1. Non-standard work requires non-standard approaches.

If you’re looking for a job that’s balanced, challenging, and fun, it’s a non-standard job.

So how and where you look and how you define what it is that you’re looking for should also be non-standard. I found my current role (that I love) on Twitter. LinkedIn is saturated for finding jobs, so you need to look for uncrowded approaches to take (e.g. going to conferences and networking in person).

If you’re an entrepreneur, how you craft and market your offering is upstream of being able to do unconventionally cool work. You must offer something uniquely cool to work with uniquely cool people.

2. Who we work with is almost more important than what we do.

We know this, yet we still make mistakes when we choose who to work with. Do an audit of all the times you chose to work with the wrong person or took the wrong opportunity - do you have any repeating mistakes that you can look out for going forward?

3. Look at the incentive structures to predict the working dynamics 3 months from now.

My startup is completely funded by our founder, who has founded multiple successful companies. This incentive structure means that we don’t need to waste time gathering vanity metrics or rushing towards a Series A evaluation.

But it also means he 1) has a high bar and 2) wants to see value for his investment. Going back to point #2 about choosing who we work with, he’s also a smart, emotionally intelligent person who’s great to work with.

4. The quality of our work attracts people of the same caliber.

To attract nuance, be nuanced. The only way to get here is to do the work, and then reflect on it.

When I look back at my earlier writing, I see why people weren’t knocking down doors to read it, and I just try to improve it a little more each time.

5. We must enjoy and be good at the core of what we do.

Simple, but it can be hard to be honest with ourselves. What is the core of what you do in one sentence?

1. Are you good at it?
2. Do you like it?

If not, how can you tweak what you’re already doing to use your strengths? It can be terrifying to do something different, but what if it was just a slight variation of what you’re already doing? What are some mini-experiments you could test out in a low-risk way?