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hello@thisisohyeah.comOh Yeah Manifesto
Identifying your own guiding principles is an absolute game-changer: I cannot recommend this highly enough, be it for yourself or building something of meaning to you. And this is not just about identifying your values - it takes it one step further - by really asking you what you're willing to trade off in order to focus on the real priority you value by using the 'even over' method.
This approach is taken from 'The Decision Stack' a method shared to me by a very smart, successful friend who knew I was working on building a big global project at the time and talked about this guy called Martin Eriksson and use of the ‘even over’ method.
Eriksson is a veteran product leader and an expert in scaling things to multiple global markets. It is an absolute gold standard in strategic alignment, a model which allows teams, especially on massive projects, to have more clarity and feel more empowered to make better decisions faster. The most common question Martin hears, when it comes to building a product, is ‘How do we know if we’re building the right thing?’. And often, teams don't. Grand vision statements fail when the execution has struggled due to different opinions across teams or bad decisions being made on a daily basis. And so this 'even over' method makes it easy to decide what you’re willing to trade off over another when building something new.
For context, here’s an example of an ‘even over’ statement in business terms:
Mobile experience even over desktop
User growth even over revenue
It doesn’t mean that the second part of the statement is not important, of course revenue and desktop experience is, but when faced with a decision on what is the most valuable lead, there’s absolute clarity to everyone on what is the prime focus and importance. Not just to you, but all teams delivering the vision.
(For full context of The Decision Stack, check out this 35 minute video where Eriksson dives into the strategic approach. Your mind will be blown.)
What we can adapt from this approach in Oh Yeah, is the framework to create clarity through your own ‘even over’ statements, which become your guiding principles. And here’s the vital piece; when you know your values without ambiguity then it’s not that hard to make a quality decision, no matter what stage you’re at in exploring your new chapter and evolving identity.
For example, your guiding principles based on the 'even over' approach could be:
Valued by my community even over my corporate bosses
My creative journey for self-discovery even over results driven
So what this shows is yes, results and the opinions from your bosses are important, but when it comes to what is more important to you, and what feeds your soul, it's actually being valued by your own community. Yes, good results are important, but right now, having the space and freedom for creative exploration and self-discovery, far outweighs that need.
You can see how the 'even over' statement approach gives clarity because it helps unpack what is meaningful to you now, giving yourself permission to evolve your identity as you explore change.
This is why the following an ‘even over’ approach is such a game changer. They are YOUR fundamental principles which makes it clear what you’re willing to trade over the other, thus sharing clarity to yourself and others in what you should prioritise and care about in any career change decision.
Here’s some of Oh Yeah’s guiding principles as an example. It’s 100% based on what I value and care about: anything I build or decision I make about what time and energy I want to invest stems from these ‘mothership’ principles:
Some of Oh Yeah's Guiding Principles:
You can see easily, what takes priority in each statement, or rather, what you’re willing to trade off. For example, getting a massive audience for Oh Yeah is nice, but it will never be at the expense of Oh Yeah's unique tone of voice (or 'shrinking' a vibe) to fit into mainstream expectations or mass reach. Therefore, there’s no lack of clarity in what is most important to me – or to anyone joining the Oh Yeah community.
And that’s why building Oh Yeah has been such a joy for me and the whole team building the platform. By having clear guiding principles, we have each been empowered to crack on with our respective expertise and experience, helping me learn as a new founder, along the way. The same will be applied to you as you start figuring out your direction, as its likely you won't do this in isolation but with your family, close friends or partner.
Here the space to begin building your own guiding principles:
Remember, you can always finesse them through time. But I honestly think that your ‘gut’ response will lead and anchor you to your ‘mothership’. Be as honest as you can, it's important to be true to yourself, not what you think will land well with others. And in Oh Yeah’s Season 2 the ‘Reflective’ season, I’ll show you how they can be stress-tested and adjusted for the real world.
Enjoy the exercise too, it's time spent investing in yourself and nourishing joy in what YOU want.
Quick Tip: Talk to those who already made the move.
To compliment your guiding principles, let’s go back to your mates.
What’s super handy is speaking to those who have made the transition or change you’re exploring, be it gaining more confidence to change roles at work, or to fundamentally shift the balance between work and life, or to completely change careers. Those who have made the jump and landed on the other side. Listen and learn how they did that. And similarly to those who you’ll hear from The Oh Yeah crew, you’ll gain wisdom, insight and inspiration to help shape your own forward direction.
If you know a couple of folks who have made the shift that you want, reach out to them. These conversations are so life-affirming as we’re often in our own bubbles, engrossed in the day-to-day. So hearing an outside perspective from someone who was once in that same routine will always want to share how freeing it actually is on the other side. And if you’re on good terms with them, they’ll be more than happy to share their perspective and recommendations.
This happened with one of my friends Andre, an amazing writer who comes from the creative design world. A while ago, he made a bold move with his family, leaving the safety net of his home and re-locating his entire brood from the West Coast to Amsterdam.
I spoke to him just around the time I began experimenting on Substack. My pen didn’t leave my hand as I jotted down his advice throughout our catch up. Here’s the key pointers:
-How do you want to feel professionally? In the design world, that’s what it’s all about.
-Give yourself time, but you need a deadline too. You need an out or you won’t move that far.
-Write what you know.
The above is based on Hemingway truism ‘All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.’
And later, I soon came across someone who quoted Hemingway and raised it by one:
‘Write what only you know.’
Now promise yourself to give that mate a buzz and use the space below to jot down what resonates with their learned experiences and any ‘shifting’ tips you’d like to take to explore:
