There’s usually not perfect alignment between what’s right, and what’s easy. They’re usually far from opposite though! Taking a little time to figure out the best compromise between right and easy can pay extreme dividends as they compound over the years. And right isn’t the same as perfect, either.
Knowing the rules of the game seems like an indisputable prerequisite for winning. We’re used to systems with rules. The rules govern behaviour and limit potential outcomes to a manageable level. Systems with rules are easy. Systems with known rules are extremely easy. Most of life has no rules, and of the parts that do, most of the rules are unknown. Finding a rule that most people don’t know is a huge competitive advantage, and there’s a presumably infinite space to explore to find the rules....
The Silk Roads – A new History Of The World Peter Frankopan Epic outline of how the world was shaped into what it is today in terms of the global trade and political landscapes that have shifted since the beginning of recorded civilisation. The book starts with the creation of the original silk road, and speeds through history, gradually decelerating and spending more time on recent events – a solid half of the book is dedicated to events after WW1....
Zag, Marty Neumeier’s guide to differentiation for high performance brands. I’m structuring this one as a key takeaways list. It’s a short read, very well suited for revisiting in the future to check in on the quality of the brand being built. This is my first run-through. Page 7: Reduce clutter – clutter comes in multiple forms in the marketplace, but the ones we have control over are feature clutter (too many features in a product), message clutter (too many elements per message)....
My tiny brain LOVES the dopamine kick that comes out of winning virtual games and achievements. That might mean getting to level 80 in WoW, dominating the galaxy in an empire builder game, or getting all equipment upgrades in a FPS. They all work. And allll the little steps and unlocks on the way work as well. Most of the time, playing those games nets me only stupid prizes. However, every so often, I’m able to cage the mind in a positive reward loop – to gamify something that’s actually helpful....