I’ve been a Jason Fried fan for years now. It probably started when I stumbled across ReWork, which I purchased on October 29, 2013 and promptly devoured. Every once and a while a book will engulf me so fully that it’s only when I put it down that I realize it’s 2am and I haven’t moved in hours.
This was one of those books.
I realize only now what I felt then: this book is different. Even the format of the book goes against the norms. I could feel that these authors were doing something different and that I needed to pay attention.
Fast forward a few years and I’m following Jason literally everywhere I can. Twitter. Instagram. Medium. Oh, and his podcast. I’ve read all of his posts, watched his Ted talks. Man, this is starting to sound creepy.
All this is to say that after all this time, it wasn’t until today that I signed up for Basecamp, the product his company makes and has made for well over a decade.
I don’t know why I was surprised. The product is brilliant. It’s slack/email/Dropbox/asana all wrapped in one minimalistic, simple, intuitive product. I was shaking my head, mainly at myself for waiting this long to try it out.
From the very first second you login it’s different from anything else out there.
This post isn’t about Basecamp though. It’s about how much I admire Jason and the way he’s structured his business and his life. How he takes care of his company and his employees. How incredibly successful he and Basecamp are.
Plus, he’s a writer. I set out to write 100 days in a row because I wanted to become better at thinking. The writing is a byproduct. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jason got many of the principles he lives by from his writing and thinking practice.
So, that’s why I want to be more like him. I think we all need people we can emulate that fit the kind of life we want to emulate. I’m not sure you can do bunch better than Jason.