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Category: Newsletters I like
What is beauty if not a jolt that awakens us to the world? | Aeon Essays
Nik’s Book Summaries Newsletter I like
Hi, it’s Nik again with 3 more free and life-changing book summaries just for you!
Do you like audiobooks? We do! It’s an extra way of learning from great books anytime, anywhere. But if you bought 300 full audiobooks, that’d take you 100 days of straight listening – and $6,000.
To speed all that up for you, we put together 300 audio recordings of our short summaries. For just $49, you’ll get 900 great lessons from the world’s best non-fiction books, available through an exclusive SoundCloud playlist and for you to download offline and take wherever you go!
Get 300 Audio Summaries for Just $49 >>
And now, on to our books of the week!
Own Your Everyday by Jordan Lee Dooley
1-Sentence-Summary: Own Your Everyday shows you how to let go of comparison, stress, and distractions so you can find your purpose and live a more fulfilling life by sharing inspiring lessons from the experiences of author Jordan Lee Dooley.
- Always dive deep enough to find the root of your problems if you really want to solve them.
- Let go of the pressure to perform by eliminating the habit of comparing yourself to others.
- To beat distractions, look at their future consequences with the 10-10-10 rule.
If you need some powerful lessons to motivate and inspire you, this book is for you.
Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly
1-Sentence-Summary: Resisting Happiness shows you how to get more joy in your life by exploring the roadblocks you unknowingly put in the way of it, explaining why it’s a choice, and giving specific tips to help you make the decision to be content.
- Remember to read and that money isn’t everything if you want more meaning in life.
- Learn the joy of being alone.
- Practice delaying gratification and make sure you keep good friends close to reach your full potential.
If you want to become happier, this book is for you.
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
1-Sentence-Summary: The Art Of The Start is your guide to beginning a company and explains everything from getting the right people on board to writing a winning business plan and building your brand.
- Your first goal as an entrepreneur must be to create meaning, not make money.
- Prepare your Milestones, Assumptions, and Tasks to have direction and purpose right from the start.
- Set yourself up for success by creating a business plan.
If you want to start a company that gets off on the right foot, this book is for you.
That’s it for this week, have a great weekend!
Happy reading,
-Nik
EU Startups newsletter
Advice for new entrepreneurs: There’s nothing better than advice from someone who has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt. In this cool article we pull together quotes and top tips for budding ‘wantrepreneurs’ from our previous interviews. Check out what these founders and VCs have to say.
EU-Startups Job Board: There’s still a little bit of time left to take advantage of our free job posts option on the EU-Startups Job Board. By allowing free job postings until September 7, we aim to support startups and job seekers during the current crisis.
How did you make your first money? From delivering newspapers, to classroom business, many of Europe’s top founders began their entrepreneurial journey with making their first pocket money. Here is what they learnt, and how this often inspired the direction of their success today. What about yourself?
Advertising opportunities: Did you know that EU-Startups reaches over 350,000 founders, startup enthusiasts and investors per month? If you’re interested to work with us and to reach this exciting audience, you can find/request more info about our readership and advertising options here.
It’s an e-scooter summer: While e-scooters were officially illegal for use in public areas in the UK due to safety concerns, this summer the UK Government brought in new regulations for socially-distanced urban transport, including e-scooter trials. Now the race is on! 🙂 Check out our latest updates about Dublin-based Zipp Mobility, Berlin-based TIER, Stockholm-based Voi, and UK’s Beryl. Soon we’ll be running another ‘startup battle’ to compare the leaders in the European e-scooter race – stay tuned. 🙂
Short update from our side: Behind the scenes we’re working hard on the launch of CLUB – the EU-Startups Membership program. We’re busy putting together some interesting packages for you, and are excited to finally launch this by September 7!
Saludos from Barcelona,
Charlotte
Charlotte Tucker
Head of Content
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
EU-Startups.com
Menlo Media S.L.
Calle Encarnació 103, 2-2
08024 Barcelona, Spain
Charlotte.Tucker@EU-Startups.com
Nik’s Book Summaries Newsletter
Heyo, Nik here with your free summary of the day.
If you enjoy these, check out our reading guide. It’ll help you learn and remember more from everything you read.
Happy reading!
Want to get just one weekly summary roundup? Switch to weekly.
1-Sentence-Summary: Own Your Everyday shows you how to let go of comparison, stress, and distractions so you can find your purpose and live a more fulfilling life by sharing inspiring lessons from the experiences of author Jordan Lee Dooley.
Read in: 4 minutes
Favorite quote from the author:
Do you ever fell like the pressure to follow your dreams and do amazing things is just too much? Sometimes it’s overwhelming, especially when it seems like you’re getting it from every angle.
Those who are crushing it make “finding your calling” sound easy. But the reality is it’s not so easy to figure out your life.
The burden of this too often makes you try the wrong paths to get things together and reach your full potential. You might be looking to Instagram, your degree, or getting a good job as ways to show everyone, including yourself, that you’re a success.
