By Colby Kultgen
Hey friends.
Welcome to 1% Better.
Every Monday, I share the 5 best things I've discovered in the last 7 days.
Let's dive in.
Today at a Glance:
- Article: 101 tips for living a better life
- Cheat Sheet: 9 Soft Skills to Fast-Track Your Career
- Article: Why you need a "WTF notebook"
- Idea: Hidden Metrics vs. Visible Metrics
- Funny: Spotify's controversial new feature
Read time: 4 minutes
The easiest way to read more in 2024
We all know we should read more.
But year after year we fail to make it a habit.
One of the biggest things that helped me build a regular reading habit was Shortform. I tried other book summary apps, but always felt like they lacked depth. I wanted to get the key points from the book without losing the important context around them.
Shortform was the answer.
They do an amazing job of summarizing books without losing any of the key information. They even add extra context or updated facts that allow you to get more out of the book.
The first 1,000 people who sign up with my link will get a 5-day free trial + 20% off the annual plan.
One of the best books I read last year was Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly (Founder of Wired Magazine).
The book is a collection of 406 pieces of advice from Kevin's 72 years of life, and the only complaint I can make about it was I wanted even more when it was finished.
Now I have it.
The article above is 101 additional gems from Kevin.
Here are a few of my favorites:
• Whenever you hug someone, be the last to let go.
• Never hesitate to invest in yourself—to pay for a class, a course, a new skill. These modest expenditures pay outsized dividends.
• Try to define yourself by what you love and embrace, rather than what you hate and refuse.
• Interview your parents while they are still alive. Keep asking questions while you record. You’ll learn amazing things. Or hire someone to make their story into an oral history, or documentary, or book. This will be a tremendous gift to them and to your family.
• Asking “what-if?” about your past is a waste of time; asking “what-if?” about your future is tremendously productive.
• Never accept a work meeting until you’ve seen the agenda and know what decisions need to be made. If no decisions need to be made, skip the meeting.
• When you find yourself procrastinating, don’t resist. Instead lean into it. Procrastinate 100%. Try to do absolutely nothing for 5 minutes. Make it your job. You’ll fail. After 5 minutes, you’ll be ready and eager to work.
• Think in terms of decades, and act in terms of days.
Hard skills get you hired.
But soft skills get you promoted.
I find this also applies to entrepreneurship.
Hard skills are important, but it's things like communication, resilience, adaptability, and mindset that will matter most in the end.
"Every time I join a new team, I go to a fresh page, and on top of that page I write: "WTF - [Team Name]." Then I make a note every time I run into something that makes me go "wtf," and a task every time I come up with something I want to change.
For two weeks, that's all I do. I just write it down. I don't tell the team everything that I think they're doing wrong. I don't show up at retro with all the stuff I think they need to change. I just watch, and listen, and I write down everything that seems deeply weird."
This is such a great idea for tackling issues within a team/organization without coming across as a complainer.
I know I'll be using it in the future.
Highly recommend reading the full article to understand the entire process.
A powerful idea about metrics in life
Hidden metrics vs Visible metrics:
Money is a visible metric. Clear score and multi-player going up and down. Time with family or peace of mind is a hidden metric. It's easy to spend so much time optimizing for visible metrics... Because they are visible. The hidden metrics only become visible when it's too late... They hit 0. Someone dies or lose your sanity.
Source: George Mack — What ideas are underpriced in 2024?
Spotify's controversial new feature
I always get a kick out of these fake app features from Soren Iverson.
He's worth a follow for sure.
Have a great week!
—Colby
