Project Exponential

Category: Inspiration

  • What connects us

    Understanding that first and foremost, the life you want to create for yourself, the type of person you want to become, the parts of yourself you’re most excited to develop will attract individuals who will help you get there.

    Realizing that true, authentic connection is expansive. The right relationship discovered at the right time can help you soar, find freedom, create, and see a limitless future.

    Recognizing that relationships are catalysts for growth and independence — for supporting both reckless abandon and providing the foundation to carry the wisdom that comes from experience, failure, frustration, pain.

    Acknowledging that your highest highs and lowest lows are probably different than mine; the value lies in sharing and discovering what these experiences were like for each of us.

    Accepting that at your very worst, you are someone’s pride and joy. Knowing this helps reveal the very best parts of you.

    That through the fog of confusion and longing, we can help each other find shared laughter and bouts of success, punctuated with gratitude and contentment along the way.

    That our mutual appreciation for life — the ups and downs, the hard lessons and the easy ones — may or may not happen at the same time. Your up might be my down, but no matter, when we find ourselves on the same plane, we can share the lessons we learned and the tricks we used to get us through.

    Embracing that this is all really about compassion, about elevating each other and pushing one another to succeed by sharing our struggles and our wins.

    We collaborate because our ideas become greater. Like a brilliant prism, the unique perspectives we each offer leads to undiscovered treasure.

    It’s our gift to find it.

  • 10 questions to ask at a dinner party (instead of “What do you do?”)

    You’ve invited twelve of your closest friends for dinner. No one knows anyone else, and they’re from different parts of your life: Work, parenting group, school, bowling club, gym class. You’ve hired a chef and set the table. Now…how do you get people to talk? “What do you do?” is an easy question. Overused, expected. Here are 10 other questions you can ask, straight off the tables of Project Exponential dinners:

    1. Grand Central Station has room for a new restaurant in the basement. What should we recommend?
    2. The Embassy has asked us to suggest a week-long itinerary for a group of influential foreigners. No one speaks the same language. Where should we take them? What should we do?
    3. We’ve been commissioned to orchestrate vending machines that will be placed in high-traffic tourist areas. What’s inside?
    4. The Department of Education wants us to design a course that will become part of all high school curricula. What do we teach?
    5. How do you encourage risk-taking and entrepreneurial thinking among a team that is afraid to break the rules?
    6. We’ve been given access to a 3D printer and can print ONE THING to be distributed worldwide. What is the thing?
    7. If we were to write one book that everyone here could contribute to, what would it be?
    8. The mayor wants us to develop a ride-sharing program that encourages interaction among residents and visitors. Ideas?
    9. Apple wants us to throw their next company party. Is there a theme? Who do we invite?
    10. What one problem do you presently wish you could solve?

    Write questions on cards and pass them around the table. If you’re feeling really ambitious, separate your guests into teams and group individuals with complementary skills.

  • The best opportunities

    Most really talented people are never discovered. Most will never make it onto the Best Sellers list, won’t speak at TED, won’t be contacted by NPR.

    Chances are you may never find yourself on the big screen. That manuscript? It might end up in more trash cans than hands. And your promising business venture? You’ll be lucky if you get funded within the first ten pitches.

    So you have a choice: you can sit back and wait to be called upon…

    Or you can claim ownership of your own success.

    Don’t wait for the best opportunities to find you. Create them.

    Steps can you take to build your tribe, ship your art, design a viable solution — today:

    • Start a blog and schedule a regular publishing calendar.
    • Organize monthly roundtables with speakers of varied and interesting content.
    • Record a series of podcasts on subjects you’d like to learn more about.
    • Make sure your plan doesn’t include a stroke of luck or a winning lotto ticket.
    • Pitch your mentor, pitch your friend, practice your pitch on the stranger in the elevator.
    • Plan a film festival in a friend’s backyard (or rooftop).
    • Set a recurring alarm and write for twenty minutes each day.
    • Gather three friends and meet every other week to discuss challenges and progress.