But these only lead to temporary satisfaction and more stress. But you don’t have to stay stuck here forever. You’ll discover how to truly find your purpose and live a life you’re proud of in Jordan Lee Dooley’s Own Your Everyday: Overcome the Pressure to Prove and Show Up for What You Were Made to Do.
Here are 3 inspiring lessons from this one:
- Always dive deep enough to find the root of your problems if you really want to solve them.
- Let go of the pressure to perform by eliminating the habit of comparing yourself to others.
- To beat distractions, look at their future consequences with the 10-10-10 rule.
Are you ready for some motivational life lessons?! Let’s get into this book and get some!
If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.Download PDF
Lesson 1: If you want to finally solve your problems, dive deep enough to uncover their true roots.
Have you ever felt embarrassed by a huge zit on your forehead? Maybe this was a common occurrence for you as a teenager. The author had acne too, even into adulthood.
Her outbreaks were embarrassing and presented a problem when she needed to get on camera for her job. It was so bad that she tried to cover these imperfections with makeup. Slowly, it got worse, eventually resulting in painful breakouts deep in her skin.
Although it was tough to get over the embarrassment enough to go to a doctor, Dooley eventually made it only to find the truth about her acne. Unexpectedly, she also got an even more profound truth about life.
The doctor told her that smothering the acne with makeup was just making things worse. The true root of the problem wasn’t something she could just hide like that.
Dooley quickly realized that her acne is like our imperfections. Her covering it with makeup is like when we try to hide our flaws. And just like with acne, your habit of doing this only makes your insecurities about yourself worse and keeps you from reaching your full potential.
The real you has weaknesses, and that’s okay. Only by discovering who you really are, imperfections and all, can you truly find your purpose.
Start by taking a 30-day challenge during which you don’t criticize yourself. As a standard, avoid saying things about yourself that you wouldn’t say to a friend.
Lesson 2: Stop comparing yourself to others and you’ll be less stressed.
How often do you scroll through social media only to feel depressed afterward? Everyone you see is doing amazing things and you’re left wondering why you aren’t doing the same. You feel anxious wondering how your life could be better if you’d just work a little harder.
This is known as comparison-induced pressure, and it’s something you need to get rid of. The angst and insecurity that you experience while checking what everyone else is posting on social media isn’t good for you. But it’s hard not to get sucked in.
The author knows about this, especially when she visits the gym. While on the treadmill, she’s often comparing her speed to that of those around her. But just like running on a treadmill gets you nowhere, so does this habit.
Instead, you need to beat the comparison-induced stress by recentering yourself on your purpose.
Ask yourself why you’re going to the gym in the first place. Is it to “race” the people around you? Of course not, you’re there to become fit and reach your goals!
If you’re starting a business, consider whether you’re doing it for the Instagram pictures or for a more meaningful reason. Maybe you really just want to make a living, be financially free, or improve the world.
Also focus on joyful thoughts each time you’re tempted to be jealous. You might think about how impressive the jogger next to you is for running so fast, for instance. Or even better, about how you’ve improved your own speed recently.
Lesson 3: Use the 10-10-10 rule to uncover the hidden consequences of distractions so you can beat them.
In the last couple of years I’ve found a dozen or more different graduate programs that I could do. I also purchased multiple online courses, most of which I haven’t finished yet.
It seems nice to live in a time when we have so much information available to us, but there’s a hidden danger in it. All of these opportunities make it really difficult to make the right choices, which also makes it harder to live a life of purpose.
To beat this, begin by listing the things that most often distract you. What do you have a hard time saying no to after a long day? These are important to know about because the more distracted you are, the less meaning your life will have.
Once you know all your go-to time-wasters, utilize the 10-10-10 rule that author Suzy Welch first came up with. Whenever you have to figure out what you should prioritize, think of the consequences of that choice in the following time-periods:
- 10 minutes
- 10 weeks
- 10 years
This is an easy way to make better choices immediately.
Consider, for instance, the effects of putting off your blog post to scroll through social media. In 10 minutes it might not even make you happier, and in 10 weeks or 10 years you’ll wish you’d written it and started building your business!
Own Your Everyday Review
What an empowering and encouraging book! Own Your Everyday really got me pumped up, especially because I can relate to so many of the situations the author speaks about. I’m certain that this will be a game-changer for your life!
Read full summary on Blinkist >>
Learn more about the author >>
Who would I recommend the Own Your Everyday summary to?
The 31-year-old mom of three kids that feels overwhelmed and wants more purpose, the 53-year-old that wonders if there’s more to life than the daily grind, and anyone that gets tired of the emptiness they feel after endlessly scrolling through social media.
The post Own Your Everyday Summary appeared first on Four Minute Books.
Keep learning,
-Nik
PS: Want to get more out of everything you read? Check out our guide!
Gastro Obscura Newsletter I like
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The Beacon Newsletter I like
| It’s Wednesday, August 26, and Senate Democrats have a climate plan, too!
