david hieatt
Do one thing well
83 posts categorized “books”
Maybe the way you always do it is wrong.
Two years ago I tried to update my Typepad blog with a card, it just wouldn't work
So, I got busy. I tried again, and no matter what card I used, I couldn't get it to work.
Just now, I tried it, and it worked fine.
What was I doing wrong? Don't know. But I was doing something wrong, but I kept on doing it.
The result was I didn't write a blog for two years.
Another example was some mornings I would bake some eggs for my daughter.
I would use baking paper so the eggs wouldn't stick to the dish.
They would always stick.
Then I run out. I tired to buy some more, but I bought the wrong one.
I got parchment paper.
I thought about sending it back.
Then i tried it. And it didn't stick.
I was stuck using a way that didn't work.
There is saying about walking in dumb each day.
It is a mindset that gets you to question about why you are doing it that way.
Especially, if it ain't working.
But even when it is working.
But could work even better.
My notes from my visit to LA.
I use an app on my phone called Clear. It’s super simple. I make all my notes on it, from what I read, from what I hear, then I go back to it and use what I have learnt. Keeping notes is good. The brain is for thinking, not remembering all the stuff you have seen or heard. Here’s what I wrote down on my trip to LA.
Guy Webster has new book out. Met him at Do USA. Top human and photographer.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Shots-Legends-Hollywood-Photography/dp/1608872408
If you love simple but beautiful design for your house, Tom Kundig is a top talent.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-Kundig-Houses-Dung-Ngo/dp/156898605X
This documentary by Louie Psihoyo’s comes out Sept 18th. It is a hidden camera look at the mass extinction of animals and our fish. He also did the Cove documentary.
http://www.racingextinction.com/
Rashida Jones guide to happiness at work.
http://www.wired.com/2015/06/rashida-jones-guide-to-happiness-at-work/
Like discovering a new friend, these books take a deep dive into some great brands.
Comparison between one way of doing it, and a newer way of doing it. Clever.
http://thingsdojobs.tumblr.com/
Climbers are different. They just are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o86TpaSBcWw
Amazing community in Northern California that stands for great design and looking after the environment.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sea-Ranch-Architecture-California/dp/1616891777
Skateboarding in California between 1975-78. Seminal time.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Locals-Only-Skateboarding-California-1975-1978/dp/193442983X
Podcast from the people are doing it.
https://gimletmedia.com/show/startup/
A podcast about ideas and curiosity.
http://www.radiolab.org/series/podcasts/
This American Life. America’s most popular podcast.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/favorites
Instagram feed of radavist. If you like bikes, this will be for you.
https://instagram.com/theradavist/?hl=en
A housing trust that is getting people off the streets of LA. Innovative. And truly inspiring. My notes from the tour: Average age 52. Housing first: Strategy to solving the problem. A homeless person costs government $100,000. Housing them automatically saves $40,000. “You don’t have a lot because you can’t carry it.” Every system has failed them: School, family, government, friends etc. Permanent supportive housing is what they supply. 6000 people within 50 blocks of here are sleeping on the streets.
Avery Dennison are leading the way. The stuff they showed me that they are thinking about is truly pioneering.
http://rbis.averydennison.com/en/home/elevate-brands/sustainable-packaging.html
Bringing old denim back to life.
http://www.thedenimdoctor.co.uk/
Getting fit with your community.
Building a bike company through humour and great design.
http://rittecycles.com/ritte-bicycles/
Startup to watch:
Omata. I met with Rhys and Julian in Venice Beach. If you like bikes, great design, and great utility, you are going to love what they are about to launch.
Place I wish I ate at:
N/Naka, by Niki Nakayama. Watch her on Chefs table on Netflix.
http://www.bonappetit.com/people/chefs/article/chefs-table-netflix-documentary
Articles:
Bike Gang culture in LA.
Blue Bottle Coffee. Beautiful coffee shops. And the coffee is insane.
Inspiring. Using coffee for change.
http://www.grubstreet.com/2012/12/toms-coffee-shop-venice-abbot-kinney.html
Le Pain Quodtidien. Belgium company. Downtown LA. Great breakfast.
http://www.lepainquotidien.com/store/downtown-la/#.VexShp1Viko
Uber. Not used it before. Not much demand in Cardigan. Technology is pretty amazing. See the car come around the corner.
https://www.uber.com/cities/los-angeles
A visit to The Southern California Institute of Architecture is well worth it. Oh my, robots, 3 d printers, kids skateboarding down the corridors.
How to Build a great brand with very little money. Sept 11th. London.
How to build a great brand with very little money. Sept 23, 24. New York
Digital needs Analogue.
Recently we sent out our first paper mailer at Hiut.
It was designed by Nick Hand. The illustrations were by a young talent.
It was printed on Nick Hands letter press. Less young talent.
We hand folded them. We hand stamped Hiut on each envelope. We put each address on. We even de-duped by going through each pile.
In a digital world, isn’t all this just a pain in the ass? For sure, it took us some time. And the late nights by the team just sticking labels on to envelopes has been something. (Thanks Naomi, thanks Rob)
But something tells me that digital needs analogue.
