I find these sorts of "n steps to greatness" guides to be suspect: sure, some of this advice is useful but a lot of it is simply common sense and little of it expands upon the original essays it cites; at worst it boils down to a set of platitudes that may or may not benefit you given the actual context.
The problem here is there's no correct way for everyone and by creating a list of potential actions people may be led to think they're just not capable when in fact what they should be doing is finding a path that works for them and not caring what some guy on the Internet claims is the right way of doing things.
For instance, telling someone to be assertive or to keep trying until it works is a specious claim; it's not incorrect all the time of course, but often people miss because they just don't get the social context they find themselves in, not because they haven't tried enough times. If your attitude is, "I'll do this until it works" you risk being reflective and trying to decipher the cause of failure.
Who knows, this might be an exact fit for some people. But for others, I would steer clear and find your own path to greatness, sans self-help gurus.
Thanks for providing your thoughts. I completely agree that there is no correct way for everyone and I never claimed this anywhere in the article.
Moreover, this post is not about how to achieve "greatness". It is not even about reaching any sort of end state - it is merely describing a process that pg has said is correlated with good startup founders.
I think that the problem with your advice (which by the way also puts you in the category of "some guy on the Internet") is that "finding your own path" is even more vague and platitude-y. But again, I mostly agree with you. I am simply offering my own perspective on the concept of "relentless resourcefulness".
Hey Diego -- I checked out your article because I sympathize with your plight. This is totally off topic and unsolicited, but I thought I would give you my thoughts in the hope that it helps. I think my feedback might help, because I suspect that you're like me (you fail where I also fail).
It's a good piece, but I suspect that you didn't get upvotes not because the article isn't "sexy", but because it doesn't really conform with the format of content of the modern web.
Issues: can't tell what the article is about from the title, can't tell how i will benefit from reading your article from the title, first couple paragraphs don't grab me, "wall of text" feeling when you open the article, can't tell if I should give you the benefit on your thoughts because no biographical info or indication that you're important, and it's too long.
A thought: why do people go to church to hear the same Bible stories time and time again? Why read motivational quotes and inspirational stories over and over? Wouldn't one time be sufficient?
I don't think so. People need the regular positive reinforcement and reminding. I know I do.
Jason Shen's stuff is like a shot of vitamin c for me. It's a good thing.
The problem here is there's no correct way for everyone and by creating a list of potential actions people may be led to think they're just not capable when in fact what they should be doing is finding a path that works for them and not caring what some guy on the Internet claims is the right way of doing things.
For instance, telling someone to be assertive or to keep trying until it works is a specious claim; it's not incorrect all the time of course, but often people miss because they just don't get the social context they find themselves in, not because they haven't tried enough times. If your attitude is, "I'll do this until it works" you risk being reflective and trying to decipher the cause of failure.
Who knows, this might be an exact fit for some people. But for others, I would steer clear and find your own path to greatness, sans self-help gurus.