Getting better

May 20

Recently I asked David Choi what advice he would give to budding young songwriters. He answered, "put in your 10,000 hours." According to author Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, 10,000 number of hours of practice that it takes to achieve mastery in a given field. And I could not agree more.

To take it a step further, consider the fact that we are human beings, not human doers. Most people think that they should concentrate all of those hours on practicing their work, what they do. But we must also allocate time to the practice of being who we are, therefore being more capable of living a well-rounded and fulfilling life.

If you are building a career, then installing a Self-Development process is a good use of your time. What do you need in order to stay current, educated, and inspired to do what you do? How do you challenge yourself to go to the next level? How do you get better at telling your story?

You have to ask yourself those kinds of questions for the rest of your life because no one else will.

Put things in place to help make you better at being you.

For more of my thoughts on how to hone your craft, watch this video.

Phil Pallen

I'm Phil Pallen, a brand and AI strategist who has spent 15 years helping small businesses figure out who they are, say it clearly, and show up consistently. About six years ago, I started creating content on the side as a way to teach strategy and tools to people who wanted to build their brands themselves. That side project now makes up 80% of what I do, and it has given me hands-on experience with hundreds of tools, partnerships with over 150 brands including Adobe, and a clear sense of what actually works for small businesses.

I have delivered keynote speeches on five continents, written AI for Small Business, and created Brandmasters, a private membership community for small business owners serious about their brand.

I am not just someone who talks about this stuff. I live it, test it, and teach it every day.

Find me at philpallen.co or @philpallen on social media.

https://www.philpallen.co

Getting better

Leadership

Songs are your product