Paul KilloranFounder & CEO of Ex Ordo

5 StoriesBlogs, Videos and Emails

#1

Lucy

GYPSYsGen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies

Happiness = Reality - Expectations

Lucy’s Parents

Lucy’s Grandparents

Lush Green Lawn

Baby Boomer Career Path Expectations

Baby Boomer Career Path Reality

Lush Green Lawn WITH FLOWERS

FACT #1 GYPSYs Are Wildly Ambitious

“a secure career”

“a fulfilling career”

FACT #2 GYPSYs Are Delusional

Lucy’s Career

spe-cial| ‘speSHel | adjective

better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual.

Lucy’s Pre-Workforce Expectations

The Real World

GYPSYs Are Taunted

GYPSYs Are Taunted

Stay wildly ambitious

Stay wildly ambitious

Stop thinking that you’re special

Stay wildly ambitious

Stop thinking that you’re special

Ignore everyone else

#2

Paul GrahamCo-founder Y Combinator

“Schlep Blindness”http://paulgraham.com/schlep.html

A company is defined by the schleps it will undertake.

Your unconscious won't even let you see ideas that

involve painful schleps.

That's schlep blindness.

The most valuable antidote to schlep blindness is probably ignorance.

Maybe that's one reason the most successful startups of

all so often have young founders.

“What problem do I wish someone else

would solve for me?”

#3

Elon MuskPayPal, Tesla Motors & SpaceX

SpaceX Falcon 9First Upright Landing of a 1st Stage Rocket

Videohttps://youtu.be/Y3XyQHK3Eqw

#4

Build Stuff That Matters

#5

Seth GodinAuthor, Entrepreneur & Marketer

“Choose Your Role”http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/04/choose-your-role.html

In many creative endeavours, we encounter:

The producer, the director, the star and the star's assistant.

The producer initiates.

The producer says “yes.”

The director (and often, the writer) determines the plot, makes the decisions, owns the quality of what

is produced.

The star is a celebrity, the draw, the one we want a selfie with.

The star auditions and the star waits to be picked.

And the star's assistant? He gets coffee, copyedits, and generally

gets unglamorous stuff done, but gets the satisfaction of steady work

plus the chance to say he works for a star.

A survey of high school students found that they'd rather be a star's assistant than a judge, a senator or

a CEO when they grew up.

Safety near the spotlight.

I've done all of these jobs (sometimes at the same time, on

the same project) and, for the right project, you can choose

from any of them as well.

The assistant can't do the work without a star.

The assistant can't do the work without a star.

The star needs to be chosen by the director.

The assistant can't do the work without a star.

The star needs to be chosen by the director.

And the director needs a producer.

The assistant can't do the work without a star.

The star needs to be chosen by the director.

And the director needs a producer.

But the producer, the producer gets to decide.

It's easy to be seduced into believing that you must wait to be picked, and even easier to worship those that have.

It's far more interesting and generous, I think, to find the leverage and the guts

you need to produce…

…to become the the one who says “go”.

The End@dancinpaul

ReferencesWhy Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/09/why-generation-y-yuppies-are-unhappy.html

Schlep Blindnesshttp://paulgraham.com/schlep.html

SpaceX Lands Falcon 9 1st Stagehttps://youtu.be/Y3XyQHK3Eqw

Choose Your Rolehttp://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/

2016/04/choose-your-role.html