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How not to become a discussion club

GG Notes

As human beings, talking is what we do. Talking is a potent way to share ideas, influence, convince and rally people. Discussion is often an important part of achieving collective progress,...

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Did we pick the right goal?

GG Notes

Ask a project leader you know and they will tell you there are countless ways to set goals poorly. We may define the goal in a way that is too vague or too specific. Or the goal can be well...

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Like a helium balloon

Papa Notes

Young children have no problem letting things go. It's a flaw built up over time, and it takes us years to unlearn it as adults. To correct a behavior, parents intuitively reprimand them when...

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Dealing with frustration

Papa Notes

Living with an 18-month-old is never boring. My son, Lucas, swings from one mood to another in less time than it took me to write the end of this sentence. One moment, he's happy reading a book....

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Parenting is improv theater

Papa Notes

Parenting is as live as improv theater. The rest of the troupe is here, the audience is here, and there's only one take. When I started my job as a dad, I thought I'd always be able to give it my...

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It's fixable

Papa Notes

It was super windy last weekend, and I was a bit agitated. I was on my way out to join my family at the playground. But as I was stepping past the wooden gate (I built it myself, and I'm a bit...

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The best $4 ever spent

Papa Notes

Kids get excited about things that are very different from those of adults. You probably remember your kid's first birthday. The members of the extended family all wanted to spoil her. They...

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Everybody struggles

Papa Notes

Life is tough. Most weeks come with their share of issues. From a tiny aggravation to an enormous problem. Human beings have been trying to find ways to accept it since... well, probably since...

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Careful with that exaggeration

Papa Notes

The language we use matters. Hyperboles and exaggerations can be tempting to use to make a point. Or if you're French... oh yes! Some of us have a sweet spot for drama. But our kids have yet to...

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Boredom is an invitation to slow down

Papa Notes

It's 3:22 p.m., and I'm sitting in the clinic's waiting room. They send you to this place when you have an emergency that isn't urgent enough for the ER. I'm here with my daughter, who needs to...

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We've had a good day, haven't we?

Papa Notes

Golly! Why is it so hard for us adults to acknowledge when things go well? Why do we seem to obsess over the proverbial late train? Modern science tells us that gratitude has health benefits...

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Giving up parenting

Papa Notes

Today's essay is a bit tongue-in-cheek. It's meant to achieve one thing and one thing only: to relieve you and me from a specific parenting guilt. It's for all of us dads who feel slightly ashamed...

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Throw them a proper parade

Papa Notes

I don't know about you, but some days, it feels like all I do is tell my kids not to do stuff. Or to be careful with stuff. Or to do stuff. Most adults implicitly know to abide by the etiquette...

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Instill enthusiasm

Papa Notes

Winston Churchill famously said that success is "the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." No one ever cruised through life without facing challenges, hardships,...

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Don't fix it without them asking

Papa Notes

Think with me for a moment. Pick a time you presented an idea to your boss. Do you remember your excitement and motivation? Now, recall how you felt when your boss suggested "improvements" to your...

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Men don't hug their kids

Papa Notes

I remember this weird story my mum shared with me. When I was a baby, my father's mother got really upset because my dad was changing my diaper. To her, this was something a dad did not do. It was...

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Conversation: Raising kids in a multilingual home

Papa Notes

Hello friends, For episode number 3 of Papa Notes presents: Conversations, I had the pleasure to chat with Joao Aguiam. We covered many different topics, including raising kids abroad and the...

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Vacation expectations

Papa Notes

The moment you became a dad, you waved goodbye to your old way of vacationing. I recently talked to Jamie about vacationing with kids on the Papa Notes Conversations podcast. One thing stood out:...

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Like looking in a mirror

Papa Notes

You are flawed, and so am I. We carry our defects of character into fatherhood. But there's hope. Before we get kids, it's easier to ignore some of these flaws. People who care about us might give...

