PROGRESSION: What Cortés Got Wrong, The 4-Hour Workweek, and How Small Performance Differences Lead to Unequal Distributions

February 2020

Over the last month, I’ve read several great books, written an article, and published three Career Q&As. If you have anyone you’d like interviewed for a Q&A, please let me know! Even better if you can make an introduction. 😉  

Books, articles, etc.

The World's Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero by Michael Kranish (Book)

Wow. Major Taylor was not only the greatest cyclist of his generation, but also became the greatest in an era that was unforgiving to black athletes. His rise to the top takes place in the late 1800s, before Jack Johnson became the first African American to hold the heavyweight boxing title (1908) and before Jacky Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball (1947). Taylor faced severe persecution throughout his career and overcame immense obstacles to pursue his dream of becoming the world’s fastest cyclist. I highly recommend this one.

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss (Book)

Six years ago I started this book but only made it halfway through. While I found parts of the 4-Hour Workweek less valuable during my second attempt (Tim’s parenting advice on living abroad is hilarious), there are many parts that pack a huge punch. In general, this book is less about actually working four hours per week and more about taking back control of your work life.

I loved Tim’s insights into Pareto’s law where he recommends doing an 80/20 analysis (80% of the results come from 20% of the effort) on everything. For most of us, there’s a lot of waste in our jobs and I found this approach helpful in identifying what I should stop doing. Here are a few other insights:

• Parkinson's law: the adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" (good reminder and helped me set self-imposed deadlines)

• The power of having a written to-do list the night before 

• Asking myself several times a day if I’m actually being productive

• The puppy dog close (when a pet store salesperson offers to let the customer take a puppy home with them, and just bring it back if they don’t want it. Of course, the puppy is rarely brought back). Tim recommends using this approach when discussing working remotely with your boss. “Let’s just try it for two weeks and see how it goes.” I’ve found this approach can be used anytime there’s resistance to making a long-term commitment.

But my favorite quote from the book and something I absolutely believe: “A person's success in life is usually measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he’s willing to have.”

Bam Adebayo Is the Fiercest, Best NBA Player You Don't Know by Zach Lowe (Article)

The story of Bam Adebayo is one of hard work, not listening to naysayers. Continually developing new skills, and responding to setbacks in a productive way. This profile was written on February 13. A few days later Bam went out and won the NBA All-Star Skills Contest, an incredible feat for someone once thought of as a defensive specialist.

The 1 Percent Rule by James Clear (Article)

“The margin between good and great is narrower than it seems. What begins as a slight edge over the competition compounds with each additional contest. Small differences in performance can lead to very unequal distributions when repeated over time.”

The 1 Percent Rule states that over time the majority of the rewards in a given field will accumulate to the people, teams, and organizations that maintain a 1 percent advantage over the alternatives. You don't need to be twice as good to get twice the results. You just need to be slightly better.

Observations

You Don’t Have to Burn the Boats. Do This Instead.

The story of Cortés finding success after burning his ships has become the stuff of legend, but for most, this approach is unnecessary. While you’ll never fully escape the risk-reward tradeoff, small experiments will help you achieve the greatest reward with the least amount of risk possible. It’s about unlocking the upside while capping the downside. Read article here. 

Career Q&As

Last month I kicked off a series of Career Q&As with successful leaders. The goal is to provide insightful lessons and practical advice you can leverage to further your career. Here are the three published in February:

Career Q&A with Ann Hiatt, Executive Business Partner to Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt

Ann offers great advice on taking career risks, trusting your intuition, and effectively managing stress.

Career Q&A with Scott Smith, CEO of CloudApp

Scott has a lot of good nuggets throughout and I particularly like his advice on spending as much time as possible feeling uncomfortable, how he balances work and family life, and the power that comes from assuming positive intent.

Career Q&A with Kelly Palmer, Chief Learning Officer at Degreed

I love Kelly’s advice on managing career transitions, developing confidence, and the three “power skills” that will make you successful in the future of work.

Gratitudes

I’ve found power in regularly expressing gratitude so I’ll continue the habit. I’m grateful for my youngest daughter, Naomi. We celebrated her first birthday earlier this month and she brings so much joy into my life. She has an infectious staccato laugh that always makes me smile and whenever one of our other kids is sad, holding Naomi immediately turns their mood around. Love this girl. 

Thanks for reading. If you've read anything worth sharing I'd love to hear about it. And do let me know if there's anything I can do to help you. Oh! And don’t forget to let me know if there’s anyone you recommend for a Career Q&A. 

Nathan

Order my book | Read my blog

If this was forwarded to you and you'd like to sign up, click here