10 Ideas For The Interested This Week - For The Interested

10 Ideas For The Interested This Week

“The whale is endangered, while the ant continues to do just fine.” — Bill Vaughan

It’s great to consume valuable ideas, but it may be even more valuable to connect with people who share an interest in those ideas.

With that in mind, I’m launching a series of topic-specific Facebook groups where The Interested can connect with others interested in that topic.

This is a bit of an experiment, but to kick it off I’ve created a group for people interested in social media and marketing.

You can join the new For The Interested: Social Media & Marketing group here.

Assuming it goes well, I’ll add additional groups around other topics soon.

Now, on to this week’s ideas…

1. 20 THINGS TO THINK ABOUT TODAY IN ONE MINUTE

“What people say about you and your work reveals more about them than you or your work.”

The other day I took a few moments to write a bunch of thoughts and observations that have been rattling around my head recently — this post is the result and people seem to find it helpful.

It features 20 things to think about today and will only take you a minute to read.

But, hopefully it gives you some thought-provoking ideas about luck, perfection, opportunity, time management, and what determines the course of your life.

RELATED: 20 reasons why you should break the rules.

2. FIVE LESSONS FROM RUNNING A PASSION PROJECT FOR THREE YEARS WITHOUT MAKING A DIME

“Return doesn’t have to equate to financial gain. I could list enough personal and emotional reasons to warrant a book. The three big ones for me have been: passion, community, and a desire to give back to the arts.”

For three years, Shannon Byrne has poured her energy, time, and resources into a passion project called A Song A Day.

She hasn’t made a dime from it, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been worth it.

In this post she shares five lessons from running a passion project including to decide early if it’s a business or passion project, not torment yourself over your vision, and give up control and accept help.

RELATED: How to start a passion project one day at a time.

3. HOW TO WRITE MORE CONCISELY

“Good copy carves a path to an emotion, a feeling. A copywriter’s purpose, then, is to identify the words and concepts that create the shortest possible path to that emotion.”

Less is more when it comes to copywriting.

Very Good Copy explains how to write more concisely and suggests you try a simple exercise — rewrite Wikipedia paragraphs.

RELATED: The two minutes it takes to read this will improve your writing forever.

4. 20 PICTURES THAT WILL TEACH YOU MORE THAN READING 100 BOOKS

“Very few people are intentional about their own values and beliefs. Additionally, very few people are proactive about designing their environment. According to Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, ‘If you do not create and control your environment, your environment creates and controls you.’”

This post will make you want to redecorate your office.

Benjamin P. Hardy shares his “Culture Wall,” which features 20 pictures that will teach you more than reading 100 books.

While that may be a slight exaggeration, the core concept is smart and the post features visual representations and explanations of valuable wisdom including that action precedes inspiration, 100% is easier than 98%, and nothing happens until after you commit.

RELATED: Ignore Everybody is a book worth recommending.

5. HOW TO STOP BEING SO HARD ON YOURSELF

“Research shows that the №1 barrier to self-compassion is fear of being complacent and losing your edge. And all the research shows that’s not true. It’s just the opposite, meaning that self-compassion can lead to greater achievement than self-criticism ever could.”

We’re genetically predisposed to focus more on our mistakes than our successes, but the New York Times suggests research shows there are concrete things you can do to stop being so hard on yourself.

The three recommended steps include to choose to at least try a new approach to thinking about yourself, combat your inner criticism with kindness, and make a deliberate effort to recognize how you feel when you self-criticize compared to how you feel when you let go of things.

RELATED: You can’t care about everything.

6. YOU NEED SPECIFICITY IN MARKETING IF YOU WANT IT TO WORK

“When you know exactly who you’re talking to, you speak to them directly — without vagaries.”

What does country music, hip hop, and successful marketing have in common? Specificity.

Margo Aaron explains why you need specificity in marketing and points out that much like country or hip hop music, good marketing speaks exactly to a specific audience and in doing so becomes more powerful.

RELATED: Two ways to capture and keep attention.

7. GROW THE PUZZLE AROUND YOU

“You are a jigsaw puzzle piece of a certain shape. You could change your shape to fit an existing hole in the world. That was the traditional plan. But there’s another way that can often be better for you and for the world: to grow a new puzzle around you.”

Jessica Livingston is a co-founder and partner at Y Combinator, the legendary startup company accelerator.

In this post she shares her career journey, suggests you grow the puzzle around you in your own career, and offers nine lessons from her story including to focus on making something people want.

RELATED: Career advice for The Interested.

8. 30 LESSONS ABOUT LIFE YOU SHOULD LEARN BEFORE TURNING 30

“Most people never stop and define their deepest, most important goals. This allows them to procrastinate on them indefinitely. If you don’t come out and say that you want to write a novel, it’s not going to happen.”

These lessons may be written for young people, but it’s never too late learn them.

Matthew Kent shares 30 lessons about life you should learn before turning 30 including your relationships will all change drastically, procrastination is a silent killer of your deepest dreams, and how you manage your energy is more important than you how manage your time.

RELATED: Life lessons from 100-year-olds.

9. THE 2018 BLOG INCOME RESEARCH REPORT

“You have to do whatever it takes to get your total blogging income over $2k a month. My research revealed the majority of bloggers that had over $2k in monthly income made money from more than just ads and affiliate links. They hustled to get sponsors for their posts, and they got on the phone to sell people on paying them money for monthly client services.”

Almost every blogger dreams of making money from their efforts, but few make enough to survive on and the ones who do have several things in common.

Brandon Gaille conducted an extensive survey of bloggers across all income levels and published the results in his 2018 blog income research report.

The report breaks down how the richest bloggers make their money (online courses), which niche topics make the most money (personal finance), and which ad networks and affiliate deals are used by the most profitable bloggers.

RELATED: Lessons from 10 years of professional blogging.

10. HOW TO SEE WHAT SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE SEE

“Successful people refuse to be limited to binary choices and recognize there are infinite options at our disposal if we have the patience, courage, and creativity to look for them.”

If it seems like successful people play a different game than those who struggle, it’s because they do.

In this post I explain how successful people see things others don’t including how to see jobs, industries, and negotiations in a completely new way.

RELATED: Six examples of success advice you should ignore.

ARE YOU READY TO DO IT?

My 30 Days of Doin’ It program is now available.

If you’ve got something you want to accomplish in 30 days or a new habit you’d like to develop, I’d love to help you do it!

More details here.

WHERE I FOUND THIS STUFF

I discovered some of this week’s ideas from the newsletters of Creative Mornings and Khe Hy — they’re awesome and worth your time.

Image via National Geographic.