Chapter 3: Start Listening to Winners

For the past couple months, I’ve been listening to copious amounts of The Diary of a CEO (DOAC) podcast. I’ll boot up my Switch and run around aimlessly in Minecraft while Steven Bartlett discusses entrepreneurship, personal finance, and self improvement with a myriad of successful people. For whatever reason, entrepreneurship + Minecraft hits the spot for me.

There are definitely issues with podcasts as a medium so let’s start there.

1. It’s super easy for me to lapse into "consumer mode", where I listen to hours of amazing advice without reflection. How much of this amazing advice actually sticks? And if it sticks, how much of it gets implemented? If I’m being honest, almost none. And the tricky bit is that it feels super productive. I’m gaining a lot of knowledge that could change my life, but instead of doing something about it, I just skip to the next 3 hour podcast. The advice gets lost in the noise, and only finds its way to the top when I need to flex on my friends.

Rebuttal:

There is definitely a danger here but I think I can allow myself a certain amount of "consumer mode" because it takes time for these ideas to germinate and bear real fruit. For example, when I hear on a podcast that my career might be fully automated within the next 5 years, that’s extremely scary to think about. This may or may not be true, and it may or may not have an impact on my career trajectory. In any case, I should give myself permission to remain in "consumer mode" for a period of time because it takes time to adapt to new ideas.

Additionally, I have this theory that it only takes one idea to change my life. For example, the interviewees on these shows often have a couple key motivations that have brought them where they are today. When you’re in consumer mode, it can feel like there are a million ideas that you need to grasp in order to change your life, when in reality, you probably only need to listen long enough to find the one or two ideas to lock in on and run with.

I haven’t implemented this, I’m still very much in "consumer mode", but it’s a nice thought anyway.

2. All these podcasters have something to sell.

Maybe this makes them untrustworthy.

Maybe what made them millions doesn’t work in today’s market.

Maybe they just got lucky.

Rebuttal:

Obviously I need to be careful to avoid get rich quick schemes and taking on massive amounts of financial risk, but beyond that, I think its far more dangerous to have a closed mind than an open mind. When I was trying to decide what to do with my life after high school, I remember my dad giving me the classic advice: “You can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving”. Maybe all those things are true about these podcasters, but maybe I’m just looking for an excuse not to move. If their advice sucks, the only way find out is to start moving in a direction. I’ll learn far more from making mistakes and getting my hands dirty than from being a couch critic.

 In each chapter I give one concrete step that I’ve taken so you can follow along.

Concrete step #3: Listen to Codie Sanchez’s most recent DOAC interview

She's an absolute baller. A winner if there ever was one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYu_PDPqKFc

DISCLAIMER:

I've never done this before and I'm learning as I go. Be cautious because I will make mistakes, but also be inspired because if I can start a business, so can you.