Active Recall!

Podcasts, videos, and iPad art

You know something that’s worth teaching (so share your knowledge)

Are you the #1, absolute best in the world at something?

No? Not a problem.

What about top 1%? Top 50%? Have you done something for a year? For a few months? Are you on day one? Still no problem.

You have something worthwhile to share.

It might even be more useful than that #1 best-in-the-world guru’s advice. Jason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp, has a good example from the business world. He was on The Chase Jarvis Live show in 2018 and he talked about people giving advice on things they haven’t done for decades. From “It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work with Jason Fried” (2018):

I think in our world, in the entrepreneurial world, especially, there’s a lot of people dishing advice that haven’t done the thing ever. Or they did it a long time ago. And I think you need to discount that. I think advice goes stale. It has a half life. And it’s pretty quick.

Experts know a lot (but they forget things along the way)

Having access to expert knowledge will help when you’re learning something new. They’ve been around long enough to understand the principles that matter over the course of years.

They’ve forgotten what it’s like to be completely new to a discipline.

Brian Koppelman, co-creator of Billions and co-writer of Rounders talks about how he’s been in the business long enough that he’s no longer an expert in breaking in. From his Q&A on 2/21/19:

A bunch of questions are about how to break into the business. I’ve written some thoughts about this on my blog. But I don’t have a great answer for you. You know, one thing I really don’t like is when people hold themselves out as an expert on something on which they’re not an expert

I’m not an expert on breaking in anymore. I broke in 22 years ago.

And I’m so far away from that moment that I can’t answer the question. My answers feel idealistic. They’re just all about doing the work. They’re all about producing the pages and making something so undeniable, a script or a short, that it gets people’s attention.

But the truth is there are people much closer to the ground who can answer that question better than I can.

As someone works their way up in their career, they’re further removed from the work on the ground. It’s good to have access to resources from people who aren’t so deep into their expertise. They have a better memory of the hurdles immediately facing a beginner.

You can be this resource for other people.

What would you teach yourself 6 months ago?

Let’s say you’ve started making things online and sharing them on social media. You’ve been doing this for a year and now have some systems in place.

Would those systems be useful to you 6 months ago? Yes.

Some other questions that lead to answers that would be useful to you 6 months ago.

  • What have you started doing in the past 6 months to make your work easier?
  • What dumb issues did you face in the past 6 months that have solutions that seem obvious now?
  • What resources have you learned about in the past 6 months?

The great thing, of course, is that there are people who are currently in the same position you were 6 months ago.

Write answers to those questions and share them with others.

See one, do one, teach one (but with your online writing)

There’s a teaching phrase called “See one, do one, teach one” that comes from medical surgery. You see an expert do it, you do it yourself, and then you teach another trainee.

There are arguments against the approach in surgery, particularly in terms of patient safety. I’m not a medical expert or a teaching expert. This paper seems to do a good job pointing out that the phrase is oversimplified but is useful with some modifications.

However, it can be built upon and greatly enhanced with various learning principles, committed mentors, and advanced technology, such as medical simulators. Residents must be encouraged and given the opportunities to learn and improve upon their surgical skills by mentors who continue to improve upon their skills as well.

Here’s my modification for, let’s say, getting better at making things online.

  • Watch a bunch, do it a bunch (while being watched), and teach it a bunch.

Here’s how you can do that by sharing your learning through writing.

  • Watch a bunch (Read, watch, and listen to experts) — Even better if you can talk to an expert to talk about your specific experience. Organize and share these resources with other people.
  • Do it a bunch (Share it so others can give feedback) — If you’re trying to improve as a writer, publish things online and seek out feedback. If you’re learning to make videos, publish them and seek out feedback. If you’re making a podcast… okay same thing. And you can share the different stages. Share an outline with someone to get feedback. Have someone take a look at your interview questions to see if they find them interesting.
  • Teach it a bunch (Awareness helps you correct your own mistakes) — If you capture your thought process along the way, you can review them as you gain more experience to see where your approach was wrong. Then you can help prevent others from making those same mistakes. The old articles you wrote act as proof that you really were in their position at one point in time. And your current level of success can motivate others. As you write, you’ll see the gaps in your own knowledge that you’ll need to fill in and cement.

If you do this for long enough, you’ll work your way up toward the top 50%, top 25%, top 10%.

And you’ll always have something worth sharing along the way.

3 ways I use Shortcuts for writing with my iPad (and iPhone)

Here’s a new video where I show how I use Apple Shortcuts for day to day writing.

