"You’d be surprised how far you’ll get by just doing what you say you’ll do." - Sahil Lavingia

Follow up

To dramatically improve the probability of feedback, level up fast, and become a partner and then a peer to people you look up to, Pick Up What They Put Down. Even if it is to say you appreciate what they do. It never gets old.

Follow up more

Want a job? Want to raise money? Want to hire someone? Cold emailing is inevitable. Because it's cold, you may get ignored. Follow up. Some in-demand people automatically ignore all first emails as a desire filter. Others are busy or don't have their shit together. Judge them all you like.

In all cases, following up improves your chances of getting what you want.

Follow Through

Following Through is just Following Up on your past self.

Many Obligers, like me, try not to let others down, but let ourselves down way too easily.

You fall in love with ideas, you underestimate difficulty, you find it hard to say no to other people's hopes and expectations, you get lazy and change your mind. You write a check your future self can't cash. Then you build an identity of someone who doesn't follow through. This becomes self-fulfilling.

Less promising. More doing.

Don't Flake

The old adage is "If you want something done, give it to a busy person".

That's too indirect.

If you want something done, give it to a person who gets things done. Guess what kind of people get more opportunities?

"If you want to stand out, set yourself apart in the world: When you say you're gonna do something, do it. Don't flake and I will bring you business for the rest of my life." - Jerod Santo

So What

You have good reasons to not follow up. Health. Family. Fear of looking spammy. Distractions. Anxiety. Lack of confidence. Cynicism. Fatalism. Resistance.

So do people who follow up. Many had more privilege than you. Some had less. They overcame it. The difference?

They understood the value of following up.