Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Your chance to change the world
Why write FAST?
The setup

Now this might sound corny, but I believe you’re capable of more than you imagine. And I think every last one of us has at least one unique, major, world-changing idea inside us. And if we don’t reveal it in our lifetime, it gets lost forever.

For example, mine might be the FAST System. (I think I’ve got a couple more, but I’ll save them for another time.)

FAST is a lucky discovery. If I had made one different choice at any point along the way, I wouldn’t be writing this book.

And if I didn’t, some of my readers might never muster the confidence to write theirs.

It’s a chain effect. My ideas help spark your ideas. Your ideas will help spark someone else’s ideas.

Let’s take an imaginary chain.

Suppose a businessman makes a startling discovery about how his customers interact. Until FAST, he could never find time to write a book about his discovery. But now he can. He does.

Meanwhile, a scientist is working on a life-saving drug. He’s never heard of FAST, but he reads the businessman’s book. And it sparks an idea: “What if the chemicals in this drug interacted the same way those customers did?” Suddenly, he solves a riddle he’s been working on for five years. He writes a breakthrough white paper on how to cure this rare disease.

A doctor in a remote country town reads the white paper. He has just delivered a child who happens to have the rare disease. The doctor would’ve misdiagnosed it just six months before. But now he can treat the child easily. And a young couple will see their daughter grow into an Olympic medalist.

This isn’t fiction. It’s an imaginary scenario, but that’s exactly the kind of sequence life takes. That’s exactly how knowledge builds. Ideas spark ideas.

And if you follow this logic, I believe it’s vitally important that you share your own life’s discoveries. No matter how inconsequential they seem to you, they could spark an idea in someone else — something you couldn’t possibly imagine. The businessman in our example could never predict that his book would be responsible for solving the riddle of a life-saving drug. The businessman knows nothing about biochemistry. He only knows about his customers’ interactions.

But where does that spark lead?

Where does your spark lead?

Will you let this book spark you?