On success, public speaking, and finding your life's work

Welcome back to the Z Fellows newsletter! Every Monday we share 3 ideas - to help you build companies, ship products, and create your life's work.

1: Nick Rellas On What it Takes to Succeed:

Recently Nick Rellas, the co-founder and former CEO of Drizly spoke with the Z Fellows Cohort.

Here are 3 insights from the conversation:

1. Be a student of your field: You have to have an almost “autistic” level of knowledge about your field. There’s no substitute for being the most knowledgeable about what you’re trying to do.

2. Treat the problem, not the symptom: You don’t need to be an expert on dating apps, you need to be an expert on human interactions. What drives the need for human connection? Start with a problem. Don’t be a product in search of a problem.

3. Go one level deeper: You have to understand what drives your customers. Why do humans need to date? Why do we live in tribes? When did we start creating tribes? Chase EVERY thread down. Buy a lot of books, and have a tight filter.

2: How to Become A More Articulate Speaker

Everyone speaks, but few speak well. Whether you’re raising money from investors, talking to customers, or inspiring your team… we all can improve our speaking ability.

Here are 5 quick tips:

1. Expand your vocabulary: Your lexicon is all the words you employ on a daily basis. Your surface lexicon is the subconscious words you default to. Your deep lexicon is the vast expanse of your total vocabulary that often gets buried deep inside your brain. The most effective way to expand your vocabulary is to repeat a new word 38 times throughout your conversations.

2. Breathe deeper with words: When asked a question, most of us rush to respond immediately. Instead, take a deep breath. Pausing buys you precious time to index a more suitable word from your deep lexicon.

3. Prune filler words: Record yourself speaking and make a list of all the filler words you use. Then speak deliberately by paying attention not to use those filler words.

4. Curate your language diet: Every word you use is downstream of something you’ve consumed. Run a quick audit of all the articles, books, songs, videos, and conversations that you’re feeding your brain.

5. Tune your vocal instrument: Words aren’t just words, they’re musical notes. The best speakers speak with rhythm and variation as if they’re singing. Vary your pitch, volume, tone, and speed as you speak. A great method to develop your vocal instrument is to read poetry out loud.

Source: How I Became More Articulate With My Speaking by Joseph Tsar

3: The Best Definition of “Life’s Work” I’ve Come Across

As founders, our ultimate goal is to build something that both fulfills us and benefits others. Patrick O’Shaughnessy absolutely nailed the definition of Life’s Work:

• “A LIFELONG QUEST” reflects the reality that work isn’t about a series of accomplishments, which ultimately ring hollow. Asimov wrote “Past glories are poor feeding”

• “TO BUILD SOMETHING FOR OTHERS” is a reminder that work is about service— making others’ lives better. The poet David Whyte wrote, “The authentic watermark running through the background of a life’s work is an arrival at generosity.”

• “THAT EXPRESSES WHO YOU ARE” reminds us that it’s not sustainable to be something you aren’t. The best work comes from people expressing themselves in a way that embraces what makes them different.

Patrick offers 4 questions to triangulate your life’s work:

1. Where do you feel great resistance or fear?

2. What do you do that looks hard to others but feels easy to you?

3. What would you keep doing no matter how much money you had?

4. What’s the weirdest thing you spend a lot of time on? Or, what’s a passion you’d be embarrassed to admit publicly?

Source: My Definition of Life’s Work by Patrick O'Shaughnessy

See you next Monday,

- Jay + The Z Fellows Team

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