Maykel Loomans took a year off: “The biggest lesson for me among all this was—and this may sound ‘woo-woo’: seeing a structured day, a quiet cup of coffee, or a workout not as a task but as something to relish. There are these things in our lives that we know we ‘should’ do, but if we don’t find a way to appreciate them truly, it will forever be a struggle to integrate them.”
Month: June 2023
Xnapper (Screenshot Tool) →
I’ve been noticing a lot of folks sharing some fancy-looking screenshots lately, and turns out its with this app called Xnapper. I downloaded it a few weeks ago and it’s great. If you share screenshots for marketing purposes, or just want to share nicer-looking screenshots, this is the app for you.
All decisions are bets →
If you’re stuck overthinking something, remember that very few decisions are truly binary, black and white, guaranteed wins or losses. Make the best decision you can within a reasonable timeframe but don’t waste time sweating it out, overthinking, and waiting until you have absolute perfect clarity.
Don’t make the same decision twice
In your business, try to avoid making the same decisions over and over. This wastes time and energy and slows momentum.
- An ad-hoc meeting agenda for your regular weekly meetings (instead of a consistent flow and structure)
- A random, emotionally-driven pricing decision each time around for seasonal products that you launch every year.
- Wondering what to do at the start of your work day (instead of having clear time blocks and a plan for your critical actions)
Put structure and clarity in place around the things that you repeat. This way, you can be creative on the things that are new and fluid.
You have six areas of life
They are your health, your relationships, your inner-personal life, your work, your finances, and your rest and recreation.
Each area of your life overlaps with and impacts the others. And yet you only have the capacity to give your full attention to one or two areas at a time. Use habits and routines to maintain health in every area while giving extra attention to the one or two areas that need it.
Leica EDC →
Some brief and interesting everyday carry stories of Leica camera owners that feature some of their photos too, of course. Of the three, Alixe Lay’s photography is my favorite.
Margin is a competitive advantage
The ultimate luxury is also the ultimate competitive advantage: an open schedule that is not busy.
James Clear writes: *“Not being busy is a competitive advantage. Most people are so strapped for time they can’t take advantage of lucky opportunities or quickly resolve unexpected problems. Maintain a bias toward action, but leave room for the unexpected.”*
The 3 Laws of a Flywheel →
Article from my friend, Nathan Barry, that shares the three criteria for an effective flywheel. If you’re a business owner and/or creator, this will be an especially helpful read.
How Kellogg’s 6-Hour work Day came (and went) →
Fascinating story about the rise and fall of the shorter-work-week. (David’s TL;DR version is here.)
Here at Blanc Media, Instead of 6-hour work days, we do 8-week work cycles. And I can attest that it boosts productivity, reduces overhead, and serves as a forcing function to keep us focused on only the most important goals for the business.
How Vinyl Records are Made →
It still boggles my mind how scratches in plastic can produce the right type of vibrations for music. (Via Dan)
It is time, once again, for the annual Summer Adventure Bag
This will be the 3rd or 4th year in a row that we’ve done our Summer Adventure Bag. Two things new for this year:
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We started taking requests this year. The boys are all anticipating it and have been asking us when we’ll start it. So we started asking them what adventures they want. Their submissions so far include: “play video games ALL DAY”, “Go to Krispy Kreme”, and “Picnic breakfast”)
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I’m going to start being more intentional about documenting / photographing our weekly adventures and possibly creating some sort of time capsule. I don’t know for sure yet. We’ll see.