“Welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
As 2019 winds down, there’s one thing I know: It didn’t turn out how we expected.
It was better in some ways and worse in others, but regardless of how it turned out I’m sure yours was as full of surprises as mine.
The same will be true next year.
Here’s to enjoying the ride, wherever it takes us.
Now, on to this week’s ideas…
1. My 20 Most Popular Articles Of 2019
“It’s my honor to help you better produce, promote, and profit from your creations and nothing makes me happier than to see so many of you make progress on those fronts.”
What a year.
More than a million people read my writing this year and I appreciate the time, attention, and promotion you’ve given my work this year.
Here’s a breakdown of my 20 most popular articles of the year including everything from tips about how to improve your social media profiles, to how to find the best information on any topic that interests you, to how to tell if you slept well last night.
Related: My 20 most popular articles of 2018.
2. Themes vs. Goals
“We are in our natural state when thinking about the future, setting goals and making plans to reach them. But being so focused on future goals makes it hard, almost impossible, to stay in touch with the present.”
Since you’re probably considering your goals for the coming year, now is the perfect time to read this one.
Brian Casel suggests you focus on themes instead of goals and explains how choosing to pursue themes such as “more creative deep work” or “keep improving customer retention” can be a better way to stay focused on the present as opposed to setting specific long-term goals.
Related: Four ways to set a goal that will help you accomplish it.
3. How To Create A Social Media Style Guide For Yourself
“Your goals on social media include reach, convert, and retain. Your tone and content should fulfill those objectives.”
You’ll have more success on social media if you have a consistent approach to how you use it.
Corinna Keefe breaks down how to create a social media style guide including tips on how to define your brand identity, choose which social networks to use, determine your social voice, and more.
Related: 17 social media strategies that actually work.
4. Five Signs You Should Quit A Gig
“The best time to think through questions about ending a gig is before you take the gig.”
Not all work is worth the money you get paid to do it.
Seth Godin suggests five signs you should quit a gig including when there’s a skills-based gap, reputation gap, or quality gap.
Related: How to quit your job and change your life.
5. How Tim Ferriss Built A Successful Podcast
“Borrow, be ridiculous on occasion, and be yourself. This is one medium where it can pay 100-fold to simply be you: warts, weirdness, and all.”
This isn’t just about podcasting.
If you have interest in building an audience for anything, you should check out what Tim Ferriss has to say about how he built a #1-ranked podcast.
He covers everything from how he makes money with it, to where it fits in his overall business strategy, to how much time he puts into it.
Related: How to get an audience to care about your work.
Other Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week
Here’s some more cool stuff I discovered this week that I couldn’t fit in this week’s newsletter.
CREATOR ACCELERATOR: How To Find People Who Will Enjoy What You Create
This week’s Creator Accelerator email will feature something you can do in 15 minutes to find and connect with people who are likely to enjoy what you create.
Join my Creator Accelerator program here before Wednesday to get it.
As a member, you’ll get a new 15-minute exercise each week to help you better produce, promote, and profit from your creations, plus access to our private Facebook group where you can connect with and learn from other creators.
Recommendations
Course
My Newsletter Accelerator course will help you grow your newsletter
Book
You Are An Author So Write Your F*cking Book by Matt Rudnitsky
(free download here)
Song
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve by The Head and The Heart on the For The Interested playlist
Podcast
Goals (My Exact Process) on Noah Kagan Presents
People
Some of this week’s ideas came from Tijmen Rumke, DO Lectures, and Christopher Penn.
Image via Los Angeles Public Library.
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