10 Ideas For The Interested This Week - For The Interested

10 Ideas For The Interested This Week

“Our whole life is solving puzzles.” — Erno Rubik

It’s hard to not know.

Google makes us feel entitled to know the answer to everything and be able to access it in an instant.

But Google can’t answer every question.

And when faced with an un-Googleable question, we’re forced to deal with not knowing.

What’s the best way to do that?

I don’t know.

Now, on to this week’s ideas…

1. EIGHT WAYS TO MAXIMIZE THE VALUE YOU GET FROM YOUR CONTENT

“Most blog posts, videos, podcasts, and social media posts are underexploited and leave potential value on the table.”

If you create content and share it online, I bet you don’t get as much value out of it as you deserve.

I wrote this post to help change that. It features eight ways to maximize the value you get from your content including to make your creations modular, elastic, and to share them often.

2. YOU ARE NOT YOUR CUSTOMER

“They don’t think like you do. They don’t want what you want. They don’t believe what you believe. Their values are not your values. They don’t behave the way you do. And they certainly don’t behave the way you want them to.”

For The Interested reader Leo Notenboom shared this post in our FTI Facebook group and it’s a good one.

He breaks down six ways you’re wrong about your customer and how it can influence your business, content, or website.

He points out people don’t want to read your stuff, have shorter attention spans than you think, and don’t click when you tell them too.

But it’s not all bad news — he also shares four things you can do to adapt for these realities.

3. HOW TO NURTURE CREATIVITY IN YOUR KIDS

“Nurturing creativity is mostly about getting out of the way. I think it’s really hard to raise a creative child. It’s really easy to thwart a child’s creativity. So, the data show that having too many rules is one way to do that.”

This post can help you be more intentional as a parent and raise a more creative child.

Shane Parrish interviews Originals author Adam Grant about how to nurture creativity in your kids.

Grant suggests limiting rules is effective and points out the questions you ask your children are highly influential in shaping their values.

4. HOW TO USE TWITTER TO MAKE YOU SMARTER AND FIND INTERESTING PEOPLE

“Twitter is the only social network where you don’t bring your existing friends/connections with you to start. Because of that, Twitter gives priority to people’s ideas. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. gives priority to people’s personal life updates.”

Twitter is my favorite social platform (let’s connect here and here!) and this slide presentation does one of the best jobs I’ve seen of explaining its value and benefits if used in a smart way.

Nikhil Krishnan tips on how to use Twitter to become smarter and find interesting people include to get into other people’s conversations, use lists to focus on specific topics, and treat the unfollow button as your best friend.

5. TAX TIPS FOR FREELANCERS

“If you can shore up the money part of your business, you can spend more time doing what you really love — the creative part of the job.”

I doubt you’re excited to read a post about taxes, but I’m sharing it anyway because it will help you if you do.

99U offers eight tax tips for freelancers including how to handle travel expenses, side hustles, and document your expenses.

6. HOW TO GIVE AWAY THINGS AS YOU GET OLDER

“It wasn’t the things I’d saved that were important, it was the stories that went with them that gave them meaning. Could using the objects to tell the stories be the seed of a new ritual?”

It’s common for people to get rid of their possessions as they get older, but there’s no real ritual around the practice.

In this 5-minute TED Talks, Bob Stein suggests a unique approach of how to give away things as you get older that turns the act into a ritual and an opportunity to share stories that convey the true meaning of the objects to their recipients.

7. FOUR THINGS PROCRASTINATORS NEED TO LEARN

“To be a chronic procrastinator is to be fooled repeatedly by the same illusions about how your mind works and how things actually get done.”

There are reasons you procrastinate and this post can help you understand and overcome them.

Raptitude shares four things procrastinators need to learn including that doing feels dangerous and stalling feels safe (but the opposite is true), and confidence comes after you start, not before.

8. TWO WAYS TO CAPTURE AND KEEP ATTENTION

“If the unusual or novel steal our attention, unusual plus potential danger keeps our attention.”

A random encounter with a fox inspired Barry Davret to write this post in which he shares how to win and keep attention.

He suggests our attention is drawn to that which is unusual and presents danger or pleasure. Then, he explains how to use that observation to help get attention for your writing or marketing efforts.

9. SEVEN THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU QUIT YOUR JOB TO LAUNCH A BUSINESS

“If you can’t start the business part time — you don’t deserve to quit yet.”

This should be a mandatory read for anyone thinking about bailing on their current job in exchange for an entrepreneurial adventure.

Aram Rasa Taghavi breaks down seven things to know before you quit your job to launch a business including that you can become the best at one thing, can pay to predictably acquire customers regularly, and that you have product market fit.

10. FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR RESUME

“Your resume’s purpose is to secure a job you want, not just any job you’re qualified for.”

Does your resume reflect your value and is it designed to get you the job you actually want?

If you’re not sure, my post featuring four ways to improve your resume can point you in the right direction.

My suggestions include to recognize your accomplishments matter more than your responsibilities, take credit for things you worked on even if you didn’t oversee them, and stop trying to fit in.

WHERE I FOUND THIS STUFF

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