Newsletter season finale
Thank you for being a Work Smart, Lead Better subscriber 🙏
I appreciated all the email responses I received throughout the year 🙌
In January 2021, I launched this newsletter as part of a system to write consistently. Today marks a significant day as I achieved my 2021 writing goal: to share one idea every week that people can use to work smart and lead better.
You might not have realized it, but you had a big impact on me achieving my goal. Just by being a subscriber and opening the emails, you held me accountable and inspired me to write and be creative. Hopefully the ideas I shared were interesting and returned the favor.
For those that subscribed recently or would like to see past ideas, here are two formats:
- Newsletter archive
- Digital brain (initial app load takes ~20 secs)
As you reflect on 2021 and fine-tune your goals and systems for 2022, here is a thorough end-of-year annual review template you can use to guide your thinking: Gustin Annual Review. Make a copy of the doc to make it your own. H/T Nat Eliason for sharing.
Here's my newsletter style I developed throughout the year and what you can expect in 2022:
- Each newsletter email has one core idea.
- Ideas center around strategy, collaboration, and mental fitness.
- Include stories or examples to bring the ideas to life.
- I usually don't include links as they can be distracting.
- I strive to be economical, averaging 325 words per post.
If you valued my newsletter in 2021, please consider providing feedback to influence the future of Work Smart, Lead Better:
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Thank you again for reading my writing!
Have a great final week of the year,
Anthony
Work Smart, Lead Better
Ideas on strategy, collaboration, mental fitness.
Poker reminds me of the sunk cost fallacy. It can be a tough decision to fold your cards after making a big bet. On the one hand, you don't want to lose the money you already put into the pot. On the other, you want to save your resources to continue playing the game. Like a poker bet, a sunk cost is a price that has already been paid and should not control future actions. Experienced leaders stay aware of the sunk cost fallacy. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he focused the company's...
I've always admired the effortlessness of the expert pianist. As their hands glide fluidly from side to side, each finger knows when to press a black or white key. It appears that the arms, hands, and fingers are independently and automatically acting on their own accord—yet they are totally in sync. To the spectator, the performance seems effortless. But it is the thousands of hours of repetition and practice that enable experts to achieve unconscious competence, the point where skill...
How do you change someone's mind? It's not easy. I'd argue it's not even possible. That's right, you don't change someone's mind. Only they can change their mind. I remember a meeting early in my consulting career where I was so prepared with stats and evidence and social proof that I thought I had "won" the decision before the conversation finished. Yet, in the end I didn't change their mind. It was as if each fact I provided had increased their skepticism and made them further dig into...