Now and again we just need something to arrive on our doormat that we look forward to opening.
Print is still magic.
It smells. I have never smelt an email.
It feels good. I have never stroked an email.
People collect great print. I don’t know anyone who collects emails. Well, not on purpose.
I know the importance of Digital. I am building Hiut Denim Co by learning how to use these powerful digital tools. And am loving the learning.
But something tells me that they both need each other. Yup, Digital needs Analogue.
Like your right leg needs your left one.
How to Build a Great Brand with Very Little Money Do Workshop -London April 24th.
My Book. Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more'
Invest 30 minutes in ‘You’ today.
We are all busy. But change doesn’t require much in the way of time. Out of each day, give yourself 30 minutes. Just for you. Make it something that matters to you. Then invest 30 minutes each day in it. Just plug away at it. Not for long. But often.
30 minutes is small enough amount of time for most people to find. But long enough to make a big difference over a period of time.
Getting fit is a great investment in ‘You’. Doing yoga is a great investment in You. Reading a great book is an investment in ‘You’. Meditating each day is a great investment in ‘You’. Learning a new skill is a great investment in ‘You’.
Mostly these things require an investment of time, and not money. So these are open to all.
Last year I got asked to write for Do Book Co. It was difficult to say no, as Miranda, who runs Do Book Co, knew I wanted to write a book at some point. Also I wanted to support Do Book Co as I had encouraged her to do it in the first place. (It publishes books from speakers at The Do Lectures, which I had co-founded along with Clare). So I said yes.
Of course, I was too busy to write a book. I was building the Hiut Denim Co from nothing, and in the early years that takes a lot of pushing. Plus, we were busy shaping The Do Lectures and setting it up on our farm. My days were already full.
So I decided the best way to do it was give it 30 minutes each day. The bulk of the writing for it was done by getting up early. I would write from 6.30-7.00 am. Then I would stop. And go and make breakfast for the family.
I had to create a new habit. I had to find 30 minutes to invest in me, so that is what I did. The editing stages involved me putting time aside on the weekends, too. And that took more time that I had figured. Granted. But without putting those 30-minute chunks aside, my book would have never been written.
My biggest learning was a big project like writing a book when you don’t have time to write a book is best approached by breaking it down into small more manageable chunks of time.
You don’t miss 30 minutes out of your day.
You don’t have to do much each day, but you have to do something.
How to Build a Great Brand with Very Little Money Do Workshop -London April 24th.
My Book. Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more'
I
Enjoy the ride. It's your ride.
The days you will look back on will be the days that tested you. Business can be a rollercoaster ride. One minute you are up, the next you are down and out.
How well you walk through the fire to quote Charles Bukowski, will say a lot about you. If the ride isn't going as well as you want, you have remember that it is your ride. And you chose that ride.
If you can switch your mind set to think of obstacles as the thing that are going to make you different, refine your thinking and ultimately the very reason you will succeed. If you think of obstacles this way, you will change your life.
Adopt a simple life: Deal with each day one day at a time. Don’t dwell on the past. Don’t live in the future. Keep working in the now. Head down. Working on the thing that matters to you. Stay in the now.
Don’t spend your time moaning. Be thankful for each day. And enjoy the ride. It’s your ride.
You are the one with the hands on the handlebars.
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.
I love resource pages in books. Here is mine.
Books.
Purpose
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman Yvon Chouinard (Penguin, 2006)
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Simon Sinek (Penguin, 2011)
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big Bo Burlingham (Penguin, 2007)
Brand
The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told Through the Personal Letters of Its Founders
Mel Ziegler, Patricia Ziegler, Bill Rosenzweig (Crown, Random House 1994)
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography - Walter Isaacson (Little Brown, 2011)
Product
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries (Crown, Random House, 2011)
The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success Les McKeown
(Palgrave MacMillan, 2012)
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age - Paul Graham (O’Reilly, 2004)
Time
Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity David Allen (Piatkus, 2002)
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less Richard Koch (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2007)
The 4-Hour Work Week,
Timothy Ferriss (Vermilion, Random House, 2011)
People
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
Simon Sinek (Portfolio Penguin, 2014)
The Score Takes Care of Itself:
My Philosophy of Leadership
Bill Walsh (Portfolio Penguin, 2010)
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Building Leaders by Breaking the Rules
L David Marquet
(Portfolio Penguin, 2013) Wooden on Leadership: How to
Create a Winning Organization
John Wooden (McGraw-Hill, 2005)
Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life Spencer Johnson (Vermilion, Random House, 1999)
Ideas
Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success
Ken Segall (Portfolio Penguin, 2012)
A Technique for Producing Ideas
James W Young (Frontal Lobe Publishing, 2011)
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Steven Pressfield (Black Irish Entertainment, 2012)
The Tao of Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett’s Words of Wisdom Mary Buffet & David Clark (Pocket Books, 2009)
You
How To Stop Worrying And Start Living
Dale Carnegie (Vermilion, Random House, 1993. First published 1948)
Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work Steven Pressfield (Black Irish Entertainment, 2012)
Clarity: Clear Mind, Better Performance, Bigger Results Jamie Smart (Capstone, 2013)
The Power of Less: The 6 Essential Productivity Principels That Will Change Your Life
Leo Babauta (Hay House, 2009)
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (First published 1943)
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice, Shunryu Suzuki (Shambhala, 2005. First published 1970)
It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be Paul Arden (Phaidon, 2003)
Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell and Live the Best Stories Will Rule the Future
Jonah Sachs (Harvard, 2012)
‘Trust Breeds Magic.’ Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka SwissMiss
‘You can’t get to wonderful without passing through alright.’ Bill Withers
‘The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.’ Fred Wilson
‘You can do anything, but not everything.’ David Allen
‘The more classic you can make something, the longer it will last.’ Paul Arden
‘Chase the work, and not the money. And the money will come.’ Paul Arden
‘The biggest investment you can make is in yourself not a house. ‘ Warren Buffet
‘The danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it ‘ Michelangelo
‘Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.’
