I hope you had a relaxing break and managed to stop thinking about work.

I had a long list of things I planned to get done, and didn't come close to finishing (of course).

Tomorrow I'm starting another round of 30 mini-essays in 30 days!

You can follow along on Twitter, or by subscribing here.​

If you're a new subscriber, please hit reply and let me know what you liked/didn't like this week!

In this week's newsletter:

• Book Notes:It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by DHH & Jason Fried​
• Blog: My 2020 Annual Review​
• Article: 100 Tips for a Better Life​
• 10 Tweets (this is a new section!)
• Photo: last photo of 2020

Have a great first week of 2021!

Graham

Book Notes: It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by DHH & Jason Fried​

This was one of the books related to work I enjoyed most in 2020. The founders of Basecamp are known for their controversial views on work, but they've been backing up their talk with a calm, remote work culture for years, which is the focus of this book.

I put some key points in a Twitter thread which you can see here.​

Blog: My 2020 Annual Review​

I haven't set my goals for 2021 yet, but I did finish my review of last year. Some of the lessons learned:

• Seeing objective reality as closely as possible is the most important skill for improvement.
• Everyone has expectations. It's not your responsibility to meet them, but you do need to plan for them.
• Consistency wins.
• Less is better.
• The quality of people around you matters.
• Start your day with a quick win.
• Think in systems.

Article: 100 Tips for a Better Life​

There is so much good stuff in here. Some highlights:

• “Where is the good knife?” If you’re looking for your good X, you have bad Xs. Throw those out.
• Things you use for a significant fraction of your life (bed: 1/3rd, office-chair: 1/4th) are worth investing in.
• Learn keyboard shortcuts. They’re easy to learn and you’ll get tasks done faster and easier. Explaining problems is good. Often in the process of laying out a problem, a solution will present itself.

If you haven't yet, you can also grab my 72 Tips for a Better Life ebook for free at the moment.

10 Tweets

This is a new section I'm testing out, but there's been so many inspiring people and great info on Twitter that I have to share (note that it might not always be 10, but it's a good title!).

• ​40+ takeaways from It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work (mine)
• ​How to structure your year in 12-week segments - Saira Ashraf
• ​How to be charismatic - Julian Shapiro
• ​Top ten tweets of the year - Shane Parrish (Farnam Street)
• ​How to build an audience highlights - Alice Lemée
• ​10 ideas that changed my life - Jack Butcher
• ​Lessons on building a $100K/yr internet business - Traf
• ​23 lessons on copywriting and marketing - Dickie Bush
• ​Examples of audience-first products - Jamie Russo
• ​Summary of Jack Butcher's Build Once, Sell Twice course(mine)

Photo of the week: Last sunset of 2020

It seems appropriate that my last photo of 2020 would be of one of the consistent highlights this year: spending time by the ocean and surfing more. Bring on 2021!

(If you'd like to see more photos from me, you can always follow me on Instagram)

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