Multiplexity

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I know a lot of people through my personal life and a lot of people through my work life, but there’s an important third group — people that are in both. In the book “Friend of Friend“, author David Burkus calls this “multiplexity”. He explains:

“While we may want to categorize people into just work and personal buckets, real social networks do not seem to operate that way. And that is to our benefit. Research shows that not only does multiplexity help us become more aware of real-life opportunities, but it enhances our performance on the job—and can even enhance the performance of an entire organization.”

Contacts

I first noticed this a long time ago when trying to sort out my contact list and realized that a lot of people couldn’t be put into a single bucket. Eventually I decided that I just wanted one list of contacts, and to have it sync between my personal and business accounts. I shared this method back in 2017, but these days I essentially just use ContactsPlus to handle it.

With ContactsPlus, anyone in my personal contacts gets synced to my G Suite contacts and vice-versa. They include some other features for cleaning up the contact list, but my main concern is just keeping them synced. As a general rule, I add everyone I meet into my contacts so that if I get an inbound call I almost always know who it is. Space isn’t a concern, so I load it up!

As of now I have around 6,500 contacts in there; I certainly don’t know/remember everyone, but it’s nice to have those old ones in there just in case they reach out. I mean, why not?

Obsidian

I have a similar approach with Obsidian for my notes. Within Obsidian you can create different “vaults” for different purposes, and keep your notes completely separate. Rather than do that, I just keep all of my notes in a single vault, because too many are difficult to categorize. I mentioned this a few years ago when showing the content from one note that contained:

  • A business-related person
  • A quote from a book
  • A quote from Zig Ziglar
  • A reference to a Bible verse

I had tried to keep things in separate vaults, some of those would have been split out. Instead, I can just keep them all in one place and reference around as needed.

Multiplexity can create a mess if you’re not careful, but I think choosing that route in many aspects of life is likely the best way to go.

Change your defaults

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One of the biggest problems people face on their phones is getting sucked into a bout of “doomscrolling” — just mindlessly going through never-ending social media feeds. Most of us open social media apps with a bit of purpose in mind, but it’s easy to get sucked into the feed for longer than we intended.

As I’ve been playing with different launchers for my phone, the one thing that has helped a lot is keeping the social media apps tucked away. They’re easy enough to get to if I want them, but they’re not on my home screen so I never notice them just sitting there. Out of sight, out of mind. Robert takes it even further and has zero apps on his home screen and accesses everything from the main app drawer. This takes intention to a whole new level and is a great way to do things.

I keep a few icons on my home screen, but they’re all either apps with a specific purpose (like Google Maps or Beeper) or else they’re apps that I’m happy to “waste” some time using, like Readwise or Anki. If I’m bored in a waiting room or something, spending time in those apps is far better than heading into Facebook or Instagram.

I still keep the social media apps on my phone, and certainly use them from time to time, but by making other apps my default time-killers it really helps to keep things in check.

Writing down an idea feels like a detour

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At first glance, writing down ideas or thoughts seems like a waste of time. If you have an idea, act on it. If you have something to do, do it!

When it comes to to-do lists, we’ve all learned the value of them (and the satisfaction of crossing off items), and the same should be true of other ideas that come to mind. In his book “How to Take Smart Notes“, author Sonke Ahrens says:

“And while writing down an idea feels like a detour, extra time spent, not writing it down is the real waste of time, as it renders most of what we read as ineffectual.”

Not only is note taking not “a detour”, but it’s essential. I’ve mentioned many times on here my disappointment with my past self for not taking adequate notes from previous books I’ve read (most anything before 2020 or so), leading to me saying things like “Yes, I read that book. I remember thinking that it was great, but I can’t really tell you much about it.”. There’s not much value there.

If you’re reading for pleasure, then you should absolutely kick back and just enjoy the ride. However, if you’re reading to help make a change in your life, the reading will be largely ineffectual if notes and processes don’t go along with it.

Those processes are up to you to figure out (and I’ve shared many on this blog that you’re free to steal), but if you have some great tips please leave them in the comments below.

Define the problem

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It’s always good to be able to solve a problem, but it’s often far better to help make the problem crystal clear before you try to solve it.

