Create [#69]

“What’s something you’ve achieved that most others wouldn’t or couldn’t have achieved?” 

This is one of my favorite interview questions. In the past few months, I’ve asked this question at least 150 times.

150 data points is enough to spot a surprising pattern that will make you re-think success. 

Let’s dive in. 🤿

The interview question is often reframed by candidates as: “hmm, so what am I most proud of?”

I wait. That's fair. Let them cook. 

The answer depends on the seniority of the candidate: for junior candidates, it’s usually some sort of objective achievement, like getting into a top university, doing something impressive in one of their early jobs, or athletic prowess. 

I would’ve expected senior candidates to name something similar, just more impressive – after all, they’ve done more in their careers and the probability of something exceptional happening is higher.

I’ve had candidates who ran organizations with several 100 people in them, have had a highly successful 25-year career, or sold their own company before. 

But instead, they answer, beaming with pride. 

• “I turned a van into a camper.” 
• “I built out the attic of my house by myself.”
• “I took some time and put a pool into my garden, completely DIY.” 

Huh? You managed like two-figure million budgets, quadrupled a company’s revenue, or built up an entire new division of business … and all you can think about is your attic? 

Intriguing. 

When humans have infinite money and time, they tend to converge towards creation. That makes sense: if you’ve already conquered the first four layers of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, creation is a wonderful form of self-actualization. 

Creation is how we express autonomy, legacy, and identity.

Take Naval Ravikant. He initially made good money investing in startups; now, he spends most of his days thinking and occasionally writing absolute banger tweets. 

Or Rick Rubin: a successful music producer, now living in a monk-like way fully focused on creation. 

Or Marcus Aurelius: with his wealth as former Roman emperor, he could’ve lived in indulgence like no other (Ancient Rome appears to have been a great place to be rich). Instead, he chose to write one of the most-read philosophy books of all time. 

Hell, take Benjamin Franklin. Made a ton of money in publishing, retired at 42, and then proceeded to invent the lightning rod & bifocals, founded several libraries and helped write the US Constitution. 

Even in my personal circles, the entrepreneurs who make good money from an exit do one of three things: 

1. They write a book
2. They found another business
3. They start a podcast where 2 white dudes talk about business 

Whether it’s art, music, writing, philosophy, creating new games for yourself inside life (like Richard Branson buying an island), entrepreneurship – creation is the ultimate form of human expression. 

We all have the drive to create. 

A lot of the people I talk to want to do what the exited entrepreneurs are doing: start a podcast or newsletter, create art, pick up an instrument. 

But they never do. 

They fall into the “when”-trap:

• “When I have more time”
• “When I quit my job”
• “When I retire” 

This is a fallacy. Work and chores will always find a way into your schedule. 

Creation won’t – unless you specifically, well, create time for it. 

If you asked me today what I’m most proud of, it’d probably be related to Lacrosse, playing catch-up on the sports that I neglected over the early years of my life to eventually make it to an international level. 

But if you asked me ten years from today what I’m most proud of, I’m sure the answer would be different.

It’d be related to creation – entrepreneurship and writing.

I get to write newsletters like this because I make the time. I sit down every morning at 08:15am latest and create. It’s blissful. 

• Does it drive business? Maybe. 
• Does it help or inspire you, dear reader? Hopefully. 
• Does it make me money? No(t yet). 

But ultimately, it gives me a sense of purpose, of achievement, of self-actualization. And no money in the world can buy this. 

Just like building your own pool, it passes the “earned-status test”: could the richest person in the world have this tomorrow? No. They can't have built a pool or written a backlog of 100s of blog posts themselves by tomorrow. 

You don’t have to be the richest person in the world to create. 

All you have to do is to set aside time, sit down, and do it. 

You have 24 hours in a day like everyone else. 

Question for you: 

What will you create this week? 

Start small. Creation is a habit. Build it step by step. 

Happy Monday. Have a great, purpose-filled week. 

LFG. 🔥

PS: Creation also seems to be a great antidote to hedonism. It’s much harder to party every night when you have something to wake up for in the morning. 

PPS: A cool coincidence I just noticed – this is newsletter #69, that was aptly sent to 691 subscribers. Nice. 

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