Seth Godin Teaches You How to Juggle
And other things too…
Finally! Exactly what you were looking for.
A masterclass on juggling from Seth Godin.
Now, don’t get angry.
This is not an entire post focused on learning how to juggle from the highly successful entrepreneur and writer, Seth Godin. But, I do mention his juggling secret at the end so I guess you have no other option but to read on.
Recently I listened to Tim Ferriss’ fan-favorite podcast episode with Seth Godin where they talked about The Game of Life, The Value of Hacks, and Overcoming Anxiety.
A lot of what was talked about in this episode hit way too close to home. Almost like I was meant to listen to this podcast at this exact moment.
But I’m not going to get into the synchronicity of the universe. At least, not in this post.
Instead, I wanted to share some of the segments that really resonated with me, and in general, were simply fascinating to think about.
1. The etymology of the word “hack”
“Being a hack is about giving the customer exactly what they want at a decent price”
Seth explains that the word “hack” stems from a borough in the outskirts of London called Hackney where they raised horses.
And these horses weren’t thoroughbreds but simply average horses.
Thus, those who owned these horses, such as a coachman whose responsibility required the physical effort of a horse, were then called “hacks.”
They simply had a horse that got the job done, nothing special about it (sorry horse).
2. The art of being patient and impatient
“Where we need patience is in confronting the things we’re going to get better at and in strapping in for a useful journey, and where we need impatience is with our fear and with our selfishness”
Seth highlights that most of the struggling entrepreneurs he sees is due to them being impatient with external outcomes, and being patient with internal conflicts.
Go ahead and read that one more time. Don’t worry I’ll wait.
In pursuing futile, external hustles such as emailing too many people, revising their elevator pitch, polishing on the design of business cards, they are actually hurting the potential success of their business by not taking action on the internal conflicts they are too afraid to confront.
They are procrastinating on the self-improvement necessary to grow a successful business.
They are being patient in an area that requires impatience. Or rather a relentless pursuit to fix their most important problems that they actually have control over rather than worrying about the external outcomes they can’t.
3. Seth Godin teaches you how to juggle
“If we try to anchor on outcomes and control results, we’re in the catching business and then we’re really in bad trouble”
Seth’s key advice in teaching people how to juggle is to first spend 20 to 30 minutes throwing one ball and letting it fall to the ground. Not even thinking of catching it. Then to add the second ball and repeat the process.
Now there’s a reason behind this apparent madness for all of you asking “shouldn’t you be learning how to catch them rather than throw them?”
And that’s exactly the point. Seth wants you to separate the action of juggling from the outcome of catching the ball so as to build resilience in the action.
Because if we fixate on juggling being about catching the ball rather than throwing it, we are more likely to give up before we even give ourselves a chance of improving.
Or rather.
Because if we fixate on the outcomes rather than on what we can control, we are more likely to give up before we even give ourselves a chance of succeeding.
Well I know what my New Year’s Resolution will be.
