Three-minute read. Or less.
Welcome to week thirty of Three Wins, where I walk you through my process of launching an online course in 2024.
Even if you are not launching an online course, this will help you think about whatever you will launch.
This week, after 8 months, I start filming.
Phew.
- Time. 🕰️
I’ve probably talked about this Steve Jobs story before, but heck, it's worth repeating.
"When Steve Jobs was a young man, his father asked him to paint the fence outside their house. Steve Jobs started painting the outside of the fence. A few hours later, his father asked, 'Steve, did you paint the fence?' Steve replied, 'I did, Dad.' His father inspected the fence and praised the outside but pointed out the unpainted inside. Steve responded, 'But Dad, no one is going to see the inside of the fence.' His father's reply was profound: “But, Son, we will.”
Yesterday, Clare asked me to clean two white chairs for today’s yoga retreat. I cleaned them, and when I looked at them, they scrubbed up well. Proud.
Then I turned them upside down, and they were dirty. So I cleaned them even though no one would see the chair upside down. But I will know. Doing that made me feel even prouder.
The lesson here is about your craft.
It is about looking in the mirror and saying you did a good job. The person you want to impress each day is yourself. That may sound odd, but it is important.
I put so much effort into all the bits of the Micro Blog course to show myself what I was capable of— in effect, painting the back of the fence.
A win.
“The only thing that matters is everything.”
- Money. 💰
Right now, I am reading George Saunders's ‘A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.’
This is a book about how to write better.
For 20 years, he taught a class on the Russian short story form of writing. In short, the class sought to answer the question, why do stories pull us in?
- Why do we continue to read the next sentence?
- And the next?
- What gets us to the end?
Good writing compels you to keep reading. Like falling forward. It creates a domino effect.
When you understand how to write like that…like, really understand it, you can grow your business because you know how to EARN attention.
My aim over the last eight months has been to learn how to write. I have studied my craft, so I can explain it clearly because I know it.
- A chef has to understand flavour.
- And what flavours go with others?
- And what doesn’t?
I had to learn flavour and spice and how to combine it not with food but with words.
I can only do better if I know better; that has been the quest…
I want my £300 course to be 10X the value.
The mission is to be so good that you must tell a friend... unless you secretly don’t want them to do well.
A win.
"Be so good they can't ignore you." - Steve Martin
https://www.amazon.com/Swim-Pond-Rain-Russians-Writing/dp/1984856022
- Mojo. 🙏
Intoku is a Japanese word meaning ‘Good done in secret.’ Doing good for its own sake without expectation of anything in return.
The feeling you get by helping others is unmatched by anything else. It feeds the soul.
If I think back to the days when I felt that way the most, it was days when I gave without any expectation of anything in return. I did some workshops for the unemployed in Wrexham and Port Talbot.
In the Wrexham one, half the people left after 20 minutes. But the ones who stayed were different people at the end of the day.
There were tears. Laughter. And, importantly, hope.
Once I launch Micro Blog, I plan to hit the road again and do a mini tour for the unemployed: ‘Write your way out of this.’
I was unemployed for a year and a half and writing dug me out of a hole. It would be good to share what has helped me. Yup.
A win.
“Don’t do it for applause, don’t do it for claps, do it because you want to help.”
As always, I hope this was useful in some way.
Talk next weekend.
Have a good week.
David.
Three ways to learn more from me:
- The online course. End of June.
If you want to join the waitlist for Micro Blogs, sign up here.
- September 19th-21. Micro Blog Pro. Wales.
- October 18th. Micro Blog. London. Workshop.
Thank you.
