First things first—it has been a while. As you have undoubtedly realized, my Heretic posting schedule has slowed to a crawl. Which doesn’t mean I don’t post—I just happen to post (twice a week) on the radical Briefing. Check it out; you might like it! With this out of the way, let’s talk about GyShiDo.
GyShiDo?
Yes, GyShiDo. The Art of Getting Your Shit Done. 😁
More than a decade ago, Daniel Epstein, Will Butler, and I created—somewhat as a practical joke, but also dead serious—the GyShiDo Manifesto, after realizing that our individual superpowers were simply that we do get things done. I wrote down some principles, registered the domain, launched a website (all in a mad 48-hour GyShiDo session—you have to be true to yourself!), and left it at that. A month later, a design agency donated the robot graphics, and over the years, many GyShiDo-Sans have translated the principles into twelve additional languages.
It’s time for GyShiDo Version 2.
Over the last two decades, I have collected a set of principles that go beyond the productivity rules of GyShiDo—extending the way of the GyShiDo-San into strategy and leadership ()*. It’s going to be a tiny coffee table book, it’s going to be beautifully illustrated, and it’s going to be amazing. And we are doing this together… As I am codifying the principles, I am going to share them here. You will see—they are short and to the point. And as they are short, I want to get the wording just right. In addition to sharing all the content here, I will share a link to a shared Google Doc—if you have comments, refinements, or want to wordsmith, please hop into the shared doc and leave a comment. Make sure you drop your name in the comment so that I can give you credit in the book!
Time to get started, time to Poke Life (this is the opening chapter).
In 1994, after being fired from the company he founded and later returned to, Steve Jobs found himself desperately clinging to his struggling venture, NeXT Computer. In a rare interview from that time, a deeply thoughtful Jobs reflected on life and its deeper meanings.
“The thing I would say is that when you grow up, you are often told that the world is the way it is and that your role is simply to navigate it—trying not to bump into walls too much, aiming for a nice family life, having fun, and saving a little money. However, this is a very limited life. Life can be much broader. Once you discover one simple fact—that everything around you, which you call life, was created by people no smarter than you—you realize that you have the power to change it. You can influence it, and you can build your own things for others to use. The moment you understand that you can poke life and that something will pop out on the other side, you see that you can change and mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing.”
GyShiDo is for everyone who wants to poke life.
() Here is a fun one: Productivity, Strategy, and Leadership are PSL. If you happen to be a Starbucks customer (particularly in the US), you will chuckle now…**