Blog Spotlight - How to Beat Procrastination
In the last issue, we’ve looked at Why Procrastinators Procrastinate. This week’s blog spotlight continues the topic and looks at how to beat procrastination.
Tim Urban suggests that to win over procrastination we need to tackle two critical stages - Planning and Doing.
Planning
Take a big list and select a winner - putting together a big list of items is only an early stage of planning. The goal is to pick the winner - a single task that is the most important for your happiness.
Make an icky item un-icky - an icky item is when we don’t know where to start, how to go about doing it, or where to get answers. To un-icky the item, you need to read, research, and ask questions until you have a clear sequence of actions to achieve your goal.
Turn a daunting item into a series of small, clear, manageable tasks - any big item is just a series of smaller steps.
A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, unglorious tasks looks like from far away.
Find those steps, write them down, and most importantly, put them on a schedule - non-negotiable calendar slots when each of the steps is to be taken.
Doing
With your plan in hand, this is where you face the Instant Gratification Monkey. The first step is the hardest, the "Critical Entrance." But once over the threshold, each completed task boosts self-esteem and gives fuel to take the next step. Overcoming procrastination involves persistence, internalizing that every action is a choice, creating methods to defeat procrastination, and aiming for steady progress.
Or if you want an even more radical approach - Alan Mendelevich writes about Microdosing Out of Procrastination. Start by making the plan, but then only do one item a day. And be happy about it! It might take longer, but it’s a surefire way to get the ball rolling.
News Highlights
1. Spotify to cut 17% of its staff
Spotify will lay off around 1,500 employees to reduce costs and hit financial targets in a third round of job cuts this year. The company’s CEO cited the need to “rightsize” costs amid an economic slowdown and high-interest rates. The Swedish music platform had been bleeding cash after going on a hiring spree during the pandemic to pursue aggressive expansion goals.
The tech industry has lost over 240,000 jobs this year (a 50% increase from last year), with Meta and Alphabet downsizing due to macroeconomic challenges.
2. Meta set to launch Threads in the EU in December
The new microblogging platform is planning on launching in the EU in December, making it its largest market expansion since its debut in July.
Upon its launch in July, Threads became available to most markets worldwide, but Meta withheld launching in the European Union because of its regulations for online services.
To comply with regulations the EU version of the app will launch with a view-only mode which will not require users to have a profile.
3. Elon Musk is looking to raise $1 billion for xAI
Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has filed with the SEC to raise up to $1B in an equity offering. According to the filing, Musk has already raised $135M from four unnamed investors.
The fundraising should fuel xAI’s development of Grok, which is their answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But it will also serve as a check of confidence in the tech entrepreneur himself.
4. Twitch to shut down in Korea over ‘prohibitively expensive’ network fees
Twitch to shut down South Korea operations on February 27 due to high internet costs. Despite multiple efforts to reduce network costs, Twitch's CEO has stated that operating in South Korea was still 10 times more expensive than in other countries.
South Korea’s expensive internet fees have led to legal fights in the past – streaming giant Netflix unsuccessfully sued a local broadband supplier last year to avoid paying usage charges.
Telecom operators in other markets are taking South Korea’s lead and beginning to push for content providers to pay for network costs.
Talk of the Week - How Plausible Analytics Achieved Phenomenal Growth by Saying No to Pretty Much Every Startup Marketing Strategy
Plausible Analytics, a privacy-first Google Analytics alternative, grew to exceed $1M ARR, built a strong user base and a compelling product, all with just a handful of people. In this podcast, Marko Saric talks about how they stayed true to their privacy-first philosophy when doing marketing, threw typical SaaS marketing approaches out of the window, and found their own way to success.
These are their key principles for growth:
Strong positioning and focus on privacy: Plausible positioned itself as a simple, lightweight, fast-loading, and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics. This clear and distinct positioning resonated with users concerned about privacy and simplicity in web analytics.
Content and SEO as primary growth tools: With limited marketing avenues, Plausible relied heavily on content creation and SEO. They produced high-quality, informative, and educational blog posts that were not salesy but focused on issues like privacy, GDPR, and the state of Google Analytics.
Engaging with technical communities: Early blog posts were shared in communities like Hacker News, garnering significant initial attention and traffic spikes. This approach helped them reach a tech-savvy audience that was likely to appreciate their product's unique features.
Building in public: Plausible embraced transparency, sharing detailed insights about their journey, including their traffic stats, growth numbers, and challenges. This approach helped build trust and credibility with their audience.
Minimalist email marketing: The company adopted a very light approach to email marketing. They sent only a few informative and educational emails during the trial period and did not bombard users with promotional content.
Word of mouth: A significant part of their growth can be attributed to word of mouth. Satisfied users recommended Plausible to others, especially those dissatisfied with Google Analytics, particularly during the UA to GA4 transition.
Simplicity as a user experience tool: Plausible concentrated on building a user-friendly product, ensuring that their dashboard was straightforward and more accessible than GA4, which appealed to users looking for simpler analytics tools.
Continuous improvement and development: The company regularly updated and improved their product, releasing new and sought-after features.
i need to stop procrastinating so much!!!