Weekly Mix #173 - Calm at Work, 2020 Review, A Better Life & 10 Tweets

Weekly Mix #173 - Calm at Work, 2020 Review, A Better Life & 10 Tweets

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Hello and Happy New Year!

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!

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

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