Gustave Flaubert
‘Efficiency only matters if you don’t like what you’re doing.’
Adam Shand on building his own house
Websites
thedolectures.com
99u.com
creativemornings.com
paulgraham.com
www.summit.co
hiutdenim.co.uk
thecleanestline.com
ted.com
Do Book Company
Do Birth - A gentle guide to labour and childbirth - Caroline Flint
Do Disrupt -Change the status quo. Or become it - Mark Shayler
Do Grow - Start with 10 simple vegetables -Alice Holden
Do Improvise - Less push. More Pause. Better results A new approach to work (and life) Robert Poynton
Do Lead - Share your vision. Inspire others. Achieve the impossible - Les McKeown
Do Protect - Legal advice for startups -Johnathan Rees
Do Purpose - Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more -David Hieatt
Do Sourdough - Slow bread for busy lives - Andrew Whitley
Do Story - How to tell your story so the world listens - Bobette Buster
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.
Business is complex. Sport is simple.
Running a startup can soon end up running you. While you're finding strategies to beat the other guys, you will also need to make sure you develope a strategy to look after you.
That is why sport is important. Whatever you do, take time out. Whether it’s a run, a walk, a bike ride, or daily meditation. The brain needs some rest. Work the body, and while the body is so busy doing its stuff, the brain switches off. You feel fresher physically and mentally. Feel the burn of sport.
There are no emails to send, no bills to pay, no awkward people conversations. You are free*. Sport takes the stress of the day away and leaves it far behind.
*Free with every run, every bike ride, every swim: You.
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.
Be balanced. Your startup needs it.
When you are involved in a startup, life can quickly go out of control. If you allow it to. Yes, there will be times when a deadline means burning the midnight oil. And yes, adrenaline is the fuel of startups but mostly because it is cheap. But not because it is the best fuel to build a long-term business.
So your job is to look after the team because they look after the business. So you have to make sure that those crazy times do not become the norm. You have to create a culture where people take their holidays, where late nights are the exception, where people eat well, sleep well, and use their time well. (Read David Allen’s Getting Things Done book. It is a secret weapon.)
Your team are more creative, think better, and much more fun to be around too,if you can create a culture of balance.
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.
Sleep is the multiplier of energy.
Great businesses are built on huge amounts of energy. Even more important than huge amounts of funding.
You can burn the candle at both ends for a while, but there comes a point where you get diminishing returns.
You job is to lead. Your job is to make decisions. Your job is to be a bundle of energy and enthusiasm.
It may sound boring, but if you are going to give your company its best chance of success, you need to get the amount of sleep that your body requires. There is no badge of honour for who is the most tired.
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.
Are you running your business? Or, be honest, is it running you?
The problem with your business is that it matters to you.
And, oh boy, it can and will consume you. Every waking hour. Every sleeping hour. At home. At work. And the journey between the two.
That’s the deal. But you have to find ways to look after yourself. Because you look after lots of other people, who depend on you. Accept that working through the night is a rite of passage, and working weekends goes with the territory. But also accept that these can’t become the norm.
Tired? Go home. Come in fresh. Businesses are very good at running you. Don’t let it.
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.
Most people leave companies via the window.
They do it while their day-dreaming out of the window of a more fun job. Once they find one, they take the more conventional way of leaving a company - the door.
People don’t leave companies for money. They say they do. But they don’t.
They leave emotionally long before they leave physically. They leave because they are not valued, they are not being challenged or feel part of something that matters to them. A central plank to all this discontent is they have stopped learning.
It’s your job to create a learning culture that will keep them emotionally connected. You have to keep their hearts in the business. Training is the best way I know to do that.
And it isn’t just training to do their job better. That’s standard stuff. But you will need to go beyond that to get people engaged.
You will need to send them on courses, even if that course is unrelated to what they do with you. The best companies see the whole person, and not just the little segment that they do for you.
More info on my Do brand workshop - Wales. Oct 17th.
More info on my Do brand workshop - London. Dec 5th.
My new book: Do Purpose. Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more.