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Discipline doesn't equal freedom

GG Notes

You heard that "discipline equals freedom." I, too, like this saying. There's power in it. It makes us feel in control. And overall, it rings true. But is it true, really? Not totally; it's easy...

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Gently pushing our kids past setbacks

Papa Notes

Learning a new skill is difficult. In the beginning, enthusiasm propels us. It's new and exciting, and we are making progress quickly. But learning is never a linear endeavor. Our motivation...

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Conversation: Fairness, injustice, and unshakable joy

Papa Notes

Hello friends, Papa Notes presents: Conversations is back with a new episode! Listen to my very interesting and eloquent friend Mukom talk about parenting. You can find the full conversation on...

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Good dads are researchers

Papa Notes

Each of us adheres to an education principle that will act as a north star. This principle is often modeled after or against how we were raised. To some, this principle emphasizes the authority in...

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You can't filter it all out

Papa Notes

Humans are controlling animals. They try to shape everything to their liking. The environment, themselves, and the people around them. Especially their offspring, whether they admit it or not. As...

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Feeling stuck? 10K run, 500 words. Repeat.

GG Notes

Every entrepreneur who stays long enough in the game will experience feeling stuck. I have written about this topic before, and the article became one of my most-read, reaching tens of thousands...

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Should you teach your kid to cheat?

Papa Notes

A friend asked if he's wrong to teach his boy to cheat. This question has the quality of punching you in the stomach. It leaves you slightly disturbed and uncomfortable because, deep down, you...

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Conversation: Flow and teaching disciplined pursuit to kids

Papa Notes

Hello my friends! For this first episode of Papa Notes presents: Conversations, I had the pleasure to have a conversation with my friend Jamie Howard. You can watch the full episode on YouTube:...

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Bonding took time

Papa Notes

Some events in life anoint you with a mission. You experience tragedy, luck, forgiveness, or grace, and you know that you won't be allowed to shut up about it. You have now inherited a...

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Talking to strangers

Papa Notes

Most adults don't like interacting with strangers. Some don't know how to open the conversation or are afraid to bother the person. Others live in a past trauma of being ridiculed at school as a...

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The environment shapes the family

Papa Notes

Two years ago, I moved my family to a house. Shy above 110 square meters (1,184 square feet for my friends living outside of the metric world), the house itself isn't what you'd call big. But it...

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We all need an informal board of advisors

GG Notes

Isolation is as bad as the lack of data. Trying to make serious decisions on your own is a grave mistake. Our actions and decisions are always both emotional and rational. Oftentimes, the rational...

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You will NEVER not worry

Papa Notes

My friend looked me in the eye and said: "Now that you have a kid, you will NEVER not worry." Sophie, my daughter, was just a few weeks old, but I had already experienced more worrying for someone...

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Announcing Papa Notes

GG Notes

If you've been following this blog for a while, you probably noticed that more and more of my content includes anecdotes and teachings from my fatherhood. I used to say that having kids turned my...

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Kids are quite the personal development hack

Papa Notes

Top coaches and motivational speakers make bread with the dough of thousands wanting to see them on stage. The book market is flooded with self-help and personal development books, from the most...

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Why you need to waste time

GG Notes

There's a comic strip that circulates in entrepreneur communities. It's about a character who starts a new hobby. But before long, his entrepreneurial mind takes over and pushes him to turn the...

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Thoughts and feelings of a good dad

Papa Notes

Only fools believe that what they once felt, they will feel forever. And we are all fools. Youths fall madly in love only for a short while. A new job energizes a woman until she realizes it's not...

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Attention is a proof of love

Papa Notes

We can't stand regular stimulation anymore. We always want to be entertained. Reach into our right pocket and access an infinite list of things to watch, read, or listen to. People get sore thumbs...

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Is it time to cash in on your skills?

GG Notes

Entrepreneurs are compulsive learners. In the early days, it is an unfair advantage. Or even a requirement. Entrepreneurship demands that we be all-terrains. We need to understand the different...