Shortcut #1: Short bullets throughout the day

The first time this runs for that day, it asks for one text input (where I can write a quick thought down). Then it will:

  • Create a new note with the date in the title
  • Add a timestamp
  • Add the text from the text input

Every time after that, it will

  • Append to that day’s note
  • Add a timestamp
  • Add the text from the text input

Instead of cluttering Evernote by creating a bunch of notes with a sentence or two to capture thoughts, this shortcut compiles those thoughts into a single note. Less clutter and easier to review at the end of the day or the week.

Shortcut #2: Outlines, quick

First prompt

  • What’s the topic?

Prompts 2, 3, 4

  • Whats a sub-topic?

Prompts 5, 6, 7

  • What’s a thought related to each of the sub-topics above?

It takes all of that and then creates a note. So I get the following outline.

  • Topic
    • Sub-topic
      • Some thought
    • Sub-topic
      • Some thought
    • Sub-topic
      • Some thought

It adds that note to my ‘Topics’ notebook. Which now has a few hundred of these outlines.

My Topics notebook in Evernote
#Here’s a look at some topics from 2018#

I use this a few times a day. I’ll try to fill them in with more text. Sometimes they’ll become full posts or videos or outlines for podcasts. (Or I’ll use the shortcut specifically to start writing something I intend to publish.)

It’s a practice that helps prevent writer’s block, because you’ll always have an outline about something that you can start typing away on.

Shortcut #3: Journaling

I try to use this every day but have a bunch of versions of this shortcut that I’ve been using a ton lately. I’ll need to write a post in the future about how I modify this one shortcut for other topics I’m writing about.

In any case, here’s how the version in the video works. You tap the button and then it cycles through prompts

  • What are you looking forward to today?
  • What movement will you do today? (reminder to at least take a walk)
  • What’s your work highlight for the day?
  • What made you laugh recently?
  • What did you learn recently?

Very straightforward to just open the shortcut and start answering questions. By the end of it, I have a little bit of the day planned (workout and work), a little bit of active recall (what’d you learn), and a little bit of positivity (looking forward and laughing).

That’s it (and some thoughts for future posts)

I do want to share these Shortcuts but need to clean them up a bit for sharing — I also want to switch the last step output from Evernote to Apple Notes so that pretty much anyone with an iPad or iPhone can use them. Along with sharing those in a post, I’ll try to put a walkthrough together of that last shortcut. It can be a great starter for learning how the Shortcuts app works and so you can start customizing your own shortcuts.

But for now, check the video out above! (Or on YouTube here)

Why does Ronnie Coleman still Lift? (Joe Rogan Experience)

Ronnie Coleman was recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Here’s an exchange about working out today, after all the surgeries, with all the pain, and after all the glory of Mr. Olympia is in the past.

Joe Rogan: Well, I follow you on Instagram and I watch a workouts and it’s inspiring that after all this you still love working out. You can really tell. I mean, you enjoy it.

Ronnie Coleman: Still a hobby. Look forward to it every day.

Rogan: And … does it give you any pause at all, knowing that you’ve been through all these surgeries?

Coleman: Nah. You know, when you’re doing something that you truly love — enjoying doing — that’s what you look forward to doing all the time. Regardless of, you know, how you feel.

Of course, I’m still in pain and all that kind of stuff.

Rogan: Are you in pain all the time?

Coleman: Yeah, but as long as I’m doing what I love doing, I’m okay. You take that away. Then I probably won’t be okay.

Coleman is a great example of someone who made a career out of doing something he loved. Not everyone has the opportunity to do that. There are endless numbers of people who also loved lifting that didn’t succeed in bodybuilding, so loving what you do isn’t the only factor to his success.

People will say “I’d do this for free. I love it.” But then they’re talking about, like, putting TPS reports together.

It’s good to see an example of someone who started doing it for free as a hobby, continued to do it and got paid as literally the single best in the world at bodybuilding, and then continues to do it afterward.

Here are some other thoughts I’ve come across about how you can get to the point where you’re enjoying at least parts of your career…

  • Think of what comes easy to you that other people find difficult. Then consider if it’s a valuable skill. There are career multipliers that you might happen to be good at already. Look at different kinds of communication. Are you good at public speaking. (Or at least not terrified?) Do you enjoy writing? Do you enjoy meeting people? You’re in luck! Those things can usually layer on top of your current career to (A) help you excel in that career, opening up more opportunities and (B) add an element to your day to day that you enjoy.
  • Look back to what you enjoyed doing as a kid. Coleman already loved lifting when he was in high school. Even if this is more for finding re-energizing leisure options, you can take a look at how you used to spend time as a kid. Are you still doing those things now? If not, why not?
  • Or learn to love it by being good at it. There are plenty of reasons to feel stuck in your career. Creating challenges can make work more fun. From Eric Barker’s “Barking Up the Wrong Tree”:

The workplace wants you to be good at your job, and that makes sense, but that’s like a game you’re too good at. It’s dull. Good games have that 80 percent failure rate to inspire you to keep working, but the office doesn’t like failure. Zero failure means zero fun. And there’s so much busy work that offers no challenge at all. How is that engaging?

