Thrive Global: How do you deal with email?
Diesel Peltz: Do the least amount of it possible. In-person meetings are best for complex, collaborative problem solving. Phone calls are valuable for conveying context and ensuring alignment. Text is a good constraint for driving high-signal and efficiency. Email, when there are no alternatives.
TG: When was the last time you felt you failed and how did you overcome it?
DP: Most days are filled with a set of small failures and successes. I’m confident between the time I write this and when it gets published, I will have failed several times. Sometimes there are one or several failures or successes that are an order of magnitude bigger than the rest and those are the ones most people tend to exclusively focus on.
My goal is to think about how we can increase the frequency of the 10x successes and avoid the obvious failures along the way. In my experience, the best way to do that is by spending a disproportionate amount of time stacking lots of little success on top of each other and spending the minority of time avoiding the obvious failure points.
TG: Share a quote that you love and that gives you strength or peace.
DP: “Press On – Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent Will Not – Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius Will Not – Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education Alone Will Not – The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge
“You must do everything that frightens you. Everything–I’m not talking about risking your life, but everything else. Think about fear, decide right now how you are going to deal with fear, because fear is going to be the great issue of your life. I promise you fear will be the fuel for all your successes and the root cause of all your failures, and the underlying dilemma in every story you tell yourself about yourself. And, the only chance you’ll have against fear? Follow it, steer by it. Don’t think of fear as the villain. Think of fear as your guide, your pathfinder.”
From the Book: The Tender Bar, by JR Moehringer
TG: How do you reframe negative thinking?
DP: Eliminate it immediately. General negativity, anxiousness, concern outside a problem solving exercise has no purpose or value. Criticism, identifying gaps in thought process or disagreement with a proposed direction can be helpful when done with a solution oriented mindset.
TG: What brings you optimism?
DP: I’m an optimist in the general sense of the word. I would also consider myself a humanist through my belief in our collective ability and general desire as a species to “make the world a better place.”
TG: Tell us about a small change you have made in your life to improve your focus. What did you do, how long did it take until it became effective, and how you sustain this habit?
DP: I believe driving focus is a reductive process. At Healthy Together, we have the concepts of both Divergent and Convergent thinking. Enhancing focus falls into the convergent category, wherein we look at all of the ideas on the table and coalesce around a single path forward.