Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to writing one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 21 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes,and What To Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn). They have been translated into 40 languages.His latest book is THIS IS STRATEGY. It was featured in the Harvard Business Review and became a nationwide bestseller.His previous books include The Song of Significance and The Practice, which creativeseverywhere made into a bestseller. He is also the founding editor of THE CARBON ALMANAC, a volunteer community project with 1900 contributors, now available in 7 languages.Though renowned for his writing and speaking, Seth also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!). He's credited as the inventor of email marketing (the good kind). Seth has given five TED talks, including two that rank as the most popular of all time.You can find 10,000 blog posts at seths.blog

Seth Godin

FREELANCER EMPATHY

When phone cameras got good enough, portrait photographers scolded people who took their own headshots.

And when the Mac got pretty good at typesetting, professional designers pointed out that people who can’t tell a font from a typeface and don’t care about kerning should avoid it.

Professional translators bring humanity and insight to transforming writing from one language to another, but many people continue to use Google Translate…

Here’s the thing: the translators take their own headshots. Web designers often use translation software. And life coaches build their own websites with Squarespace and put their own selfies on Linkedin. We all make our own decisions, and most of the time, we use tech to do it ourselves.

This began with the Model T. Before that, people with enough money to buy a car also had a driver.

It’s not easy to find clients, particularly when technology makes it straightforward for many people to do the mechanical part of what you do for them on their own. It’s more convenient, faster and cheaper. It might not be as good by your standards, but if the client wants faster and cheaper, you’re unlikely to win that argument.

When was the last time you hired a studio photographer instead of using a stock photo of a piece of fruit? Or paid for a stock photo instead of using a cc or ai image? You might not cut your own hair (I’m not an expert) but you probably pump your own gas and cook your own meals.

The opportunity isn’t to race to the bottom, or to try to persuade someone that it’s worth upgrading. Instead, we can celebrate the fact that more people are discovering the power of photos, of type, of coaching and of cooking… and we can upgrade what we offer.

The goal is to be the first choice for people who couldn’t imagine doing it themselves, simply because their work is too important or your work is too good for them to ignore.

The best way to upgrade a freelance career is to get better clients. They challenge you, pay you more and talk about you more. And you don’t get better clients by working hard for lousy clients. You get better clients by becoming the kind of freelancer that better clients want to hire.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

Seth Godin 🌔

21 bestsellers, founding editor of the Carbon Almanac, blogger and entrepreneur.

HOW TO WRITE A COACHING/LEARNING PROMPT

An AI like Claude is actually a pretty good fortune cookie. You can ask a simple question and get a simple answer, sometimes a profound one.

But this is a waste of the tool’s potential.

The AI is patient. It’s capable of remembering things over time. And it will persist if you let it.

Several of my friends have shared that they’re at a crossroads with their work, and I suggested an AI coach might unlock something. Here’s a chance to spin up an AI coach who will stick with you for hours or weeks as you explore a new skill or grapple with a hard decision.

The first one:

You are my thinking partner and life design coach. I’m not looking for a quick answer. I’m looking for a smart, patient collaborator who will help me explore what’s next—over weeks and months, not in a single conversation. Ask more than you tell, at least at first.

About me: I’m 63. I’m retiring with full pay from a successful career as an educator in Chicago. I’m not burned out—I’m ready. I’ve spent decades being good at something that matters, and I want to find the next thing that deserves that same energy.

What I’m not looking for: A list of “top ten encore careers.” A personality quiz. Pressure to monetize immediately. I don’t need to replace my income—I need to replace my sense of purpose and craft.

What I am looking for:

Help me take inventory—not just of skills, but of the moments in my career and life when I felt most alive, most useful, most like myself. Ask me questions that surface patterns I might not see on my own.

Help me explore broadly before narrowing. I want to understand what’s out there—in civic life, creative work, social enterprise, mentorship, learning, building—before I commit to anything.

Help me distinguish between what sounds appealing in the abstract and what I’d actually sustain when it gets hard or boring. I know the difference from my career—help me apply that same honesty here.

Give me small experiments to try. Not “go start a nonprofit,” but “spend two hours this week doing X and notice how it feels.” I trust iteration more than inspiration.

Help me navigate the identity shift. I’ve been an educator for a long time. I know that leaving a role that defined you is its own kind of project—emotional, not just logistical.

