When you’re confident, you can aim for a goal that will require more resources than you have.
You won’t reach the goal — you can’t — but maybe you’ll get farther than you would have if you had set your sights on something more reasonable.
I’ve spent a lot of my career exploring what happens when this doesn’t work. When someone sets a goal they had no business trying to reach, without the confidence to survive falling short.
Read MoreOne of my main takeaways from Netflix’s Salt Fat Acid Heat, based on the book of the same name by Samin Nosrat, is that when you dump salt into your pasta water, your pasta tastes great.
Indeed, pretty much everything needs to be salted more than I thought, at every stage of preparation. Salt makes meat more tender, strengthens dough, and enhances flavor.
Read MoreI’ve observed that many high-achieving creatives, leaders, and business owners have a dirty little secret: They struggle with planning.
They rely on a clear vision, external accountability, or both in order to successfully navigate professional life.
And sometimes they pull all-nighters or all-weekenders in order to make up for the missing plan.
Read MoreI never enjoyed cooking very much because I always had the vague sense that I didn’t know what I was doing.
Even though I spent years working in commercial kitchens, I didn’t have much of an awareness of knife technique or other aspects of food preparation. Therefore, I was intimidated by recipes. I stuck to routine meals that I could figure out through trial and error.
Read MoreThe other day, a friend sent pictures of five pies she and her wife had made.
"Recipe testing," she said.
And I had to laugh. Of course. Recipe testing. That makes so much sense. And I've never done it.
It's another example of how people who are good at a thing have a fundamentally different approach from those who aren't. The people who are good at the thing use a different set of tactics that yields much better results.
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