Monthly roundup: best book, movies, most useful video, the skill I worked on, a habit, a hypothesis, and the month's key insight. November 2024.
1) Best book
“Essentialism” by Greg McKeown. A really good, practical book for anyone tired of the chaos in their life who wants to focus on what actually matters.
2) Movies and shows
Nastya and I watched “Legends of the Fall.” A deep, layered film about love, relationships with parents, loyalty, and finding yourself. Recommended.
3) Most useful video
Discovered the Chris Williamson YouTube channel. Deep, interesting podcasts with genuinely smart people. His conversation with Alex Hormozi was especially useful.
4) The skill I worked on
YouTube analysis. I hired a mentor for the platform. From our very first Zoom conversations, I realized how many mistakes and blind spots we had there.
You’ll see new content formats from us soon, and we’re going to shift our approach to making long-form videos a bit.
5) The habit I was building
Putting things back in their place right away. I’m trying to train myself not to leave anything out of place.
It’s hard. I think I’ll carry this habit over into December too.
6) A hypothesis I tested
This month we tried some new vertical content formats. We posted funny videos into my feed, and made new video edits for videos that had already performed well before. Instead of the usual 10-12 million views a month, we hit 18 million views in November. We’ll keep going.
7) Key insight of the month
When you free your head from operational tasks, you get more time and attention for strategic decisions and growth.
In November, I wrapped up my daily-posting challenge. I keep working on my books every day.
I brought a great HR manager onto the team on a permanent basis. I’m confident we can now fill the positions we need and move even faster.
The moment you let go of the day-to-day grind and step back from daily operational tasks, you get the chance to actually grow your business, and do it much faster and more efficiently.
I’m at a point in life right now where, to protect one “yes,” I have to say “no” a hundred times.