Tuesday's Rule #19
Start here
Welcome to this week's edition of Tuesday's Rule. A weekly breakdown of a "life rule" I've found interesting or valuable. I hope you find them as helpful as I do.
One of the recent significant changes I've made is to remove social media apps from my phone.
What I'm trying to achieve is obvious. I'm trying to take control of my time, with less of it spent on my phone, and ultimately to be less distracted (hint: it's still not easy!).
But as with most decisions, there are tradeoffs.
The relevant one is that my rate of adding rules to my phone notes has dried up somewhat…
Hate it or love it, a well-curated social media feed can be a goldmine of insights and thoughts from the most intelligent people on the planet.
The balance is something I’m still trying to optimise.
This week is an example of a tweet that has turned into a rule:
Leveraging this advice, this weeks rule is:
Start With What You Have
Whilst Alex’s tweet is about business, this rule can be applied to just about anything.
I often think things like:
“Once this happens, I’ll be happy”.
“Once I’ve done this, I’ll be able to focus on starting that”.
“Once I’ve made this much money, I’ll be able to do these things”.
The crux of the rule is that you can only use what you have, and you can only start where you are.
There aren’t many examples of successful people who sat around waiting for something good to happen to them.
Whatever your hoping to achieve, there’s a good chance you already have exactly what you need.
A little bit more time, a little bit more comfort or a little bit more money probably isn’t going to make the difference. You’ve likely got more than enough to get going.
Everyone loves a good rags to riches story, but these stories are now common and occasionally over told.
I’ll try to share one that exemplifies the rule, and perhaps one you haven’t heard before.
Daymond John is a highly successful American entrepreneur, investor, author, and motivational speaker best known for founding 'FUBU', the urban clothing brand.
Born on February 23, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York, he grew up in the Queens neighbourhood of Hollis, raised by his mother and grandfather.
In the early 1990s, Daymond saw an opportunity for clothing that spoke to the style and sensibilities of the African American community, which he felt was underserved by the major brands.
He started FUBU (which stands for "For Us, By Us") in his mother's house with a collection of wool ski hats with tie-top closures, which were popular at the time.
When Daymond first had the idea for creating a clothing brand, his mother taught him how to sew and allowed her house to be taken over by the growing collection.
FUBU quickly gained traction after John and his partners—Keith Perrin, J. Alexander Martin, and Carl Brown—began making screen-printed T-shirts.
They received a huge boost when LL Cool J, a childhood friend of John, wore FUBU apparel in promotional campaigns and music videos.
Today, FUBU has made over $6bn in global sales and Daymond is a shark on the famous TV show “Shark Tank”. (For UK readers, think Dragons Den, supersized).
Daymond Johns success is the epitome of starting with what you have.
Learning to sew with his mum, leaning into his culture, leveraging his relationships.
Using exactly what he had, building an incredibly successful business empire.
Daymond has released five books. The titles of two of them in particular tell you what was more important to him than waiting for the time to be right, or for things to fall into place.
In 2006, he released: The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage which he followed up in 2008, with Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Out Hustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life.
We don’t all have to hustle, grind or lean in to an insatiable hunger to get what we want.
But if you’re waiting for something to fall into your lap before you act, just remember...
There’s a good chance it already has.