Another day, another plan to address our overheating planet: On Tuesday, the Special Committee on the Climate Crisis — a group of 10 Democratic U.S. senators led by Hawaii’s Brian Schatz — released a 260-page report calling on the government to build “the clean energy future we all deserve.” Compared to recent climate plans released by House Democrats and presidential nominee Joe Biden, the Senate’s climate action roadmap is a little vague on specifics. It calls on the U.S. to cut carbon emissions to “net-zero” by 2050, but, besides putting a $400 billion per year price tag on the clean energy transition, it doesn’t pick many policy favorites. The plan does, however, address one elephant in the room: money. Senate Democrats say that if banks, insurers, and investors continue taking on more climate risks, the economy could face a 2008-style collapse. To avert yet another economic downturn, the committee recommends that publicly-traded companies be legally required to disclose their climate risks. It also calls on the Federal Reserve to incorporate climate change into U.S. monetary policy. The Senate plan also takes aim at the money fossil fuel companies spend to influence elections and spread disinformation about climate change. To prevent elected officials from being swayed by fossil fuel dollars, the senators suggest a set of rules that would pull back the veil on fossil fuel funding of shadowy nonprofits and reform the campaign finance system at the same time.
THE SMOGNeed-to-know basis Hurricane Laura is projected to hit the Louisiana and Texas coast as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm tonight, according to the National Hurricane Center. Twenty million people are in the storm’s path, and half a million have been ordered to evacuate due to the threats of storm surge, extreme winds, and flooding.
Sea-level rise and increased flood risks from climate change have not been incorporated into the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps, despite a 2012 congressional mandate. Without information on flood risk, developers will continue to build in flood-prone areas, leading to a dangerous and expensive cycle of damage and reconstruction.
Despite recent attempts to green its image, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn’t include votes for climate legislation in the ratings it gives lawmakers — even in cases where the group publicly endorsed such legislation, according to a new analysis from the World Resources Institute. In fact, the Chamber’s 2019 “How They Voted” scorecard gave congressional climate deniers an average score of 81 percent, and 87 percent of those climate deniers were honored by the Chamber for their pro-business votes.
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Nik’s Book Summaries Newsletter I like
Heyo, Nik here with your free summary of the day.
If you enjoy these, check out our reading guide. It’ll help you learn and remember more from everything you read.
Happy reading!
Want to get just one weekly summary roundup? Switch to weekly.
1-Sentence-Summary: The Art Of The Start is your guide to beginning a company and explains everything from getting the right people on board to writing a winning business plan and building your brand.
Read in: 4 minutes
Favorite quote from the author:
You’ve heard that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This is sound advice, but too frequently we get stuck before we even make the initial push forward.
This is especially true if you’re thinking about starting a company. And who can blame you? With such a momentous task at hand, it’s no wonder you’d get stuck in the planning stages.
But if you don’t ever start, you’re not going to experience the success that becoming an entrepreneur will bring you.
That’s why you’re going to love Guy Kawasaki’s tips in The Art of The Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. It’ll teach you all the planning you need to do and just what your first steps need to be so you can build a winning company.
Here are the 3 biggest lessons I’ve learned from this book:
- Your first goal as an entrepreneur must be to create meaning, not make money.
- Prepare your Milestones, Assumptions, and Tasks to have direction and purpose right from the start.
- Set yourself up for success by creating a business plan.
Got your winning business idea ready? Let’s jump into these lessons and discover how to make it happen!
If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.Download PDF
Lesson 1: Making money isn’t as important as creating meaning.
Before I began my entrepreneurial journey, I was apprehensive about it. I’d see corrupt billionaires and guys advertising their get rich quick scheme with flashy cars and big houses. I wanted nothing to do with any of that stuff. And I definitely didn’t want to become that kind of person.
The reason these things are so tacky and obnoxious is that they go against everything that business should be. It’s more about the money than making a difference, which is what winners focus on before cash.
Your company does this by making a product or service that makes the world a better place. And the more what you do or sell improves the lives of your customers, the more successful your business will be.
This happens because when your primary focus is money, the main motivation is greed. That attracts dishonest people that make your customers feel uncomfortable, just like the guys with sports cars.
Contrast this with a company that focuses on creating value and truly helping people. If you’ve ever worked at such a place then you know the powerful motivation that trying to make a difference brings.
You can build this meaning into your company from the start by identifying a mantra that supports it. This is different than a mission statement but is also a short and powerful phrase that reminds everyone of your why.
Nike’s, for example, is “Authentic athletic performance.” And Disney uses the mantra of “Fun family entertainment” to remind themselves of their purpose.
Lesson 2: If you want purpose and direction from the beginning, prepare your Milestones, Assumptions, and Tasks with the MAT framework.
Have you ever worked at a place that seems like it’s going nowhere? I’ve been there before and it’s not really fun. You don’t want to create this kind of environment for your employees. To avoid this, use the MAT framework to get direction:
- Milestones
- Assumptions
- Tasks
The initial step is to identify milestones, which are the big events on your way to accomplishing your business goals. This is vital because it lets you see clear steps in the path to success and review how well you’re doing at each of them.
