from crutch word to post production
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ Hey friends, I chanced upon an old book called "Bullshit Jobs" a year ago. The book came about from a blog post of the same title that went viral. It details the fact that many of us have the nagging feeling that our job - or the job of a friend or colleague - is actually pointless. It is an interesting read that captures many aspects of bullshit jobs, and that includes: - Society today is full of pointless, bullshit jobs
- A bullshit job is so pointless that the person doing it knows it, but has to pretend to be oblivious to the fact
- Bullshit jobs instil a sense of falsity and purposelessness that makes people unhappy
- Modern working patterns and times go against nature and force many of us into miserable working lives
- Our political focus on full-time employment leads to the proliferation of bullshit jobs
Far too many people are stuck in bullshit jobs, and are suffering psychological damage as a result, bereft of purpose and unable to make a positive impact on the world. Unfortunately, our society is wired to believe in work, to value days at the office even if the output is worthless. Throw COVID-19 into the mix, one can easily understand why people are leaving their jobs left, right, centre. Without an office to enter, and with worthless output staring at you while you read about the country's mortality rate, it is hard not to take action to seek better meaning and purpose at work. I personally have been placed in a few bullshit jobs and I'm glad I no longer have to continue with them. Have you personally been in any, or know friends or colleagues who are? I would love to hear your story.
Have a great week! Adrian
🎒Course that I'm takingI started this course 6 months ago and on track to completing it. I have never taken any other MBA programs but I would imagine this is as good as it gets. Even though it is async, the ability to learn from the founders of Whole Foods, WAZE, Netflix and many more is just different. And how do you not learn with their tagline of 15 mins per day.
📝 Articles I'm readingI chanced upon this in my research to write a new commentary for Channel NewsAsia. Indra Nooyi apparently wakes up at 4am and sleeps at midnight. I have heard of other Type A personalities that run on similar schedule. It may seem like they are way ahead but we often forget about survivor bias. They may be the only ones that survives such routine. The rest went crazy and obviously did not write about their negative stories. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult needs to sleep for 7-9 hours every day. So, if you are sleeping for fewer hours, you aren’t getting enough sleep.
📱Software/app RecommendationsAn average knowledge worker can receive up to 120 emails a day. Yours may be lost in that pile and never seen again. You can trigger a manual follow up email but how do you scale that when you have too many to send? Followupthen.com lets you preset a reminder at the time of your first email. Simply enter the day or date (e.g. 1Jan@followupthen.com) and the email will be resent automatically on that day. You can even chain a few together to preset multiple reminders. It does not even need to go to the recipient. If you simply wish to use it as a personal reminder, just put that email into the bcc.
📢 UpdatesI finally started scripting out the course and almost destroyed the original outline as new thought process killed off old ones. But I'm getting more excited about this entire attempt. It will be my first online course and I hate to disappoint. And while I'm doing so, I will distil bite-size tips in this newsletter. And the first one is about being specific with your headline. Instead of listing 'Accountant' in your headline, change it to 'Accountant for the Marine and Offshore industry. This will be especially useful for headhunters as they tend to find almost the perfect fit for their clients (they have to since they are paid premium). The specific keywords to ensure you are a good fit functionally and at the industry level will help you rise up to page 1 of their LinkedIn search result. If you are selling something other than yourself, indicate your dream client persona in your headline. Instead of 'Financial Strategy Consultant', change it to 'Financial Strategy Consultant for 2nd generation family business owners. It does not mean you will reject non-family business owners but at the inbound level, you will attract your ideal set of clients. If you are worried your net might be too narrow, remember that your headline is not cast in stone. Should that by itself not reap rewards, you can always adjust your headline down the road to test again.
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