31 August 2020
This week's additions focus on mindset, marketing, and leadership, with new digests from Deep Questions with Cal Newport, Founders, and Joanna Wiebe. Highlights include Set hard work boundaries first — pressure forces better productivity systems. One private citizen funded and organised the radar program that defeated German U-boats.
Showing 11 digests for 31 August 2020.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Cal Newport on deep work habits, student scheduling, and building a meaningful career
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
September 6, 2020
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
7
Content marketing
5
Set hard work boundaries first — pressure forces better productivity systems.
Why your deep-to-shallow ratio must be explicit and team-approved.
The $20 million question reveals the career traits that actually matter.
Alfred Lee Loomis: the amateur scientist who helped win World War II
Founders
September 6, 2020
Case studies
9
Deep work & focus
7
Long-term planning
5
One private citizen funded and organised the radar program that defeated German U-boats.
Loomis quit Wall Street cold — bought his independence, then gave everything to science.
Extreme external pressure is irreplaceable; the Rad Lab had to die when the war ended.
Live copywriting practice: rewriting the Asana hero using PAS
Joanna Wiebe
September 4, 2020
Copywriting
9
Deep work & focus
6
Timed sprints build writing muscle memory that training alone cannot
Two minutes of voice-of-customer research is enough to find real pain
Move forward after each sprint — never revise what you already wrote
Deep work & focus
Podcast
How to beat shallow work chaos, read smarter, and master a hard job
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
September 3, 2020
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
8
Processes & SOPs
7
Separating setup from execution stops shallow chaos invading deep work blocks.
Concrete career targets beat vague specialisation goals — find a real person to reverse-engineer.
Organise everything first; only then can you see and fix what you're bad at.
The rise of Epic Games and Fortnite
Acquired
September 2, 2020
Case studies
9
Business models
8
Pivoting
6
Free-to-play cosmetics strategy turned Fortnite into $9 billion phenomenon
Epic's Apple App Store battle challenges tech platform gatekeeping
Tim Sweeney's open metaverse vision competes with Meta's approach
Identity & self-belief
YouTube
How to identify, develop, and deploy your natural talents at work
Bill Gallagher
September 2, 2020
Identity & self-belief
10
Delegation
8
Management
7
Talent is innate — you can deepen it but cannot create it from scratch.
CliftonStrengths profiles are unique to one in 33 million people.
Shared strengths language removes judgment from team feedback and conflict.
Prospecting & outreach
YouTube
How to get your first customer for any business idea
Noah Kagan
September 2, 2020
Prospecting & outreach
8
Content marketing
7
MVP & prototyping
6
Build nothing until three real people hand you money first.
Text beats platform messages — direct contact converts faster.
48-hour deadline forces action and kills over-preparation.
Hiring & recruitment
Podcast
How Amazon runs meetings, decisions, and hiring without PowerPoint
How I Work
September 2, 2020
Hiring & recruitment
9
Culture building
9
Business operating systems
8
Why banning PowerPoint forces clearer thinking and better decisions
Constraint beats unlimited resources for driving real innovation
A veto-wielding bar raiser removes bias from every hiring decision
Identity & self-belief
Podcast
How shifting perspective unlocks better thinking and decisions
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
September 1, 2020
Identity & self-belief
8
Work-life balance
7
Relationships & family
6
Perspective, not willpower, is what actually governs every choice you make
Fiction builds wisdom faster than nonfiction by firing imagination and context
Parenting standards set today determine the quality of adults 70 years from now
Content marketing
YouTube
How to upgrade your YouTube audio and video on a budget
Noah Kagan
August 31, 2020
Content marketing
7
Automation & tools
6
Upgrade audio first — before lighting, before camera
Two free wins: declutter background, face a window
Four setups compared live from phone to professional rig
Hiring & recruitment
YouTube
When to hire a COO and how to make the partnership work
Cameron Herold
August 31, 2020
Hiring & recruitment
9
Management
8
Outsourcing & delegation
6
Self-reliance becomes a ceiling — and the right COO breaks it.
Hire for trust first: hand them your banking login on day one.
Before a COO, hire an EA — or you already are one.