“The minute you start building a moat around you to keep yourself safe, you’re going to lose.” — Diplo
We’re all outsiders.
At least we think we are.
But it turns out more people share our view of the world than we realize.
A pair of documentaries I watched this week reminded me of that.
Because Under The Electric Sky and All Things Must Pass are stories of people who feel like outsiders until they discover how many others are just like them.
When that happens, outsiders become insiders and powerful communities are born.
Now, on to this week’s ideas…
1. HOW I DOUBLED THE REACH OF MY FACEBOOK POSTS WITHOUT SPENDING ANY MONEY
“I don’t post links. Facebook doesn’t want us to send people off of Facebook. Therefore, its algorithm favors posts that feature content which lives on Facebook as opposed to links that lead people to other websites.”
There’s a common perception that it’s impossible to get your Facebook fans to see your posts these days without spending money on ads to promote the posts. But that’s not entirely true.
In this post I explain how I doubled the reach of my Facebook posts without spending money and break down the nine simple things I do to get more people to see my For The Interested Facebook page posts.
The tactics include posting longer captions, less frequently, and at times when most of my followers are on Facebook.
2. THE ONE WAY MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS
“Compared with the days when they bought stuff, most participants reported that their timesaving purchases were accompanied by an increased positive effect, a decreased negative effect and less time stress. And it didn’t matter how exceptional, useful or posh their material purchase was.”
They say money can’t buy happiness, but it turns out that’s not entirely true.
The Washington Post details new research that found people who buy time by paying others to complete household tasks are more satisfied with life.
It appears spending money on material items has no meaningful impact on happiness, but spending money on things that free up our time almost always does.
Another interesting twist: we tend not to spend our money on the things that save us time (and therefore make us happier). For example, when 98 working adults were asked how they would spend $40, only two said they’d use it to buy more time for themselves.
3. WHY YOU SHOULD CONSUME LESS AND CREATE MORE
“Rather than reading over one hundred books in the following year, I wrote over three hundred blog posts and a book. Rather than watching YouTube videos, I shot over three hundred videos in the following two years.”
I’m a huge consumer of ideas and certainly don’t want you to stop consuming For The Interested, but…there’s a LOT of truth in this post.
Joshua Fechter (via The Mission) explains what it takes to become a doer and why he recommends you stop consuming and start creating.
He explains how his shift from a consumption mindset to an action mindset fueled the growth of his career, improved his health, and his overall life satisfaction.
It reminds me of my own thoughts about why you should do things.
4. HOW TO HARNESS THE POWER OF AN UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCE
“More than product knowledge or anything else, silence is the hardest technique to learn. It’s against our instincts. We want to fill in the blanks.”
The next time you find yourself in a negotiation or conversation and an uncomfortable silence appears, do yourself a favor and wait a beat before you speak up.
The BBC explains why there is power in uncomfortable silence and how you can use it to help you make more sales, get a better deal, or convince people to agree with you.
5. 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.”
Most decisions in life aren’t yes or no scenarios, but we have a tendency to treat them as such.
In this post I explain how to see what successful people see — specifically, that there are more choices available to you than you may realize when it comes to your job, industry, and negotiations.
I also share examples of how Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti, radio kingpin Howard Stern, and filmmaker George Lucas used this realization to fuel their success.
6. WHY YOU SHOULD BET ON THINGS THAT NEVER CHANGE
“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ That’s a very interesting question. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two.”
That quote comes from Jeff Bezos, who knows a thing or two about change and what really matters.
It’s a philosophy that’s explored in this Collaborative Fund post about why you should bet on things that never change.
The post points out while betting on change can create huge opportunities in the short term for investors and businesses, betting on things that are timeless and can be a much smarter move.
7. HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEM
“Productivity is about understanding what you really want to do, then building systems to make it work for you. The goal isn’t Inbox Zero. (Who gives a shit?) Your goal is to enable yourself to perform at your very best, every day, and over the course of weeks and months and years.”
This isn’t a new productivity hack — it’s a mindset for how to approach your own productivity and come up with a system that works best for you.
Ramit Sethi shares his own approach to productivity and explains the three tiers of productivity on which it’s based.
That includes fundamentals (sleep, environment, etc.), psychology (how you set boundaries, handle setbacks, etc.), and details (which apps do you use, etc.).
He also notes that details are the least important element of the system and yet the one obsessed over the most by people.
8. HOW TO MAKE LISTENERS CARE ABOUT YOUR STORY
“NPR One data shows us that in the opening seconds, listeners make decisions about whether to skip or pay attention to a story. They need to understand why they should care before they know what happened.”
If you’re a podcaster or storyteller, you’re going to want to read this. It’s packed with useful tips about how to capture and keep the attention of an audience.
It’s an NPR training article which offers advice about how to make listeners care about your story based on data they’ve collected from listeners to NPR shows.
The data suggests there are five key elements to get people engaged with your stories including to explain why it matters to them, to uncover something surprising or unexpected, and to tell stories that surface a sense of pride in a particular community.
9. SIX MUST-READ ARTICLES ABOUT HOW TO SCALE LEADERSHIP
“Very few leaders think this way. They rely on themselves to be intellectually sharp on bad diets. They go into fundraising pitches hobbled by self-doubt and anxiety. They host all-hands when their energy dips in the late afternoon. And in so doing, they limit their potential.”
It’s tough to be a manager, but even tougher as your team and responsibilities grow.
First Round Review has compiled summaries of six articles about scaling leadership that are packed with great tips including how to engineer your calendar around your energy, create structures that don’t need you, and balance internal and external motivations.
10. HOW ONE METRIC HAS CHANGED THE WAY WE SEE THE WORLD
“This metric is called engagement, and emphasizing it — above all else — has subtly and steadily changed the way we look at the news, our politics, and each other.”
With all the talk about how social media has changed the world, one of the things less discussed is how the specific metric used to measure “success” in social media may be the real root of the chaos.
Tobias Rose-Stockwell takes a deep dive into this subject and explores how fear and outrage are being sold for profit thanks to the drive for engagement on social platforms.
He suggests pursuit of engagement is impacting everything we see, when we see it, and how we process it.