Deep down, people don’t really care about product features. They care about how the product will make them feel. Even gear heads and tech gurus don’t really care about product features. They care about the respect and admiration they get from their peers when they know about product features.

A majority of online launches are underwhelming. When people start businesses and podcasts, they’ll often tease the new project, generate a little hype, and then end up with 84 followers. Maybe less. There’s no reason to be disappointed about an underwhelming online launch.

As I created recurring events on my calendar, a wall of commitments rose where there once was open space. It stressed me out. I started wondering: do I really want to become the kind of person who has every minute on a calendar? Do I really want every second to be accounted for? Where is the spontaneity?

This is where we’re both passionate and proficient. When we work within our Desire Zone, we lose track of time in a good way, because we’re 100% zoned in. True productivity and focus come when we work in this zone. For me, copywriting, on-set production, and creative development fall in this zone.

Show, don’t tell. In your pitch, give the company something valuable for free. If you’re a graphic designer, remix some photo assets for instagram stories. If you’re a photographer, buy the product and shoot it in your backyard. If you’re a social media manager, do a free audit of their last month of posts. Whatever value you’re creating, package it up in an easy-to-digest format.

I wonder how many life-changing books are currently unedited .docx files on a dusty Dell desktops. How many insurance salesmen, and painters, and IT techs could have been geniuses? I mean geniuses. If they had just published their work.

The trouble, however, is that many founders don’t want to delegate. They either can’t give up control, or they aren’t willing to spend the money to delegate. They wonder why they would spend the money on hiring you if they can do the same work for free.

When negotiating with people who offer you a “once in a lifetime opportunity”, the best move may actually be to let it pass by. If you really are indispensable, or the best option, they’ll offer you the opportunity again. Maybe even a little better this time. I’ve received higher rates in gigs I’ve taken bye first saying no. It might take 5 months or 5 minutes, but in all likelihood, the opportunity will come back around even after you say no.

If you’re a freelancer, it might be tempting to lower your prices to be competitive. Needy clients will bargain with you, making you feel bad for “being too expensive.” Don’t lower your rates. Nine times out of ten, when I’ve lowered my rates for clients, they’ve nitpicked the product, I’ve been overworked, and the relationship didn’t last.

If you’re looking for a more concise way to get your news each day, I highly recommend The New Paper. The New Paper is a simple, text-message based news round up, sent every weekday morning. They’ll send between five and seven short descriptions of newsworthy events in the US, and globally. I’ve been a happy subscriber for over a year now. l’ll share some of the reasons I appreciate it so much.

How do you increase engagement on your social channels? There is an underserved audience out there, hoping to find someone like you. How do you reach them? How do you convince them that you’re worth following?

The people with the most followers on social media are celebrities. A huge mistake people make is pulling social media best practices from celebrities, because they have the most followers. In fact, celebrities are exempt from the rules the rest of us have to follow because they’re famous. Mimicking celebrities is a horrible idea.

Everything I’m doing right now is a proving ground. I’m proving to myself and to the world that I deserve it. That I was the guy who wrote every day for years with five website visitors a day. And I didn’t mind. I was the guy who loved it so much that I pushed through, connected with an audience, and brought real value.

Stillness is the Key reads similarly to a lot of modern research-based self help books. Holiday pulls together anecdotes from the most successful people in history. What makes this book different is the fact that he considers both the successes and failures of these people.

I really think anyone can be a producer, as long as they can communicate well and make good decisions quickly. A key factor in making good decisions quickly is a good budget spreadsheet.

Masterclass sells access to his course for $100. They also sell annual access to all their courses for $200. Meanwhile, business students around the country are taking Zoom classes from professors who have done less research, and who communicate worse than Daniel Pink for 25-50x the cost.

We can’t change the course of events by checking social media more often. We can change the course of our local world by showing up and completing the work that we said we would do.

Ryan Holiday makes compelling arguments through Churchill’s painting hobby, and other hobbies of successful people, that leisure and relaxation is an important piece of true productivity. Finding a way to turn our brains off and completely focus on one task actually reenergizes us to perform at a high level.

On nights when you can’t sleep, it’s ok to stop trying. Get up and read. Make some tea. Have some toast. 

I usually say something like, “I want to make sure you feel good about this. How are you feeling with this new plan?” This gives them a chance to say something if they feel bad. It also leads them to say that they do feel good, and lets them log that feeling for future reference. But most importantly it just makes them feel heard.