Treat this as an evolving conversation. Come back to things I said earlier. Notice contradictions. Push me when I’m playing it safe out of habit. Celebrate when something clicks.

Start by asking me five or six good questions. Not surface-level ones. The kind a wise friend would ask over a long dinner.

And the next:

You are my AI filmmaking coach and tutor. Your job is to help me build, step by step, the skills and workflow to create a short film using AI tools. I learn best by doing—give me exercises, not just explanations. Be honest when something isn’t ready for what I need.

About me: I’m a filmmaker and author. I’ve written and directed five critically acclaimed independent f

TIME IS THE WILDCARD

There are two feet of snow blocking your car from the road. This is a problem.

Except it’s not a problem if you don’t need to leave the house for a few days—the snow will melt on its own.

And it’s not a problem if you had decided to move to the island of Saba a few years ago. It never snows there.

Traffic on the way to an important meeting is only a problem because we didn’t leave twenty minutes earlier. The rent that’s hard to cover after a vacation—same thing.

The real world feels like the source of our problems. But our decisions over time might be the actual culprits, hiding in the corner.

Instead of treating time as a given and the real world as an impediment, what happens if we accept the real world and make different decisions about time?

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

THE NEXT GENERATION OF AI BUSINESSES

The first generation was built on large models, demonstrating what could be done and powering many tools.

The second generation is focused on reducing costs and saving time. Replacing workers or making them more efficient.

But you can’t shrink your way to greatness.

The third generation will be built on a simple premise, one that the internet has proven again and again:

Create value by connecting people.

We haven’t seen this yet, but once it gains traction, it’ll seem obvious and we’ll wonder how we missed it.

Create tools that work better when your peers and colleagues use them too. And tools that solve problems that people with resources are willing to pay for.

Problems are everywhere, yet we often ignore them.

And communities (existing and those that need to exist) are just waiting to have their problems solved.

[Here’s a list of network-based tech companies you may have heard of: Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Discourse, Airbnb, Etsy, Stack Overflow, Pinterest, Twitch, eBay, Squidoo, Snapchat, GitHub… You can’t use them alone, and they work better when others use them too.]

So far, most AI projects ignore the very network effects that built the internet. That’s almost certain to change.

For those with paraskevidekatriaphobia, consider this your opportunity to build something worth building instead of just waiting for the negative consequences of this change to arrive…

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

PROCESS THINKING

Sure, you made it work this time, but will it work next time?

Can you teach the method to someone else?

Do you have a protocol for what to do when it doesn’t work?

How can someone else contribute to your process to make it better?

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

LOVE YOUR CUSTOMERS

It’s nice if you do, but it’s not required.

You’re not them. You may have had different experiences, been exposed to different ideas or simply be prepared to make different choices.

That’s okay.

What’s useful: loving the change you’re able to make. Being proud of helping people get from here to there. Focusing on utility and being of service.

You don’t have to invite them to your birthday party, but it helps to care about impact and transformation.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

BETTER VS. DONE

“There, it’s done.”

This is the production mindset and the rule of school. Pencils down. Hand it in.

The alternative is, “Sign me up for a commitment to better.”

Ship an update every day. Learn from what works, relentlessly improve what doesn’t.

The hard part about this path is persisting. Never done projects pile up pretty quickly.

That’s precisely why they’re a competitive advantage.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

SARCASM SELF-DEFEATS

Sarcasm is an easy way to amplify feedback.

It has two hidden costs:

It reveals low status. People with power don’t need to use sarcasm to make a point. If you want to lead with status, using sarcasm undermines that goal.

It adds emotion where it’s not always needed. The emotion is an amplifier, but it often causes division and defensiveness.

If you have confidence in your standing and your idea, then sarcasm is simply getting in the way, because it undermines both.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

PRECISION VS. ACCURACY

Precision requires producing the same results each time. Repeatable, measurable, dependable.

Accuracy means hitting the target.

The only way to consistently be accurate is to be precise.

But there are plenty of precision methods that don’t yield the most desired outcomes.

Simon Winchester’s book on precision is magnificent. As we enter a new age of automation, understanding the thrills and costs of previous revolutions adds a useful perspective.

And you’ll learn about the person who invented shoe sizes as well as the time Queen Victoria hit a bullseye with a rifle.