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Praising results, but not only

Papa Notes

Sophie, my four-year-old daughter, loves chess. She has seen me play or do chess puzzles since her early days. There was always a chessboard on the kitchen table. When she was two, we would...

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Find your group of dads

Papa Notes

Being a father is an incarnated experience. You can explain what you are going through or share your emotions with guys who don't have kids yet. But they won't get it. It takes living the...

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Lily pad ideas can actually change people's minds

GG Notes

Last week's essay was popular. It attracted hundreds of new people to the site in just a few days, and people engaged in conversations about whether or not our culture values and promotes...

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The devil is intelligence without love

GG Notes

Is the ruthless pursuit of performance good? What can we say about a society that rewards effort over everything else? Why do we marvel at intellectual prowess more than kindness? I'll be honest:...

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Take one small idea and start writing at once

GG Notes

Many dream of public writing but never publish anything. Ask them why, and they'll answer that they don't know what to write about. The following is your crash course in creating short essays:...

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You will never be done

GG Notes

In the business world, work frequently happens within a project. Success depends on completing all the tasks on time and budget. And a project has a beginning and an end. At work, we are...

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3 simple tactics to stop dreading networking events

GG Notes

Networking events suck. I have said so myself in the past. And if I'm being honest, I still dodge most invitations to business gatherings. My friend is a lawyer, and she was invited to an...

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Unscheduled time off

GG Notes

I took an unscheduled week off. Not a vacation per se, but a week AFK. Away from the keyboard. I didn't answer emails. Not even the ones that would normally prompt me to reply right away. Not even...

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These drafts that never turn into essays

GG Notes

It sometimes takes me many drafts to get to a published essay. The peculiar thing is that I never write several drafts about the same idea. Throughout the week, I come up with ideas I want to...

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Do you take enough lucky shots?

GG Notes

When I was young, I had few skills and no experience. I had, however, clarity on what I wanted, and I hustled hard! Nothing illegal, don't worry. But I was relentless and determined to push...

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The hidden cost of discipline without motivation

GG Notes

A friend's question prompted me to reflect on the way I work. Joschua asked me: "How's your motivation level?" I'm currently promoting a new product, and it's always a rollercoaster ride. Some...

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Death by a thousand opportunities

GG Notes

If you love learning or have a predisposition to starting businesses, it's difficult to set your mind to only ONE thing. Our world is crazy interesting. The number of ideas knows no bounds. Each...

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How often do you give yourself a free pass?

GG Notes

One of your jobs as a parent is to educate your child. It's more than just the fun stuff, like teaching them to draw or play chess. It's also how to act in a world of actions and consequences. I'm...

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Chaos, order, and doing your best work

GG Notes

It took me a long time to understand how I work best. Like many of us, I'm a sucker for productivity. I'm on a forever quest to find the tools, processes, and hacks that will enable me to achieve...

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When can you hear yourself think?

GG Notes

Wake up and put on some music. Jump in the shower and bring your phone to finish listening to that podcast you started yesterday. Drive somewhere and play an audiobook in your car's speakers. Work...

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Your company should be a vehicle for the life you want

GG Notes

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit." - Gordon Gekko I'm not much of a movie...

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Inertia is the enemy of change

GG Notes

I'm big on routines. To some, it may even look like a boring life. I like to know what my weeks are made of, and usually, it's the same pattern week after week. Take Mondays, for instance. Every...

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Focusing is hard when you hate what you do

GG Notes

Why it is better to pick goals optimized for the actual work versus the outcome we think we want. It is said that with focus, you can achieve anything. One problem, though: focusing is really hard...

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Let's talk about the price, baby!

GG Notes

"$175 for two cubic meters, delivered" (that's roughly 0.55 cord) Me: Ask him if he would agree to 160 "Would you agree to $160?" "No. I don't work for free." Wife: Wow. I don't feel like buying...

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It freaking doesn't matter

GG Notes

Last night, I experienced something I wish for all of you. My son and I were sitting in the kitchen. Well, I was sitting; he was lying in my arms, half asleep. He is teething and sleeps super...

