Pushing the urgency, thinking differently, & life formulas

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: Frank Slootman on Pushing The Urgency

Frank Slootman is the former CEO of Snowflake. His advice to young CEOs:

“They just think, ‘I hire a bunch of people, and then I sit back and wait for greatness.’ They have no idea that they have to relentlessly drive every second of the day, every interaction, and seek confrontation,” Slootman told the No Priors podcast.

Look no further than a DMV office to see a lack of urgency among workers, he suggested. “This is what naturally happens to human beings,” he said. “It’s innate. We slow down to a glacial pace unless there are people who are going to drive tempo and pace and intensity and urgency. That’s what leaders need to do.”

CEOs must constantly “push the urgency,” he said, even though “it’s really hard to have the mental energy to bring that to every single instance of the day.”

Source: Yahoo Finance Article

2: Zach Pogrob on How to Think Differently

“Stop consuming what everyone else consumes. Unfollow big accounts. Leave your phone at home. Let your mind wander to random streams of consciousness, to quiet corners of bookstores, to visions you wish existed.

Iterate violently. This is a game of experimentation disguised as consistency. Try something new until your audience likes sharing it, and you like making it. Then, hammer it relentlessly, until it's time to experiment again.

What's the one sentence summary of what you create? How do fans tell their friends about you? How do you make every word of that sentence different from what's out there?

Go back further. Watch old movies. Read old books. Explore mediums that barely exist today- magazines, VHS tapes. When you tap into content outside your 'for-you' feed, an entire world opens up. Different output starts with different input.

Turn off your mind. You will see things 25 minutes into a sauna session you can't see otherwise. Go for a long walk. Paddle to the middle of a lake. Voices will come. Paths will appear. Truths will be deafening.

Play. Time travel is real. Play a sport. Play a game. Play anything- that makes you feel like a kid again. Tapping into that version of yourself makes life simple. Your stress will seem ridiculous. Your passion will feel obvious.

Pay attention. What do you see that no one else sees? A word. A feeling. An aesthetic. Do you notice fonts all around you- on neon signs, and restaurant awnings? Do you notice colors? Do you feel taste? Do you pause to appreciate a shot in a movie that no one else cares about? Your edge is often at what you notice, and the world ignores.

Be real. If you are truly authentic, different is natural. Your 'brand' is a true extension of you. Your 'values' are the brands' throughlines. Your 'content' isn't you speaking to a camera. It's you speaking directly to a friend. You're the voice they always needed, but never heard before.” — Zach Pogrob

Source: How to Be Different (Without Being Lucky)

3: Naval Ravikant’s Life Formulas

Source: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

See you next Monday,

- Jay + The Z Fellows Team

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