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- My 5 biggest lessons this year... π―
My 5 biggest lessons this year... π―
GM Friends π
Weβre now less than 24 hours from the New Year.
And over the past year Iβve taken over 40,000 words of notes.
Countless pages of learnings from books, content and life that Iβm taking into 2024.
Out of every note Iβve taken, these were the 5 most valuable lessons of the past year (and easiest to integrate).
Letβs jump right in ποΈ
π€ Lesson #1 - Solomon paradox
(Giving better advice to yourself and TAKING IT)
Have you ever seen that one friend make a career decision that you know is wrong, or in a bad relationship, but they themselves canβt see it.
In other people, we can see in 5 minutes what might take them 5 years to realise.
But when it comes to ourselves, we often make the same mistakes they do.
This is called the Solomon Paradox:
The way to solve this:
You need to do an exercise in which you visualise giving your current self advice, based on being an outsider (an example could be, being your 80 year old self giving advice).
How I do it:
Every Monday I set up a notion document, and in realtime, I write down a question that I would want to ask my 80 year old self about my current circumstances and what my next move should be,
I then answer the question, and keep repeating until the hour is over or until I run out of questions.
Iβve only been doing this a couple weeks and Iβm already finding that I already know the answers to the questions that I have, Iβm being more honest with myself, and making better decisions.
πͺ Lesson #2 - Show donβt tell
This is an easy one. Iβve now stopped trying to explain what I do, or what a concept is, and I just show people.
Old me: Tell people weβre making a 3D printed sneaker
Now: Show people this:
How do you onboard the next #million users into #Web3?
Create something that they already use, such as #sneakers, and enhance them with #NFTs π
#BrainBoot launching soon, WL through owning #Bricktopians π§±
opensea.io/collection/briβ¦
β π¦πΊ Alex is Building (@AlexIsBuilding)
11:21 PM β’ Jun 21, 2022
Old me: Tell people about how we made an NFT collection that would take a single laptop 10 years to generate, and that we had to have an army of supercomputers to load and render all 10,000 NFTs.
Now: Show people this:
First of all, this is what Iβve built.
It's called Bricktopians.
You can learn more about it here: medium.com/abnormal-studiβ¦
Or find us on OpenSea here: opensea.io/collection/briβ¦
β π¦πΊ Alex is Building (@AlexIsBuilding)
4:09 PM β’ Sep 27, 2022
Taking time to listen to an explanation takes too much effort from the audience. Show them a magic trick, donβt tell them about it.
π Lesson #3: The Paperclip Method
(How to get repetitive boring tasks done, if youβre a chronic procrastinator)
This was one of my favourite learnings from Atomic Habits.
How it works is incredibly simple.
Letβs say you need to reach out to 10 companies to potentially sponsor your newsletter.
You find this work to be kind of monotonous, and you donβt exactly know how to do it, so you procrastinate.
The cure is this:
Take 10 paperclips (or any small objects), and put them in a glass.
Have a second cup that is empty.
As you send each outreach email, take one paperclip and move it from the full jar to the other jar.
Like this:
Zero outreach:
π«ππππππππππ
π«
Three people reached out to:
π«πππππππ
π«πππ
Seven people reached out to:
π«πππ
π«πππππππ
Done β
π«
π«ππππππππππ
Using this method gives you a visual sense of progress that makes the βboringβ work feel motivating and rewarding.
π Lesson #4 - Put your to-do list in your calendar
One of the most demotivating things ever is having a massive to-do list each day that you never get through.
The issue is that a to-do list can have an infinite number of items added to it, and it isnβt super clear how long each item will take.
For example:
Get back to supplier
Plan upcoming marketing campaign
Reach out to 5 influencers
If you look at the list above, itβs not clear how long each item will take.
Getting back to a supplier could be 10 minutes, but if it requires some negotiation & planning it could take an hour.
Planning a marketing campaign might seem like one item, so if you only have 3 things to do today, how could you not get it done right?
But it is actually a task that could take 3x four-hour sessions to complete.
The way to overcome this is to spend a week putting every item of your to-do list into your calendar, and add 50% to how much time you think it will take.
Suddenly youβll realise that βoh sh*t, I canβt fit everything inβ¦β
And youβre right. You canβt do everything.
This will force you to eliminate the work you canβt do and only focus on what matters.
π₯ Lesson #5 - Donβt force your niche
I see a lot of creators (particularly those who are just starting out) constantly obsessing over the question βWhat is my niche?β
I was the exact same, and this often results in you forcing a niche that no one wants.
Earlier in the year, I saw a gap in the market to be the AI guy of Web3.
I was writing threads every week about AI, and pushing this content as hard as I could.
But the reality was, there just wasnβt a market for this content.
Then I stopped forcing it and went back to posting content that came to me naturally out of my interests.
When a few people asked me for a job at Bricktopians I thought:
βHmm, people seem to want to know how to get a job, Iβll write a thread on what we look for when we hire.β
It was a hit.
Then people asked me: βThatβs great Alex, but where are the jobs?β
βGreat questionβ I thought.
So I started writing about the jobs that were available.
Next thing I know, Iβm getting heaps of positive feedback, people are reaching out saying how helpful the content is, and I started growing faster.
My niche found me.
BUT. As great as this story was, it took me until I was at 34,000 followers before I found it.
If youβre early in your journey, the way to let your niche find you is be active.
The more content you create, the more βshots on goalβ you have for your niche to find you.
Donβt rush, donβt force it.
Youβve got this.
β€οΈ Thank you
Before we wrap, I want to say a massive thank you to every one of you who read this each week.
This newsletter is my favourite part of every week and itβs all because of YOU.
You keep me motivated and give me the opportunity to work on myself, work on my content and get better every single week.
I want you to have a Happy New Year and if you EVER need anything at all,
Always feel free to send me a DM on Twitter.
β Alex π§±
Hey, if youβre new here, this is a quick intro to who I am and what Iβve done in Web3 so far.
Iβve been in Web3 for 9 years, ETH since $45, worked with some incredible companies (inc. the NBA) and am building on my NFT project Bricktopians every single day.
If you want to join my world, and be a part of a project that grows with me.
Grab a Bricktopian NFT and let me build for you π―