THE SHUT UP SHOW

Helping lone entrepreneurs shut up and make sh*t happen

Focus On the Joy of Defeat, Not the End Goal – Episode 74

By

In today’s episode, we discuss why most of us wait until December to regain our focus. More importantly, we reinforce a message we’ve both learned right here on our show more than once that coincides with the reason we often lose focus throughout the calendar year.

 

Watch the show (uncensored & unedited) 

Share Some Shut Up Love –> The scoreboard starts now, we do not have to wait. @PhilGerb on @_TheShutUpShow #shutupshow (click to tweet)

Shut Up Tips:

As we get closer to the deadline, we lose focus because we run around like chickens with heads cut off. – Phil

Focus sometimes happens when the calendar resets because we think we had all this time to meet our deadlines. – Phil

What would you do if you knew you only have 30 days to live? Damn it, why don’t you run your business like that every single day instead of waiting for a BS deadline? – Phil

If I die tomorrow, did I live with as little regret as possible towards the end of my life? Did I contribute as much as I wanted to? – Berni

We are choosing to focus on more immediate gratification. I think that’s why we use the end of the calendar year as our scoreboard instead of breaking down our big picture goal into small manageable tasks throughout the year. – Berni

If we get early success, we coast. – Phil

Spend time with people who teach you how to get rejected. – Phil

Instead of the pleasure of success, instead of the agony of defeat, focus on the joy of defeat. And relish on the opportunity to get a “no” because it means we are one step closer to the “yes” we seek. – Phil

The scoreboard starts now, we do not have to wait. – Phil

Let’s go for the ask, let’s go for the no. – Berni

Shut up and go for no, baby! – Phil

Berni & Phil Recommend:

Go for No! by Andrea Waltz (Andrea said “Yes” to coming on as a guest and we’ll be giving away a copy of her book in 2014!)

Episode 19: From Foe to Friend: Jia Jiang’s Love Story with Rejection

Episode 64: It’s Just Math: Extracting Lessons from Failure with Rajesh Setty

Episode 70: Mike Hrostoski Speaks the Truth About Love, Sex, and Entrepreneurship

Why do you think we wait until the end of the calendar year to get our focus back?

Join the conversation below or on Facebook.

 

Photo credit: Bruce Guenter

It’s Just Math: Extracting Lessons from Failure with Rajesh Setty – Episode 64

By

Phil and I are so happy to be joined by our good friend Rajesh Setty. Raj is an engineer by trade, serial entrepreneur, author and speaker who dances with rejection and failure. In today’s episode, Raj helps us to extract lessons when things go wrong and shares his 7 beliefs to help us bring our ideas to life, with love.

 

Watch the show (uncensored & unedited)

Share Some Shut Up Love –>  It’s like God had a quota on failures and I ran up the quota rather quickly. – @RajSetty @_TheShUTUPShow #shutupshow (click to tweet)

Fun Facts:

  • Raj is an entrepreneur, author, speaker and alchemist.
  • He has started 7 companies and written 14 books.
  • He read 700 books by the age of 10 and published his first book at 13 years old.
  • Raj is currently writing his next book with the working title From Smart to Successful.
  • Raj lives in Silicon Valley with his wife Kavitha and son Sumukh working on meaningful projects with smart people.
  • Raj has suggested a new tagline for The SHUT UP Show: “Where smart people speak up on their shut up moments.”

Defining Shut Up Moment:

I read 700 books by the time I was 10. Mysteries, novels. I used to play a game. I’d figure out what happens in the novel before finishing the book and would end up being wrong. The only way the protagonist will do what I want it to do is if I write my own book. It took me 8 months and 200 pages to write my first novel. My parents thought I was a little bit off on my mental skills because I kept writing and writing. I wouldn’t stop. I thought I’d write for 8 months. It should take 4 to 6 weeks and my book would be published. I started pitching to publishers and something very unexpected happened. I was getting rejection letters faster than I was sending pitch letters.

Over 3.5 years my first book was published when I was 13. I got rejected 160 times. I got immune to being rejected. I have an engineering degree and a PhD in how to get rejected. Me being Indian, my mom starting getting really worried I would end up becoming a writer, which meant she would have failed as a mom if I didn’t become an engineer or doctor. I was not good at drawing so I picked up engineering. And then I thought, I’m good at writing, I’m good at studying, I should be good at entrepreneurship. So I started a company immediately after engineering. That totally bombed big time…

Shut Up Tips:

It took me 8 months and 200 pages to write my first novel. – Raj

Over 3.5 years, my first book was published when I was 13. I got rejected 160 times. I got immune to being rejected. – Raj

I have an engineering degree and a PhD in how to get rejected. – Raj

Studying and writing are generally solo sports. Building a company is a team sport. It’s like God had a quota on failures and I ran up the quota rather quickly. – Raj

I just live every single day as if today’s the last day and have fun with it. – Raj

Serendipity has played a huge role in what I do. – Raj

Tim Sanders told me, “You can’t manufacture relationships over night.” – Raj

If I can connect people on overlapping things they care about, it will be a long lasting connection. – Raj

If I’m open to everything–whatever goodness is coming my way–good things will happen. – Raj

It’s not easy but I’m an engineer so I look at everything in mathematics. Every time I go wrong, I try to spend that time to extract the lessons I learn from the failure and nothing else. – Raj

I would rather produce less of something that’s great quality than more of something that sucks. – Phil

If I do things that look like work, I run away from it. – Raj

Raj Recommends:

Raj’s 7 Beliefs:

  1. Business is pleasure.
  2. If you do something you’re very passionate about, intense work is rest. (from Swami Rama Tirtha)
  3. The best relationships are lifetime relationships.
  4. Small is the new big.
  5. Detach yourself from the outcome. (from Bhagavad Gita)
  6. Payback is directly proportional to the level of immersion.
  7. Good and timely help is expensive but it costs less than what you will pay for not having it.

Resources mentioned:

Why Plans Are Overrated in My Life by Raj (read post)

Lasting Relationships by Raj (download here)

Beyond Code by Raj (download here)

Find Raj:

Find Raj’s portfolio, books and blog at RajeshSetty.com.

Simply email raj@wittyparrot.com and mention “#shutupshow” to set up a Pro account FREE for one year with WittyParrot.com.