3-2-1: On hard conversations, how to ruin a good strategy, and asking for what you want

Happy 3-2-1 Thursday!

Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider this week...

I.

"The beginner chases the right answers.

The master chases the right questions."

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​II.

"Flexibility alone is not a great strategy, but the lack of it can ruin one."

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III.

"How to clarify a concept you can't articulate:
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1. Change mediums. Draw it. Photograph it. Sing it.
2. Change levels. Explain what is one level up (bigger picture) or one level down (finer details).
3. Change fields. What would this concept look like in different fields?"

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I.

Novelist and writer Francine Prose on hard conversations:

"Sometimes being in a car, looking at the road, not having to make eye contact, is the ideal setting for heavy conversation."

Source: A Changed Man (hat tip to Ben Casnocha)
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​II.

Author and entrepreneur Eliot Peper on taking risks:

"If you know something's going to work, it's not worth working on. It requires no courage. It requires no faith. It requires no skin in the game. Whether you're a spy or a teacher or a spouse or a painter or an abuela or an astronaut or a monk or a barista or a board-game designer, the bits that matter are the bits you make matter by putting yourself on the line for them. The unknown is the foundry where you forge your chips. Everything important is uncertain. Sitting with the discomfort of that uncertainty is the hard part, the wedge that can move the world."

Source: Foundry ​

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What is something you want, but you haven't asked for?

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Want to share this issue of 3-2-1 via text, social media, or email? Just copy and paste this link:

https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/march-14-2024

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Until next week,

James Clear
​Author of Atomic Habits and keynote speaker​​

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p.s. So tell me about your bedtime routine...​

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p.p.s. My thanks to Kevin Root for today's question.