Make it happen for yourself

Heyo!

Happy Monday everyone! The theme of this issue relentless self-reliance. No one is going to make it happen for you, so make it happen for yourself. You'll find a hint of that in each of these five articles. I hope you enjoy and if you're feeling inspired, pass this email on to a friend.

1. How to work without a computer

Work is the process of creating value. Don't mistake sitting at a computer for working. Some of your best work can (and should) happen with no internet connection at all.

Here are two ways to work without a computer (and here are a few more):

Walk. There are only a handful of tasks that actually count as work. Email and tweeting don't, but thinking does. And walking is proven to help you untangle difficult problems.

Draw. Sketching is another way to help you visualize ideas. You don't need to be an artist, you just need to be willing to put a poorly developed idea on paper. It feels weird to look at a bad idea, but once there, it's much easier to iterate on.

2. Why content marketing fails

An oldie but goodie from Rand Fishkin.

3. Multitasking is the carpal tunnel of the 21st century

This is an awesome podcast where investor Kevin Rose interviews Basecamp CEO Jason Fried on work-life balance, the future of employee benefits and the insanely cool culture he and David Heinemeier Hansson are building at Basecamp. It's worth a listen.

On multi-tasking (~38min):

Kevin: I don't feel healthy. It's killing us.

Jason: I think it is. I feel anxiety around it.

Kevin: I think you have to work long enough. It's kind of like carpal tunnel in that way. It's a silent killer. It slowly sneaks up on you and all of a sudden you're "Ow, I can't move my arm!" It's doing that to our brains.

Jason: What's interesting is that people think the next generation is better at this. Well, no they're not. Because they're humans.

4. The future of work

Presented by The Cooper Review. You're welcome.

5. Lessons from Maria Popova

When Maria Popova's Brain Pickings turned seven a few years ago, she documented seven of the most important things she'd learned along the way. (She's built an audience of millions and turned her blog into a career, so it's worth listening to what she has to say.)

Here's an excerpt, but be sure to check out the rest.

7. “Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.”

This is borrowed from the wise and wonderful Debbie Millman, for it’s hard to better capture something so fundamental yet so impatiently overlooked in our culture of immediacy. The myth of the overnight success is just that — a myth — as well as a reminder that our present definition of success needs serious retuning.

Have a great week!

Jimmy

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