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Episode 1510:
Building meaningful connections doesn't require you to know high-profile figures. Derek Sivers shares how a simple gesture of buying pizza for a stranger at a guest lecture led to a lifelong network across the globe. The key is taking initiative, creating value, and reaching out whether online or in person to develop relationships that expand your opportunities and mindset.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://sive.rs/xn
Quotes to ponder:
"The people you surround yourself with don’t just open doors. They change the way you think, and change your self-image of your capabilities!"
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[00:00:00] Brauchen wir wirklich noch einen Computer? Alle wahrscheinlich nicht. Aber wenn du Musik mit der Power eines Neuralprozessors neu erfindest oder unterwegs Migrationsmuster mit einem ganztägigen Akku analysierst oder deine Ideen mit dem KI-gesteuerten Co-Creator zum Leben erwächst, dann kann ein Co-Pilot Plus PC einen Unterschied machen. Nicht alle brauchen einen leistungsstärkeren KI-Computer. Aber wenn du versuchst, die Welt zu verändern, auch wenn es nur deine eigene ist, haben wir einen für dich entwickelt. Microsoft Co-Pilot Plus PC mit Snapdragon. Die bisher schnellsten und intelligentesten Windows PCs. Die Akkulaufzeit variiert hier nach Nutzung und Einstellungen.
[00:00:30] This is Optimal Work Daily. It's All Who You Know by Derek Sivers of Sivers. That's S-I-V-E dot R-S.
[00:00:40] When you hear it's all who you know, it sounds so intimidating, like you need to be a former roommate of Mark Zuckerberg, cousins with Richard Branson, and dating Taylor Swift. But simply contacting a stranger can lead to a worldwide network of connections.
[00:00:54] When I was 18 at Berklee College of Music, we had a guest speaker named Mark Freed, who was an executive at BMI, a big music company in New York City.
[00:01:04] He walked into the classroom just before class began, and I heard him ask the teacher,
[00:01:08] Oh, I thought we were going to have food. The teacher said, Oh no, sorry, I thought you ate already. Didn't you have lunch?
[00:01:16] Mark said, No, and it's a two-hour class. Oh well. Hearing this, I quickly ran out of the room and called the local pizza place, asking them to deliver three large pizzas to classroom number 115.
[00:01:29] 45 minutes later, the pizzas showed up. I gave one to Mark and shared two with the class. He smiled at me and said, Good move. I owe you one. Here's my card. Call me anytime and let me know how I can help. When you come to New York City, I'll be happy to meet up.
[00:01:43] For the next two years, I took him up on that, sending him my new songs for feedback, and he'd tell me his insights and advice about the music industry.
[00:01:52] When I told Mark I wanted to move to New York, he said, Send me your resume and I'll find you a job.
[00:01:57] Sure enough, a few weeks later, I got a call in my dorm room from Julie Gengo at Warner Chappelle Music Publishing saying,
[00:02:04] We need someone to run our tape room, and Mark Freed said we should hire you. Can you start Monday?
[00:02:10] Just like that, I was in.
[00:02:12] Because I was working inside Warner Brothers, it was easy to meet everybody in the New York City music scene.
[00:02:17] Every person I met connected me to many more. A few years later, it was no problem to move to Los Angeles,
[00:02:23] because I now had a huge network in LA through one degree of separation.
[00:02:27] Now, it's grown worldwide. Whether I'm visiting Iceland, Shanghai, Rio, Japan, or Silicon Valley,
[00:02:34] I've got a wonderful network of connections to call on, and people worldwide who can call on me anytime.
[00:02:39] Usually, we know each other loosely, having only traded a couple emails, but those quickly turn into real friendships.
[00:02:46] All because I bought a pizza for a stranger.
[00:02:49] Surrounded by Success
[00:02:52] Soon after arriving in New York, I was surrounded by successful people.
[00:02:56] I was only 20 years old, but I learned so much from watching how people become successful,
[00:03:01] hearing their stories, philosophies, and mistakes.
[00:03:04] Opportunities were everywhere.
[00:03:06] A chance recommendation from my roommate got me a gig touring the world, playing guitar for Ryuichi Sakamoto.
[00:03:12] These people shaped the way I see the world.
[00:03:15] The people you surround yourself with don't just open doors.
[00:03:18] They change the way you think and change your self-image of your capabilities.
[00:03:22] When you're surrounded by successful people, it feels so easy, so obvious.
[00:03:27] Their attitudes and actions rub off on you.
[00:03:30] But I meet so many people that feel that success is so far away, so impossible to imagine,
[00:03:35] that they act accordingly, aim low, and complete the self-defeating circle.
[00:03:40] I know much of success is luck, but I never realized how much the mindset of success comes from who you know.
[00:03:47] Luckily, who you know is up to you, not luck.
[00:03:50] No need to be in the big city.
[00:03:53] I used to advise ambitious people to move to the big city, where everything is happening.
[00:03:57] And it's still true that it offers some benefits.
[00:04:00] But now, where everything is happening is online.
[00:04:03] And the way to be there is to create something that adds to it.
[00:04:06] Most of the fascinating and successful people I know now are people I met online.
[00:04:11] I see something they've done, or they see something I've done.
[00:04:14] One of us sends the other an email, and that's it.
[00:04:17] A few emails, maybe a phone call, and we're friends.
[00:04:20] What's even more fascinating is finding out that the super connectors, the people who know everybody and everybody knows, are often physically remote.
[00:04:28] The reasons they're so connected are, one, because they keep creating great stuff and posting it online, which gets the attention of their peers.
[00:04:36] So soon, everyone knows who they are.
[00:04:38] And two, because they reach out to say hello to the people they admire.
[00:04:42] So if it seems that there's an uncrossable canyon between you and your heroes, don't forget that all it takes is one connection to catch your rope so you can shimmy across.
[00:04:51] And you can do this from anywhere by creating great stuff online and reaching out to potential friends.
[00:04:57] No need to attend Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg.
[00:05:00] No need to become a cousin of Richard Branson.
[00:05:02] And no need to date Taylor Swift.
[00:05:05] See?
[00:05:05] There are three things you can cross off your to-do list now.
[00:05:12] You just listened to the post titled, It's All Who You Know? by Derek Sivers of Sivers, S-I-V-E dot R-S.
[00:05:20] And thank you to Derek for letting us share his work here.
[00:05:23] He is a musician and programmer who created the popular website CD Baby, where independent musicians can sell their CDs online.
[00:05:31] Now, this was back in the 90s when CDs were how we all listen to music.
[00:05:35] Around 10 years later, owning the entire company, he sold it to Disc Makers for $22 million,
[00:05:41] putting most of it away into an organization that he created called the Independent Musicians Charitable Trust,
[00:05:46] which will fund music education after he passes away.
[00:05:50] Derek's a super unique guy.
[00:05:52] He's a TEDx speaker and popular writer with some great books out there, like anything you want.
[00:05:57] Definitely worth checking out.
[00:05:59] So come by his site, which is just his name with a dot in it.
[00:06:02] That's Sivers, spelled S-I-V-E dot R-S.
[00:06:06] And that should do it for today.
[00:06:08] I thank you so much for being here and for listening all the way through.
[00:06:11] And I'll be back with you tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.