Mike M

I came across this wonderful piece from @marcrandolph, Co-Founder of @netflix, the other day. Highly recommend reading it and internalizing it. 5 key lessons I pulled away from Marc’s reflection: 1. Everyone should have a north star - success is what you make of it; money, influence, impact, balance, intellectual satisfaction. There’s no right or wrong; it’s different for each person. The worst thing you can do is build a life around somebody else’s definition of success 2. Values are easy to have, hard to uphold - Your values shine through in difficult times - Extending Marc’s example, it’s not difficult to wrap up at 5 pm on a quiet Tuesday. In a crisis situation, it is difficult, but not impossible. If it’s truly a value, it will be upheld in rain or shine. 3. Compounding is magical - It is so difficult to measure the compounding quality of non-quantitative actions. In business, we see the impact our decisions have daily; these are easily measurable and can be measured over hyper short duration timeframes. It’s why we gravitate towards them - instant gratification. What we don’t see however is the impact of daily decisions that aren’t easily measurable, e.g. an individual conversation with a colleague, a sit down dinner with a family member, daily inward reflection. In my experience, these decisions don’t breed instant gratification, but they are so important - they’re the source of enduring and sustainable long term gratification. 4. Balance comes from imbalance - I’ve found that the best way to achieve enduring happiness is to go “all in”on whatever you’re doing. If you’re at work - go all in; focus, be the best teammate and leader you can be. If you’re at home - do the same; be the best spouse, partner, parent, sibling, you can be. 5. Constraints force impact - This has been a learning for me as I’ve scaled myself as a Leader. The biggest challenge when you’re operating a high growth business is focus; my friend has a simple framework he uses that I love (and stole!). Every company earns the *right* to do a handful of things really well. No more, no less. Inserting constraints forces you to focus, prioritize and spend time on areas that are highest impact and highest leverage.