Good morning! Rise and shine! It’s a beautiful day outside (now imagine me saying that on a radio morning show voice).
Yes, it’s Friday already, which means I’m here with your weekly hit of neuron-stretching ideas.
But beforehand, I want to emphasize the importance of feedback. I keep asking for your opinion on these emails because it’s important for me, I really do want to find out what you’re interested in, I read and consider every single word I receive (even though I don’t always find the time to also answer).
So don’t presume for a second that I don’t need to know what your thoughts are. I do. Even if they’re critical or prove me wrong – actually, especially if they are! otherwise how would I grow and change my previous conceptions?
Ok. Now that we got that part clear, here we go:
1. How to Build a Better Network
For introverts, every day is a battle between their need to spend time alone, working, creating something valuable, versus time they should be spending networking and promoting their work – a crucial part, since we’re all social animals.
I can’t help not feel frustrated when I see so many examples of people who are frauds, but, because of their excellent networking and self-promo / attention-grabbing skills, they’ve somehow „made it”.
I’m talking about those that don’t have any valuable input, their work is mediocre or just a copy, or they take advantage of other people’s work and put themselves in a position that makes them seem accountable for it.
„Don’t worry about them, they’ll disappear in time, they can’t build anything long term on a shady foundation, people will realize who they really are.” – this is the advice I’ve been giving others and also telling myself since… forever. Needless to say, I’m still waiting for it to happen. The frauds are still there, still ‘making it’, more successful than ever.
Meanwhile, I know so many folks who do extraordinary work, but they’re ashamed to promote it, to promote themselves. They don’t want to intrude, so they’ll keep their heads down and just focus on creating more valuable work, hoping that good things do come to those who wait. And, in most cases, they never do.
So, if you know someone who’s underrated and under appreciated, help them today. Help them promote their work. Tell your friends about them. Write about what they do on your social media channels. Interview them for your own blog or newsletter. Start a podcast to promote them. Introduce them to like-minded people. Do whatever you can do to help them.
I’m still a naive, I still believe that the frauds will disappear in time. But not without doing something about it, pushing forward those worthy of our attention.
Oh, the article I linked to above is about empathy and how to be your usual self. So no manipulative, bullshitty networking techniques.
2. Why I Am Going On An ‘Attention Diet’
James Altucher sometimes goes on a self-protective „attention diet”, where he restricts what information he consumes. Kinda like usual diets, but regarding food for brain.
I especially enjoyed the part where he debunks the myth about how he’ll be uninformed if he disconnects from all those things – reading the news doesn’t make you more informed.
After I closed my Facebook account, I managed to keep myself away from most useless news (shouldn’t this be an oxymoron?). News that didn’t contribute in any way to my life’s quality and was only making me anxious. And yes, I still find out about the important stuff (and sometimes still won’t escape those I don’t want to know anything about).
Fav quote: „If you read quality books, then you understand the forces that shape the world, you can communicate it, you can see the real facts that are shaping up over time.”
3. How Your Daily Routine Can Turn Into Your Biggest Enemy
No Fridays without new lessons from Ryan Holiday, right? 
He talks about why it’s important to be flexible and have multiple daily routines, so that you won’t depend on unexpected circumstances.
Or how being on the road while writing the most important book of your career and having a kid will dramatically impact your life…
4. Mental Exercises For Battling „It Won’t Work” Syndrome
„Already tried it”
„It’s not a good fit for us”
„It might work for others”
„But…”
If you’ve used these excuses before, this article’s for you: two mental exercises to help you overcome the „it won’t work” mindset (something I’ve been personally fighting with).
5. Everyone Hates Marketers – How Louis Grenier Built a Podcast out of Love for True Marketing
You probably already know about Louis Grenier and his awesome marketing podcast, „Everyone Hates Marketers„, where he interviewed Seth Godin, DHH, and other extraordinary folks. I mentioned his work before a few times in this newsletter, as I highly admire what he does, his fight against shady, bullshitting marketing techniques.
I finally built up the courage to invite him as a guest in The CEO Library podcast, and I’m glad that I did – there’s so much we can learn from him.
Hear us talk about how he transitioned from engineering to marketing, how he built a consulting company, how he burnt out and his business failed, how he found his purpose, learned to win people’s trust (and first clients), how he built ‘Everyone Hates Marketers’, his work as Content Lead at Hotjar, and more. Including book recommendations for marketers, of course.
And after you listen to our talk, I’m curious to know: what’s the key idea or lesson that you learned from us?
P.S. noticed how I linked this last point with what I wrote at the first one? Just practicing what I preach.
P.P.S. happy anniversary to my favorite streetwear brand in the current universe: PORC ???? ❤. Today marks their 6th birthday, so everything in the webstore is for sale (but don’t sleep on it, the stocks will probably not hold for long).
Stay hungry.
– Cristina
