It’s been a crazy start to the year as I’m sure you’ve noticed. AI development. Bank failures. Geopolitical tensions.
History is speeding up.
Sharing some lessons from my personal quarterly review seems insignificant in light of this, but I hope they’ll be helpful to some of you.
If you haven’t done a quarterly review yourself, check out this video on how I do mine. I also made a free Notion and Google Docs template you can use.
My Q1
It was a great start to the year.
- I stepped back from my business, EDMProd (which I spent 9 years building). Aden Russell is doing a great job at the head of the helm. This has been a strange adjustment for me (not being involved in the day-to-day), but much needed.
- The YouTube channel gained traction thanks to the algorithm gods blessing me. My video Stop Procrastinating with PKM apps recently hit 175,000 views, and has driven a ton of new subscribers.
- That growth led me to double-down on the productivity content (something I enjoy talking about anyway), and also led to the first WorkSprint cohort.
Outside of business, I’ve been busy training for a mountain marathon (here’s all the details for those curious). 8-12 hours/week of training is more than I like, and it definitely interferes with work, but I wanted to do something extremely challenging in 2023.
Anyway, on to the lessons.
Writing every day is the most powerful metahabit
I’ve been over-using the word meta because it makes me sound smarter, but it applies here.
Writing not only results in content, but it improves your thinking, decision making, and leads to better habit-formation in other areas of life (by forcing introspection and reflection).
I wrote more in Q1, 2023 than I did during all of 2022. Halfway through the quarter I was kicking myself for not being consistent with writing over the past few years, because it’s truly the force multiplier for everything else (at least with my particular business/career path).
Anyway, the return to a consistent writing habit…
- Led to an explosion in content ideas (whenever I work on an article or video, 2-3 more content ideas flow out from it—simply through the act of outlining and writing).
- Enabled me to publish 14 YouTube videos (I script every video) during the quarter. The peak being 7 videos in 21 days as part of WorkSprint.
- Resulted in more flow hours than I’ve experienced in a long time. I’m a happier, more positive, more fulfilled human being when I’m consistently getting my flow hours in.
- Improved my thinking and decision-making in ways I can’t quantify or articulate (yet).
I think any hour spent writing—even if it doesn’t result in a public-facing consumable piece of content—is an hour well spent.
Going forward into Q2, I plan to continue this habit and make it a non-negotiable daily act (Q1 was almost daily).
The power of fast, slightly ignorant decision-making
A few years ago I was stuck in a cycle of analysis paralysis and overthinking. I thought that I was completely unable to make a decision.
The truth is, I was:
- Out of practice (I hadn’t really needed to make any major decisions, and lost momentum)
- Had zero pressure to make a decision (business was fairly passive and ticking along)
- Trying to maximize instead of satisfice (read The Paradox of Choice for more on this)
I still feel the pull towards this cycle of indecision, frequently. And I need to actively fight against it.
One way I did that in Q1 was to shorten the gap between decision and commitment.
To give you an example. The PKM video went semi-viral in December. In Jan I was faced with a decision: Do I want to focus my brand around productivity, or business?
In 2019/2020, I would have spent months (I’m not joking) deliberating over a decision like that.
But because I was committed to making quick decisions, I just made the decision without really thinking through it. It was almost algorithmic: productivity vid has lots of views + people like it = do more of the same. No need to analyze it.
What I’m learning is that most decisions outside of life-altering ones (like getting married) can probably benefit from more ignorance and more speed. Especially if you’re an overly-rational type.
Parallels between athleticism and productivity
This isn’t a new lesson, but it’s one I’ve been reminded of through training for the mountain marathon and working on productivity content…
Building a capacity to focus on projects and tasks for extended periods of time is very similar to building aerobic/athletic endurance.
If you’re a chronic procrastinator who can’t sit down and focus for 15 mins let alone 3 hours, then me telling you to “do some deep work bro just sit down and write for 4 hours” isn’t helpful, because you’ll get 15 mins in and your brain will start melting.
I mean, maybe you can do it once. Just like you could force someone to run a marathon. But not every day. And it would be extremely difficult.
Just like athletes build up endurance and capacity over time, incrementally—I think knowledge workers should too. Unless you have a significant event that forces you into hyperproductivity (in other words, a wake up call), then you’ll likely have to take the long-term approach of slowly building your capacity.
This an area I want to explore more in Q2. If you have any thoughts/resources/ideas, please reply to this email with them.
Two other quick lessons:
- 70% of the benefit of having a coach is the accountability. I worked with a hybrid athlete coach to help me prep for the marathon, and I haven’t skipped a workout since. I honestly think it’s worth having a coach just for this aspect. You cannot get this accountability with a friend who knows you—I’ve tried so many times. It’s not the right relationship.
- See habits as enhancements, not necessities. There should be a core part of you that can do the work regardless of how the day is going. Missed your morning ice bath? Didn’t journal for 15 mins? Doesn’t matter, you can still work. Habits and routines useful, but they should not be crutches. No point optimizing if you can’t do the work to begin with.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter.
-Sam
