Lessons from 2022
Great template to review the year: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K2P_yL1Ah976P7MLicb55wgY2DY-39jP3Lvp810H6HQ/edit
Here are some takeways from 2022, in no particular order, mixing personal and professional lessons :
Better be mediocre in a great market, than great in a mediocre market. I’ve now experience this first hand, objectively I was pretty terrible when I started ecom, but the competition was so low it didn’t matter. Similarly for 2020, we performed well and go amazing results. I would argue that we were significantly better in 2022 than 2020, yet got much worst results. And when I talk about a great market I don’t mean a market that’s “hot”, I mean a market where you have real competitive advantages, where you’re not simply relying on the tide to raise your boat.
If you are avoiding work and feel the need to go on social media, simply go for a walk or stare at a wall for 5 minutes. Works great.
We make life more complicated than it needs to be, for most people only 6 things really have an impact on well-being :
Positive social connections (friends and family)
Meaningful work (feeling of usefulness & growth)
Healthy diet
Good sleep
Exercise
Fun (actual fun)
Eliminate what is negative to the above, and do more of what is positive. Doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. Then you can stack them up, today went hiking (exercising, probably will favor a healthy diet, better sleep tonight) with my son (social connections + fun).
Another easy rule for whether you should be doing something or not, is do you feel better after the activity?
Elimination is easier than moderation. I tried this with video games for years, every time expecting the “I’ll just play 1 hour” to work, but video games colonize my brain, and I lose every time. Better to just eliminate. And if you really cave in, go all out, binge that shit, it will disgust you and you will be off for a solid 6 months.
The bar should not be for people to simply do the work, but actually do it with enthusiasm. It’s a lot more fun for everyone, and more fundamentally, on any sort of intellectual work, you’ll never get someone’s full thinking skills if they don’t want to be here. So anytime you feel someone on your team is holding back, have a sincere conversation to understand why.
Ultimate goal is to be able to choose how you feel. I can’t think of a better superpower. It works on multiple levels :
Can take any external stimuli and turn it into a positive or a negative mood. Obviously it’s easy to be in a positive mood when getting praise. But, while it’s not most people’s default, also possible to turn criticism into positive energy if you are intentional about it.
Breathing, going for a walk, quick social time etc. There are tons of ways to get a quick reset.
Overall not taking life too seriously, not taking your own feelings too seriously, for the main emotion to be curiosity.
Happy new year!