Most People Won't

The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozberries taste like snozberries. Snozzberries? What have I heard of a snozzberry? We are the music makers, and we are the dream of such new laws.

This is the Music Makers podcast where I read things out loud to you and then offer my unqualified opinions on them. Most people won't by Bryce Roberts. The first part of this article is from an interview with the designer, l Luna, and it's written in the first person. So I was using Uber all the time in San Francisco, even though I hated the design. And then I went to the Crunchy's Awards ceremony.

And at a post ceremony event where I was in a ball gown, I saw the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, sitting at the bar. I was 3 whiskeys deep at this point, and I walked up to him and I said, I use Uber all the time, and I absolutely hate the app. I think you should bring me in to fix it. He replied, oh, yeah? What are the 3 things you'd fix about it?

I said, I'd redo the logo, redo the entire app, and change the rating system. I think there was something about being an address that empowered me to say such things. And you know what he said? He said, be at the Uber office at 9 AM on Monday. I told him I couldn't do it alone, and he said he'd have a team for me.

I thought the offer was bogus, but I went to Uber's office on Monday at 9 AM laughing to myself. And Travis led me back to a project room with 2 other designers. They were from outside Uber, and he had flown them in from New York. We took on the Uber app and redesigned it in 3 weeks. In fact, one of the guys who flew in from New York ended up staying on full time.

The app is gorgeous, and last night, it won the Fast Company 2013 Innovation by Design Awards for the transportation category, beating out Mars Rover and Tesla. Most people want to be fit. Most people aren't. Most people want to build a successful business. Most people won't.

Most people want to be the best version of themselves. Most people aren't. Everyone wants to quit something, build something, be something, do something. Most people won't. How many things have we wanted?

How many opportunities have we craved? How many broken things have we wanted to fix? And how many of those have we shrunk from, hid from, or excused away? We're not alone. Most people won't.

But every once in a while someone puts themselves out there, makes the leap, faces rejection or failure or worse, and comes out the other side, better, changed, bolder. Most people won't, which means those that do change everything. The fact that most people won't is simultaneously bad and good news. Let's start with the bad so we can end on a high note. Why is it bad news?

Well, it's bad news because that means most of your friends, most of your family, most of the people you hang out with, most of these people won't. Won't what? In most cases, won't anything. They won't try to push themselves forward. They won't try to improve themselves.

They won't try to build the thing. They won't take a risk. They won't risk failure. They won't risk embarrassment. So that's bad news for you because that means that the status quo all around you is stasis.

Everybody stay the same. Let's not have a lot of activity. Let's not be taking risks. Let's not try to push ourselves. Let's just all maintain the status quo.

So it makes it super hard for you as the person who will, the person who will take the risk, who will try something, makes it hard for you to actually do that because everyone around you is not doing it. So you're either passively discouraged from doing it because no one around you is doing it, so it never really crosses your mind, or you're actively discouraged from doing it because people around you don't wanna do it, and they think, no. You you you probably shouldn't do that either. That's not safe. That's risky.

And that's the bad news. It's not easy. If we're postulating that most people won't, then that means when you do, you're gonna receive some kind of flag, some kind of pushback. So be ready for that. Now what's the good news?

Well, the good news is the title of the article, most people won't. So that means it's wide open for you. Most people aren't gonna do anything. Most people just simply are not going to try. And so if you do, if you risk something, if you try something, you're gonna be so far ahead of everyone else just by the very nature of trying.

Sometimes I look at things the wrong way. When I was starting this podcast, I was looking at Serial and Freakonomics and all these great podcasts that I knew I can't hold a candle to those things. But you know what? My podcast is infinitely better than all the podcasts that were never made. All the ones that people said, yeah, I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna make a podcast. But you know what? Most people won't. Most people won't actually do it. And so, by doing the thing, you've put yourself ahead.

My podcast is better than all the podcasts that were never recorded, and I take comfort in that. That's like a good feeling to me. I beat out something that never was. I say it a little bit jokingly, but it's actually true. I'm sure there are tons of great podcasts where they never pushed the record button, which is great news for you.

Don't compare yourself to the people that are number 1 in your field or number 1 in your category or the biggest company in the whatever space you're entering. Think about all the people that never even showed up. You may not come in 1st place, but you showed up, and you put your shoes on, and you ran. And actually showing up and running the race is infinitely better than sitting on your couch and thinking about how good you'd be at running a race. And that's the good news.

Most people won't. So when you do, you are gonna stand out. You can find the show notes for this episode at musicmakers.fm/10. You can subscribe on Itunes by searching for Music Makers, and please leave a review by going to musicmakers.fm/review.