You might, for example, set a milestone of establishing a “proof of concept” for your product to make sure it will actually work. A good follow-up step would be to finish the prototype. And last, you’d want to track the milestone of getting funding to make it.
Next, you must review the assumptions you’re making about your business. Brainstorm a list of everything that you think is true about your idea that might not actually be accurate. You want to look specifically for thoughts that you have no data to back up. Keep track of them to see whether or not you were right about them.
Last comes listing the tasks that you need to do on a daily or weekly basis to meet your milestones. These can be anything from setting up insurance policies for your employees to acquiring office space.
Lesson 3: A business plan will set you up for success.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin:
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
A plan is anything that identifies our objectives and the steps we’re going to take to reach them, and this is no different for a business. Although it might sound formal and even maybe useless for a startup that has a lot of unknowns, but this is a vital step on your path to profit.
Think about your stakeholders, for example. They might not ever read it, but you’d better bet they’ll ask for it. And you’re never going to get funding from investors unless you have a business plan.
Having one is great, but the steps you’ll take to make it are also helpful for many reasons. The process of writing it gives your team a chance to work together more efficiently, for example.
It might even tell you how much you don’t want to work with the people you’ve got on board. That’s a really important piece of information to have as early as possible!
Additionally, the process of reviewing all that you need for a good plan will show you gaps in your thinking. For instance, you might have nobody on your team preparing for customer service.
The trick to making an effective business plan is making sure the executive summary is spot on. It’s a four-paragraph abstract of the entire plan and is the first thing anyone reads. Make it good and you’ll attract attention and success!
The Art Of The Start Review
It’s funny, with all the talk The Art Of The Start had of iPods and Hummers, I definitely got a big 2004 vibe from it and guess when it came out? 2004! I think that’s also a big reason why I struggled with many of these ideas-because they’re already outdated! Luckily he recently released version 2.0 which we’ll have to summarize soon. I’m looking forward to it too because I felt like this version makes starting a business more difficult than it needs to be!
Read full summary on Blinkist >>
Learn more about the author >>
Who would I recommend The Art Of The Start summary to?
The 24-year-old who is thinking that they want to become an entrepreneur, the 56-year-old CEO that has a new idea for a product but needs some help planning it out, and anybody that wants to know how to start a business.
The post The Art Of The Start Summary appeared first on Four Minute Books.
Keep learning,
-Nik
PS: Want to get more out of everything you read? Check out our guide!
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Seth Godin Newsletter
The relativity of time
Two things are true simultaneously:
We’re running out of time.
We have too much time on our hands.
How can we be at a deadline and bored at the same time?
We always are.
Our experience of time relates to engagement, fear, opportunity, and culture.
Anti-Corruption Daily Newsletter for 08/25/2020
via Anti-Corruption Daily Newsletter for 08/25/2020
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Healthy Snacks Kids Can Make | Allrecipes
Inside History newsletter
Seth Godin newsletter
From education to learning
Education is the hustle for a credential. It exchanges compliance for certification. An institution can educate you.
Learning can’t be done to you. It is a choice and it requires active participation, not simple adherence to metrics.
Learning is the only place to find resilience, possibility and contribution, because learning is a lifelong skill that isn’t domain dependent.
Most of the learning moments in our lives are accidental or random. A situation presents itself and if we’re lucky, we learn something from it.
We built the altMBA to make learning intentional.
The last session of the year is in October, and applications are due tomorrow, August 25th.
You’ll be surrounded by a cohort of others, each on their way to leveling up and moving forward. We only do it four times a year, only with a few hundred people, always with our alumni coaches on board.
I hope you’ll check it out. Learning is our best way forward, because learning creates community.
How humble Quaker origins inspire James Turrell’s otherworldly light art | Aeon Videos
Mixed Nuts via PNUTs Newsletter I like
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| Playing God With Mosquitoes
(Joe Raedle via Getty Images)
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How humble Quaker origins inspire James Turrell’s otherworldly light art | Aeon Videos
Brazil: Brazil prosecutors accuse two in alleged Petrobras-Maersk corruption scheme
via Brazil: Brazil prosecutors accuse two in alleged Petrobras-Maersk corruption scheme
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Nik’s Book Summaries Newsletter I like
Heyo, Nik here with your free summary of the day.
If you enjoy these, check out our reading guide. It’ll help you learn and remember more from everything you read.
Happy reading!
Want to get just one weekly summary roundup? Switch to weekly.
1-Sentence-Summary: Resisting Happiness shows you how to get more joy in your life by exploring the roadblocks you unknowingly put in the way of it, explaining why it’s a choice, and giving specific tips to help you make the decision to be content.
Read in: 4 minutes
Favorite quote from the author:
You want to be happy. But every time you try to catch joy, it seems to slip through your fingers, replaced by worry and stress. You can’t put a price on fulfillment because it’s so valuable, but it also comes at the cost of hard work.
