The ONE Thing - Issue #3: Ukraine, Atomic Essays, Fake Heiresses, Culture of Experimentation & More
The ONE Thing - Issue #3: Ukraine, Atomic Essays, Fake Heiresses, Culture of Experimentation & More
Hey there!
The interested reader may have noticed that I did not send the newsletter last week. I felt overwhelmed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and was too shocked to think about the newsletter.
A week later, the situation is still bad (and even worse than last week) and I’m deeply saddened by the developments in Ukraine.
In case you are still wondering how you can support the Ukrainian people, here are some initiatives:
Support: Wunderflats is searching for volunteers to help with the coordination of temporary homes for Ukrainians in Germany.
Donate: Voices of Children Foundation, Ukrainian Government, or send a help box via the Gorillas app.
Moreover, the German Startup Association has created a comprehensive overview of initiatives.
At the same time, some people have asked me when I will send a new issue. Thank you for your support. Here are my latest discoveries. Stay safe!
On My Mind
I recently discovered a new format: the Atomic Essay.
Atomic Essay is a 250-ish word, single-idea essay published in a visual screenshot. It was created by Dickie Bush to write "something longer than a Twitter thread, but shorter than a blog post."
The constraints of the format make it perfect for writing simple and concise messages. It’s a useful tool to explore, test, and redefine new ideas.
I saw some people on Twitter committing to write 30 essays in 30 days. I think this is a nice forcing function (thanks @ncsh, for the fancy word) to write daily.
I have started writing some essays (which I will publish soon) and will continue to experiment with the format over the next few weeks.
I watched Inventing Anna on Netflix last week (like everyone).
It’s the story about a fake German heiress who fooled the New York establishment into believing that she came from money and nearly got a loan of $40 million for her projects (and scammed many people along the way).
There are many things wrong with it, but it’s still an interesting story about influence and money and a case study on human psychology and how humans are easily influenced:
Social Proof: Who you know is who you are and if you know the right people, everyone else will take you seriously. (That’s why warm intros still work 100x better than cold emails)
Bold Vision: People love to follow visionary and persuasive leaders. We want these people to succeed and don’t question the What and the How.
Money blinds: Show people money, and they won’t see anything else.
One Article
How Managers Can Build a Culture of Experimentation — hbr.org Innovation is often more art than science.
Some good ideas on how to build a culture of experimentation. Some of my highlights from the article:
On Culture of Experimentation
“To make experimentation a productive activity in your organization, you must manage several conditions. What you learn from experiments, how you apply your learnings, the opportunities presented by your learnings, and, perhaps more importantly, the conversations you have with colleagues about your findings should have an impact on organizational decision making.”
“The goal is to generate relevant dialogue among decision-makers in changing market conditions, not eternal truths. Data is crucial, but it’s mute. Managers must always interpret data with an end in mind.”
On Making Progress
“You should consider the opportunity costs inherent in testing and be willing to adjust methodology and scope accordingly.”
“Seek progress, not perfection. Use what you can for today while investing in finding answers for tomorrow.”
On the Power of Marginal Gains
“Few billion-dollar opportunities start that way, but companies tend to allocate testing time and money to big initiatives while ignoring small ideas that, in the aggregate, can have a bigger impact with less risk.”
One Podcast
Boyd Varty — The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life on the The Tim Ferriss Show
A profound, entertaining, inspiring, and educational conversation. Boyd is an incredible storyteller.
Boyd talks in great detail about the art of tracking (”perhaps the oldest science”), his healing journey, and how to use wilderness as a place for deep introspection and personal transformation.
Watch the interview on YouTube or listen to it on your favorite podcast app.
One Tweet
This is a key mental model for me, especially in the current times.
Time and time again, I have made investments in stocks or cryptocurrencies based on little research. The result: as soon as the price moved against me, I got nervous and often sold at the wrong time.
That's why I try to invest only in stocks or coins that I understand well (or invest in an index fund). I am not always resistant to FOMO, but I am getting better.
One More Thing: The Power Of Habits
I have been playing around with simple visualizations of powerful ideas. What do you think? And let me know if you want to buy this as an NFT. 😉
That’s it for this issue of The One Thing. Subscribe to receive fresh ideas and curated content every other Friday.
Until next time, friends. Keep learning!