Hey everyone,
Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading and pondering lately. Enjoy!
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1. Proving Your Value at Work — Why It's So Hard and How to Do It Anyway
Yes, yes and yes!
In a perfect world, your contributions would always be acknowledged. Your boss would automatically recognize you for going above and beyond and give you a nice little raise to boot.
In the real world, people who know how to promote themselves and their contributions (without being annoying about it) get ahead of their higher-performing peers all the time.
2. How To Make The Economy Grow
How many "fat jockeys" are holding you back?
Think of the economy like a racehorse. Its owner can invest in a new training regimen and diet, which may make the horse faster. Or it can get rid of the overweight jockey, which may do just as good. My point is that too many businesses, and the economists who size them up, focus on inventing new training routines with little attention paid to the fat jockey. There is so much productive potential within reach that doesn’t require new inventions.
3. Learning to Think Like a Computer
This is a really interesting article about advanced problem-solving techniques that aren't limited to computer scientists. Really smart stuff.
Computing practices like reformulating tough problems into ones we know how to solve, seeing trade-offs between time and space, and pipelining (allowing the next action in line to begin before the first completes the sequence) have many applications, she said.
Consider the buffet line. “When you go to a lunch buffet, you see the forks and knives are the first station,” [former Carnegie Mellon professor Jeannette M. Wing] said. “I find that very annoying. They should be last. You shouldn’t have to balance your plate while you have your fork and knife.”
4. The VC Careers Newsletter
John Gannon sends an excellent newseletter for people who work in venture capital or are looking to break into the field. Highly recommended for anyone working in the startup space.
5. Random Links
- Tom Petty and Prince. Just watch.
- How to get a daily email of your own Kindle Highlights (via Kai Brach's newsletter)
- If you have any interest in woodworking, you'll love the I Like To Make Stuff YouTube channel. 1.4 million subscribers can't be wrong.
- Here's a short rant on the "physical requirements" of knowledge work.
- Has anyone taken a personal finance course? I would love a recommendation.
Have a great weekend!
Jimmy
PS - I'm looking to partner with a few great businesses to sponsor this newsletter. It reaches a bunch of smart folks from places like Google, Apple, Spotify, New York Times, Marriott and Harvard. Shoot me an email if you're interested in working together.
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