The trouble is, figuring out just where to put in the effort to make it happen isn’t always so easy. In the information age, there are infinite routes you can go down to try to grab a sense of wellbeing. The trick is just to find the right ones for you.
Interestingly, you need to begin looking for happiness by identifying what’s making you sad. Once you uncover these roadblocks, then you can begin removing them to let joy have free reign in your life.
Figuring this all out is just the topic of Matthew Kelly’s book Resisting Happiness. You’ll see what practicality, philosophy, and Kelly’s personal experiences teach about how to eliminate what holds you back from true fulfillment in life. And you’ll learn every step you need to take to get there in your own life.
3 of the best principles I got from this book are:
- Remember to read and that money isn’t everything if you want more meaning in life.
- Learn the joy of being alone.
- Practice delaying gratification and make sure you keep good friends close to reach your full potential.
Let’s get right into it and discover what Kelly has to teach us about happiness!
If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.Download PDF
Lesson 1: For a more meaningful life, remember to read and that money isn’t everything.
In college, reading wasn’t at the top of my to-do list. It was difficult to manage a schedule full of classes and a social life and still find time to get into a good book.
But what I didn’t realize was that my lack of reading was one of the things holding me back from happiness.
Today I see that reading is an important window into the world around me. And as I pick the right authors, it’s like having their guidance right next to me when I’m trying to figure something important out.
Think of books like friends that you can turn to for an escape when life gets difficult. They have the power to change your perspective and improve your attitude.
Another important factor that could be holding you back from joy is placing too much emphasis on money. You do need it, but looking for opportunities to help others without the expectation of a reward is a sure path to fulfillment.
Picture this. The author goes to his neighbor Joe and offers to pay him $1,000 an hour to plan trees at the elementary school down the street. Joe puts in a couple of hours of half-hearted work and leaves richer but feeling empty.
Contrast this with the feeling Joe would have if the author asked him to volunteer his time. He might work hard all day to do what the school needs rather than just get paid and ends up happier and more fulfilled as a result.
Lesson 2: Nurture the relationship you have with yourself through solitude.
One time in college I was having difficulties with relationships and tried what I thought was a strange idea at the time. I took a day off work and made a plan to hang out with myself for the entire day. I even left my cell phone at home!
It turned out to be one of the most memorable and enjoyable days of my life. I spent time eating food I love, took a drive into the mountains for a picnic, and watched one of my favorite movies.
Unknowingly, I’d unblocked one of the most common roadblocks in the way of happiness-discovering the joy of being by myself.
Loneliness can be a scary prospect, especially if you’re used to always being with other people. You might even go to great lengths, making stupid decisions and getting into bad relationships, just to avoid it.
But consider that by spending more time alone, you’re nurturing a relationship with the one person you’ll never be without-yourself! It might sound counterintuitive, but more time alone will help you beat loneliness.
You also get a chance to dive into who you really are every time you plan to spend time by yourself. In fact, this is the only time you have to get to know your personality, so use it wisely and get plenty of it!
Lesson 3: If you want to reach your full potential, you’ll need to have good friends and to practice delaying gratification.
Being alone is important but it’s not everything. You’ve got to have friends, but the right kind if you want to truly be happy.
In tenth grade, I was terrified of social situations. I wouldn’t even ask a girl on a date I was so scared. But at the beginning of the next year, I met a group of friends that improved all of that.
I began spending a lot of time with one in particular who completely changed my life. The first weekend after we’d met he pushed me to ask a girl to the Homecoming dance.
I didn’t want to, but I knew that it was good for me so I did it anyway. Not only did I have a great time, but I also got out of my comfort zone and grew as a person.
In the months afterward, I transformed from an awkward and shy kid to a far more confident young man. If it weren’t for the help of friends that cared about my progress, I wouldn’t be who I am today!
Don’t keep holding yourself back from reaching your full potential by hanging around with mediocre people. Find a new friend group, and specifically look for high-quality people that you know will push you to be your best self.
It will change your life, and in the process, you’ll find a lot more fulfillment along the way!
Resisting Happiness Review
Resisting Happiness is a great book and one that I would highly recommend to anyone. I really like the idea that the path to joy comes from removing the roadblocks we put in the way of it. The tips this book gives are already giving me a lot of great ideas about what makes my life more fulfilling and how to double down on those practices!
Interesting Newsletter from Nik
Would They Miss You If You Were Gone?
A simple definition for doing work that matters
Four years ago, after six months of hard work, I finally did it: My email list reached 10,000 subscribers. I was ecstatic.
10,000 people. That’s a small stadium. Imagine a sold out arena, waiting for you — just for you — to share your latest work. This would be my big break. I was sure of it. With 10,000 people marching behind me, nothing I make would ever fall flat again.
You can see where this is going. I’m about to swallow a bitter pill here.
Later that year, I heard Seth Godin define permission marketing:
If that email you were going to send to 10,000 people tomorrow — if it didn’t go out — how many of the 10,000 people would say: “Where is the email?!” If the answer is none, then you don’t have permission. You’re just being tolerated.
