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Interview: Seth Godin on Achieving Greatness

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Interview: Seth Godin on Achieving Greatness

We talk with Seth Godin about his view of the 10,000 hour rule, his own concept behind achieving greatness, The Dip, and his personal journey to success. After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, he used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in New York City. He then met Mark Hurst and…

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Notes

  1. What Is the "10,000 Hour Rule" and Is It Credible at 1:00

    There is this idea that working 10,000 hours on something makes one an expert in that particular area. Full answer

  2. What Is Emotional Labor and What Are Its Benefits at 2:27

    Emotional labor is the mental work on has to do for the job at hand. Full answer

  3. How Can I Learn to Persevere and Win at 5:11

    Peer pressure. When the going gets tough, many people quit because they do not have the support structure to encourage them to succeed. Full answer

  4. How Can Business Leaders Find Peer Pressure to Stand Out in Life at 7:37

    Society puts a lot of pressure on people to fit in, not to stand out. Full answer

  5. How Can One Turn a Failure Into a Success at 15:07

    Keep trying. Get creative, and iterate. You don't get good at something overnight. Seth got really good at writing by doing it over and over again. Full answer

  6. How Easy It Is to Make a Successful Podcast at 18:10

    Seth knows that podcasts are hard and breaking out to be a hit is extremely hard, that is why he comes on occasional shows to support the creators and to… Full answer

  7. How Do You Get Lucky at 18:54

    At one point, Seth had been on a verge of bankruptcy for nearly five years and pulled through. But plenty founders don't. How do you get so lucky? Full answer

  8. How Did It Feel to Finally Get Out of the Dip at 20:36

    In 1998, after lots of dips in the business, and a failed attempt at selling the company, Seth finally sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for a reported $30m dollars. Full answer

  9. Can People Be Changed at 24:38

    It is nearly impossible to change people who are not enrolled in the journey. People who do not want to learn cannot be taught. Full answer

  10. What Is the Magic of Teaching at 25:04

    If you want to be a good teacher, then by definition it means that some people are not going to understand what you have to teach. Full answer

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