Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday

These are my notes from Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday. Each one contains a core idea from the book that stood out. The goal of writing my notes this way is that each could be it's own independent idea with the need for the specific context within the book.

Tim Ferriss's Networking Strategy

Never dismiss anyone: Someone might be able to help you one day. Remember them and leave a lasting impact on them.

Play the long game: You have to establish a relationship before you can get any help from that person. The relationship should be beneficial to both people—so find out how.

Focus on "pre-VIPs": People who aren’t known will be. Anyone who is brilliant and hardworking will eventually find success.

Filtering the Right Feedback

Neil Gaiman, an English writer, once said: "When people tell you something's wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." To collaborate effectively, you need to know what inputs you should be taking in. Someone from the outside doesn’t have the proper context or information to know what the best way to fix something is. Only you know how to fix it because you know what the goals and objectives are.

The Drawdown Period

John Boyd used what he called the "drawdown period" to mark the start of his convergence process. It’s a period of stillness and raw silence. After a breakthrough, John would spend weeks with the idea. Looking at it. Testing it. Exploring it from all angles. Once all possible problems were identified and the idea felt right from all the pre-work, he would begin working on the project. Ryan Holiday did this for one of his books. Setting a January 1st start date, he gave himself a two-month drawdown period. No reading or researching. Just thinking, processing, and digesting. Resting and preparing for the push. This provides time for us to clear up mental bandwidth to start creating, making decisions, and focus. Eventually, Ryan’s subconscious pushed him to begin, letting him know on December 19th he was ready.

Mania Always Leads to Crash

New industries create speculation. The ideas seem irresistible and urgent. The time to cement yourself in the marketplace has to be right now. However, ambition and urgent timelines create instantaneity. Mania makes others lose their sense of rationale and long-term thinking. Peter Thiel says industries growing like weeds are exactly what you want to avoid. The speculative gold rush creates too much competition. The hype creates too much noise to realize the long-term potential of any idea. Peter says, "If you focus on near-term growth above everything else, you miss the most important question you should be asking: will this business still be around a decade from now?" All mania turns into panic at the first obstacle and panic leads to a crash.

Toyota Way

Great things are timeless. When we develop great principles, they can guide us for the rest of time. For decades, there have been two essential principles that guided Toyota’s internal philosophies. The first one is to always praise long-term virtues. Decisions must always be made with the long-term impacts in mind. The second is to hold deep respect for processes. Having systems and processes are important for sustainability. These two principles led to the creation of the Corolla and the Camry. They’re principles everyone at the company lives by.