Convinced that my dedicated subscribers loved me, I decided to run an experiment: That week, I didn’t send out my newsletter. No announcement. No warning. I just skipped one email. What would happen? Who would ask for it? How many people? Would they be concerned? What would they say?
I woke up the next morning to a sobering realization: No one had emailed me. No one had asked for the newsletter. I waited. One day. Two. Three. Nothing. Crickets. No one missed me when I was gone. Ouch.
The all-important question in marketing, art, and doing great work is this: “What does it mean to matter?” According to Seth, there is a simple answer:
Would they miss you if you were gone? I don’t know who they are, I don’t know what gone means, but those people that you’re seeking to have an impact on, would they miss you if you didn’t show up tomorrow?
In my case, people didn’t. Maybe, they thought my newsletter was nice. Maybe, they enjoyed an article or two of mine. Clearly, however, none of my readers considered my work essential. They could easily do without it.
It hurts to find out that the tribe you’ve assembled with your blood, sweat, and tears will disband the second you stop talking to them, but the message it sends is clear: You never formed a real tribe in the first place. You just talked enough people into following along. You convinced them to take the flyer, to try the free sample, to sign up for the trial subscription — but you didn’t do the hard work of building a loyal relationship.
You just did “the hustle dance,” as Seth calls it:
Would they miss you if this new product, this new project didn’t come to the world? Or do you have to do that whole hustle dance, “Look at me, look at me,” jump up and down, offer for a limited time, bla bla bla… To game it so they’ll actually transact with you. That work doesn’t feel like it matters to me.
It’s easy to think you’re doing work that matters. That, somehow, your marketing is different. You have good intentions. You really want your audience to succeed. But you might still cut corners. We all succumb to the temptation sometimes.
Clickbait is still clickbait, even if you deliver on your promise. Selling is still selfish if your main goal is to make money. Giving gifts is not generous if it comes with expectations. In many ways, reciprocity has been corrupted.
If what you’re doing feels like playing a game, chances are, not many will miss you when you’re gone. You’re just another player who dropped out. Fine. Less competition. Less hassle. Less clutter in my inbox.
Here’s another question: Where is the sacrifice? How much are you really sweating? If we can’t see your effort in what you make for us, how can we know you mean what you say?
The only way to show people you have their best interest at heart is to actually do. You can’t fake it. You either do something selfless, or you don’t. It’s one of the few things in life that are surprisingly black and white and, most of the time, plain to see — at least on a long enough timeline.
When I didn’t hear back from my fans, when no one missed me when I was gone, I was devastated. I questioned everything I was doing. I changed things. I tried to do better.
Last year, I started another newsletter. I put in hard work. Real work. It grew fast. It was free. I sent it every day. I came up with themes. I wanted to help so badly. I really tried.
To this day, it’s not as big as my first one. It has about 5,000 subscribers. But, often, when I missed a day or didn’t share something in a while, a few people checked in. “Hey, Nik, are you okay?” “Hey Nik, where are the emails?”
It’s great to see you’re moving in the right direction. It feels good to be missed when you’re gone.
It’s okay. You’re not perfect. Take your time. Learn to stop dancing. Start making. Take your ego out of the equation. Not for a while. Not for this one thing. Completely.
Watch what happens. Watch how, slowly, the magic unfolds. Watch them start to miss you when you’re gone.
Write like a pro,
-Nik
PS: Want to take your writing game to the next level? Check out Write Like A Pro.
The Beacon Newsletter
The Beacon
It’s Monday, August 24, and the Pebble Mine project could be delayed indefinitely.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will issue a letter today giving the developers of the Pebble Mine, a proposed gold, copper, and silver ore mine in Alaska, 90 days to submit a new plan to mitigate the project’s impacts on wetlands and streams. The new conditions could delay final approvals for the controversial mine until after November’s presidential election.
The planned site for the proposed mine is near streams that foster spawning salmon, which in turn support the world’s largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery, Alaska Natives who depend on subsistence fishing, and a large sport-fishing industry. The Obama administration vetoed the project after determining that it would impact salmon harvests. Under the Trump administration, the Army Corps reversed that finding but did determine that the proposed mine would impact wetlands and streams.
The chief executive of the company behind the mine said the firm plans to move forward with the mitigation plan. But with mounting opposition — which strangely has united Donald Trump Jr. and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the future for the Pebble Mine is growing dim.
— Emily Pontecorvo
Smog clouds
THE SMOG
Need-to-know basis
Tropical Storm Laura killed at least 13 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic over the weekend and caused Puerto Rico to declare a state of emergency. Laura is expected to soon intensify into a hurricane and hit the Gulf Coast of the U.S. byThursday.
Two crew members died on Friday after a dredging vessel struck a submerged pipeline, causing an explosion and fire in Corpus Christi, Texas. Two other crew members are still missing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reported that the vessel hit a propane pipeline, while the Port of Corpus Christi claimed it had struck a natural gas pipeline.
