If it takes three to five years for a project to gain traction, it probably doesn't pay to start a project that the world knows it needs right now. The challenge is picking something the world will need then. And the hard part is patiently and persistently sticking with it despite the fact that it's not on everyone's agenda (yet). The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is tomorrow.

Extraordinary organizations have this is as their employee handbook. Resilient ones. Human ones that can thrive in the face of automation and AI. Organizations that are built on customer service, hospitality and flexibility. Of course, this means you'll need to treat your team with respect and offer them training and dignity. It means you won't be able to simply write down every single step in the manual, or work as fast as you can to replace people with uncaring software.

Some pits are infinitely deep. Problems that, once addressed, always get worse. N +1. For some folks, the acquisition of money or power are like this. A little needs to a desire for more. Other problems have known solutions. The tank only holds 8 gallons and then you can move on to filling the next one. A third ice cream cone isn't as good as the first one. Effort leads to satisfaction. It pays to decide which sort of hole we're trying to fill.

What do you do regularly? Where do you show up, what do you publish? Who do you ask, and what do you answer to? What gets better because you persist? Are there systems you support or work to change? What do you do when you don't feel like it? Especially then. The ocean is made of drops. And our practice turns those drops into something of significance.

In a typical tournament, you don't score any extra points for winning with the fewest number of moves. Quickly isn't the point.

We don't use the same language or ideas with an in-law that we do with our bar buddies. When the internet was young, people often chose to filter themselves online. We didn't know who was on the other end of the pipe, and we knew it would be there forever. And typing feels more permanent and official than speaking... Over time, the algorithms rewarded people who were guttural, hurtful, profane and, to use an overused and inefficient word, "authentic." And so it flipped.

Frozen pizza changed the game for many pizzerias. If you couldn't offer something better than what I had in my freezer, what do I need you for? If the wedding photographer can't deliver more magic than the phone in my guest's pocket, no thanks. Does working with your non-profit make me feel better than putting a dollar in the violin case of the busker down the street?

It's an odd term, worth a look. We don't notice that the tree we planted a few years ago thrives just a bit more each day. We don't notice that the mail shows up when it's supposed to, that our civilization persists in the face of chaos, and that the lights (usually) go on when we flip a switch. Granted?

And shiitake mushrooms, spaghetti squash, ginger and even packaged tofu? In the 1960s, the culture changed, and so did the supermarket. Small markets with fifty or sixty kinds of fruits and vegetables transformed into supermarkets carrying hundreds of varieties. Cooking shows and cookbooks raced to teach home cooks about the new, interesting and exotic. And Frieda Caplan showed up to orchestrate a connection between a desire for novelty and unknown international foods.

There's a face on Mars. Ever since Viking took this photo fifty years ago, some people have been sure--certain--that it clearly shows a face on the planet's surface. Of course, once we had a high resolution image from a later mission, all resemblance to a face went away. Human beings need a story, especially when we're trying to understand something we haven't already classified.

The simple rule: Nine shortcuts take longer and are less productive than simply doing the work the right way the first time. When we look for one-quick-tip and the lazy hack, we're wasting time we could have spent on the direct path instead. When a shortcut becomes the best way to do something, it ceases to be a shortcut. It's simply the direct path.

As soon as we see that notice, the current model gets less good. It was fine yesterday, but simply being told that better is available seems to tarnish something that worked. Perhaps "compared to what" isn't always the best question.

If you are struggling to get the word out, if customer traction is elusive, if you are always hustling for a little bit of attention, if it feels like you need to spend more money on promotion... It might be that you skipped the important part. Marketing isn't hype. Marketing is making a product or service that matters. If you're struggling selling the thing you made, it's worth reconsidering the audience, the promise and the change you seek to make--and then be honest with your team about whether your offering is actually remarkable, or just the best you could do with what you had. Because the market doesn't care how hard you're trying.

The announcement of the planned Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros, one of the last remaining major studios, is shedding light on a key issue we often overlook when thinking about culture, creativity and creation. Carriage is the term for the method that books, movies, TV shows and other media get from the producers to the public. It's about who controls user access to the medium.

Organizations and cultures are build on affiliation and organized by status. And that status never stays stable. There's a status loop in some suburbs in how the front lawn looks. A nicely kept yard gets a nod of approval from a neighbor and might be rewarded with a higher resale price. And so one nice lawn might become three or four, and then rakes come out and the cycle continues.

Play Bongo on Puzzmo, Five words. Infinite strategies.

It's tempting to believe that our actions follow our beliefs. That's what we do, it seems, and so others must as well. In fact, just about always, our beliefs arise as a result of our actions. If you want to change what people believe, change how they act.

The only theories worth testing are those that are falsifiable--that it's possible for the test to indicate that in fact, the theory is wrong. And the difference between art and illustration is the same. Illustration can't fail. It can be improved, surely, but it's not wrong. Art, on the other hand, is a bold assertion, something that might not work.

Some choices seem obvious, while others demand care and insight. And some offerings are simple, while others have depth and multiple variables. As you've probably guessed, the choices that are simple and obvious tend to do best in the mass market. Where did you get your cup of coffee this morning? Did you visit a drive through Dutch Bros. or did you use a lever pull at home to pull a shot with beans you roasted and brewed yourself?

Sports cars have a tachometer, a gauge showing how close the motor is to melting down. When the revs enter the red zone, performance is enhanced--for a while. Do it too much or for too long, and you'll burn out. In our work, there are two sorts of red zones. Athletes know that the last 5% of their effort accounts for 100% of their success.

Two different ways to consider this: First, in the marketplace, where most people, most of the time, want the thing that most people want. The average one. Exceptional is the exception. Second, in the committee meeting, where the easiest way forward is to sand off interesting edges, eliminate unknowns and challenge as little as possible. When you put these together, you see the relentless slide toward banality.

If you walk into the Parthenon or paddle at dawn on Joe Lake, it's easy to feel a sense of wonder. And waiting in a long line for an important flight can trigger frustration. But much of the time, our state is automatic. What's your default? Satisfied, bitter, anxious, sad, curious, grateful, energized, disappointed, exhausted, eager, bored, hopeful, frustrated, overwhelmed, inspired or nostalgic... If we can trigger one for six minutes, perhaps we can do it for an hour. We're more likely to perform what we rehearse.

When a new technology arrives, it appears unpolished, ill-formed and a bit wonky. As it gains traction, existing industries and processes begin to be threatened, often before their replacements in the new technology are fully ready. This is how Napster showed up for the music business, or email for faxes, or television for radio. Same with online shopping, smart phones and online learning.

Professionals use specs to invite others to participate in the work. One kind of spec outlines the solution. In clear language, it defines the work to be done. A good solution spec defines an outcome with no room for error or variety. "It's this. Not that, not that, but this. If it's this, we're done." The other kind of spec outlines the…

About thirty years ago, Jerry Shereshewsky invented "Cyber Monday" as an alternative to Black Friday. The idea was that you'd wait until you got to work on Monday after the Thanksgiving break (where there was high speed internet and you wanted to avoid doing drudge work) to do your shopping from your desk. After all, who wants to get trampled at a big box store?