I was recently watching the excellent movie “Moneyball”, and this scene shows exactly what I’m talking about:

The scouts are all trying to solve the problem and “we all understand what the problem is”, but they’re all on very different pages. As Dan Roam said (via “The Personal MBA“):

“Whoever best describes the problem is the one most likely to solve it.”

Albert Einstein said it like this (via “Inspired Every Day“):

“If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend fifty-nine minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”

Problem solving is a fantastic skill, but it only works if you have a clearly-defined problem to start from.

Three ways of learning

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I was recently listening to a great podcast about the life of Alexander Hamilton on “How To Take Over the World”. I encourage you to listen the full show yourself, but one piece that stuck out to me was a section about the three ways that Hamilton learned.

From the show:

If you can learn in all three of those ways, so that is book learning, experience, and from other people, they have this kind of synergistic effect, where if you’re just doing one of them you just aren’t gonna learn as fast.

When you can do all three together, I’m learning books, like I’m learning the textbook way to do it, I’m actually getting my hands dirty and getting experience, and I’m learning from people who have done it before. When you combine all three of those, that is the way to supercharge your learning and learn to do anything really fast.

Hamilton was widely regarded as being very intelligent and he worked hard to learn from all three angles:

  • Book learning
  • Life experience
  • Learning from others

It’s the first and third that have always stood out to me. While it’s fantastic to be able to learn from your experience, if you can learn from others (either via books or directly) and save the pain of having to experience it yourself, that’s even better.

If you have a chance, I highly recommend listening to the full episode.

The Sunday Summary: I know a guy, mobile keyboard, and theoretically altruistic journalism

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In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.

Mon, July 8: I know a guy in NYC
If you ever visit New York City and want to explore, here’s the guy that you need to bring along with you.

Tue, July 9: If your goal is to bring people to your website, don’t immediately ask them to leave
Getting visitors to your website can be difficult, so it’s foolish to immediately ask them to leave for another site.

Wed, July 10: What keyboard do you use on your phone?
Or asked another way, did you know you could change the keyboard on your phone? There are some great options out there.

Thu, July 11: How we work with our clients
Over the years we’ve refined our approach in working with clients to help make sure the relationship is solid, successful, and mutually enjoyable. As we’ve honed that approach, we’ve come up with 11 items that explain how the relationship will work.

Fri, July 12: Theoretically altruistic journalism
There are a lot of people online that mean well with the stories they share, but they actually aren’t helping anyone.

Sat, July 13: Thank others for their gift of time
Time is the most precious thing that you can be given, so when someone shares it with you, let him or her know unequivocally how honored you were to receive it.

I hope you found some value in this. If you ever have questions, ideas, or disagreements regarding anything I write, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thank others for their gift of time

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We all know that our time is limited. 86,400 seconds every day seems like a lot, but our entire life is only around 4,000 weeks (if we’re lucky) which sounds shockingly short. If someone is willing to gift some of their time to you, you should respond accordingly.

In his book “Giftology“, author John Ruhlin puts it like this:

“Giftology is rooted in the acknowledgment of someone’s time being the most precious commodity he or she has to share. We’ve all been given a ridiculously limited amount of it. So when someone shares it with you, let him or her know unequivocally how honored you were to receive it.”

I try to be generous with my time, but I also try hard to thank people when they give some of theirs. I’m not sure that I show how “unequivocally honored” I was, but that sounds like a great stance to take.

Theoretically altruistic journalism

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The latest episode of the “You’re Wrong About” podcast focuses on phones, and makes the argument that phones are generally a good thing for people to have — even teens.

Included in the show was a discussion on the potential ban of TikTok, where they shared:

And it’s not about improving these systems or improving the world and improving the things that young people, when you actually pull young people and you say, what are you concerned about? And they bring up things like climate change, gun control, covid, you know, Palestine, Israel, like foreign wars that we’re spending billions of dollars on that. Those are the things that they’re bringing up. They’re not like, actually yeah, if you could just block TikTok, that would be great. No young people are against all of this. This is a movement driven by boomers.

The challenge they raise is that when articles come up that want to make things “better” (like banning TikTok), even if they’re wrong it can feel good to share them because you think you’re doing something good. The episode talks a lot about “moral panics” from the past; things that sound scary but are completely untrue, like making sure your Halloween candy doesn’t have razors in it, or worries about kids eating Tide Pods. It feels good to help, but it’s completely worthless.