A recent study found that babies born to mothers who had breathed in smoke from a 2104 coal mine fire in the Australian state of Victoria were more likely to have respiratory infections in early childhood. The researchers warned that as climate change increases the risk of wildfires, more pregnant people will be exposed to pollutants that will impactt their future children’s respiratory health.
— Angely Mercado
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All-Recipe Newsletter – Today’s Fresh Finds
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Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12, Verse 3-4
ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यमव्यक्तं पर्युपासते |
सर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यञ्च कूटस्थमचलन्ध्रुवम् || 3||
सन्नियम्येन्द्रियग्रामं सर्वत्र समबुद्धय: |
ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूतहिते रता: || 4||
ye tv akṣharam anirdeśhyam avyaktaṁ paryupāsate
sarvatra-gam achintyañcha kūṭa-stham achalandhruvam
sanniyamyendriya-grāmaṁ sarvatra sama-buddhayaḥ
te prāpnuvanti mām eva sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ
ye—who; tu—but; akṣharam—the imperishable; anirdeśhyam—the indefinable; avyaktam—the unmanifest; paryupāsate—worship; sarvatra-gam—the all-pervading; achintyam—the unthinkable; cha—and; kūṭa-stham—the unchanging; achalam—the immovable; dhruvam—the eternal; sanniyamya—restraining; indriya-grāmam—the senses; sarvatra—everywhere; sama-buddhayaḥ—even-minded; te—they; prāpnuvanti—attain; mām—Me; eva—also; sarva-bhūta-hite—in the welfare of all beings; ratāḥ—engaged
Translation
BG 12.3-4: But those who worship the formless aspect of the Absolute Truth—the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest, the all-pervading, the unthinkable, the unchanging, the eternal, and the immoveable—by restraining their senses and being even-minded everywhere, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all beings, also attain Me.
Commentary
Having said that worship of the personal form is the best, Shree Krishna clarifies that in no way does He reject the worship of the formless. Those who devote themselves to the all-pervading, indefinable, unmanifest, inconceivable, immovable, eternal Brahman, also attain God.
Living beings are of an infinite variety of natures. The Supreme Lord who has created this variety also possesses an infinite variety of aspects to His personality. For the sake of our finite comprehension, we classify the infinite manifestations of God into categories. Accordingly, Ved Vyas has classified God’s various manifestations into three types, Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān, as mentioned in the commentary of the previous verse. One may worship either of these categories, but one should never claim that one’s conception of God is the only correct one while those of the others are erroneous.
In verse 4.11, Shree Krishna had stated: “In whatever way people surrender unto Me, I reciprocate with them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pritha.” Here, Shree Krishna confirms that the worshippers of the formless also reach Him. Since their choice is to unite with the attributeless manifestation of the Supreme Absolute Truth, God meets them as the unmanifest, all-pervading Brahman.
Rumi Quotes (Author of The Essential Rumi) | Goodreads
via Rumi Quotes (Author of The Essential Rumi) | Goodreads
Rumi > Quotes
Rumi quotes Showing 1-30 of 2,076
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
―
―
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”
―
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
―
―
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”
―
―
“What you seek is seeking you.”
―
―
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
―
―
“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.”
― The Illuminated Rumi
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.”
― The Illuminated Rumi
“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”
―
―
“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.”
―
―
“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”
―
―
“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
― The Essential Rumi
― The Essential Rumi
“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?”
―
―
“Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.”
―
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.”
―
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
―
―
“Knock, And He’ll open the door
Vanish, And He’ll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He’ll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He’ll turn you into everything.”
―
Vanish, And He’ll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He’ll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He’ll turn you into everything.”
―
“When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them.”
―
When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them.”
―
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
―
―
“My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.”
―
―
“I want to see you.
Know your voice.
Recognize you when you
first come ’round the corner.
Sense your scent when I come
into a room you’ve just left.
Know the lift of your heel,
the glide of your foot.
Become familiar with the way
you purse your lips
then let them part,
just the slightest bit,
when I lean in to your space
and kiss you.
I want to know the joy
of how you whisper
“more”
―
“silence is the language of god,
all else is poor translation.”
―
all else is poor translation.”
―
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.”
― Masnavi i Man’avi, the spiritual couplets of Maula
― Masnavi i Man’avi, the spiritual couplets of Maula
“Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.”
―
―
“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”
―
―
“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
―
―
“لا تجزع من جرحك، وإلا فكيف للنور أن يتسلل إلى باطنك؟”
―
―
“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.”
―
―
“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.”
―
―
“Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.”
―
―
“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.”
―
―
“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”
―
―
Seth Godin Newsletter
Situational gravity
All of us are good at rationalizing. It helps us process the world, navigate our choices and live with ourselves.
But gravity doesn’t care if you got a lot of sleep last night or not. It’s still the same amount of force.
The pavement doesn’t care if you always wear a helmet on your bike, except just this one time when you didn’t, because you were having a video taken.
