Relax for the Same Result
Hey friends, happy Sunday!
I hope you had a great Christmas and enjoyed some much needed time off over the holiday season after an interesting year.
This week I want to share a story from Derek Sivers that I recently re-read in his great book "Hell yeah or no"
Relax for the Same Result
(from sive.rs/relax - you can also watch the video version here)
"A few years ago, I lived in Santa Monica, California, right on the beach.
There’s a great bike path that goes along the ocean for seven and a half miles. So, fifteen miles round trip. On weekday afternoons, it’s almost empty. It’s perfect for going full speed.
So a few times a week, I’d get on my bike and go as fast as I could for the fifteen-mile loop. I mean really full-on, 100 percent, head-down, red-faced sprinting.
I’d finish exhausted and look at the time: forty-three minutes. Every time. Maybe a minute more on a really windy day, but basically always forty-three minutes.
After a few months, I noticed I was getting less enthusiastic about this bike ride. I think I had mentally linked it with being completely exhausted.
So one day I decided I would do the same ride, but just chill. Take it easy, nice and slow. OK, not super slow, but dialing it back to about 50 percent of my usual effort.
And ahhh… what a nice ride. I was relaxed and smiling and looking around. I was barely giving it any effort.
I saw two dolphins in the water. A pelican flew right over me in Marina del Rey. When I looked up to say “wow!” he shit in my mouth. I can still remember that taste of digested shellfish. I had to laugh at the novelty of it.
I’m usually so damn driven, always doing everything as intensely as I can. It was so nice to take it easy for once. I felt I could do this forever, without any exhaustion.
When I finished, I looked at the time: forty-five minutes.
Wait — what?!? How could that be? Yep. I double-checked: forty-five minutes, as compared to my usual forty-three.
So apparently all of that exhausting, red-faced, full-on push-push-push I had been doing had given me only a 4 percent boost. I could just take it easy and get 96 percent of the results.
And what a difference in experience! To go the same distance, in about the same time, but one way leaves me exhausted, and the other way, rejuvenated.
I think of this often. When I notice that I’m all stressed out about something or driving myself to exhaustion, I remember that bike ride and try dialing back my effort by 50 percent. It’s been amazing how often everything gets done just as well and just as fast, with what feels like half the effort.
Which then makes me realize that half of my effort wasn’t effort at all, but just unnecessary stress that made me feel like I was doing my best."
I found this post to be a really timely reminder to focus a little more on enjoying the present.
Here are this week's finds:
Personal Leverage: How to Truly 10x Your Productivity
(Article)
This year I've learnt that trying to increase productivity by working longer hours is not the best way to build a business. The only way to dramatically increase your productivity is to work with others.
Even the best "solopreneurs" don't do it alone, they work with teams. This is something I've been caught up on for a long time. I felt like I could do it all myself, I just had to work harder and smarter - turns out I was wrong.
Nat Eliason lays out exactly what I've been learning, the only way to truly increase your productivity is what he calls "Personal Leverage".
"Personal Leverage: a measure of your ability to extend your productivity beyond yourself."
Moving into 2021 I'm working on defining, refining, automating or delegating a lot of the time consuming day to day work I do freeing myself up to do the higher leverage tasks.
I'd highly recommend checking out this post and reading up on systems thinking if you're interested in building a business.
What’s the point of free if you have nothing to sell
(Article)
Following the theme of building a business, this article from Jakob Greenfeld was an interesting look at where most "indie makers" go wrong.
Jakob is an intriguing guy, who's pursuing a Bootstrap MBA over the course of 12 months - launching 12 products and teaching himself everything from programming to marketing.
In the post he talks about how most people wait too long to charge for what they make. People feel like they can't charge for products when in actual fact charging money allows you to make better things and gives you more credibility.
"Charging money completely changes the perception people have of you and what you’re doing. You’re not just a dude who posts random stuff on the internet but an author. You’re not just some kid who codes a bit after school but an entrepreneur. It’s not just a long blog post or random PDF but a book. It’s not just a Youtube video, it’s a course. It’s not just a fun web app but software-as-a-service."
Andrew Wilkinson - My First Million episode #63
(Podcast)
To round off the business heavy newsletter this week I want to share with you a great podcast interview with Andrew Wilkinson.
Andrew is the founder of MetaLabs [a product design agency who've built for companies like Slack, Uber & Google] and currently running Tiny Capital [a company who buy and run profitable internet businesses]
He's often referred to as the Warren Buffett of internet businesses and this episode doesn't disappoint.
In the episode they talk about buying profitable internet businesses with healthy cash flow, starting and selling companies as well as building no-code projects with tools like Webflow.
End Notes
If you enjoyed this edition of the Sunday Filter then I'd love it if you share it with a few friends. You can send them over here to sign up.
Over the next week I will be taking some time to work through my priorities for 2021 and write up my 2020 year review. I'd love to know what you're working on over this week and into 2021 - just reply to this email and let me know.
Have a great Sunday and I'll see you in 2021 :)
- Stephen