call it a day, but I’m seeing that this will lead to a very poor mastery of the language.

    Put another way, I’m not able to “trade” my English words and phrases for Spanish ones.

    After so many of my questions were met with, “it doesn’t work like that in Spanish” (paraphrased), I started thinking more deeply about what I was missing. I also started to “relax” and get a feel for the texture and idiosyncrasies.

    With enough of the right practice and simply noticing things, I’m able to teach myself a bit of Spanish along the way because of the mental framework that I’m developing. I’m now able to — very quickly — determine that someone didn’t learn Spanish in Argentina by how they say certain words.

    It’s similar to how you’d pick up on a midwest accent or if someone is a non-native English speaker.

    The whole experience is pushing me to reconsider how I approach the unknown, and how my existing mental models can both help and hinder the gaining of new knowledge.

    As with many things of this sort, there’s no cute bullet list (despite my love for them) that I can pass along to help, you just have to [::motions with hands::] feel your way through it and learn from your mistakes.

    That’s my approach, anyway.

    Saludos!

  • More rest, more (less) work

    I recently made the following changes to my schedule:

    1. Sleeping in until fully rested.
    2. No meetings during the week.
    3. Breaking my day into task-based sections.
    4. Taking a daily break for a walk and snack at a local cafe.

    I think I’m onto something, and I’ve noticed the following results:

    1. I get more work done.
    2. I enjoy my work a lot more.
    3. I complete tasks more rapidly.
    4. I need fewer breaks when working.

    Constant course correction seems to be the name of the game.

    Also, these banana muffins I’ve been on lately.

    Amazing.

  • Not to be outdone

    My friend Chris proposed a writing challenge this afternoon, and I accepted.

    I won’t tell you what’s at stake (not because it’s interesting or scandalous, or involves breaking the law or public nudity, but rather because secrets are fun), but I will tell you that I’m back (and alive, as it turns out).

    I’ve got a lot to tell you.

    Chat soon.

  • Quote by Albert Einstein

    Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.

  • First hand

    No amount of research or crowd polling or envisioning will ever replace first-hand experience. Sure, buy travel guides and reference materials and inquire of those who have walked your desired path, but expect to forge new trails when you take the plunge—it’s just the nature of life.

    And while you’re at it, a helpful perspective shift might involve moving from “what can I learn before doing this that would mitigate my risk?” to “what can I do to share the most valable insight from this experience to those who need it most?”

    Because with that simple switch, you’ve become a leader. Someone we look to and look up to and need.

    You might not be the first, but you can certainly be the best.

  • Your quitting point

    If all you need is one “yes” (from a VC or professor or customer) then the only question that remains is how many times you can deal with the “no” before giving up, and how deterred you’ll be with each one.

  • Taking a stand

    I think it means so much more than deciding not to go out one night, being a martyr for a cause, or throwing yourself into new pursuits.

    I think it means making a promise to yourself (an hour of yoga in the morning, twenty pushups a day no matter what, a mini-vacation once every three months for the rest of your life, volunteering on Saturdays…) and keeping it.

    The last part is the hardest, but we’re the sum of our habits and the promises we keep. The people I respect the most (and consequently, the most successful) are those I see keeping their promises.

    The ones they make to themselves.

  • You don’t need advice and tactics

    …you need to decide that you’re willing to do whatever it takes.

    And then you get started.

  • I didn’t even know you did that

    I’ve been accused of being unnecessarily modest when talking about myself, and there’s probably some truth to that. There’s more to it, but what it comes down to is the fact that I don’t derive my sense of self-worth from external praise and regard.

    What I’ve tried to make a conscious effort in perfecting (and testing), however, is the narrative around my work. I think it’s possible to keep the world apprised of what you do without waving your accomplishments around like a banner.

    This has become more important to me as I made the switch from clueless freelancer to less clueless team leader, as there is an urgency in (real) business that must always be present.

    More broadly applicable is the fact that our networks have needs, and that those connected to us would much rather hire us (or someone we recommend) for a job rather than a stranger. If we don’t talk about what we do, how can we serve those around us when our opportunity to help arises?

  • What do we call them, then?

    Today I’m at Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains, delivering a talk called Rethinking Careers. I wrote about the idea once before, and it’s turned into a presentation.

    The biggest takeaway I hope to leave people with is that regardless of the employment type or status (corporate employee, startup founder, freelancer…), it’s our responsibility to find the intersection of:

    1. our specialty (something that we actually know)
    2. our interest (something that doesn’t make us want to die)
    3. our value demonstration to the market (something people will pay us for)

    Also: this work never ends. We have to remain in a posture of finding out where that intersection is, and to courageously seek it out.