THE LEAFLET
December 04 2025
reasons why something feels hard to do, being a good steward of others’ attention, cofounder questions
REASONS WHY SOMETHING FEELS HARD TO DO
You aren’t skilled at it yet.
You are appropriately skilled. You’re making the right move, but you don’t have enough force / resources behind it. (Seth Godin talks about this with a kindling metaphor - if you want a huge fire, you need more than some lil baby sticks. You can’t move the market with $100.)
You are fundamentally ill-suited for doing this thing. You are not a “this thing” person.
There isn’t a mature system surrounding and supporting this thing. You have to sketch or build at least a temporary version of that system so you have a chance to do the thing. (This is true for a lot of start ups, often ones that have landed on a particularly good idea).
There IS a mature system surrounding this thing. But it’s more like a thicket than a street grid. The rules and pathways are complex and forbidding to newcomers.
Teams and leaders can get stymied when they misidentify the reason a thing is hard. A strong leader can teach young or new members of the team to run this analysis more accurately.
Young or new people, especially the ones who aren’t arrogant, often run to item 3. Ironically, these humble people can be drawn to the most self-centered of the explanations. They aren’t yet students of the system that surrounds the work; their data is just what they do, what results they get, and how it all feels (to them). So the conclusion they draw when a thing is hard is that it’s because of something (immutable) about them. You know better. Teach them, show them.
-eric
Read the rest here.
BEING A GOOD STEWARD OF OTHERS’ ATTENTION
Crude binary alert: invisibility and delight. If you can’t achieve one, try to achieve the other.
I’m thinking of this when it comes to the attention of others. That attention is precious. If you’re asking for it, or effectively demanding it from your position of power, treat it as precious. Does this meeting need to exist? If so, let’s make it delightful. If not, let’s delete it.
I’ve often seen this attitude flower in leaders who have the mindsets of engineers. This takes me by surprise, because I stereotype engineers as cold efficiency-maximizers. Data hounds. “Delight” seems alien to their concerns.
Yet, these engineer-y leaders give their people a gift. They don’t waste their time. And the best of these leaders, when using that time, make the most of it. Lots gets done and the doing of it is fun, to boot. The routines and requirements are pared to their essence; that essence is joyful.
They are invisible or delightful. They avoid the compromised, wasteful space between.
-eric
Read the rest here.
CO-FOUNDER QUESTIONS: BEST AND MID CASES
I think these are especially important when you’re diving in with a friend. It can be easier to assume alignment that isn’t there in such cases.
Best case: Our venture has gone mind-blowingly well. What has happened, what does our work look like, what product or service or platform are we providing?
Mid case: Things aren’t on fire or collapsing. But when you look at our venture, what we’re putting into it, getting out of it, and giving others from it, it doesn’t feel worthwhile to keep going. What is the tipping point or edge where I shift from “I want to keep going” to “I want to step away”?
-eric
Read the rest here.
COMPELLING QUOTES
Coach Michael Bungay Stanier on a worthy goal:
Worthy becomes more accessible as a standard when you understand its three different elements: Thrilling, Daunting, and Important. They’re the primary colors that allow you to paint the picture of your vision. If you have all three of these in a goal or project, you’ve got something intriguing on your hands.
Strategist Richard Rumelt on strategic failures:
The essential problem for most businesses is that their so-called strategic planning exercises do not produce strategies. Rather, they are actually attempting to predict and control financial outcomes. Put simply, they are a form of budgeting.
Poet W.S. Merwin on years:
I forget what season they are exploding through / what year the drill on the sidewalk is smashing / it is the year in which you are sitting there as you are / in the morning speaking to me and I hear / you through the burning day and I touch you / to be sure and there is time there is still time
Keep going, keep growing,
Ben & Eric