One sentence summary of this week’s links: Work smarter by ignoring the advice of your friends, but use Evernote to help you become an expert while talking about it on Slack.
1. Working smarter has been haunting me. It’s the key to unlocking our potential and increasing our impact while we’re still alive. I’d like to get better at batching my work to increase my activity. Nicole Avery’s article is a wonderful place to start if you too want to improve on this.
The Science and Art of Batching to Increase Your Productivity
2. Are you prone to taking advice from others and automatically agreeing with it? In a recent conversation, my smart friend Jeff told me, “Some decisions other people can’t make for you.” Nathan Barry, who I’m also proud to call a friend, is the founder of ConvertKit. He recently ignored some advice, and I totally agree with his logic for doing so.
Why I Ignore Advice From My Smartest Friends
3. Evernote is the most important tool in my business. Their new CEO had two great quotes in a recent interview that say a lot about how he views his new company.Talking about being a sustainable company, “We call it Evernote for a reason.”This is exactly how I sell people on why they should use Evernote, “Your brain is just a terrible place to store things.”
Evernote’s CEO on ‘unlocking the potential of every idea‘
4. Isolation is a highway to killing your hope, ideas, self-worth, and spiritual health. So many of us feel alone. Please remember that you’re not alone.
5. I’m reading Cal Newport’s newest book Deep Work. My friend Scott Meyer recently wrote about how becoming a master at something (which we must do deep work to achieve) is the best path to more profit. Read his post more than once. It’s that good.
Want To Charge More? Be a Master
6. Most people hate email. (If you’re reading that from inside your inbox you’re likely aware of the irony.) Slack has become a popular alternative to email for many businesses. It’s better than email in many ways. If you do use it or, you’ve thought about using it check out another post by Scott.
