Another Excuse Newsletter

Welcome back to the Another Excuse Newsletter. It isn’t just another excuse, but a reason to start that thing you’ve been putting off.

What to expect this week:
👓Perspective - Region Beta Paradox
🔨 Tool - Make.com
🍿Consume - The Small Company Awards
📖Concept - Eisenhower Matrix

Latest Podcast Episode

The roles are reversed in this episode, where Nick Daniels asks me about starting a newsletter.

I'm no professional and still have a lot to learn, but we discuss:

• The different platforms available
• Ways to Monetize
• Why it's a good idea to start one
• Getting started
• Consistency

You can check out the episode here.

Perspective

Region Beta Paradox

This is a crazy phenomenon that I hadn’t thought of before I’d heard of it.

But once you hear about it, you can’t unhear it and it will probably change the way you think going forward.

What is the Region Beta Paradox?

The paradox is that when things are kind of bad, we'd actually be better off if they were worse. Because then we'd do something about it.

This made so much sense when I first heard it, and I’ve actually been in this situation many times.

When we’ve got a good thing going, that’s not necessarily exactly what we want to do or making us as happy as we could be. We tend to stick around, anyway.

Being OK causes us to stay because it’s bearable.

If the situation were less bearable and we couldn’t stand it, we would be forced to change and possibly find a situation that we prefer.

I think many people live like this and never give it another thought.

If you feel you could be happier, you probably could, but it’s up to you to make that happen.

When you’re comfortable in the paradox, it’s even harder to make a change.

That’s why it’s important to reflect and want the best for yourself. Sometimes it’s better to do the hard and uncomfortable thing and make a change.

You can’t wait around for those horrible situations to force you into action.

Tool

Make.com 

Another no-code tool that’s definitely worth checking out.

It’s a tool that lets you automate processes in a visual way.

It’s similar to Zapier with the ChatGPT plugin, but I really like Make’s interface and UX.

It makes creating automated processes more intuitive and helps you understand what needs to happen to trigger the next step in the chain.

The video above explains it pretty well, so I’m sure you get what it does.

There’s a use for this app in any business and if you don’t think there is, I suggest you look into it a bit more.

It could save you a lot of time and money.

Let me know what you think!

Consume (Read / Watch / Listen)

The Small Company Awards

This was one of the more structured My First Million podcast episodes and it doesn’t disappoint.

Shaan and Sam talk through many small or one-person companies making over $1 Million in revenue in different categories.

They break down how the businesses are run and whether they think they will be difficult or easy to replicate.

It gives you great insights into what it takes to run some of these one-person businesses and what they think some of these companies are doing wrong.

They point out that to run a one-person business at this scale; you need leverage.

Most of the founders leveraged code, capital, or media to make as much money as possible.

They had a market edge in either distribution or product.

Breaking this business down helps put things into perspective and understand what it takes to build a business like this.

Definitely check out the episode if you’re vaguely interested.

Concept

Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a way to prioritise tasks.

A lot of the time we add something new to our to-do list and attack it when it feels right or depending on the deadline.

Some have a method to their madness and others don’t.

Using the Eisenhower Matrix (above) can help you figure out what you need to be prioritising and what you shouldn’t be spending any time on.

This comes up in a lot of the topics I write about, but we don’t take enough time to reflect.

We would all be better versions of ourselves if we just took some time to figure out where we’re going and why we’re doing what we’re doing.

The Eisenhower Matrix is one of those tasks. Stepping back, looking at what needs to get done, and then prioritising what’s important.

It’s simple. If it’s important and urgent, do it.

If it’s not important and urgent, delegate if you can.

If it’s not important and not urgent, delete it.

If it’s not urgent and important, schedule it for later.

Easy.

Many of our tasks day to day don’t have this thinking behind them.

I try to use it as much as I can and I find the delete part the most helpful.

Give it a go and let me know what you think.

Thanks for Reading

Now start something!

P.S. Feedback is welcome and needed! If you’d prefer to send me an email and not respond, you can do so here: [email protected]

Check out my socials below 👇