The good news is that this is partly in our hands. Research shows we often don’t do what makes us happiest; we do what’s easy. Like if we don’t feel like going out with friends, we may make ourselves, and then we have fun. We think we want to rest, but what we really want is a different type of challenge.

We crave ease, but stimulation is what really makes us happy. We try to subtract at work, do less, check out. These are signs of burnout. We don’t need to subtract; we need to add novel challenges to create engagement.

You can try to  increase motivation by actively trying to improve in that career. You might start enjoying it more if you can get beyond just being proficient at your work. You may be able to get to a place where, because you’re good at it, there’s less frustration. Then you can get good enough at it that you have some career capital to shape your day-to-day to where you’re enjoying what you’re doing.

We can’t all be Mr. Olympia, but we can still enjoy the work.

Why is acting so easy? (Jimmy O. Yang)

Well, usually It’s not. Unless you’re Jimmy O. Yang’s dad.

On his interview with Joe Rogan, Jimmy O. Yang tells a story that reminded me of a bizzaro 4-minute mile.

There are a few stories you’ll run into if you read self-development books. One of them will be the 4-minute mile and how it was this long-standing barrier Roger Bannister broke it and then other people broke it soon after.

It can be motivating to see the impossible become possible.

(That story also might be a bit off. From Alex Hutchinson’s Endure: “But to draw any meaningful conclusions, it’s important to get the facts right. For one thing, Landy was the only other person to join the sub-four club within a year of Bannister’s run, and just four others followed the next year. It wasn’t until 1979, more than twenty years later, that Spanish star José Luis González became the three hundredth man to break the barrier.”)

Anyway, Jimmy O. Yang’s dad watched his son start acting. He didn’t think it was impossible to begin with. But now he thought it was easy.

If my son can do it, I can do it.

Then he did it. And got gig after gig and has continued acting.

Jimmy also tells Joe what it’s like to grow up in an Asian household. He talks about extended family being comfortable just coming up to a girl in the family and telling her she’s fat.

I was nodding along because of how familiar it sounded. Happens at every family party. They’re just being honest, right?

Joe cracked up because of how ridiculous it sounded. Then they discussed why this might be the case.

Yeah, it’s hard to grow up with a high self-esteem in an Asian household.

But there is a weird honesty to it.

I don’t know. I don’t buy it. They say it’s honest. I think it’s passed down trauma.

Their parents did that to them and now they’re doing it. I don’t know. Re-reading this post, it seems like this podcast episode wasn’t all that fun at all. But it was! I’ll just point to it being another reason podcasts are great: so much is captured hearing someone’s voice.

Check out that episode: Joe Rogan Experience – “#1490 – Jimmy O. Yang”

How do you lose a whole bunch of weight? (Kevin Smith)

Eating a lot of potatoes.

On Ethan Suplee’s “American Glutton”, Kevin Smith tells the story of the heart attack that almost killed him. He says he got to that point because eating is entertainment for him. He could do it hours at a time. There’s nothing he likes to do more than to put good movies on and watch with his wife while grazing on snacks.

The heart attack served as a very scary, very effective epiphany moment.

From BJ Fogg’s “Tiny Habits”:

In my research on habit formation, dating back to 2009, I’ve found that there are only three things we can do that will create lasting change: Have an epiphany, change our environment, or change our habits in tiny ways.

Creating a true epiphany for ourselves (or others) is difficult and probably impossible. We should rule out that option unless we have magical powers (I don’t).

But here’s the good news: The other two options can lead to lasting change if we follow the right program, and Tiny Habits gives us a new way to tap the power of environment and baby steps.

You, of course, want to avoid having a heart attack. But it’s always an effective step for ongoing motivation.

After the heart attack, he got in touch with Penn Jillette about losing weight and learns about the program. One word: Potatoes. But here’s Kevin Smith expanding on that:

First part of the program is two weeks: nothing but potatoes. You just eat potatoes only. You can’t fry them. No oil, no butter, no milk. No salt. None of the shit that makes potatoes wonderful.

Nothing. Just the potato baked or boiled. That’s it.

[ … ]

If somebody gave you 20 pounds potatoes… if you could put them away, it ain’t against the diet. So when I heard this, I’m like, all right, so I can get as much mass as I want. I’ll never feel hungry. And I’m eating potatoes. I love potatoes and shit.

What you find out is… after day three, potatoes without salt, without fucking butter, without milk, without frying them. Without all the things that make potatoes tolerable is just… fucking plain-ass potato.

