The Noun And The Verb
Austin Kleon has a great expression:
“Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work.
“Forget about being a Writer,” says novelist Ann Packer. “Follow the impulse to write.”
Let go of the thing that you’re trying to be (the noun), and focus on the actual work you need to be doing (the verb).
Doing the verb will take you someplace further and far more interesting than just wanting the noun.”
This is especially relevant in the world of entrepreneurship.
New or aspirational entrepreneurs focus on the noun: being a successful person, having expensive things, being viewed as having high social status.
You can see these on social media accounts that share “success” quotes, often using words like “hustle” and “grind”.
The message is “tolerate the verbs for now, because the reward is in the noun”.
As little work as possible, all designed around becoming “a success”.
Personally I find this approach cringeworthy and unsatisfying; it leads people into either roles that aren’t satisfying, or into industries where they can’t succeed long term.
The verbs in entrepreneurship on the other hand are really valuable.
These are the skills and habits that you develop, of dreaming up new ideas, testing them in the market, pivoting when things don’t look promising, persevering when times are tough, navigating uncertainty, listening to customers, refining products and services to make them even better, watching the numbers with great care, leading a team to achieve something that seemed impossible.
All incredibly useful -ing words, even if you don’t drive a Lamborghini.
Why The Verbs Are So Difficult
The catch is, all of the verbs involve fighting against what Steven Pressfield calls “The Resistance” – the voice in your head that tells you not to bother.
The Resistance is a factory of fake news, raising doubts about your abilities and your right to do the work, slowing you down under the guise of “avoiding failure”.
Each verb involves pushing past The Resistance:
Dreaming new ideas = willing to sound silly
Testing new ideas = willing to be rejected in the market
Pivoting the idea = willing to admit the idea isn’t working
Persevering with the idea = willing to tolerate discomfort
Navigating uncertainty = willing to take risks that might be costly
Listening to customers = willing to put your ego aside
Refining products and services = willing to put in the extra work
Watching the numbers = willing to be bored and make tough choices
Leading a team = willing to be vulnerable and have tough conversations
I bet that all the people you admire have found ways to overcome The Resistance.
Singers who were willing to perform to tiny crowds for no money, recording more and more music even without a fanbase.
Directors who were willing to make home-made or low budget movies, practicing the craft even when nobody knew who they were.
Leaders who were willing to be laughed at, launching their vision without having the proof that it would actually succeed.
Read any autobiography and you’ll see the same trend: they all felt the nerves and pressure that came from doing the verbs, and they pushed through out of conviction and dedication.
How To Get Good At Verbs
I’d suggest that the way you improve at new verbs is through Mindsets, Muscles and Tools.
Mindsets are the principles and beliefs that shape your thinking, such as:
· Good ideas survive competition
· Evidence beats guesses
· You are not your business, its results are not a reflection of your worth as a person
· If an idea doesn’t agree with experiments, it’s wrong
Muscles are what you use to accomplish tasks each day.
We all start with small muscles, but can build them through training and repetition.
We often admire other people’s muscles like they’re a blessing or a gift, but the truth is we can often have them too if we put in the work, such as:
· Creating and publishing content
· Selling to prospective customers
· Having tough conversations with your team
· Public speaking
I’ll bet that everyone’s first attempts at each of these wasn’t very good.
The question is, should that stop you from continuing to train those muscles?
Tools make you stronger, often by magnifying your power or simplifying the task.
There are incredible tools out there today, most of them free or cheap, that give us tremendous power if we put in the work, such as:
· Tools for having ideas (Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas)
· Tools for testing ideas (Test Cards, Customer Conversation Questions)
· Tools for reaching your audience (Mailchimp, Facebook, Google
· Tools for showing off your products and services (Canva, Instagram).
The mixed blessing here is that these tools remove a lot of your excuses.
It’s now possible to target a hyper-specific group of people and hit them with your pitch, all for a few dollars.
The real problem might be that you don’t actually know who your customers are or what you should say to them.
My advice is focus on verbs instead of nouns, through a mixture of reading, listening and getting your hands dirty.
You might find that the nouns you find impressive have really unappealing verbs behind them – as I learned when I spent a few weeks at a stockbroking firm.
You might find that the verbs you enjoy have unappealing nouns attached to them – as I learned when my job title became “Consultant”.
Verbs In Business
Business is a broad field, and an entrepreneur needs to know enough about each element to recognise a problem when they see it.
You want to learn the ideas and principles of each part of business, while also learning about yourself - do you like the verb?
These might include:
Strategy - exploring lots of ideas and identifying the good ones
Sales - talking to customers and helping them get what they need
Marketing - writing ads that are clear and compelling
HR - how to hire and fire people the right way
Management - how to develop and maintain a healthy culture, and how to avoid being a bad boss
Leadership - how to describe your vision and inspire others to join you, even when the future is unclear
Finance - ensuring that you actually make money from each transaction and always have cash in the bank
Partnerships - how to work with great people who have different strengths to you
Writing - how to express yourself through emails, reports and articles so that people understand what you mean and can take action
Public speaking - how to feel comfortable talking to a room, large or small
If these verbs sound unappealing, perhaps you’ve been drawn to this field because what you really like is the noun?
The idea of being a person without a boss, who has high status and material wealth?
It’s a bit like wanting to be a musician because you want a large following and to play at stadiums.
Very, very few people get to that point where they get the “Rockstar” noun, but you can easily do the verbs of writing, recording, refining and performing music.
Chasing nouns gives you a lottery ticket to fame, chasing verbs gives you a high likelihood of having a great day at work.
