Sponsor: Life at the Speed of Play
Mark Pincus built Zynga into one of the biggest gaming companies in the world. His new book, Life at the Speed of Play, is about building products people love and a life you don’t regret. If you buy an author-signed copy right now, you get a second one free to give to a friend. Grab it at getmarksbook.com/success.
The Idea
In his 1977 paper, Albert Bandura described a study on people with a serious fear of snakes. One group practiced progressively harder interactions with a boa constrictor. A second group watched a therapist do those same interactions. A third had no treatment. The people who did the tasks themselves improved the most, and their confidence carried over to other snakes and situations that hadn’t been part of the therapy.
The reason a manageable success works better than watching or studying is that it changes what you believe about yourself specifically. You’re no longer reasoning from what you know. You’re reasoning from what you’ve done.
If you’ve been anxious about job interviews, pick one part you can handle this week. Sit with a friend and answer the question you’re most worried about, out loud, a few times. Once that feels less unfamiliar, make it harder: do a full practice round. Each step earns a small success that makes the next step feel less like a leap.
Quote
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 3, June 1941
Question
What’s one thing you’ve been waiting to feel ready for, and what would the smallest version of starting look like this week?
Listen
Gary Lipovetsky: How One Creator Brand Reaches 100 Million People Every Month. Gary co-founded Valeria Inc. and Creator Method, built a 6.3 million follower audience, and has closed more than 1,000 brand partnerships including work with Dior and Paige Denim.
Read
Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Two working artists wrote this short book about why people stop making things, what keeps the ones who continue going, and how the gap between the work you want to make and the work you can make only closes through the making itself.
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Scott