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Don't chase f*** you money

GG Notes

When I was younger, I had one clear goal. I wanted to be a millionaire by the age of 30. I didn't know it then, but this wasn't even MY goal. It was something inherited from the...

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7 sure ways to get stuck (do the opposite)

GG Notes

After publishing my (very popular) article The best way to get unstuck, I began thinking about the conditions that create stuckness. Following Charlie Munger's inversion principle, let's examine...

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Do you love life? Then do not squander time.

GG Notes

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." – Benjamin Franklin. Time that isn't planned is up for grabs. And grabbed it will be. Either by people or...

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Hi, I'm Greg.

GG Notes

I'm an independent consultant and a digital artisan. I specialize in problem solving and innovation using code, design, process and mental models. I act as a trusted advisor. Over the past 22...

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Sacred ideas

GG Notes

The following is a republish of an old article from 2016. We live in an era where ideas are so powerful we sacralize them. They appear almighty: Get the right idea and succeed; get the wrong idea...

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The glassmith tactic

GG Notes

The perceived value of your product is about to take a nosedive. Here's how to save it using the glassmith tactic. A glassblower blows air into a pipe. A beautiful vase appears from what was...

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40 for 40 - Wisdom I want to remember

GG Notes

Here are 40 life lessons I learned during my first 40 years on this earth. Creating a strong couple requires the dissolution of individual integrity to build a shared one. This is also true for a...

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The best way to get unstuck

GG Notes

I started dabbling in entrepreneurship over 20 years ago and have experienced the feeling of stuckness more than I can recall. It is one of the most common struggles with this career path and can...

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Reviewing my good moves of 2023

GG Notes

⚠ This article contains references to retired projects. I will not bore you with my entire “year in review.” Instead, I’ve decided to share with you some things I believe I’ve done right this...

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The therapeutic value of watching others work

GG Notes

There I was, sitting on the floor of my living room, watching a video of this super intelligent and prolific guy frustrated. He was trying to livestream his work session, but an app on his...

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Efficiency isn't always efficient

GG Notes

Do you feel like you're always in a rush? Always behind? The fear of missing out (FOMO) is real. It creates insane behaviors in us. We have forgotten that this earthly life will eventually end. We...

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Most arguments are not worth winning

GG Notes

I used to be confrontational. Not that I especially wanted to create conflict, but like many (mostly young) people, I felt the need to be right. I had the urge to correct people. If a discussion...

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Cultivate reasonable anticipation

GG Notes

Anticipation is a double-edged sword. It helps us to be patient. It motivates us to get started working on complex projects. Anticipation is a vital tool that allows us to battle and often defeat...

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When safety causes (too many) minor accidents

GG Notes

This might sound a bit off-topic, but hear me out. Winter is here, and in Sweden, where I reside, you need to heat your home continuously. Luckily, my small house is equipped with a wood stove....

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I just released a prayer engine

GG Notes

This week, I released a new app: a prayer engine. It lives at Prayer.page "What even is a prayer engine?" Well, I'm glad you asked. It's software running on a server that streams prayer lines in...

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Building the icebreakers suite

GG Notes

Driving is boring. While I understand the thrill of dynamic driving, I have never been that much of a car enthusiast. However, there's something I enjoy when I absolutely need to get in my car to...

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Finding joy in the mundane

GG Notes

There is a secret that parents know but only discuss with other parents. A few days ago, I met with an old friend of mine. He's not a parent, but he likes kids. When asked if he'd like to be a dad...

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Progress is a journey

GG Notes

We are often caught up in thinking of progress as a static event. Or at least something that is the result of actions and decisions taken in the recent past. Take the example of a race. Our...

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Enough subconscious cues that signal quality, but no more

GG Notes

I drive a German car. When I close one of its doors, the noise often reminds me of an article I read a while back. The author argued that a team designed the sound of these doors. And the sounds...

