Saturday Success: better writing, the grind myth & how to plan quarterly
Making life & money work for you.
Welcome back to the Saturday Success Series email!
This week we have:
Master Yourself: Want to be a better writer?
Master Your Money: Grind 24/7 myth
The Weekly Special: How to Plan for a New Quarter
The goal here is maximum value, so let’s get to it.
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Master Yourself
Lately I’ve come across a couple types of articles.
Ones like these:
Why I’m Writing/Why I Love Writing
Things You Don’t Know About Me/Fun Facts About Me
Oof.
At the risk of sounding harsh I’m gonna tell you what it really is.
These kinds of stories are for you. Which means they’re not for your readers.
At best, they’re self serving.
At worst, they’re lazy fillers.
No one cares why you write, they care how you help them. No one cares about fun facts about you, they care about fun facts that help them.
If you want to write about yourself, build a blog and have an About Me page.
Put yourself in your reader’s shoes.
Do you care why other writers are writing? Do you want to know everything about them?
I’m going to guess, no. You want to know how this article is relevant to you, and quickly.
By all means, write whatever you want. But if you want to be a better, more prolific writer, write for your readers.
They’re not here for you, they’re here for them.
Master Your Money
Myth: If you don’t grind 24/7, you’ll be poor
Nah. I grind, but not 24/7.
I manage my time well. I get all my must do’s done early and I can take it easy most of the day.
I also make sure I show up every day.
But some days I only have 50% in me to give. So that’s what the world gets.
No zero days.
But get your rest too.
Weekly Special
How to Plan for a New Quarter
I used to try and come up with goals and resolutions, just like everyone else.
Then much like everyone else, I’d find myself fading out quickly.
It was very obvious I could do better.
So, I decided to become better.
Now, I come up with themes (usually 2) and build them around my pillars (my core four).
Themes (pick 1–3)
My themes this year:
Simplify
Engage
Pillars (pick 3–5)
I used to measure 8 metrics. Now it’s four pillars.
What I refer to as my Core Four:
Health
Relationships
Work
Wealth
Questions (1–3 for each pillar)
Now you apply questions to each pillar, based on your themes.
I’ll share mine as examples.
How can I simplify my health?
Focus on the big 3. Sleep, diet and movement. I don’t get sucked into supplements or crazy routines. I get 7+ hours. I focus on protein and fiber. I focus on compound movements and lots of walking.
How can I increase engagement?
I can follow through and measure my health. A gamified diet, workout tracker and sleep tracking.
How can I simplify my relationships?
Focus on family and positive-sum people.
How can I increase engagement?
Much like my other pillars, I set up measurements.
How often am I reaching out to friends? Am I doing family dinners at least 5 nights/week? Am I calling my parents often enough?
A big focus on being present wherever I am. I work on managing my time and energy so this becomes easier.
How can I simplify my work?
Focus on what I absolutely must/want to do. This happens to be my 9–5, Typeshare CS and Twitter/Medium/Substack.
How can I increase engagement?
Weekly one on ones with my manager at my 9–5. I’m part of committees at my 9–5. I post a certain amount of articles. Send a certain amount of private messages to loose ties on social. Make sure weekly schoolwork is completed by the due date.
I keep daily Must Do lists and weekly checklists along with a monthly calendar.
How can I simplify my wealth?
I buy 3 main assets (stocks, real estate and crypto) and keep 2 spreadsheets (cash flow, net worth).
I do this every 2 weeks and ignore the markets in between.
How can I increase engagement?
The engagement here is simply the act of buying assets every 2 weeks and maintaining my spreadsheets.
Thanks for reading! If you found this valuable, please share with someone who could use it. See you next Saturday!
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Here’s a picture of the fam from Wednesday night. Our eldest had her last elementary school spring concert. Have a great upcoming week!