Hey,
I hope you are all doing safe and well. Short one from me (and later than usual) and no “Here’s an idea worth playing with” last Sunday, due to a rather unfortunate accident.
I sliced my index finger open on Sunday morning on a knife, and spent the morning trying to stop it bleeding, only to admit defeat at lunch, and spend three hours in A & E in the afternoon.
As you can imagine this event wasn’t conducive to recording a fun audio show. It’s also left me unable to type very quickly. I’m picking at the keyboard right now. It’s all OK though and by tomorrow, I should be able to take the monster dressing off.
In this edition:
Solo Waffle
Article : What, at this moment, am I mean to know?
Interesting Links
Thanks to everyone who downloaded the new eBook - Take A Day Off, and thanks to those who opted to pay for it.
It’s heart warming, and a testament to the LeanPub platform, that authors often earn more royalties from free books than paid for ones. I’m blessed and grateful - thank you. The feedback has been very positive.
I’m embarking on a 13 week experiment. I’ll keep publishing these newsletters but I am disconnecting from other commitments and social media to see what I can get done.
Fitness is a key goal, but I also have a whiteboard in my office where I’ve listed a whole load of things I’d like to achieve, a bucket list of sorts. I’m going to see what I can get done by merely choosing things that feel good in the moment such as recording the next season of podcasts (if you missed the first season - they are here), learning songs on the guitar, learning how to play a synthesiser, creating art and more.
I’m also looking to organise an online seminar for you lovely folk for later in the year.
Hit reply to this email if you’re interested and let me know what topics you’d like to cover: management; communication; creativity; critical thinking; anything else?
What, at this moment, am I meant to know?
Reading is a wonderful way to expand our knowledge, but it matters which books we read.
I used to read too many books. The goal of learning, as I found out, isn’t to simply read lots of books (link to my recommended reading list), it’s to read the right books and truly digest them, and become different in my behaviours because of them.
One way I curbed my excessive “read lots of books” habit was by asking this question.
“What, at this moment, am I meant to know?”
By asking this question, I could tease out what I didn’t know. I could work out what I should know in this moment in my life, career and context. Instead of reading for the distant future, I started to read for the moment. And for the joy of it too.
We can never know everything we need to, and we cannot read everything ever printed.
It’s important then to be highly selective with which books we read.
Every day we will encounter a moment where we are meant to know something but don’t. Don’t let that worry you, that’s life.
The trick is knowing what’s important to know – and then learning carefully and diligently.
Interesting links
I enjoyed this week’s Semafor media news article which discusses the changing face of media.
With the Twitter debacle and social media losing its appeal as a place for news, news outlets are reverting back to blogs, newsletters and landing pages - strategies from a decade ago.
And there is even a quote about the potential to reverting back to print! Bring it on.
It does feel like people are disconnecting and going back to trusted sources directly / and I for one have held this belief for years. I’ve been focusing on SEO the last couple of years too, as traffic from social has never really been there.
Social Media is Bullsh*t is a great book for those who wonder whether social media really does make a difference to marketing and growth (hint, it doesn’t).
I sound old.
Explaining anything to a kid is the acid test of whether you understand your topic.
If you’ve sat my online communication course you’ll know I hold this test with high importance, and even suggest you write for school aged children reading levels. To do so you need to deeply know your topic - and that’s what Seth Godin reiterates in this post.
I also suggest this route for presentations - the best presentations come from someone who deeply understands their topic and can explain it clearly - and their enthusiasm comes through no matter their presentation style.
Until next week. Stay safe - and stay away from sharp knives.
Rob..