Melanoma doesn’t care that you always wear sun screen, except that one day when you were really busy and couldn’t go back to the house for it.
Outside forces don’t care about the situation, because they have no awareness or memory. They simply are.
Newton’s law doesn’t care that you were really distracted and that’s why you weren’t wearing a seatbelt, and the virus that infected your friend doesn’t care about why that person in the office decided not to wear a mask, either.
People are very good at stories. That’s our core technology. Everything else in the world, though, has no interest in them.
The opposite of confidence
It’s not anxiety.
And it’s not panic.
The opposite of confident is not confident. Unsure.
Being unsure can be healthy. It can help us focus on how we can make our work more likely to become the contribution we seek.
But anxiety and panic have nothing to do with an informed understanding of how the world is unfolding.
NASA Facility Will Beam Messages to Space Through Lasers
AI Fighter Jet Obliterates Human Air Force Pilot in Simulated Dogfight
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Thrive Global Newsletter I like
| Tuesday, August 18, 2020 |
The Key to Dealing With Negative Emotions Positively
Taking control of your emotional well-being isn’t about pushing certain feelings away.
How to Connect With Your Kids as They Grow Into Teenagers
The key is collaborating, not dictating.
Small Ways to Shift Negative Thoughts When You Feel Stuck
It’s all about dealing yourself a positivity card when you need it.
10 Ways We Managed Through a Pandemic Summer With Young Kids
We will be using these tips as we head into fall.
How Becoming a Caregiver Reshaped My Way of Living
My father’s health saved my life.
M O R E G R E A T R E A D S
How to Best Manage Gen Z to Create a Productive and Successful Workplace
The Key to Dealing With Negative Emotions Positively
Small Ways to Shift Negative Thoughts When You Feel Stuck
How Forming A Simple Smile Tricks Your Mind Into A Positive Mood
10 Ways We Managed Through a Pandemic Summer with Young Kids
In this special episode of “Meditative Story,” Thrive Global founder Arianna Huffington takes us back to her mother’s kitchen table, where as a teenager she decided to leave her home and start a new life abroad, without speaking the language or knowing how to get there. Click here to listen and subscribe.
Psyche Newsletter I like
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Amazon CEO Says His Company “Will Go Bankrupt”…
via Amazon CEO Says His Company “Will Go Bankrupt”…
Amazon CEO Says His Company “Will Go Bankrupt”…
Jeff Bezos just shocked Amazon investors to the core with this dire statement:
“I predict one day, Amazon will fail.”
In a recent interview, Bezos explained that he believes “Amazon will be disrupted one day” and eventually “will go bankrupt.”
What might be even more alarming is that Bezos has been dumping roughly $1 billion worth of Amazon stock every year…
But Bezos isn’t just cashing out, he’s reinvesting his money into a company utilizing a fast-emerging technology that he believes will “improve every business.”
What most people don’t know… is that there is a tiny component powering this tech revolution… a component that Amazon doesn’t produce in-house.
That’s because another company (less than 1/6th the size of Amazon)…is producing a component so powerful that it is absolutely annihilating the competition.
He’s not alone in seeing it this way…
- A Shark Tank billionaire says it will create the world’s first trillionaire
- Elon Musk is contributing to a $1 billion investment in this technology
- Even super-investor Warren Buffett says that it’s “enormously disruptive” and will have a “hugely beneficial social effect”
So what is it about this technology that has some of the most successful investors in the world pouring fortunes into it?
They see it as a massive investing opportunity – much bigger than Amazon, Tesla, and Berkshire Hathaway combined.
You see, even though these billionaires have been openly talking about this technology to anyone who will listen, most ordinary Americans still don’t know how to get in on the action and invest in what could be the investment opportunity of a lifetime!
Namely, some market researchers believe this technology could potentially be worth up to $19 TRILLION!
With numbers like that, and with so many of the richest investors and entrepreneurs in the world racing to get in on this new technology… you can see why paying attention could really pay off.
But we believe the biggest returns are yet to come.
Which is why I don’t feel like I’m very far out on a limb with this “bold” prediction:
Five years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this stock.
And the good news is that you can find out all about this company and this incredible technology today.
What I’ve told you so far is just the tip of the iceberg…
So, to help regular Americans like you understand how to take advantage of this emerging trend, The Motley Fool’s team of investment analysts has laid out the full story on this incredible tech trend in a brand-new, FREE report.
And trust me… you are going to want to see this report before you invest $1 on any tech company.
You see, we’ve laid out the full story on this “powerful trend” in an exclusive report – but you’ll need to act quickly…
Because according to our analysts, this next-gen tech revolution looks like it’s about to take off, and I think you’ll want to get in on this before that happens.
This technology could hit the mainstream at any time.
Atlas Obscura Newsletter
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Atlas Obscura Newsletter
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Strategy+Business Newsletter
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Aeon Psyche Newsletter
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United States: Justice Department Issues Rare FCPA Opinion Letter
via United States: Justice Department Issues Rare FCPA Opinion Letter
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