Before you pick up that pen, write that email, or prepare that presentation.
In other words, before you do the work.
There are a few things that should come first: choosing the right goal, deciding your priorities, and determining what you’re willing to give up in the pursuit of the goal.
These things are easily overlooked, especially when others treat busyness and progress as equals.
Investing time before the work begins pays back down the road.
My uncle picked up the oyster, slurped it from the wide end of the shell, grimaced, swallowed, and carried on with his meal.
I asked him, “Why?”
He clearly didn’t like the oyster.
He said, “Your tastes will change throughout your life. So even if you think you don’t like oysters, always give them a try each time they’re served. Who knows, they could become into something you like.”
Although I still don’t like oysters, I can now thank my uncle for my love of blue cheese, avocado, and eggs—all things I used to detest.
Finally, it’s helpful to remember that “always try the oyster” is a lesson that can extend far beyond food.
When you hear someone say “back to square one,” it likely makes you think of ‘going back to the beginning,’ or ‘having to start over.’
Today I learnt about this saying’s origin, and it’s a fun one worth sharing.
In 1927, the first live commentary of a football match occurred on the BBC. It was on radio, of course, and the commentators faced a problem: how do we describe where the action is taking place?
The solution: the Radio Times magazine published this image that listeners could use to follow along. By breaking the football pitch up into 8 squares, commentators could help listeners better imagine the game.
Say Team A is hot on the attack—down in square 7—but they lose possession, and Team B clears the ball back into Team A’s half, listeners were told the ball had travelled “back to square one.” In the mind of the listener, “back to square one” meant their team had to re-group, re-assess, and plan their next attacking move.
I love how sayings like “back to square one” have become part of our lexicon, but that we use them only because we know what they mean in a general sense and not because of their original purpose.
We only realise our own conditioning when we change our scenery.
When a child leaves the family home, a student transitions to full-time work, an adult drifts apart from childhood friends, or a person falls in or out of love, it gives them an opportunity to see how they’ve changed.
Things that used to make sense in one environment, may no longer make sense in another.
And that’s okay.
It’s not inconsistency.
It recognising our conditioning, and growing.
Choosing what we keep and what we let go of.
The rule repeats over and over.
It holds true for the people I’ve met, the teams I’ve observed, and the working cultures I’ve experienced.
The rule: the more ownership one takes for a problem, the higher the probability of success.
When we stop blaming, stop pointing the finger, and stop finding excuses, we find there are enough hours in the day to work on, and solve, the problem.
Spotify has 7 million artists on its platform.
Only 13,000 of them make more than $50,000 USD per year.
This means less than 0.2% of Spotify artists make more than the median US wage from their Spotify streaming revenue.
The non-linearity of Spotify’s payment model—with the vast majority going to record labels and the world’s biggest artists—is astounding.
Spotify may have saved music from piracy, and it’s algorithms are certainly helping millions of listeners find new music, but there is a still a long way to go before it achieves its goal of “giving a million creative artists the opportunity live off their art.”
I’ve recently been pondering a number of Naval quotes on reading:
“The smarter you get, the slower you read.”
“Reading is the ultimate meta-skill and can be traded for anything else.”
“Read what you love until you love to read.”
Most can read, but few develop mastery. So I’m finding it helpful to reflect on why I read, and what I can do to be better.
Water is needed for the growth and health of all living things, but it’s important to remember that nothing grows in ice.
No one likes working with a mind that’s frozen in a bygone era. Keeping our minds and opinions fluid is the first step towards being able to adapt to the future.
Yesterday was census day in the UK.
Almost 28m households around the country logged in to an online platform to submit answers to questions ranging from age, to health, to living arrangements, to education, and to religion.
The event is a statisticians heaven; it’s a once-in-a-decade opportunity to get a detailed and accurate pulse check on the population.
Like voting, I view participating in the census as a civic duty, because many decisions are made based on these data. For example, census data helps councils make investment decision for local housing improvements, and it can also help charities decide on where and how to deliver their services. If the data isn’t accurate or representative, these critical decisions could be unfairly impacted.
