Sunday Six: Growth Cycles, Twitter Guru's & Short Sentences
Hey Friend 👋
I hope you’re having an absolutely lovely Sunday. It’s currently 72 degrees and sunny as I write. I just came back from a three mile run. Had my go-to breakfast, avocado toast with eggs, and am sitting at my kitchen table to share with you a couple of my favorite things this week.
I usually write this in the evening but we’ve got a jam-packed day today as a family. Church then Liam’s soccer practice. Afterword, we have a handful of friends coming by to watch the Mario movie with the kids. Going to be a great Sunday, indeed!
To celebrate some win’s from this week: I crossed the 20,000+ word mark for the rough draft of my book this week. 👏
It is a relatively short book — will likely end up 30,000 - 35,000 words.
It’s 42 short principles for meaningful marketing; I’ve written 22 of the principles. 20 more to go 😄
Next, I submit it to my editor by the end of this month — July 31st on the dot. Then I start working with the one and only, Jonathan Maloney, on cover design and art direction.
But for now, let’s dive into this weeks list!
Sunday Six ☀️
📚 Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott — As I’ve been writing my book and taking very seriously the concept of writing with excellence, I’ve picked up about ten highly rated books on writing to devour. This book, Bird by Bird, came overwhelmingly recommended online through many blogs, videos and forums.
Anne does an incredible job making the art of learning to write fun, humorous and more about the concept and lifestyle, versus the nitty gritty details.
I’ve also learned that reading about the actions you want to take keeps me motivated. Highly recommend if you’re curious about the lifestyle of writers.
Link to book: https://amzn.to/3JERwuV
💬 Quote by James Clear —
“Life rewards action, not intelligence. Many brilliant people talk themselves out of getting started, and being smart doesn't help very much without the courage to act. You can't win if you're not in the game." - James Clear
Link to James Clear: JamesClear.com
📈 90 Day Growth Cycle — This week I had the immense opportunity to sit down with my friend and mentor, Robert Mallon, to do our quarterly goals — or as he has deemed them, 90 Day Growth Cycles. I started 90 Day Growth Cycles in 2018 with Robert Mallon and have done the majority of them on my own since then. But it feels incredible to have Robert back by my side helping me navigate my goals.
Robert has recently made his 90 Day Growth Cycle worksheets and curriculum available on his website, RobertMallon.com — the same exact worksheets and curriculum he’s been teaching to multi-7-figure business leaders for over 20 years. And the same ones I’ve done since 2018.
If you’re struggling to set meaningful goals that you actually achieve, I would highly consider checking out Robert’s 90 Day Growth Cycle. Also, to clarify — this isn’t sponsored. I genuinely use, love and recommend this product with no bias other than it’s worked for me.
Link to 90-Day Growth Cycle: https://www.robertmallon.com/coachingtools/p/the-ultimate-goal-setting-guide
📚 Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg — If Bird by Bird is a book about the life of writing, Several Short Sentences is a practical guide to the art of writing itself. Something that Klinkenborg hits hard is the concept of unlearning. You have to unlearn practically all of the garbage and theory of writing you learned in school (which was geared towards grammar and fluff).
The goal of this book is to write with clarity, power, simplicity and communication that resonates with humans — not paper processing educators.
My kind of work 😅 I always struggled with this in school. Writing and English was my best subject in high school every year and it drove me nuts that my teachers graded my papers based on grammar as opposed to my ability to tell stories or convey an idea.
As a 15 year old creative… I just didn’t understand. This book helps me realize that it was them that didn’t understand. But either way, I have so much to learn. This book is helpful if you want to fine tune your skillset in writing.
Link to book: https://amzn.to/3rcyvJW
✅ Thomas Frank Productivity Experiment — Thomas Frank, productivity expert and Notion aficionado, did a productivity experiment this past week.
“After finishing a task, I wrote down what I did in my journal. Got a massive amount of work done and felt very little temptation to get distracted.”
Literally anything you do throughout the entire day, you have to write it down.
- Went to the bathroom
- Scrolled Twitter
- Cleared my email inbox
- Made coffee
- Made 15 sales calls
- Went for a 15 minutes walk
- Wrote for 90 minutes
Whatever it is. Get real honest about the things you are doing on a daily. And just see if you’re happy with how you spend your time. You don’t have to drill down to maximize every second of your life, but being aware of how you spend your time is helpful.
Link to Post: https://twitter.com/TomFrankly/status/1673712183509921796
🐦 An Article About Twitter Guru’s — Yesterday, I published a short article on Medium titled “The Dichotomy of Twitter Guru’s and Their Preeminent Downfall.” — the concept of the article is centered around the 98% of people giving life, business and goal advice online.
There’s this online subculture of “productivity experts, coaches and business leaders” coming out of the woodworks on Twitter primarily, as well as Instagram and TikTok. These “Guru’s” often:
- Have very little to no credibility
- Are single with little life experience
- Have a product they are trying to sell you
- Overpromise desirable goals with quick hacks
I’m all for productivity, making money online and coaching other people — but you can sniff sincerity, experience and generosity out — when it’s there and when it isn’t. I believe there will be a major shift in the zeitgeist in the coming years because of it…
People who want more for people than from people will thrive. Others won’t.
Link to full article: https://t.co/f24gEVDwpw
Thanks for tuning into this week's Sunday Six!
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