I have noticed over the span of my career that no matter how politely you decline the opportunity to work for someone for free, invariably they will be offended that you had the audacity to reject their generous offer.

People confuse “secret” and “shortcut” all the time. “What is the secret to losing weight?” “What is the secret to being successful?” “What is the secret to getting published?” “What is the secret to breaking in to the industry?” What they are really asking is “What is the shortcut?” And we all know the answer…

A good rule of thumb to live by is measure everything you are about to cut at least twice. This is the old saw (pun intended) that you hear in woodworking. But it applies equally well to almost every other worthwhile endeavour you will undertake from software development to cooking. Any act that consumes a…

If you have the ability, adopting the position of “I need a job, I just don’t need THIS job” and that you have other options and limited patience, use it. Do it politely, of course. That said I told a recruiter at Disney after a month of being yanked around “You either need to shit,…

You need to be a participant in your life rather than a passive passenger.

If you don’t act like a commodity, people won’t treat you like a commodity. By setting yourself apart, by indicating your unique values and contributions and skill set, you move from commodification to unique opportunity. When you are a commodity, I can replace you for someone faster and cheaper and (possibly) better (however I measure…

Drop me a line at justin@justinlloyd.org if you want to grab a “no pressure” coffee and just talk about cool technology and neat ideas in S.F. or San Jose this weekend.

The question is not who will let me, but is in fact, who will stop me.

People confuse “work” and “job” all the time. “Work is something you want to do.” “A job is something you have to do.” I wonder who sowed this confusion among us. Was it the workers? Or the people who want to give us jobs?

If you have a modicum of reputation, if you are known, however minor, for anything, there will be people who don’t know you who don’t like you. We make judgments about others based on information to hand. We make those judgments from either stated facts or something synthesized from those facts. The judgments aren’t always…

Your inner perfectionist manifests as an outward inability to deliver value.

Attention to detail does not mean perfectionism. Perfectionism is a form a procrastination. “I’m a perfectionist” is to claim “I have trouble letting go. I have trouble shipping. I cannot deliver value to your organization because I cannot deliver value to your customer.” Attention to detail is saying, loud, and clear, “I care.” I care…

You can be proud of the work you did, or you can make excuses for it.

I’ve often talked and written about people wanting to know the secret. The secret to losing weight. The secret to being a success. The secret to getting funded. The secret to getting started. And I’ve equated that question “what is the secret?” to a one dimensional train of thought “What is the shortcut?” But I…

To do lists are not meant to grow indefinitely. Once a to do list grows to a dozen or so items, especially if those items are related, the to do list has transformed in to a small project, and should be treated as such.

I’ve met way too many people who want to be the boss and very few who want to be the leader. The distinct difference between the two is that one imperiously tells you what you should be doing and the other one works alongside you to show you what you should be doing.  

The secret to getting started? Just do it. It’s not just something you read on an advertising billboard.

It’s easy to manipulate people if they’re only looking for short-term gains even if the manipulation is not in their long-term self-interest. It’s harder to manipulate someone when they have more long-term viewpoints than short-term viewpoints.

When you look for edge cases in a wise statement you are really looking for reasons to procrastinate or reasons why it won’t work – which is really the same thing.

“Hello, you’ve reached the voicemail of Justin Lloyd. When you hear the beep, hang up, and text me instead.”