The world we live in is recent, and was created by a revolution in precision. We’re still working on accuracy.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

“EVERYBODY WANTS TO WIN”

Sports analogies often let us down.

A colleague was explaining how measurement was difficult in many organizations, unlike a basketball game, where the time, the score and the stats are clear and obvious.

He said, “everybody wants to win.” Depending on how you define ‘win’, this is demonstrably untrue.

It seems that among professional athletes, everyone does want to win, all things being equal. But all things are rarely equal.

Perhaps a player wanted to celebrate with friends a day or two before the game instead of watching game tapes. Or maybe they wanted to think for a moment, just a moment, about a conflict they recently had, instead of being supernaturally focused. Or it could be that they’re protecting their body or their psyche rather than risking everything right now, in this particular moment.

Under the circumstances, committed professionals often choose to do their best to meet the specified goals. But the circumstances are rarely evenly distributed.

What everybody wants is what they want.

It helps to do the work to understand why things aren’t the same for each individual, and even better, how to create the conditions for culture and systems to make the goals you seek more likely to be met.

When we get smart about what we mean by winning, we can build a more resilient and aligned organization.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

BROWN RICE AND STATUS

Rice is one of the most consumed foods in the world, and it gives us insight into our relentless search for status and for affiliation.

Once rice is harvested for consumption, it’s brown. The outer layers of the rice husk contain the bran and many of the nutrients in the rice. And yet, most people, including many of the poorest people in any population, only eat white rice.

White rice takes more work to prepare for sale and leaves behind the vitamin-rich bran. We need to harvest more brown rice to make a single serving of white.

The origin of milling rice has to do with storage. Brown rice goes rancid much sooner, particularly in warm climates. As a result, white rice is more reliable–you’re not going to serve a bad batch.

The reliability led to status. Status in serving it and in consuming it. You might not have much, but at least you can eat white rice.

Once that signal is established, it becomes a sign of cultural affiliation. If your family or neighbors are doing it, it’s important to fit in. People insist that white rice is normal and that they prefer it, but that’s only because of their history and culture.

When white rice became a popular commodity and a signal, the demand for brown rice went down. Now it’s a specialty item, and that increases the price, apparently contradicting the very signal about status that made it unusual in the first place. (For some folks, the rarity, healthiness and price of brown rice make it a new sort of status symbol).

With improved supply chains and storage, brown rice is nearly as resilient as white rice is now, but the cultural trope remains. And because people like what they like, we’ve learned to prefer the blander flavor of the rice we were raised with.

If status and affiliation transform the market for one of our most basic commodities, it’s not hard to imagine what they do for wine, for clothing, or even for smartphones.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

“HIDE COMPETITIVE STATS”

I’ve been playing an online wordgame for a few months, and after each round, it shows me how well I’m doing against the 10,000 other people who are also playing.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that the stats weren’t improving my mood (a really good play had me ranking #398) and the competition was also turning into a habit.

Once I found the hide button, everything got better.

Sometimes, the competitive stats aren’t there to help you. They’re there to support the system and the people who run it.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

SHOULD YOU KEEP PLAYING YOUR HIT SONG?

It depends.

A freelancer, a brand, a musician–they’re here to serve. If people come to the restaurant for your famous marinara sauce, if new clients hire you to architect your signature style home or they want to dance to your top 40 hit, that’s what you’re here for.

Brands shouldn’t change their logo or their offerings when they get bored. They should do it when their accountant gets bored.

Unless…

Unless you’re an artist who doesn’t want to become a cover band of their former self.

Unless you use the frontier as fuel for creating more value in the long run.

Unless you’re no longer proud of what you used to do.

That hit is a gift from your former self. Like all gifts, you don’t have to accept it.

In addition to sunk costs, there are sunk benefits. Just because an asset belongs to you doesn’t mean you have to use it.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

THINGS THAT FEEL RISKY

Often aren’t.

In fact, they might be the safest way forward.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

NO.

Is a complete sentence.

So is, “yes.”

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

FREE AGENCY

Unrestricted free choice is a myth.

There are always boundaries and trade-offs.

But being fully stuck is also a myth. We might not like the trade offs, but we also have a choice.

Since we always live in between, the work isn’t waiting until we have free agency. The work is deciding and acting when we think that we don’t.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

VOLUNTARY STORIES

The narrative we run in our head is a choice.

It might or might not be based on objective reality and verified history. Doesn’t matter, it’s still a choice.

There are millions of ways we can remind ourselves about the events of our lives and the systems we live in. But in this moment (and the next) we’ll choose just one or two to rehearse and allow it to alter our decisions, outlook and interactions.

So the key question is simple:

Is it helping?

It’s clear that the story is a choice. You can change it. Not all at once, not easily, but of course, we change our focus. This takes effort, and it’s worthwhile.

And since we can change it, it’s a tool. If it’s not helping, we can change it.

200 years ago, Jeremy Bentham wrote a pamphlet on how we use words to tell ourselves stories. It’s archaic and dense, so few read it any longer. I asked Claude to give us a summary.

springs-of-action Download

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

TIP FOR TAP

There is plenty of unintentional harm in our world. We’ve all been bruised or derailed by someone who had no ill intent.

We often respond with intentional harm, to make a point and to teach a lesson.

The alternative is clarity. Shared understanding instead of intentional pain.

Tap is going to keep coming. It’s the tip that’s up to us.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

TIME WELL SPENT

What an admirable goal. Perhaps the overriding goal of all goals.

How often do we measure this? Do we even know how?

Do the systems we’re in push us from considering this? I wonder why.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

A STARTING POINT FOR THE BLOG

The challenge of the library is the card catalog. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s hard to find much of anything.

The challenge of the web is the search box, for the same reason. It’s efficient once you’re on a mission, but it requires you to go first.

And the chat interface of Claude and ChatGPT is more of the same. Faced with infinite choice, what we really need is a guide.

By request then, ten places to start on this blog:

“Notes to myself” — 65 principles distilled from 10,000+ posts.

“The smallest viable audience” — This will reframe how you think about mass, about scale and about marketing.

“Seeking yoyu 余裕” — Perhaps we need more humanity and less more.

“Energy and systems complexity” — Systems thinking that connects beans to bureaucracies to solar panels.

“Failing in the trough” — A practical, visual framework anyone with customers can use immediately.

“The AI effort gap” — Six sentences that reframe the entire AI conversation.

“Enrollment” — The deep dive into how change actually happens — not through authority or money, but through people choosing the journey.

“Better than the cheap alternative” — What sort of work is worth doing? Particularly by you?

“The Strategy Questions” — 53 questions from “This Is Strategy.”

“This is number 10,000” — The meta-post.

It would be great if there were a similar service for your project, your work and your interactions with empty search boxes.

One approach: ask the AI what you should be asking about. A good librarian is priceless.

          

[This is a repost of my blog. The most up to date version is found there every morning. It's at seths dot blog]

Work, for me, has always been more than a profession. It’s a form of devotion. It has given me everything I’ve wanted in life, and I try to give it the same sincerity in return. Every project, every challenge, every opportunity is a way to learn, refine, and contribute with intent.

Like any practice, it asks for patience. Some days are about pruning what no longer serves; others are about planting ideas and letting them find light in their own time. The rhythm lies in knowing when to act and when to step back, when to question, when to trust.

Across strategy, operations, product, marketing and business growth, that same rhythm guides me. Ideas begin as sparks, they’re tested, refined, and strengthened through friction until they earn their place in the practical world. Ideas excite me, but execution grounds me. I enjoy turning raw concepts into things that stand up to ground friction. I sketch a bold idea, test the edges, then do the less-glamorous work of making it repeatable. That’s where better work begins when curiosity meets discipline. I pay attention to what’s actually growing, and I intervene where the soil is poor or the light is wrong.

Leadership, for me, is quiet influence. It’s removing blockers, choosing the right, embracing mistakes and helping people bring their best selves to the table. I deeply value honesty, simplicity, and the kind of progress that doesn’t need to announce itself. I back teams that do the honest, often invisible work that compounds over time.

Outside of work I close tabs, put my phone down, and let silence do the heavy lifting. The best ideas arrive like seedlings. You tend them, or they don’t survive.

If you prefer conversations that skip the buzzwords and focus on what actually moves the needle, we should talk.

taplio

The Battle

Seth Godin

Snigdha Tiwari

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The Battle

Seth Godin

Snigdha Tiwari

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Seth Godin's LinkedIn Performance

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