Welcome to “The Looking Glass”, a weekly newsletter journey of personal growth into mindset, meaning and mastery in work.
#38 – 13 Jan 2023
Hello friend,
Thanks again for being here!
I share an insight, a question, and a quote for reflection, then an actionable learning you can implement.
Contents:
- 💡 Avoiding “The Efficiency Trap”
- ❔ Systems solve “heavy lifts”
- 💬 On a life you don’t need to escape from
- 📣 Building leverage with an email list
💡 Avoiding “The Efficiency Trap”
We shouldn’t feel so guilty for not being hyperproductive.
We aren’t machines, after all.
That’s what all this new fancy A.I. is here for, right? To liberate us from the tyranny of productivity?
Don’t worry; I will not take you on an A.I. tangent. (I’m sick of hearing about it too)
I always felt there was more to life than mastering productivity.
That’s why Oliver Burkman’s (Four Thousand Weeks) views on productivity hit home. He views it more through a meaning lens, which is something I can get excited about.
Since we are only here on Earth for a finite time, rather than trying to do more things, why don’t we be selective in only doing those things which are truly meaningful to us?
Our real problem isn’t too much that we are busy. It’s that we are overwhelmed.
Oliver Burkeman
We have the feeling that there are more things we need to do than we can do in the available time.
That’s how I often feel in this digital world – overwhelmed!
And I bet you do too.
There is simply too much good stuff to do but not enough time to do it all.
So it’s overwhelming.
Case in point
Eight years ago, I subscribed to only five podcasts. I could comfortably listen to every episode of my favourite podcasters every week. Heck, I even relistened to my favourite episodes!
Now, my favourite podcasts are spread across multiple apps (Apple, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube). When I check the new episode feeds, it’s like standing under a heavy waterfall.
It’s a dump of like 100 hours of podcast content.
I’ve got no chance of listening to all that.
I used to be able to catch up on most of the good stuff. But having a kid and starting my own business changed all that.
Free time seems to evaporate.
I feel this existential guilt knowing I will never be able to listen to all that unquestionably excellent content.
Don’t get me started on books, email newsletters, and everything else I would also love to consume…
So thanks to Oliver Burkeman for reminding me that I shouldn’t try to do it all.
It’s a trap to think we can do it all.
I will never catch up on all the podcasts.
There are simply too many.
So I have resolved:
Make peace with all that you cannot do, and move on.
The efficiency trap
Burkeman highlights the trappings of pursuing too many tasks:
But there’s another dimension to this pitfall that I am calling “The efficiency trap”, which is one not just of quantity of tasks, but the quality.
If you focus obsessively on trying to fit more and more in as a way to feel in control of your time, you’re actually likely to spend more and more of your time on the least important things.
That’s partly because we tell ourselves that the really important things need our full focus. They need plenty of energy. And so, we postpone them.
We concentrate instead on clearing the decks, that is, dealing with all the other little tasks that are tugging at our attention so that we can later get the time and the focus that we need for the important ones.
The trouble, of course, is that the decks are never cleared because the incoming supply of things to fill them is basically infinite.
So we never get around to the important stuff at all.
You’ll probably never get around to the critical tasks if you cram in too much.
Big insight there.
Hence why I have (sadly) had to reduce my podcast consumption dramatically.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t achieve the meaningful things I set out to do, such as this writing this newsletter, coaching my clients to achieve results, and playing with my son.
So, if you are struggling to move the needle on meaningful projects, maybe you, too, are falling into the efficiency trap and need to refocus on the important stuff.
Give up hope of doing it all.
And that’s ok.
Cause you’ll be doing something that matters much more than clearing emails all day.
A final line from Burkeman:
We are finite creatures swimming in infinite oceans of possibility, so there will always be too much to do.
❔ Systems solve “heavy lifts”
I first heard about the concept of a “heavy lift” from Ali Abdaal:
So this week, we’re taking on one of the worst parts of being a creator, which is the idea of the heavy lift.
The heavy lift is the feeling we get when we are creating from scratch every time, as we try to keep up with our upload schedule.We write, record and edit a video from a blank page every time, we write our newsletter from nothing or we tweet nonsense just to get something out.
And the cherry on top, we do these things alone.
I’m sure that resonates.
You have ambitious goals in your life.
You get all motivated and psyched up to start your new journey. Let’s say your new year’s resolution was to post an Instagram reel once a week.
