“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth.” — Leo Tolstoy
Nobody needs another article to read, email to open, podcast to listen to, or video to watch.
Unless it’s great.
Everybody needs great.
Now, on to this week’s ideas…
1. How To Use Email To Spend 50% Less Time In Meetings
“Email forces people to think through a scenario and consider what they want, what they need, what they believe, and how to respond to a problem.”
If you’ve ever been in a meeting, then you’ve wasted time in one. But there’s a solution.
In this post I explain how to use email to spend 50% less time in meetings and suggest an email template you can use to make every conference call or meeting more efficient (or maybe even unnecessary!).
Related: Seven ways to make your meetings better.
2. How To Launch A Creative Project In Five Steps
“The people chasing fame and money rarely wind up successful. It’s the people who earnestly set out to change something and make a difference through their projects, products or work who most often succeed.”
It’s one thing to do creative work for other people, but self-initiated projects offer an entirely different set of challenges.
Jessica Walsh breaks down how to launch a creative project in five steps including advice on how to come up with ideas, set rules, and develop a unique style.
Related: How to start a creative project when you don’t know where to begin.
3. How A Real-Life Role Playing Game Can Help You Figure Out Your Future
“Commit to fully experiencing the potential outcomes and then decide which one to pursue.”
Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler recently found himself at a crossroads, unsure what he wanted to do next. To figure it out, he committed a day to living the life of each potential idea and then used those experiences to inform his ultimate decision.
In this post he breaks down how a real-life role playing game can help you figure out your future and what he learned from his experiments.
Related: How to improve your life one experiment at a time.
4. Need A New Year’s Resolution? Aim To Get Rejected 100 Times Next Year
“In pursuit of 100 rejections, I put myself forward for opportunities I’d previously thought were for smarter, funnier, cooler people. And sometimes I wasn’t rejected.”
This is so smart and I have no doubt doing it would drastically improve your life and career next year.
Emily Winter shares the story of what she learned from setting a New Year’s resolution to get rejected 100 times.
Spoiler alert: She wound up getting 39 acceptances in the process.
Related: Six secrets of people who keep their New Year’s resolutions.
5. How To Film Yourself
“Fresh perspectives, that’s what we’re going for.”
Whether you’re creating videos for a specific purpose or just want to look a little better the next time you film yourself with your phone, this will come in handy.
In a six-minute video, Peter McKinnon explains how to film yourself including tips about what gear to use, how to get creative with camera placement, and how to pace your videos.
Related: How to take a perfect profile picture.
Recommendations
Course
My Newsletter Accelerator course will help you grow your newsletter
Newsletter
Song
Business Time by Flight of the Conchords on the For The Interested playlist
Podcast
David Perell and Nik Sharma on That Creative Life
People
Some of this week’s ideas came from Greg Roth, Matt Ruby, and Ruth Eastelow. Image via Bruno Gomiero.
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