This is the One Minute Blog (OMB). An email of good stuff for you to think about over the weekend, that takes about a minute to read.

Today's word count: 490
It took me 1 min 28s

Finding Your "Thing"

Everyone you admire has found their "thing".

Michael Phelps has a weird body—double-jointed elbows, a torso 8 inches too long, and half the lactic acid production of a normal human. Built like a flying fish, he found his thing: swimming.

Joe Rogan loves getting high and having funny conversations with friends about everything from fighting to aliens. A 3-hour conversation with a stranger? I couldn't do it. But Joe can. He found his thing: podcasting.

Finding your thing is the only true shortcut in life.

It's like realizing you have a dirt bike, so that little dirt path becomes perfect for you (even if it's useless for others in cars).

But how do you find your thing?

I read this brilliant quote from Ben Kuhn (CTO of Anthropic): "What does it seem like everyone else is mysteriously bad at?"

I love this approach.

For me, I've always wondered why people are so bad at explanations. In school, I hated how teachers explained things—too complicated, too boring. Now as an early founder, I'm constantly surprised how bad other founders are at telling their own stories.

It took me years to find my thing. From 10 to 19, I wanted to be a great singer. I wanted that to be my thing. But if wanting things made them happen, then Sydney Sweeney would be named Sydney Tonny.

(See? I'm good at this writing shit!)

For years, I've been trying to make being a founder my thing. I'm a B+ at it. But in the real world, B+ doesn't get you jack sh*t.

Then I started writing and doing what I thought others were mysteriously bad at (explaining things). I'm still figuring out my thing, but I'm getting closer.

Here's another great example

Take Shaan's cofounder Ben Levy. He finds it strange how everyone is terrible at keeping in touch.

I'm guilty of this. I forget to reply to texts, don't check in, and after a great lunch meeting, I might disappear for 2 years.

Ben is the opposite:

• When you write a blog post, he texts saying it's great
• When you have a baby, he sends a gift
• He shares useful links for your projects and texts about your favorite sports team's games

If a Lannister always pays their debts, then the Levy's always send their texts.

Apparently, he texts around 100 unique people EVERY DAY—no agenda, just because he likes to. They've made millions just because Ben stayed in touch with someone who thought of them when an opportunity arose.

You may not know your thing today. That's OK.

Most of us are too humble or worse, too self-critical to admit what we're great at.

So instead of asking "What am I great at?"—start paying attention to "What does everyone else mysteriously suck at?"

—Uncle CT

That's all folks. Back again next week. Every Friday, with the One Minute Blog.