You ride that wave of creative energy and smash out your first few weeks of reels.
It feels good.
It’s fun.
But then, by the end of January, you are back at work, and things are busy again.
You have some parties to attend over the coming weekends.
Suddenly it feels like you have no time to produce those reels.
It’s now a drag.
“Man, I have to write the scripts, set up the space – background, lighting, camera, do multiple takes. Then the pain continues with editing, writing captions and scheduling on the social platforms.”
Urgh!
Wow, things got hard quickly.
Now you are not so motivated.
Suddenly it feels like a heavy lift.
Ali Abdaal continues:
Creating like this slowly chips away at our energy and our love for our passion.
But it does not have to be this way.
The answer to this problem is to systemise our creative process as much as possible, so that everything requires a fraction of the time and effort.
Systematising our creative process can help us yield better results.
Ali also references the famous quote from James Clear:
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
An example with the reels goal
First, set up a dedicated space for recording the reels so that it isn’t such a pain every time you go to record. All you have to do is jump in when it’s go time.
Second, create a process for capturing ideas with a notetaking app. This should be super easy – you think of an idea and instantly capture it in your chosen app.
Next, set times for refining the idea into scripts. For example, you could write for 30 mins before work each morning.
Then, have a set time for batching, recording, editing and publishing, e.g. two slots on the weekend.
Now you have a process you can follow.
Learn to love the process—Moreso than the goal.
This is the key.
Remember to keep it simple.
Reflection questions:
You may not be doing short-form videos like the example, but I’m sure you have some creative goals.
Apply this thinking.
What are my “heavy lifts”?
How can I systematise those heavy lifts into a simple process?
(A realistic process that you could commit to and follow)
💬 A quote to ponder
– On a life you don’t need to escape from
Build a life that you don’t need to escape from this year.
Ryan Holiday
Reminds me of this one from Seth Godin:
Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.
📣 What happened this week
Building leverage with an email list
People have been saying email is dead for years, but it seems to be getting stronger and stronger.
This tweet from Kieran Drew caught my attention:
Leverage is powerful.
I believe it after the last 12 months of building as a creator and coach.
Once you create an offer in your business, you need to direct traffic towards that offer, or you won’t sell anything.
Here’s an extract from an Instagram post by Jose Rosado stressing the importance of a newsletter:
Traffic is the KEY.
What I like to do is…
Use email marketing.
Because if you can send a simple email, you can add $100,000 to your income this year.
This means you MUST launch a newsletter.
And you don’t need much to launch it…
Another of my favourite creators, Dan Koe, said:
Start a weekly newsletter. Why? Because most people are playing the short-form content game with no authority to show for it.
Authority comes from depth and expertise. What better way to build that authority than making a high quality newsletter the main pillar of your business?
95% of my sales come from my long form content. It builds trust that others can’t compete with.
The key takeaway is that you need an email list and a quality newsletter to succeed in the digital economy outside the mercy of social platforms.
Just having social media followers isn’t enough. Those fans can be taken away from you anytime if the platform falls from grace or chooses to ban or limit you.
How devastating would that be?
Better to hedge your bets with an email list you own.
And the platforms limit the reach to your audience. The algorithm stands between your content and followers. It chooses what is shown to who.
But not email. If they subscribe, it lands in their inbox.
It’s special having direct communication with your audience.
You can get to know them and serve them better over time.
So you should launch now, before you are ready.
Start building and improving now.
So that by the time you have something to offer and sell, you will have an engaged and loyal audience who will be pounding on your door to buy your products.
But you need to get started
Stop talking about doing the thing and actually start doing the thing.
The excuses aren’t helping you. You are only kidding yourself.
Be one of the few people who take action.
Good things come
Another creator, Sahil Bloom, recently proved how valuable leverage is:
He built an email list with over 200k subscribers, mostly from posting weekly threads on Twitter.
That makes for an easy book deal.
Guaranteed interest in whatever he serves up. And I am sure it will be good coming from such a prolific, high-quality creator.
I love Sahil’s line of advice – “stay the course and good things happen”.
Exactly. Stay in the game.
Don’t give up. Keep improving, and over time you will reap the rewards.
James Clear now has over 2 million people on his email list.
Do you think he will have any trouble selling his next book when he releases it?
Leverage, leverage, leverage.
Start building it now.
Cause you’re gonna need it.
💭 Thanks for reading!
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Cheers!
