Eat, Sleep, Do. Breathe.

All ideas start small.
Yet we live in the cult of the big.
But big is lumbering, slow and over invested in itself.

And while big thinks, you act.

Tankers don’t surf. As everyone knows.

Change comes from lots of small moments stitched together.
Small is power. Because power is in the nimble, the adaptable.

If you’re small and chasing impact, do this:

1) Don’t chase scale. Chase connection. You're only as strong as the network you help. Trees make good teachers, we wrote last time. They grow slowly, methodically. They also know the value of connection. A tree is as strong as the network it keeps. And trees deliver year on year growth, little and often. And live for thousands of years. Put down the business books and pick up nature. It’s a better teacher. It’s strategies come road tested with time.

2) Don’t chase scale. Chase change. Only two truths: everything dies (see '8’ below). Everything is always changing. Embrace it. It's your friend. Sit down with the Buddha and this is where he’d start. Ok, you can’t, he’s dead. But his teachings remain. As do his teachers. And pretty early on at Buddha school this is what you’re taught: everything is always changing. Given it’s true, creating scale is folly. You’re building on foundations of sand. The ground on which you scale is changing, all of the time. The ground being the market, your customers, the earth. Everything is always changing. Fear not, though. The ever changing ground represents opportunity. It is always changing. That is your customers, the market, needs, wants, problems. Constantly changing. Constantly presenting. Chase this change. Dance with your market. As they move, you move. The world neither needs nor can tolerate more rampant growth. It’s over. And unnecessary.

3) Know that most people are not interested in your stuff. And never will be. The pie chart of truth, as we’ve shared before. Picture a pie chart. A whole big circle. And then draw the tiniest slither of cheese, sectioning off a little corner. This is the segment interested in you. Worry not about everyone else. They will find their own way. Worry about the slither. Worry about this tiny population worried about you. Value is here. Usefulness is here. “If we can capture just 5% of the market, we’ll be trillionnaires” said nobody and everybody in their business plans. This is rubbish. Worry not about an imaginary 5%. Worry about 100% attention of your top 5 clients and customers. Everything else is bonus.

4) Remember that people decide emotionally and justify rationally. Stories sell. Inspire me. Buying things is fraught with risk. Will this work? Does it make look good? Will my boss like me? My wife? Husband? We all want to be loved and seen and heard and respected. And to feel good. This is why we work and buy. If you’re doing something useful, which I trust you are, know this. Talk to my heart not my head.

5) You are lazy, crazy, needy and greedy. We all are. That’s your mind I’m talking to. A great teacher taught me this. Hat tip Martin. He teaches me to meditate. Meditation; an ancient and revolutionary technology, technique. Breathing. Who knew? Left to it’s own devices your mind will run amok, with you, your time, your work. It wants short cuts, reassurance, filling up. It doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Learn to live with it. Meditate.

6) Work is what we do to feel good, connected, to learn and contribute. Know it for what it is.

7) Create a revolution. Incrementally.

8) End things often and well. Only two useful truths. No. 2 above. And everything has a time to burn, to die, to give itself up. We are complication machines. Look at most cities. We add, add, add. More layers, more streets, more concrete. Look at most businesses. We find something which works so we do more of it. Over and over. Then we add more things, which might work, more or less. Meanwhile, we’ve carried on doing the earlier thing too. But each time we add, we dilute, we lose focus. You have been gifted boundless pools of creativity and wisdom. It’s called being human. We rise to the challenge before us. These pools of creativity and wisdom are looking for problems to solve, for vacuums to fill.

There is no better invitation to create than ending. Say goodbye to ideas which no longer serve you, to businesses, projects, people passed their sell by date. Release them on to pastures new. And do a Ziggy. Go again. Create anew.

It’s as simple as that.

Eat. Sleep. Do. Breathe.

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