Derek Sivers has lived many lives. He has been a musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, speaker, and book publisher. His TED Talk, “Weird, or just different?”, has been viewed more than 3.5 million times. His book Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur shares everything he learned from starting, growing, and selling the company CD Baby.

You can say hello to Derek at https://sivers.org/contact.

In this episode Derek and I discuss:

How Derek cultivated a practice of questioning assumptions
Why Derek has a Making Room, not a Living Room
What a controversial blog post taught Derek about handling criticism
Why you should distance your private persona from your public persona
What a failed marriage taught Derek about the meaning of failure.
Why you should separate your decisions from the outcome of those decisions
How Derek cultivates calm in his life

References

How to ask your mentors for help
“7 reasons I switched back to PHP after 2 years on Rails”
Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland
The Man with One Red Shoe starring Tom Hanks

My book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life, is now out (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop).

The book is already a #1 bestseller on Amazon.

We have a special offer for the listeners of this episode with Derek Sivers.

If you order the book, forward your receipt to rocket@ozanvarol.com, and mention Derek, you’ll get two special bonuses.

The first is a video training with a behind-the-scenes look at my productivity system. You’ll find tips on how to defeat procrastination and get more done in less time.

The second is a pack of 12 three-minute, quick-hit videos based on Think Like a Rocket Scientist with actionable strategies you can implement right away.

Preparing for the Dream Dominant