#14 What makes you happy?
One about vanity metric, surprise innovations & thinking logical
Clarity of purpose & relentless focus can be a powerful advantage for any team. Shreyas had shared the story of Ben Hunt Davis & the British rowing team from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. One simple question kept them focused on their goal - “Will it make the boat go faster?” It helped them make all decisions.
Can you think of that one simple question for your team? There's a book with the same title, in case you're keen to know more.
For now, let’s get to the best picks from last week.
1.
Vanity metrics can be dangerous. We obsess about them more often than we should. Here’re three easy checks to identify if we’re worshipping the wrong gods!
Intermediary goals that occur before the fulfilling goals that matter.
Easier to accomplish than our true goals.
Frequently encouraged by society (everyone posting on social media about the number of books they’ve read gets many likes, reinforcing the optics that propel vanity metrics).
Julian Shapiro shares 3 frameworks to uncover whether the goal you're focusing on is worthwhile. Knowing is empowering. It will be a good step towards getting rid of them.
2.
A bike, frequent damages in delivery & a TV printed on the outer box. I will not add the dots. You have to read this short post from the VanMoof blog to enjoy this one. This is a masterclass in solving customer pain in a truly innovative way.
3.
Happiness comes in many forms, from many places, and through many paths. Sometimes you have to refocus your attention to see the moments more clearly. This infographic takes a shot at explaining this simple notion in a beautiful way. If you love beautiful graphs, you are going to love this one.
4.
In Namak Haram, Amitabh showed how English is a very funny language.
In Chupke Chupke, we laughed when Dharmendra called out the confusing English pronunciations.
If you ever wondered and did not get your answers on why it is so, this article is for you. It is a fun read. You'll be surprised to find that the culprit is a small little detail of the timing & technology.
5.
Some random goodness from the internet:
Youtube: What it takes to create the perfect scene - perfect light, sounds & a flurry of emotions. Movie prop-makers & Foley artists are magicians. It is always fun to watch how they create fake sounds or remove the excessive noise from the everyday objects.
Youtube: Playing with kinetic sand can be surprisingly calming and satisfying. Don’t believe me? Check this channel out for some of the most meditative use of this toy.
Game: On the surface, this is a mini-game about pop-ups, and the deviousness of websites and apps. But don't get fooled. It'll put your logical reasoning and patience to a good test. By the way, I scored just 23/29 (feeling ashamed to admit it). Do comment or reply back with your scores.
Blog: A day in the life of a 21-year-old, who lives in a 72 sq ft NYC apartment. In case you’re wondering, she pays just $1345 pm for this!
That's all, folks!
Last week’s post had a 55% open rate. 64 subscribers will get ‘Stay Curious’ in their email this week. I write this newsletter to share what I learnt from others. If you learnt something from this today, why not forward it to a couple of your friends to continue this chain?
ps: Today's post is grade 5 as per https://hemingwayapp.com/