Despite the huge effort required to pull it off, the census also reminds me of the Peter Drucker quote, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” It’s perhaps grandest example of this quote in practice.
When it comes to our mistakes, we’re often the ones with the best memory.
Others quickly forget our errors, usually because they’re preoccupied with their own.
So let’s not be so hard on ourselves.
Don’t let the memory of mistakes replay in your mind.
You don’t read Lord of the Rings to find out what happens to Frodo and the Ring at Mt Doom.
You don’t watch Romeo and Juliet because you’re anxious to know what happens at the end.
You don’t ever worry that James Bond will die this time round.
More often than not, the best stories are special because of the journey, not because of the ending.
It’s a lesson that applies to most of what we experience in life too.
10% of the job is defining the standard.
90% of the job is holding the line.
When standards slip, it becomes accepted, it becomes the norm.
Defining the standard is just the beginning.
Paul Samuelson once quipped, “The stock market has predicted nine of the past five recessions.”
We’re typically gracious with folks who try and predict the future because they’re usually wrong.
Sometimes, however, the forecast is so wrong that it deserves to be called out; especially when it’s supposed to come from a “reputable” source.
Back in 2015, OPEC predicted that electric cars will remain irrelevant through to 2040; only accounting for 1% of new car sales.
What actually happened since? And what are the predictions now?
In 2020, electric vehicles were responsible for 4.5% of global sales. Currently, electric vehicles hold 3.5% market share, and UBS predicts electric vehicles will have 100% penetration by 2040.
In addition to being great news for our planet, it’s also a good lesson in treating all predictions with caution. The forecast you’re looking at today could be the equivalent of OPEC’s electric vehicle bet from 2015.
A Cheat Day is one day per week where I allow myself to eat and drink anything I want, in any quantity.
It’s been a staple part of my health habits since learning about it in 2018 from Tim Ferriss’ book ‘The Four Hour Body’.
I haven’t written about it before because, to be honest, I’m a bit embarrassed about it. The idea of a Cheat Day invokes thoughts of gluttony, excess, and ill-discipline. But in reality, I’ve found it’s inspired the exact opposite. And since this blog is a commitment to sharing a daily reflection, I feel slightly disingenuous about hiding something that has played a big role in helping me on my health journey.
A bit of context for you, I don’t do many things in half measures. I’m usually hot or cold, but I’m rarely lukewarm. When I’m watching my diet and exercising, I’m consistent. When I’m not, I’m the first one to be regularly eating pizza and burgers.
You should also know that I found “being healthy 24/7”, or at least the self-imposed expectation to do so, was exhausting. I’d get tired after a month or two and slip back into poor habits. And despite knowing that moderation was important, I wasn’t able to self-regulate well.
I then came across Ferriss’ ‘The Four Hour Body’ and learnt about the Slow Carb diet and, most importantly, strategically using Cheat Days to give your body and mind a chance to rest and re-fuel.
For 6 days a week, I eat clean. High protein, low carb, and a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. I also exercise on all six days.
And then on Saturdays, I allow myself to indulge in all of my favourite fatty, sugary, and salty foods. I don’t count calories or exercise on this day.
Come Sunday, I’m done with junk food, and I’m ready to start the 6 days of work to earn the next Cheat Day.
I know this practice is a little weird and extreme, but ironically, rather than being a crutch, Cheat Days have helped me develop more discipline and healthy habits than I had before. If I ever get a mid-week craving—where in the past I’d just cave and order the pizza—I know I have only a few more days to wait until I can have it.
On the whole, since incorporating Cheat Days into my habits, I eat less, I eat better quality food, and I still get the psychological benefit of having that one day off per week to eat whatever I want.
When things get tough, it’s easy to lean on others—on our family or our team. They’re on our side, and usually quick to tell us what we want to hear.
But courage, the strength to do something even if it frightens us, often turns up when it’s just us.
When we’re alone.
When we’re the only one facing the problem ahead.
Although the crutch is comfortable, sometimes its absence is the force that spurs us on.