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Exploration is part of the work

GG Notes

Inventing a product from nothing is hard. Though you certainly can draw inspiration from existing things, maturing the idea into being often involves a painful process of trial and error. You...

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Thinking entrepreneurship like an artist

GG Notes

These days, I avoid telling people that I'm an entrepreneur. The word and what it encompasses has massively changed since I launched my first (real) venture at 21. Instead, I answer by telling...

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Deadline-driven vs. product-driven

GG Notes

For the past few months, I've been back to focusing on making products. Though I was partially on parental leave, I shipped an accountability web app, wrote and shipped two short books, and an iOS...

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Background noise stress

GG Notes

Last weekend, my family and I decided to take a drastic rest day. We stepped out from the connected world to focus on being together. No phone, no work. An initiative that was part of practicing...

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On the essence of true freedom

GG Notes

A lion was born in a zoo. He never had to worry about food. Every day, many people visited him outside his small enclosure. He felt a peculiar blend of comfort and discomfort. For he knew he...

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The present moment can set you free or imprison you

GG Notes

Being in the present means leaving worries behind. But it can also mean losing the desire to improve the situation. It can distract us out of anxiety or hypnotize us into slavery. We no doubt need...

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Protecting your motivation

GG Notes

Over the past few years, a few books have highlighted the importance of feedback. The entrepreneur community has blindly accepted that this feedback should happen earlier and earlier in your...

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Mastermind over cofounding team

GG Notes

A topic I've seen discussed a few times over the past few weeks is: Should I build a business by myself or try to find cofounders? I've started companies by myself, and I've also been blessed with...

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How to get lucky

GG Notes

Openai's CEO Sam Altman wrote: “give yourself a lot of shots to get lucky” is even better advice than it appears on the surface. Luck isn’t an independent variable but increases super-linearly...

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The insidious effect of prolonged hard effort

GG Notes

It is possible to work for an extended period with maximum effort. I know I've been doing it for years at that point. The last time I've properly been off work, for almost two weeks, was at the...

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Khabib Nurmagomedov on sleep

GG Notes

I recently wrote about 2 False ideas preventing rest. Continuing on this topic, and to further confirm the importance of rest to remain performant, check out what Khabib Nurmagomedov says about...

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Ascent: a Christian habit tracker

GG Notes

⚠ This article is about a retired project My first iOS app hit the Apple App Store this week. Hurray! I built it in less than two months without prior knowledge of Swift and SwiftUI. The catch? I...

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Two false ideas preventing rest

GG Notes

As summer is coming to an end here, I'm reflecting on rest. More specifically, I'm reflecting on my quasi-inability to take some extended periods of rest. Two false ideas play a major role in this...

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Promoting like Arnold: creating is half the job

GG Notes

I stumbled upon this extract from Schwarzenegger's memoir a few weeks ago. It caught my attention because it talks about promotion. Something that only comes naturally to some product-oriented...

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The rule of 100: promoting consistently

GG Notes

I've seen a YouTube short by Alex Hormozi, where he mentioned something he calls the rule of 100. 100 minutes of content creation per day, 100 reach-outs per day, or a $100 ad spend per day. And...

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The tenets of an Uncomplicated Personal Productivity

GG Notes

We don't have unlimited time. We know that; it's easy to grasp. But we equally don't have unlimited energy and even less quality energy. When I was 20-something, I thought productivity was about...

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Uncomplicating productivity

GG Notes

"What project management software do you use?" Tens of thousands of views and countless replies. That's how popular a simple productivity question I asked on Twitter became. We are suckers for...

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AI chatbot for office workers: a crash course

GG Notes

"We asked it the best recipe to bake a prinsesstårta*" I was baffled. This company had hired a consultant to teach its staff to leverage AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT or Bard), and what they...

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On AI and the mutable value of tasks

GG Notes

The world has crossed the AI Rubicon. Artificial intelligence has been around for a while. We are coming in contact with it every day. From Amazon or Netflix recommendation engines, to Tesla's...