    Note: This blog post may sound harsh, but I want you to realize this is your life, your career, your dreams, your goals. No one else will take responsibility for them.

  • 11 ways to “pick yourself”

    Seth Godin encourages us to stop waiting for that call, the publisher, that big chance, the label. We’re at a place in history where opportunities to put ourselves into the game abound. We simply must choose to play.

    But let’s get real. It isn’t always easy to find a straight line from Point A to Point B. The journey is often a winding one, filled with ups and downs, frustration and enthusiasm, celebrations of triumph and moments of despair. We see the Amanda Palmers and the Jerry Weintraubs and place them in a category separate from ourselves. They have more talent. I couldn’t do what she did. I have a family to support. He has all the right connections. She had nothing to lose. We come up with excuses upon excuses, ultimately scaring ourselves away from plausible outcomes. It’s easier to toe the mark, be complacent, play it safe.

    For those wanting to “pick yourself,” it can be challenging to know where to begin. Leaping from a set job description with specific duties to a blank slate in which you create your own career path seems daunting to even the most entrepreneurial among us. (Hint: running your own show rarely happens over night.)

    You may be clocking hours at a 9am-5pm and fantasizing of a life in which your product/service/offering/business/time/art/talent is all your own. Give your dreams a chance. Here are 11 simple ideas to help you move in the direction of picking yourself.

    1. Write. Set aside time to ask questions, dream, think big. Put your phone on silent and set an alarm twenty minutes out.
    2. Find a mentor. Schedule a fifteen minute phone call with someone you admire. Ask about their daily schedule, where they find inspiration, what keeps them motivated. Thank them for their time.
    3. Walk. I call them Creative Walks. Go outside for forty minutes. Do not bring your phone, but do bring paper and a pen. Let your mind wander. The best ideas rarely happen when you’re sitting at a desk.
    4. Become an impresario. Organize an after-work meetup or a social gathering. Invite speakers who can add value to your project and excite your team. Orchestrate a potluck and recruit guests to moderate discussion.
    5. Contribute. Challenge yourself to speak up in your next meeting. Pose a provocative question or make an unnoticed observation. Actively participate.
    6. Be an intrapreneur. Look for a project within your company. Has no one addressed company culture? Is there an unmet need? An open opportunity?
    7. Pitch yourself. That thing you’ve always wanted to start/produce/make? Sell yourself on it.
    8. Lunch and learn. Have lunch with a colleague you don’t know very well. Seek to understand their work and job functions. Find out which projects excite them.
    9. Surprise someone. A colleague, a partner, a parent. Call them out of the blue for no particular reason, leave a card for them to discover, gift them with something thoughtful. Add unexpected meaning to their day.
    10. Book a vacation. You don’t have to spend a fortune. Go away for the weekend. Plan a day trip. Take a tent to the mountains. Break from your day-to-day and surround yourself with something different.
    11. Write a letter to your hero. Compose a letter to your role model, the person whose life you most admire. You don’t have to send it; use it as an exercise to more clearly define your wants and desires. Or send it and see what happens.

  • 10 questions to the best version of yourself

    1. Are you surrounded by people who encourage you to step up your game?
    2. Does your work excite you?
    3. Do your daily priorities align with your grander visions and dreams?
    4. What do you gravitate towards during unscheduled time?
    5. Have you set subgoals that tee you up for greater success?
    6. Do you schedule time each day to recharge and create?
    7. Have you written your dream list?
    8. Do you actively step outside of your comfort zone and seek adventure?
    9. Do you scare yourself regularly?
    10. Are you proud of the story you tell? (Is it positive or discouraging?)

  • Daily choices

    The choices we make impact much more than our day:

    • conversations we have
    • magazines we read
    • apps we open
    • moments we check Facebook
    • meetings we participate in
    • time we set aside to create
    • phone calls we answer
    • emails we send
    • the moment we power off
    • the times we say no

    Set priorities with care. They influence your destiny.