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🍳 What are you (1, 2, 3, or 4):
- You're half way through a carton of eggs. How are your remaining eggs organized?
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🚽 What separates the best restaurants from the worst ones:
- A McDonald's franchise owner was asked what separates the best restaurants from the worst ones. His answer: "The Bathrooms." If the behind-the-scenes is well-run, everything else will be too. It reminds me of how Steve Jobs obsessed about the design INSIDE the computer hardware that no one would see. And Mark Cuban says, "How you do anything is how you do everything."
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↩ What undoes success:
- I like optionality. I like the idea of a future that isn't completely mapped out, that has room for spontaneity. But I think there is a fine line between keeping your options (and opportunities) open and diffusing effort (and attention) in so many directions that nothing moves forward. In fact, this Harvard Business Review article says this line is often a determining
factor of success.
Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success.
Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities.
Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts.
Phase 4: Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.
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2️⃣ What I have 2 left to do:
- I finished Song #10, Left Behind, of my 2020 Challenge (try to learn to make music; releasing 1 song/month). Just 2 more to go!
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🧠 What quote I've been thinking about:
"If you eat, invest, and think according to what the 'news' advocates, you'll end up nutritionally, financially, and morally bankrupt."
– Naval
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📨 How to start / grow a newsletter:
- One of my goals next year is to grow this newsletter. I had an arbitrary goal of 100,000 readers by the end of this year. We're currently about 50,000 (it was ~75k, but I had to be intellectually honest and recently pruned the subscribers who don't open the email), so unless everyone shares this newsletter (which would be great!) I'm not likely going to hit that goal. But the problem with the goal was that I didn't attach any "system"
to attaining the goal. It was just some arbitrary number that sounded good. The classic goal-setting mistake. Like having a goal to lose 10 lbs without any plan on how to change one's diet. So I listened to this podcast on how to grow a newsletter. I was disappointed in the lack of actionable
advice (if you have any ideas, hit reply, I'm all ears!), but I did like his thoughts on writing a newsletter, which is basically my modus operandi:
“If it’s interesting to you [educating, entertaining, or updating], it’s probably going to be interesting to other people.”
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📘 What book I picked up:
- The last 20 or so books I've read have all been health/nutrition related, so I'm changing up the pace with this next one, The Beginning of Infinity. I saw several people mention that is the most influential, worldview-altering book they ever read. Just my type! And if you're looking for a new book to read, I'd recommend checking out this
fascinating list of: "What is the most underrated book you've read?".
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As always, it's an absolute pleasure and an honor getting to spend some time with you, hope you have a great weekend!
Kevin
P.S.
Happy Halloween! 👻
A Saturday morning roundup on health and wealth, art and science, creativity and innovation, laughs and life by Kevin Stock.
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