Swipe File #34: The Growth Mindset

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered." — G.K. Chesterton

Hey All,

I rarely read on the web anymore

When I find something interesting, I save it to my Kindle. It's a better reading experience and it's easier to highlight and take notes.

I highly recommend the Send to Kindle browser extension for longer articles (like the ones in this newsletter).

Enjoy this week's issue and if you're feeling inspired, pass it on.

Getting Real via @jasonfried and @dhh

This is the first book from the 37Signals duo Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. It's all free online and though it's not the best reading experience, it's easy to skip around. (Use the Kindle browser extension to save chapters to your Kindle for later.)

The book focuses on building software but the lessons apply to writers, marketers and entrepreneurs. It's a quick, easy and fun read.

75 real-life examples of Jonah Berger's Contagious principles in action via @hum_m

This is an interesting Reddit post that matches some advice from Jonah Berger’s book Contagious with real-world examples.

Triggers - "Gotta get down on Friday..."

Associate your brand with something that people will encounter often, like breakfast or Fridays. Make it strong, make it frequent.

  1. Geico’s Caleb the Camel - Think of him every Hump Day (Wednesday)
  1. Pi Day - Have some pie on the 14th of March (3.14)
  2. Star Wars day – May the 4th be with you
  3. Christmas in Japan - Kentucky!
  4. Santa Claus red - Coca Cola red
  5. Autumn - Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte
  6. Have a break - Have a Kit Kat
  7. NASA Mars Pathfinder mission - Mars Bars

Why would anyone quit their jobs at dream companies like Facebook or Google? via Michael Wolfe

Actually, a lot of very good reasons. Check out the post to read them all.

People without a firm sense of who they are, what they want, and where their interests and passions lie are vulnerable to this. They end up taking their cues from family, friends, and teachers because they don’t have an inner compass to guide them.

Every person walking this earth is different, and changes from month to month and from year to year. Once you realize there is no “best” of anything, it becomes much easier to seek out what is “best for you” and make career decisions based on your own criteria, not based on any conventional wisdom about what success looks like.

As a side note, Michael Wolf is using Quora in an interesting way. He provides in-depth answers to questions (like this one), and re-publishes the answers on his own site.

Fixed mindset vs Growth mindset via @sivers

Another great article from the Derek Sivers archive. The more I read his blog, the more I love it.

In a fixed mindset, you want to hide your flaws so you’re not judged or labeled a failure.

In a growth mindset, your flaws are just a TO-DO list of things to improve.

In a fixed mindset, you stick with what you know to keep up your confidence.

In a growth mindset, you keep up your confidence by always pushing into the unfamiliar, to make sure you’re always learning.

In a fixed mindset, you look inside yourself to find your true passion and purpose, as if this is a hidden inherent thing.

In a growth mindset, you commit to mastering valuable skills regardless of mood, knowing passion and purpose come from doing great work, which comes from expertise and experience.

How Snow White Helped Airbnb's Mobile Mission via @SarahFKessler

Here's a look at how seriously Airbnb treats the customer experience: They actually hired animators from Pixar to help storyboard the entire customer journey.

Airbnb started the project, appropriately code-named "Snow White," by creating a list of the emotional moments that comprise an Airbnb stay. They built the most important of those moments into stories.

What I've been up to:

Last week, I created @email_ideas — a Twitter account to share bits and pieces of inspiration from my inbox. I share three short findings each day. Here's a sample:

Follow along if you're interested.

Have a great week!

Jimmy

PS - S/O to Ann Pohl for the quote!

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