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Be Too Busy to ‘Do Coffee’.html
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Be Too Busy to ‘Do Coffee’.html
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<html>
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<p>![[Naval-Ep29.mp3]]</p>
<p>Ruthlessly decline meetings</p>
<p>Be too busy to ‘do coffee’ while keeping an uncluttered calendar</p>
<p>
<strong>Naval:</strong> Another tweet was: “<a
href="https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002108466809323521?lang=en"
>You should be too busy to ‘do coffee,’ while still keeping an
uncluttered calendar.</a
>”
</p>
<p>
People who know me know I’m famous for simultaneously doing two things.
</p>
<p>
First, I keep a very clean calendar. I have almost no meetings on it. When
some people see my calendar, they almost weep.
</p>
<p>
Second, I’m busy all the time. I’m always doing something. It’s usually
work-related. It’s whatever high-impact thing that needs to be done, that
I’m most inspired to do.
</p>
<p>
The only way to do that is to constantly, and ruthlessly, decline
meetings.
</p>
<p>
People want to “do coffee” and build relationships. That’s fine early in
your career, when you’re still exploring. But later in your career—when
you’re exploiting, and there are more things coming at you than you have
time for—you have to ruthlessly cut meetings out of your life.
</p>
<p><strong>Ruthlessly cut meetings</strong></p>
<p>
If someone wants a meeting, see if they will do a call instead. If they
want to call, see if they will email instead. If they want to email, see
if they will text instead. And you probably should ignore most text
messages—unless they’re true emergencies.
</p>
<p>
You have to be utterly ruthless about dodging meetings. When you do
meetings, make them walking meetings. Do standing meetings. Keep them
short, actionable and small. Nothing is getting done in a meeting with
eight people around a conference table. You are literally dying one hour
at a time.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Nivi:</strong> “Doing coffee” reminds me of an old quote, I think
from Steve Jobs, when someone asked him why Apple didn’t come to a
convention. His response was something like, “Because we wouldn’t be here
working.”
</p>
<p>
<strong>Naval:</strong> I used to have a tough time turning people down
for meetings. Now I just tell them outright, “I don’t do non-transactional
meetings. I don’t do meetings without a strict agenda. I don’t do meetings
unless we absolutely have to.”
</p>
<p>
Nivi used to do this. When people asked us for get-to-know-you meetings,
he would say, “We don’t do meetings unless it’s life-and-death urgent.”
The person has to respond, “Yeah, it’s life-and-death urgent” or there’s
no meeting.
</p>
<p>
<strong>People will meet with you when you have proof of work</strong>
</p>
<p>
Busy people will take your meeting when you have something important or
valuable. But you have to come with a proper calling card. It should be:
“Here’s what I’ve done. Here’s what I can show you. Let’s meet if this is
useful to you, and I’ll be respectful of your time.”
</p>
<p>
You have to build up credibility. For example, when a tech investor
looks at a startup, the first thing they want to see is evidence of
product progress. They don’t just want to see a slide deck. Product
progress is the entrepreneur’s resume. It’s an unfake-able resume.
</p>
<p>
You have to do the work. To use a crypto analogy, you have to have proof
of work. If you have that and you truly have something interesting, then
you shouldn’t hesitate to put it together in an email and send it. Even
then, when asking for a meeting, you want to be actionable.
</p>
<p><strong>Free your time and mind</strong></p>
<p>
If you think you’re going to “make it” by networking and attending a bunch
of meetings, you’re probably wrong. Networking can be important early in
your career. And you can get serendipitous with meetings. But the odds are
pretty low.
</p>
<p>
When you meet people hoping for that lucky break, you’re relying on
<a href="https://nav.al/money-luck">Type One luck</a>, which is blind
luck, and Type Two luck, which is hustle luck.
</p>
<p>
But you’re not getting Type Three or Type Four luck, which are the better
kinds. This is where you spend time developing a reputation
and working on something. You develop a unique point of view and
are able to spot opportunities that others can’t.
</p>
<p>
A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to do great
things in this world. If you want to do great things—whether you’re a
musician or entrepreneur or investor—you need free time and a free mind.
</p>
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</html>