He acknowledges that it’s not exactly the potato that’s magic. It’s that you stop eating so much junk.

While it’s best not to give yourself a heart-attack-induced epiphany, you can still take a principle away from this: simplicity.

It’ll be easier to stick to a diet if you can remember it in the first place. Same thing with sticking to a writing routine. Or whatever other habit you’re trying to build.

This also reminded me of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s relationship with potatoes. He used to eat them raw like an apple (or like Creed). From Men’s Journal:

Stone Cold Steve Austin: A: I came from a football background, and then I trained to be a pro wrestler. Did I try to have an athletic presentation? Damn right! But I was certainly not dependent on tying off my guns so my veins would pop out. That wasn’t my cup of tea. When I went from Dallas to Tennessee early in my wrestling career, I had a pretty good physique.

But when the money ran low, my conditioning was hit the hardest by my diet started living on raw potatoes, three meals each day. One potato for each meal.

I got flat. I was so goddamned tired, I couldn’t even do a pushup! It was obvious that my appearance wasn’t as important as entertaining the crowd and being in the kind of shape where I could work and make it look good on every single move. My advice: good diet, hard workouts, and less time looking in the mirror.

So put down the Steveweiser, grab a few potatoes, and listen to Kevin Smith on “American Glutton”.

(For more on BJ Fogg and his habit framework, check out this post.)

Why is television a good thing? (Rob McElhenny)

You’re reading a self-development book and it says you should cut out TV to get that time back.

Then, of course, you go cold turkey after that and only read business books and journal articles.

No?

You just continue watching but sometimes feel guilty? Don’t feel bad. Some of the best modern stories are in TV shows.

(If you’re watching 8 hours daily week in and week out, that’s another story.)

It’s okay if it’s not some philosophical drama. It’s well worth the time if you end up relaxed and laughing.

Always Sunny in Philadelphia has made people laugh. For years. And I started to feel pretty old realizing it’s entering it’s 15th season.

On an episode of The Writer Files, Rob Mcelhenny talks about the evolution of Always Sunny and the writer’s room for Always Sunny and Mythic Quest. (They’ve gotten to a process where they work reasonable hours and can go back home to spend time with their families.) The motivation to continue going mostly comes from everyone working on it still enjoying making it.

He also touches on where he gets most of his inspiration. Kelton Reid (host of The Writer Files) asks Rob what influences him and what gives him creative inspiration:

Rob McElhaney: Yes. Well, I can tell you that all of my inspiration has come from watching television.

So when I was a kid, I watched a ton of television. Mostly comedy. What I realized was… even early on when I was in high school… that it wasn’t just that I felt like it was bringing me joy—which it was—but I felt less alone. And felt like I was… it’s experiencing something with other people even though I was alone watching it in my room.

So every Thursday night, I would tune into Friends and Seinfeld and would feel like I was a part of something. And I feel like at the at the very least that’s just bringing, you know, an hour of fun into someone’s life.

Putting a dent in the universe is one thing. Making other people laugh for an hour can be just as good.

In Creative Calling, Chase Jarvis writes about the value of cross-pollinating. Whatever you create, consume things from other genres and other disciplines.

It also helps to cross-pollinate. If you’re a musician, consume film. If you’re a web designer, attend the ballet. This is one tactic that helped me find my unique voice as an artist: most of my influences come from beyond the world of photography. To learn about light, I studied oil painting for years. To learn how to shoot lifestyle images, I studied balanced body positioning through figure drawing. The list is a mile long.

One of my favorite things about hosting my own podcast is welcoming musicians, artists, designers, writers, speakers, travelers, entrepreneurs, business titans, and more to chat for an hour at a time. This informs my art, my work, and my world and fuels new passions beyond my current comfort zone.

The best nonfiction books have stories spanning chapters and usually some thread through the entire book. David Epstein, author of Range (excellent book!), has talked about how taking a fiction writing workshop helped out his nonfiction writing tremendously.

From an Epstein interview with The Morning Brew:

Favorite hobbies? Running for sure. I was a national level runner, and I like outdoor stuff in general. For one of my monthly experiments, I decided to take a beginner’s online fiction writing course. We had to write a story with no dialogue and I realized I had been leaning on quotes when I didn’t totally understand something. I went back into the Range manuscript and stripped a huge number of quotes. So now I’m taking some more fiction writing courses.

If you actually did go Cold Turkey and haven’t watched TV in a while, dip your toes in a little bit. You can always tell yourself that you’re just doing it to learn about storytelling.

And you just might enjoy it a bit.

Until then, check out that Writer Files episode (“How ‘It’s Always Sunny…’ and ‘Mythic Quest’ Co-Creator and Star Rob McElhenney Writes”).