Weekly Mix #262 - The problem with expecting things to work too often

Expecting Things to Work Too Often, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Life Lessons & Best New Apps

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Happy Monday!

Last week, we started a 3-part series about common startup mistakes.

The first was expecting things to work the first time.

We expect the first version of something to work, and don't plan for multiple iterations. This is poor planning and leads to poor results.

This week we're talking about a second problem: expecting things to work too often.

In the world of software development in particular, the tough reality is that most features won't work.

They won't be adopted like you expected, they won't bring the value you expected, and as a result, customers probably won't pay what you expected.

That can be a frustrating reality for lots of people: startup founders, product managers, designersc and developers who have built the feature.

But that's the reality of startups, innovation, and new products.

Accepting that fact is important for setting expectations and being realistic for what should continue to get investment.

This is applicable to our own lives too.

We're going to try all kinds of things throughout our lives that just don't work.

Things that we don't like, things that don't work with our schedules, things that are too demanding of our time.

There's often social pressure layered on top too, which makes it even more complicated.

But it's important we think about it for the same reason as in startups: so we can make better, more deliberate decisions about how we allocate our time and resources.

And so we can do what we'll talk about next week: removing the things that don't work.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki - An excellent book on building wealth. I wish I'd read it sooner (and I wish this stuff was taught in schools). Some of the examples are US-specific (like the tax benefits of real estate), but the principles are applicable anywhere.

"The key to becoming wealthy is the ability to convert earned income into passive income or portfolio income as quickly as possible."

📖 40 Lessons From 30 Years - Nat Eliason - I always enjoy Nat's writing, and this roundup is bound to have something for everyone. A few of my favourites:

"It's never the right time."

"Bad things happen fast, good things happen slowly."

"No one is thinking about you very much."

🚴‍♂️ A very satisfying bikepacking setup - Bikepacking has become much more popular in the last several years (I'm planning to do some trips this year), and so more and more bag options are popping up. This setup must be custom, but is oddly satisfying given how everything fits perfectly.

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