Story telling is an art. Conveying your message is a bigger art. Intentionality of delivery is mastery. As you focus on better outcomes in life you have to lead with intent and deliver with purpose. When you deliver with purpose you win every single time. I read a post a few days ago that made me realize that the simplest of acts have the potential to have the biggest value un locks. With what ever you are about to do next, say next, ask your self, "is my intent clear". Here is something that will let you visualize what I mean.

Once I went down this path I discovered what the internet defines as "magic sentences" it basically covers the same point. The sentences and the origin story being different. The example below is an interesting one, that you should dwell on to understand how context and being aware of how to manage that context, impacts your outcomes in life.

Outcomes

When you learn. Commit to memory, use, re-use

We all talk about having great outcomes. Not many of us commit learning new ideas to memory, even less use those ideas and a negligible amount re-use it. Why is that, when seemingly rational behavior is not executed by seemingly smart people?

Said plainly: School isn’t important for the subjects you learn. The most important thing to learn in school is how to learn. If you can learn quickly and efficiently, knowing what resources to use and how to sift through bad information and "act on it". Then you will excel in any thing you decide to do.

One New Thing (that I learnt recently)

In the 1970s East Germany had a coffee shortage so they made Vietnam into a supplier. East Germany invested the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars into Vietnam in exchange for half of Vietnam's coffee harvests for 20 years.

By the first harvest in 1990 East Germany was already dissolved.

Despite the loss of its original customer, Vietnam was able to quickly establish themselves after 1990 as the second-largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil, driving much of the traditional coffee production in Africa out of the market.

Moral of the story to me, always have a short, medium and long term plan. You never know how things will turn out. Act today.

Boring Stuff that Scales

Confidence. You don't need self help books, you don't need permission. You do not need to buy fancy gear. You essentially can do it with will power. I read some thing that is short, sweet and incredibly powerful and boring but that scales, especially if you do it, today, tomorrow or the day after.

What you should be Watching

Jade for courage, amethyst to improve concentration and rose quartz for love. Social media influencers are driving demand for quartz and gemstones. But these pretty materials are mined under questionable conditions in the Global South.

Does rose quartz combat stress? In the beauty industry, gemstones have been an integral part of the product range for years. Various companies tout their rose quartz products‘ "natural" healing powers, claiming they will help customers recuperate from their stressful everyday lives and reconnect with nature.

But while people in Europe turn to these stones for beauty and healing, the gemstones bring anything but wellbeing for the workers across the globe who are mining them.

From the European beauty industry to middlemen in Asia to the mining regions: Nadja Mitzkat gets to the bottom of the esoteric gemstone production chain. The reporter finds that many of the beauty products originate in Madagascar. She travels to the African island state to talk to local people about their working conditions.

Monetize your time

By looking at markets that may seem too niche, too simple, too dumb, too boring. There is nothing sexier than a boring business because most people would not do it. Most such business ideas come from personal need. Do not focus on silly things that wont scale, or focus too much on a problem, focus on the solution. I read some thing that is dated, but is a prime example of how some thing that you invest some time in can lead to interesting outcomes and help you build a side hustle. What is your top boring idea? Would you share it?

Made in Pakistan

Ambition Tax. What is it. Read my hot-take on the issue on my blog.

One Last Thing

Simplicity is king. When you solve for the simple, you win big. Keeping with my theme of boring, simple can be boring too but doesn't have to be. The smartest people ask the simplest questions. Here is an example of some one solving some thing simple, resulting in Half a million dollars a year. What is you simple for the weekend?