Forward tilt is a mindset aimed at reframing challenges into opportunities. The book is a compilation of essays and activities to help cultivate a value-producing philosophy. This is outstanding for anyone struggling with seeing the value behind their work.
Forward Tilt:: Being ready to jump on opportunities and engage, having drive and energy, having momentum.
Strive for better every day, and work towards becoming the best version of yourself.
A large proportion of success is just showing up.
We need to create value and showcase that value to the world.
Nobody is solely looking out for you except you.
Don’t set deadlines to achieve certain life events. Everyone’s path is unique, and we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves with others.
Stop doing what makes you feel dead inside.
Always remain hungry and interested.
Take action immediately (at least early in your career). There’s no point in deliberating if you haven’t tried it.
The answer to a lot of questions requires time and experience.
No matter what you’re doing, work your ass off.
Energy and stuff compose your life.
Energy:: The substance that gives you life, joy, fulfillment, excitement, challenge, love, hope, sometimes pain, sometimes grief, sometimes peace, but always growth.
Stuff:: Everything that accumulates and makes progress in your life slower.
We must constantly look through stuff.
Stuff happens by itself, but Energy requires action.
Sometimes it’s easier to not be happy.
Writing allows you to communicate ideas and establish a presence.
Ask big questions and ask why they seem impossible, and then try to turn them into possibilities.
Set mini-goals and micro-goals.
Goals that last from 1-12 weeks work well. The shorter they are, the more intense they can be.
Do one thing that is important and hard, and go one step further. This will reinforce being an overachiever.
Exude confidence even when you don’t know what you’re doing. No one else knows what they’re doing either.
Selfishness:: Making decisions in your self-interest and desiring that others do the same.
If you’re doing something out of a sense of duty, you can blame that duty when you fail rather than yourself.
You’re always underestimating what you’re capable of.
Have the best timing, as it is easy to master and gives you a competitive advantage.
Only good things will happen if you fast.
In the real world, timing matters because the value is fluid and opportunity cost is real.
Don’t think in terms of deadlines and what you can get away with. Think in terms of opportunities.
There is no timeline for being an entrepreneur.
Most company founders don’t hit success until they’re in their late 40s.
Many entrepreneurs didn’t plan on being entrepreneurs. They were often the best employees and didn’t leave their job until they got restless.
Master what you’re working on before leaving.
An employee gets paid to perform a skill. An entrepreneur always asks questions about the workings of a business and the task.
Consistently creating content is the best way to improve the quality of your content.
Discovering one’s purpose comes from experience and self-reflection.
You get good by doing. You get great by doing, doing, reflecting on how and what you do, and doing some more. – Issac Morehouse
Self-experiment and find what works for you.
You can’t get writing wrong.
Writing assignments messes with our ability to write because we become so focused on the outcome when writing is such a creative process.
When writing, write the sentences that express your total truth.
You will develop your voice over time.
Go bigger than you feel comfortable with.
“You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn
Be around people with high morals; people who are better than you at the things you want to get better at.
Our social circle plays a huge role in shaping our identity.
Instead of asking for a good reason to do something, ask for a good reason not to do something.
Status Quo Bias:: One type of cognitive bias that involves people preferring that things stay as they are or that the current state of affairs remains the same.
Elevator Pitch:: A fifteen-second of the goals, mission, and philosophy of something.
Create an Elevator Pitch for your own activities.
Most of the value of a personal Elevator Pitch comes from the self-discovery that results from it.
The most reliable method of storytelling is having a beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning of an Elevator Pitch should be a problem statement.
The middle of an Elevator Pitch should be a surprising solution to that problem.
The end of an Elevator Pitch should be something that leaves people wanting to know more.
Your Elevator Pitch will probably produce lots of your entrepreneurial success.
Ask those who know you best what you do better than anyone else in the world.
No matter what you do (relationships, work, buying stuff), there will be a Dip where your motivation and excitement wains. this doesn’t mean you should quit, as the dip is natural. It might mean you need to change roles.
All the best stuff comes from the other side of the Dip, but you’ll only see it after the fact.
The Dip is an opportunity to develop your character and skills.
We cannot simply check big life goals off a list. They have to be done with your full passion and dedication.
Often, we say we don’t care for certain goals or work because we’re lazy or afraid of doing poorly.
“Don’t just do work worthy of a check mark. Do work worthy of yourself.” – Issac Morehouse
The point of learning is to alter patterns in your brain, to change how you see and interpret the world.
Additional facts and information can alter your worldview, but they rarely do, unless the data runs counter to currently accepted beliefs.
Learning often requires conscious examinations of your beliefs and paradigms.
Schooling focuses on memorizing data rather than challenging paradigms.
The school’s incentive structure is to prove you know things, not if those things changed the way you think.
Seek transformation, not memorization.
Never hide from knowing things.
Knowing you don’t know something is not something to be ashamed of, but an incentive to learn.
The Lean Startup:: A method of entrepreneurship where you create the smallest possible version of your idea, see how it works, identify problems and market feedback, iterate, and repeat.
The Lean Startup removes the need to be perfect, encourages fast action, and makes you humble, as you must listen to what the market wants, not what you want.
The downside of The Lean Startup is that it doesn’t emphasize having a vision for your product. Some companies that have done the Lean Startup have produced products that produce nothing in particular and serve no market. Rather, they just run tests instead of creating their product.
Innovation requires knowing what customers want before they know they want it. The entrepreneur must have a new vision.
The formula for success:: Results (r) – expectations (e) = success (S)
Avoid zero-days.
Set your expectations as high as you can reasonably deliver on, and then deliver just a little more.
Imitating others for your life goals and purpose is the best way to unhappiness.
Mimicking an expert is a great way to start learning something new.
Most people live identical lives. This is often because they compare themselves to each other and try to one-up each other. They also are afraid of asking themselves what they want in life.
Tacit Knowledge:: The ability to do things you can’t explain to others.
Skills that are Tacit Knowledge are often your greatest strengths, as they are often difficult to others, making them valuable to you.
Those who are masters at something tend to underestimate their knowledge and ability.
To uncover your Tacit Knowledge, give them a voice. Make them explicit, give them metaphors, and try explaining them to others.
When you read a book that gives a “yes, that’s it!” moment, you are not being introduced to a new idea, but are gaining a vocabulary for an existing idea.
Don’t pursue a path just because it relates to something you’ve done in the past. Pursue a path because it makes you come alive.
We should attach interests and skills to activities, not industries.
Do interesting and challenging stuff, be around people that make you better, and don’t do stuff you hate.
We can take skills across industries.
When asking someone for a favor, make the ask as clear as possible.
“Don’t throw your pearls before swine.”
“No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or they will burst.”
If you are on the cutting edge of something, the world might not react positively since they are not ready for the idea.
Don’t share your ideas with the world unless you are ready for the criticism that comes with it.
A portfolio shows the value you can create with a tangible product or result.
I created X is much more powerful than I’m good at X.
Something finished is 1,000 times more valuable than something half-finished.
Flattery will end your time because you’ll focus on people or things that aren’t your highest value.
Flattery has you looking in the past, reliving your glory, instead of focusing on the future.
The daily stresses pale compared to the overall arc of life.
If no one dislikes what you’re doing, then you are reaching no one, or you’re reaching lots of people, but are not affecting them.
You don’t need a large target market to have an impact, but you can’t have an impact if your target market is everyone.
Instead of focusing on purpose statements, ask good questions.
Imagination is not a finite resource.
Idea consumption and idea creation are mutually reinforcing.
Your brain runs everything through its unique filter.
Social Capital:: Your reputation as a currency.
Social Capital opens yourself up to new opportunities.
Write handwritten thank-you notes.
Only cash in Social Capital when you absolutely have to.
Ask people for very specific advice.
Praise people publicly
Find excuses to create value for people.
Integrity:: Being true to your values.
A person of integrity doesn’t do things, they commit to things.
Be to the point and unambiguous with your communication.
If you have a choice between a simple word and a complex word, choose the complex word.
We can recreate money. We can’t recreate time.
I may not know what I want, but I know I want it on my terms.
Poor advice will rub you the wrong way.
Excellent advice may be hard to hear, but your conscience knows it’s right.
Scarcity is a fact of life.
Scarcity is the driving force behind the market.
Ideas are not scarce.
Never cling to ideas and be liberal with sharing ideas.
Humility:: The ability to look like a fool without feeling crushed, to laugh at yourself, and to learn from yourself.
Humility looks a lot like confidence.
You are living a story where you are both the protagonist and the author. You get to create your story in real-time, but you also get to write the next chapter.
The stories we tell ourselves become the story we live.
Tell yourself the story that best resonates with you.
Engage with the stories you tell yourself so that it becomes second-nature.
Avoiding the things you hate requires self-knowledge and self-honesty.
Hard work produces fulfillment.
Giving your all to what you’re currently doing is the best way to find your next opportunity.
Don’t ever live life without being fully engaged.
An ending is just the opening of a space to start something new.
Forward tilt is a mindset of jumping on every opportunity. It involves hard work, taking risks, and creating value. To stand out, adopt a forward tilt.
