Being busy isn’t the same thing as adding value.
It’s worth reminding ourselves of this when things get hectic.
Pare it back, focus only on that which is essential, and rest when you get tired; no one makes good decisions, or is creative, when they’re fatigued.
It’s going to take longer than you think.
It’ll be messier.
It’ll be more complicated.
It’ll be harder to get agreement.
It’ll be confusing.
It’ll be wrong, before it’s right.
It’ll be incomplete, before it’s a first draft.
But most of the projects worth pursuing are just that.
It’s the challenge that makes it fun.
I used to set my alarm at 06:15.
I’d roll over, pick up my phone, scroll through the news, and before I knew it, it’d be 06:45 before I got out of bed.
I now set my alarm at 05:55.
And I’m up by 05:58.
Every weekday.
It may sound strange, but shifting my alarm just a few minutes back past the hour has given me a non-trivial time and psychological advantage.
Each day, I get an extra 45 minutes, and being up before 06:00—rather than soon after—makes me feel better, stronger, more disciplined.
Try the alarm tweak tactic if you think it may help you, and let me know how it goes!
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.