Sunshine for you…
Enjoy little things: a patch of sunlight or the smooth feel of using a fountain pen.
Quick! Fly somewhere!
Be excited about the Southern Hemisphere snow season or the Northern Summer or puffins!
(System) Integrity.
My regular coffee shop, Patricia’s, provides me an incredible experience each time I visit: an underlying interest to provide the exceptional, warm welcomes, happy staff, delicious, stylish products (taste, cups, spoons), fascinated sourcing, a sense of community, lots of awareness / care / kindness, fun and delight (including randomly provided tastings), and a sense of openness.
With such integrity throughout there is a constant focus on the customer experience.
I spotted this in Jony Ive’s foreword in the “Designed by Apple” book. It sums up this idea:
Your turn. Create integrity throughout. Aim high!
Hear’s to your incredible success and recognition Bowen (Patricia’s Founder)!
When you visit Patricia’s, look up and spot the Sunshine…
Redefining “Work”.
John Hagel’s SXSW presentation is a simple, wise, calm view of employment opportunities and threats owing to machines. He reminds that in a traditional sense work is creating replicable, tightly specified, efficient processes and outputs. Who’s best to do these? Machines.
John also mentions microsourcing / outsourcing and how this drives individuals’ unique expression (which is great) though John suggests the ‘gig economy’ will be transitional as activities can be defined and given to machines. Having worked with Virtual Assistants, I found myself nodding.
We’re in the time of working out the next version of work. This is one of my favourite (pretty quick) presentations. Enjoy!
Making Progress.
Writing emails like this gives me a chance to reflect on things that are working for me and pass them on.
A favourite for managing progress is having a ‘returning email’ system. When I buy something and receive an email, I return the order confirmation email to me and set the date to just after the expected delivery date. Usually the email pops up and the order has been delivered – though if not, the email returning has me address.
I can also write an email to someone confirming something important they’ll be doing, click the Boomerang “return in…” checkbox at the bottom of the email and it’ll return at the ETA. …then I don’t have to think about it until the email returns.
I use Boomerang in gmail and gmail’s inbox app on my iphone to return emails.
What tips work for you?
Pump Up The Volume.
It was fun today seeing Apple is releasing a new speaker system. It reminded me of a simple idea I’ve used on the fly – put your iPhone in a tall bowl and it amplifies the speaker. Yay!
Favourite reads & listens:
- Curious about cryptocurrencies, the Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum and more? Tim Ferriss’ latest podcast is a great introduction. It’s co-presented with one of my favourite thinkers in the world – Naval Ravikant – who kindly simplifies complex topics as they arise. A more advanced watch or listen on the wider context on the future of cryptocurrencies and finance is Brian Armstrong at this week’s Token Summit (thanks rosshill)
- Alastair Humphreys’ newsletter.
Great online presence:
Cannot stop laughing at this image. Nice one Product Hunt!- Make your job adverts exciting to people so they’ll read it to the end and be inspired to contact you. Here’s a fantastic job description by Who Gives a Crap. Thanks to Aprill Allen for the heads up.
- Possibly the most exceptional online customer service I’ve experienced: Sugru.
- Innocent has me chuckling. Check out their Bored.. really bored page or their Compliment Generator. Ha!
- Wonderful design & foodie Instagrammers: Anja, Sian, Michelle, Kate. Lots more here.
- The extended list is here and here.
Have a fantastic week from an increasingly chilly Melbourne!
~ Sam
P.S. Travel links are Aussie/Asia-biased x