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Disengaged employees: the priority?

GG Notes

There's a famous Gallup survey on employee engagement. If you are interested in this topic, you have undoubtedly read articles mentioning it. This study presents a distribution of the average...

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What do bad managers do that drive good employees to quit?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. There is a famous saying that goes: "People don't leave companies. They leave bad bosses." When it comes to finding ways to treat...

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Teaching team members to correctly label tasks

GG Notes

Over the past few years, I've seen the name Eisenhower next to the word "matrix" more often than his first name "Dwight." Before becoming the 34th President of the USA, Dwight Eisenhower was a...

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As a leader, how do you delegate responsibilities to team members?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. What makes this question interesting is that it's asked from a leader's perspective, not a manager's. So for our answer, we will...

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How can you apply leadership skills with both your superior and your team?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. I see two ways to answer this question. First, because you are standing between your team and your superior, you have to apply...

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On reselling the company to its employees

GG Notes

All your employee's contracts are expiring at the end of the month. Your biggest competitor wants to poach them all. How will you convince them to stay? Quite a radical way to think about internal...

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Why you should be open about challenges with your employees

GG Notes

In the past, I have written why I believe a good leader ought to talk about risk with their team and how this kind of discussion should happen regularly. I argued that it is a powerful way for the...

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How do you become an approachable team leader?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. When thinking about an approachable leader, one might hear: "My door is always open!" In reality, a leader is approachable because of...

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Enthusiastic participation

GG Notes

How can you participate more enthusiastically in building the culture? Over 15 years ago, when I was younger and didn't know the first thing about personal development, a friend shared an essay...

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Re-onboarding your employees to increase engagement

GG Notes

Think about something you've known how to do for a long time: driving a car. You have learned how to coordinate your body to manoeuvre this dangerous machine safely. Most of us would call...

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How does one get over the fear of leading other people?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. What people in leadership positions fear most is to let people down. As a young entrepreneur, I was afraid not to be able to make...

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The luxury good in a plastic bag

GG Notes

And why you should care about the way you package your communication. Recently, I had to write a detailed email to a customer. I answered some of his questions regarding my company's software and...

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Should leaders be task-oriented or people-oriented?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. Some might be inclined to say that a leader needs to be both task-oriented and people-oriented. My answer is that it's either-or. It...

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How can you turn the weaknesses of your teammates into strengths?

GG Notes

This is my take on a question asked on a leadership Q&A page. Father of modern management Peter Drucker said: "[...] to get strength, one has to put up with weaknesses." Don't waste time trying to...

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Using calmer language

GG Notes

"If the software crashes during the demo, it's game over for us!" This is something I'm still guilty of: using hyperbolic, epic language. Part of me probably believes that this increases...

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Important message? Press the repeat button

GG Notes

How many times do you need to repeat something to your team to truly get heard? Many, many times. I've read in a book that when you have something important to communicate, you should repeat it...

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5 questions to help us deal with uncertainty

GG Notes

We all want to make better decisions faster. In some cases, that means not deciding at all. Which is the topic of today's post. Human beings are wired to hate uncertainty. We like predictability...

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CEOs and coaches

GG Notes

Did you know that only a minority of CEOs are coached? As I was looking through my notes, I found an article about coaching for CEOs. I figured this is something you might find interesting too....

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Three questions employees want their CEOs to address after the pandemic

GG Notes

Here are three questions employees want their CEOs to address now that the peak of the pandemic seems to be behind us. 1. Is the company safe? Is my job safe? Many people have lost their jobs, and...

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Do you know of one desire that all human beings have?

GG Notes

There's one desire that all human beings have. Understand this basic human need to build better relationships. Master it to empower people to give their best. This need, this desire we all have is...

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Remote work requires different rules

GG Notes

Heard on the radio at the start of the pandemic: “I’m expecting a video call at any time, and that’s stressing me out.” This came from someone who’s recently been sent to work from home by her...

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