Perception as a tool to win big. We all think we need to do many things, (depth of service/product to win). As a small data evangelist, I feel we need to do one thing and do it better.

My thinking changed when I saw just one product do 5k, then 6k, then 10k a month.

This lead to a massive change in how I processed money and my perception around it changed forever. This was in my 20s.

Then in my 30s when I understood one can make $20k, 30k, 50k+ profit/m with doing two things right, sales and marketing my whole outlook on working smart vs working hard changed. As did my focus in life, getting better, every day, week, month, year.

You have to make sure you dial in and change your perspective, but it starts from finding one thing, sticking to it, scaling and growing it. Iteratively getting better means you need to measure how you are getting better. Invest your time and energy in doing one thing really well. But even more real is to understand how to get better at some thing first, before getting the best at it or many things.

Outcomes

No outcome can happen unless you optimize for sleep.I have personally made a significant life style change to sleep better and I should have done it sooner.

I read the following in a closed FB Trends group. (reposting)

A couple of thoughts on sleep for those of you looking to optimize you'r nightly slumber.

For the past six months, I’ve been religiously tracking my sleep each night. Finding a few simple tricks have had a profound effect on my daily performance both in the gym and at work.

If you’re going to shortcut any area of your health (and I strongly recommend you don’t) sleep is not the area to do it.

Cutting your sleep short by a couple hours doesn’t necessarily mean you’re missing 75% of your sleep.

You effectively could be depriving yourself of sleep cycles that could reduce the quality (and benefit of your sleep) of your sleep by more than 50%

As I’m sure we all know: Sleep is about both quantity and quality.

So, let me take a moment to share a little of both.

Sleep quantity:

The amount of sleep we need has been a debate for as long as we’ve been sleeping. Many people claim they can (and do) thrive on 6 hours of sleep or fewer per night.

But the reality is that it’s quite rare. Less than 1% of the world can go on less than 7 hours of sleep without feeling the effect.

I get it — a full night’s rest is out of the question sometimes. But next time you consider sacrificing sleep in exchange for another Netflix binge session think about this:

Sleep quality:

Sleep is a finicky thing… the most subtle noises have been shown to interfere with sleep whether you awake from it or not.

I’ve slept with a fan for years. But when I started taking my sleep quality seriously, I noticed a huge difference.

A couple of small things I did that made a big difference:

• Stopped drinking caffeine after 11:00 — Caffeine has a half-life of 5 hours and a quarter-life of 12 hours. So, as Dr. Matthew Walker explains, that’s like drinking a ¼ cup of coffee right before your bed hits the pillow.

• Stopped consuming salt 2 hours before bed — Eating a meal high in sodium at dinnertime can contribute to poor sleep, in part due to an increase in blood pressure and fluid retention (think lighter sleep and more frequent waking during sleep).

• Made my room darker — My wife likes to sleep with our bedroom door open in order to hear if one of our kids wakes up in the middle of the night. Our windows have blinds and blackout curtains but still, some light can get through. So, I started sleeping with a sleep mask. I sound like a diva, but this little piece of “sleep tech” revolutionized my sleep. My deep sleep % increased (deep sleep should account for 13-23% of your nightly sleep), and I’m able to fall asleep faster and fall back to sleep after when I wake up. It takes some getting used to (find a mask that’s comfortable), but once you do, you’ll never want to leave home without it.

• Began washing my face again — I haven’t washed my face since I was a teenager battling acne. But washing my face is a simple way to help my body lower its core temp. The human body needs to drop its core temp by 1-2 degrees in order to enter deep sleep.

• Stopped taking sleep aids — Unless you’re elderly or traveling across time zones, sleep aids only disrupt sleep. Even natural, non-habit-forming sleep aids impair your sleep.

Sleep is an amazing thing. There’s a reason Lebron James sleeps 12 hours each night and still takes a nap each day. It isn’t just a pillar of sleep… it’s truly the foundation.

Sleep well, everyone! 

One New Thing (That I Learnt today)

TIL that the topic of the first ever radio communication on board an aircraft in flight, was a cat. In 1910, Kiddo the cat snuck on board an airship, and ended up travelling with the ship during its entire 71-hour journey. Kiddo was adopted by the daughter of one of the airmen.

Boring stuff that Scales

Over the years I’ve learned that making my users happy is way more fulfilling than using the latest technology to do it. (Applies to most skilled work) Watching the people who are going to use your software light up when they realize their jobs are going to be a little easier is a magical feeling.

Users don’t care about your new framework or tool or quantum computing algo. Users don’t care about the newest cloud service. Users don’t even care about that new hipster trend X. Users want to get their work done so they can go home. They want software/products/services that aren't flaky, that performs well, and that aren't going to make them learn some thing new to use.

These concerns sound boring. They don’t have the appeal of that new fancy thing you just heard about on the Internet or from a friend etc. But boring = winning.

We are drowning in technical debt. Additionally, by focusing on some boring, yet key skills, you can side step the technology treadmill. You can still learn shiny new things, but you don’t have to feel obligated to keep up with everything. Deliver vs learning all the time. Stop learning start earning.

Some key items to think about:

1. Take Responsibility

2. Adopt a Growth Mindset

3. Make a Plan

4. Picking Skills to Learn(vs trying to learn everything)

5. Follow.Unfollow.Unlearn

In addition to spending time learning, spend time improving your learning process. With the pace of change, we constantly have to learn new things. Let’s make sure we spend our time as efficiently as possible by managing our learning process. In our drive to produce we get lost. Don't get lost, find your focus and build to it.

What you should be watching

In the future, will the human being be at the top of technology, using it to solve the great problems of Humankind? Will technology bring more freedom to be able to devote to exercising the highest values of the human being? What is this desire to annihilate our neighbor, that seems to not have evolved ever since the origin of modern Man, over 100 thousand years ago, despite the average values of the intelligence quotient having increased consistently, from one decade to the other? We left the caves. We invented the wheel, steam locomotion, electricity, the internet. We built car, places, rockets. We launched ourselves into Space. We created markets, medicine, weaponry. We recreated life… But all this with absolute, permanent dissatisfaction and a never-ending desire to reach more and more. Even the power of God. Where do we want to get and how? Why does the human being have an unquenchable thirst?

This is a rewarding documentary to watch.

Monetize your time

By not being left from the electronic payments revolution, where ever you may be. US Bank Accounts.

Made in /From Pakistan

Pakistani food products. Yet there is no authoritative site on what we produce. No SEO, No SEM. If you decide to find a vertical, some genres of food products/recipes. The best tasting, the most exclusive, the most unique. You could build your self an authoritative online source that every one will use.

Some thoughts here.

The Business of Content & The Secret Sauce(s) to dominating your niche. (Blog post linked)

One Last Thing

Adversity and hard times are the key ingredients for many valuable things in life (character, reputation, muscles, wisdom). Use your adversity as a means to stand apart. Never easy but make the most of what you have. You cant change environment, but you can always change how you react to it.