Read This If You Think You Should Read This
So, you may have noticed that I started writing my subject lines a little differently.
For the past few years, it's been clickbaity headline after clickbaity headline.
You know what I'm talking about.
Headlines like:
"One Bulletproof Way To Change Your Life," and "The 5 Little Known Things That Will Make You 150% More Productive," and "Do This Surprisingly Simple Daily Habit To Improve Your Mindset."
I wrote them every day for a year and I still wonder if that helped me gain attention or pushed away readers who would like what I actually had to say.
Either way, I've been focusing on a more simple approach.
I'm not sure it's helping me gain more readers yet, but I do know that it neither adds nor takes away anything from the rest of the content I'm writing.
So, why?
Because I feel better about it.
Yep. That's the big realization.
I feel more straightforward and more honest--and that's been the promise the whole time, right?
I promised simple, to-the-point, no fancy-pants, quickly digestible, mission-critical, delicious, family-friendly, actionable, knowledge-nuggets?
These headlines feel even more stripped down. So, that's what I'm doing.
So, I'll be looking at open rates and read through rates to see what kind of actual, measurable impact this small, seemingly insignificant change has made, but as of right now, it feels like the right thing to do.
How does that relate to you?
Of course, I want to hear your feedback about this, but more importantly, I want to model a behavior for you.
Takeaways:
Change is good if it's good.
If the change you made achieves a desirable result (not necessarily the specific result you initially desired), then it's probably good. Make sure you are on the lookout for unintended consequences, too.
Simpler is usually harder but better.
I write a 7th-grade reading level. Why? The average reading level in America is a 7th-grade reading level. It also helps those above that average get to the point faster and comprehend more. No, I'm not dumbing it down. I'm meeting people where they are.
Measure what matters.
My message won't matter if it doesn't get clicked, opened, and read. My message also won't matter if it falls into the wrong ears. Discerning open rates and audience is the front portion of my battle. Understanding the impact is harder to measure, but also worthwhile. Likes, hearts, and thumbs-ups can be useful in understanding audience attention, but it will only serve your vanity if you don't follow them to the behaviors of the people you are trying to impact. This is also why I include a quick, actionable note in each post.
2 Minute Action
What's something you've been doing for a while but haven't seen much change in? It's probably something important but not urgent, like "fitness" or "writing that novel."
What are your current excuses/reasons for not doing it?
Go ahead, jot them down.
I'll give you a hint, here. No one has the time, money, or the team to make it happen--so you can't let those slow you down.
If you were diagnosed with some terrible disease, you would stop other things and focus on healing. Why? Because it's a priority. Suddenly, things became important AND urgent.
If you're like me, you want to do all the things.
You want to have a huge impact in 20 different disciplines, catch up with your friends and family, be an informed citizen, speak 7 or 8 languages, and play 13 different instruments.
Since you can't do everything, it's going to be up to you to decide what to prioritize. It's going to be up to you to decide what is important AND urgent.
As Derek Sivers says: "hell yes!" or "no!"
Changing/modifying a routine, simplifying/improving an existing routine, and measuring the results are some of the ways to get there.
You can start on one of those things, today.
And I know you can start in 2 minutes or less.
All I did was start writing different headlines.
Daily 1% improvement accumulates into a 100% improvement every 70 days.
A Simple, Fast Way To Start Seeing Results
There’s something strange that happens when you measure things.
They improve.Just by knowing the benchmark or the baseline, human brings just naturally want to improve.Do that in your life and work and you will set yourself up for success automatically.It’s all tuning after that.
2 Minute Action
I don’t ask anyone to measure tasks by saying “how long will that take?”Or worse: “how long should that take?”I use points.Tasks should be assigned point values based on uncertainty. (Have you done this before? Do you have the skill set on your team to execute this? Do you need a consultant to get this done?)As tasks get uncertain, they tend to get really uncertain (because we don’t know all the things we don’t know).So you’ll want to use a point system that goes up roughly exponentially, like: 1, 3, 5, 10, 21
It’s up to you to decide how to assign the point values.
Its up to you to measure how many points you score in an allotted period of time (the “sprint”).Don't try to get it perfect.Just do it.
Just start measuring.
If you don’t want to use points, fine.Use T-Shirt sizes to start (Sm, Med, Lg, XL).You will do better every subsequent time.It can be tasks, pushups, lives saved, attendees, happy clients, or whatever you want.
Just start measuring.
The Real World Tradeoff Of Internet B.S.
I had always worked 60 hour weeks.But I wanted to do more, so I started working 80 hour weeks. It felt sexy and self-righteous to cut out weekends and social events.I was beating everyone.And that’s when I decided I wanted to push 100 hour weeks.
Let me explain something really important about this.
The difference between 60 and 80 is not the same as the difference between 80 and 100.At 60 hour weeks you’re sacrificing some social stuff, but there’s still time for a relaxing weekend.At 80 hour weeks, your weekends are gone so you’re sacrificing almost if not all of your social activity.
Here’s where it gets crazy.
At 100 hour weeks, you’re now forced to sacrifice really basic needs like exercise and sleep.You’re basically getting 5 hours of sleep each night and immediately beginning work when you get up.There are a lot of internet people who talk about hard work, long hours, and the sexiness of competing for who stayed at the office the longest.I’ve worked all of these styles and I can tell you that there is a huge trade off when you exceed 80 hour work weeks.Sacrificing all social events and interactions means you have no support network or way to vent, verbally process, or feel connected.Sacrificing exercise means your health risks go up and you don’t have recovery hormones making you feel positive and energized all day. Enter; the risk for a coffee, cigarette, or other stimulant addiction.Sacrificing sleep means your body can’t recover as it normally would from mental or physical exertion.All of a sudden, you’re making stupid mistakes that create more work.
But weren’t you working all this time to get ahead?
Now you’ve got a problem. More work and less capacity to finish it.The point is that there’s a tradeoff and you have to find your sweet spot.If you’re serious about living a productive life that helps others and improve our planet, you’re going to have to be responsible for your own sustainability.
This means finding out your limits and working backward to hit your stride.
Stop listening to the internet celebrity B.S. and start listening to (and measuring) yourself.No one else is going to tell you what’s optimal for you. You have to get out there and figure it out.
2 Minute Action
Take 2 minute to reflect on the amount of sleep you’ve gotten for the last week.Set a sleep goal (high or low, it doesn’t matter) for this week.Set a reinder for each morning to notice how you feel with that amount of sleep each day of this week.Reply here and let me know what results you get. There’s no right or wrong with this, I’m just curious what is working for you.