How to Get Your Most Important Work Done with Justin Kerr

Become more efficient with the power of over-communication

When Justin left his position as the youngest senior executive at GAP to form his first startup, he had only one question: “Am I going to make a million dollars or a billion dollars?”

That mentality left him defeated on his couch, questioning his life choices. But Justin is resilient. He climbed the corporate ladder once more—only to leave it again, this time better informed.

Now, he’s the founder of Imprint Projects, a post-advertising creative agency, and the author of fourteen books including most recently, How to Be Great at Your Job.

Justin stresses the importance of happiness over striving for the top and shares his insight on how to excel at the things you do, with practical tips to make you hyper-efficient at that most odious chore—answering emails. Listen now.

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“Be careful what you wish for. For me, I wish I’d made a better plan before I jumped ship.”

His entire life, Justin had been taken care of. His parents supported him through school and even post-graduation. But leaving comforts behind and experiencing the hardship of independence with his startup was the kind of failure he needed to become a better business owner and human being.

Justin bounced back from his crushing defeat and emerged with a stronger vision and skill-set, and is now a successful entrepreneur and author many times over. One of the most powerful skills he credits to his success: the ability to communicate clearly and directly. Specifically, Justin is a master of the art of email. In this podcast episode, he shares some of his best tips for writing fast emails that get the job done, and even gives advice on how to win an email fight and still remain a team player.

“I feel like half the world’s problems would be solved if we used bullet points to communicate.”

Finally, Justin reminds us that contentment in our work can be greatly undervalued in our society today. But, not everyone has to jump off the corporate ladder to be happy or to pursue their dreams. Sometimes, our busy lives have little time to consider what we actually want. If you find something you enjoy doing, and you believe you’re happy—stay there, Justin encourages us. And if you need to leave to move forward, find the courage to do so.

“Society tells us it’s all or nothing, but there’s plenty of room in between to be happy if you let yourself be.”