SMARTCUTS

…A BOOK ABOUT REAL WORLD WARP PIPES.

WILLA FOGARTY

DON’T YOU MEAN A SHORTCUT?As defined by Shane Snow– a shortcut is a rapid, short-term gain.

A SMARTCUT is sustainable success achieved quickly through smart work.

You can think of a SMARTCUT

as a shortcut with INTEGRITY.

INTERESTING…HOW CAN I USE SMARTCUTS?

Simple answer:

LATERAL THINKING

A kind of thinking where the most elegant solution is achieved only when you attack it sideways.

NEW IDEAS emerge when you question the assumptions the problem is built on.

PATTERNS OF LATERAL THINKING APPEAR IN ALMOST ALL SUCCESS STORIES.

THE PATTERNS

CAN BE DIVIDED INTO CLASSES…

SHORTEN

LEVERAGE

SOAR

PART I. SHORTEN YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS.

HACK THE LADDERInstead of going up the traditional ladder of success, invent your own ladder.

Public figures (Presidents, entertainers, etc.) often work hard

in another field, and then switch ladders to level up.

Instead of climbing up an endless ladder to success, jump sideways to a different ladder!

TRAIN WITH MASTERS

You can spend 1,000 hours practicing a skill,

OR

a world class practitioner can guide your practice and cut the time to mastery significantly.

ON ONE CONDITION…

Training with masters is MOST EFFECTIVE when:

• The relationship is informal

• The relationship happens organically

This leads to a focused journey with trust and accelerated learning.

RAPID FEEDBACK

MYTH: “Fail often and fail fast.”

FACT: A Harvard study says otherwise; entrepreneurs who failed in previous ventures were not any more likely to succeed in the next one…

You need something else…

FEEDBACK, YOU NEED FEEDBACK.Feedback causes you to focus on IMPROVING the task.

Don’t take it personally! Successful people tend to focus on the feedback itself, instead of internalizing it.

Feedback must be provided early and often (hence the rapid part).

PART II. LEVERAGE MORE BANG FOR YOUR PROVERBIAL BUCK.

PLATFORMS

How much better is HARD WORK when it’s AMPLIFIED by a lever?

Successful people throughout history have built layers of abstraction in business and in life that have allowed them to multiple their effort.

These are called platforms.

**Platforms amplify our effort and teach skills in the process.**

WAIT… SAY THAT AGAIN?Platforms can take the forms of tools, technology, or even environments.

Platforms free up room for creative problem solving.

What’s MORE IMPORTANT today is knowing how to leverage platforms to get the results you desire.

WAVES

Luck= being in the right place at the right time…right?

WRONG.

Successful people and companies are adept at placing themselves at the right place at the right time– or catching the wave.

HOW DO I CATCH A WAVE? “The secret isn’t practice—though that certainly helps. It’s going to the beach to watch the waves and getting in the water to experiment.”

A.K.A. PATTERN RECOGNITION

Pattern recognition can come with experience and practice, as well as DELIBERATE STUDY & SEARCH.

*Deliberate pattern spotting can

compensate for experience.*

SUPERCONNECTORS Build VALUABLE relationships with people.

The problem with networking is people are out for themselves.

***

Instead, SUPERCONNECT—Learn what people need and ask: “How do we create something of value?”

SUPERCONNECTORS

Building relationships through GIVING is more work, but it is also much more POWERFUL.

“Giving is the timeless smarcut for harnessing superconnectors and creating serendipity.”

“WHAT HAPPENS POST-SERENDIPITY—IS WHERE THINGS START TO GET REALLY INTERESTING…”

PART III.SOARFARTHER THAN PASSIVITY AND THE PLATEAU.

MOMENTUM Momentum is both an ingredient and predictor of success.

BUT the problem with rapid success: when the champagne is gone, momentum often stops.

So what do we do?

What do we need to keep the momentum going?

A sense of forward motion.

The secret is to BUILD UP POTENTIAL ENERGY so that unexpected opportunities can be AMPLIFIED.

“Success is like a lightning bolt. It’ll strike you when you

least expect it and you just have to keep the momentum going.”

HOW DO WE HARNESS MOMENTUM?

SIMPLICITY

Sometimes bigger is not better.

Sometimes more of a good thing is too much.

Sometimes the smartest next step is a step back.

Successful people strip the unnecessary

from their lives and ZERO IN on

WHAT MATTERS.

Simplicity allows them to move on to BETTER THINGS.

10X THINKING

It’s often EASIER to make something 10X BETTER than it is to make it 10% better.

Our peak potential occurs when we go for high-hanging fruit.

Human nature supports

BIG IDEALS and BIG SWINGS.

“TO CREATE BREAKTHROUGH CHANGE, YOU HAVE TO BREAK THE RULES…”

“…AND SMARTCUTS remind us that together,

we can achieve

the implausible.”