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I will routinely perform 10x better in a situation if I’ve spent roughly 1-2x the duration of the situation on preparing for the situation. That mean’s for a 30 minute meeting, with 30-60 minutes of prep, that meeting will see me deliver 10x better results than if I was winging it. Nothing else delivers that kind of ROI. No stimulant or nootropic comes close. The caveat is – of course – that the bill is paid with the only completely non-renewable resource available to me; time....

A few days ago, the chimney sweep visited. We don’t even have a fireplace, but the tenant downstairs does. The job of a chimney sweep is to sweep the chimney. Open it up, clean out soot with his chimney brush, close it, and hoover up any soot that spilled. The chimney sweep doesn’t have to do more than that, to get an A+. The guy visiting us did way more. He brought all of himself to his job, and showed up with energy, smiles, and a clear aim to deliver a pleasant experience....

Picking a title for this little riff was harder than it usually is. “Bias for inaction” popped up, among other things. But the correct naming of what I wanted to reflect on is more akin to aiming. I believe in action. Doing lots of stuff, eventually figuring out what stuff is good. Having lots of ideas, eventually having one that’s good. But I also believe that there’s a spectrum involved. So it’s not binary, action or inaction....

In early 2020 I set a few goals and established a tracking method to stay aware of them. A year has passed, and it’s time to round up and post a status, before setting the new targets for 2021. Here’s the 2020 goals with comments on how they went and why. Play music every week I set this goal in the very beginning of 2020, and only lasted 2 months. I think there are a few reasons for that....

In a performance culture, measurement matters a LOT. Hitting targets matters a LOT. In a performance culture that’s moving fast, there’s a part of creating results that can easily get lost/dropped/forgotten – process evaluation. So while maintaining an outcome focus, how does a team focus on process evaluation at the minimum effective dosage? And what about when a process spans multiple teams? That’s some next level shit. So let’s unpack:...