Or, as host Sarah Marshall says, it’s “theoretically altruistic journalism”.

We see it from our friends on social media, too, and it’s a big source of scams. A popular one are the “lost pet” scams that are going around. Someone will share a story of a lost pet, and it will be shared thousands of times. After a few days, the original post will turn into an actual scam and will already be out on those thousands of feeds.

People sharing those are coming from a place of good. They’re trying to do the right thing, and it’s theoretically altruistic sharing. It can be easy to get sucked into sharing a story to try to help others out, but it’s even better to share stories that you know are true.

As for the original bit of theoretically altruistic journalism, check out the full episode of their show to dig further into why phones might not be the menace that many are portraying them as.

How we work with our clients

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Over the years we’ve refined our approach in working with clients to help make sure the relationship is solid, successful, and mutually enjoyable. As we’ve honed that approach, we’ve come up with 11 items that explain how the relationship will work.

I hope this list helps you in two ways:

  1. It will give you a better idea of what it would be like to work with GreenMellen for your marketing.
  2. It may inspire you to create a similar list for your company.

The items in this list are similar to our contract, with pieces that protect our firm but also pieces to help protect our clients. I found this to be a great way to share some of the big items in conversational language to get everyone on the same page.

With no further adieu, let’s dig in.

1 – We work for your clients

Successful marketing means speaking to your potential clients in a way that positively affects them. Your desires for particular colors or content are not as important as your audience’s perspective, because you are not the end user of your marketing. They are. Final decisions are always yours (see #3), but we expect you to provide productive feedback that is aimed at our collective goals (see #9), not things that you “like to see”.

2 – We treat each other with respect

We’re excited to work with you! Our process is proven and works well, but there are still points where disagreements may come up. We welcome those opposing views but they must remain respectful. If disagreements come up, they must always focus on the issue and the goals, and never on the person. Mutual respect is required, and item #11 ensures it is.

3 – Final decisions are yours

Related to treating each other with respect (#2), all final decisions are yours. We will push for what we think is right, and we will provide solid reasons behind what we say, but this is a project that you own and all tie-breakers fall to you.

4 – We treat the internet with respect

We are stewards of the internet, and treat all internet users with respect. There are plenty of marketing techniques that are legal but amoral, and we will not engage in any of those. This includes things such as deceptive language and buying email lists to spam potential customers. If it’s an ethical gray area, we avoid it completely.

5 – No guarantees

There are never guarantees with marketing. We have vast amounts of experience and data to ensure we’re making wise moves, but no outcome is ever absolutely certain. We will measure outcomes to the extent possible and suggest changes in approach as necessary to keep moving toward your goals. You should be skeptical about any marketing agency that guarantees a specific outcome.

6 – We will be honest with you

We’ll never hide the truth to convince you to take a certain path of action. If a campaign is not going well, we will share those numbers and work on ideas to get things going in the right direction. Data doesn’t lie, which is one of the reasons we rely on it heavily for decision-making.

7 – No magic wands

We won’t hide any of our practices from you. Even for complex things such as search engine optimization (SEO), we’ll show you exactly what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and what we expect the outcome to be. There is no magic sauce with marketing, and you should run away from any firm that claims there is.

8 – We communicate consistently

Depending on your project, there may be a lot of required communication. You need to read what we send you and respond in an appropriate amount of time. Because you can expect us to do the same. Most of this communication will be via email, for the benefit documenting our conversations and for future clarity of what was said.

9 – You will provide productive feedback

Related to working for your clients (#1), these marketing efforts aren’t aimed toward making you happy, but are aimed at getting results. All feedback should be toward that goal. Do not ask us to “make it darker” or “make the logo bigger” unless you can also explain how that would create a better outcome for your end user. We will do the same for you. This isn’t about opinions; it’s about being effective.

10 – You will own everything

We work to make sure everything is in your control. Per our contracts, the final output we deliver to you is 100% owned by you once it is paid in full. If we build a website for you, it will be on WordPress so you have full ownership of it. This is compared to a platform like Squarespace or Wix where you are subject to the health and whims of that company forever. Your website will be hosted somewhere you control, and we encourage you to keep it in your control in the future. Any strategy or copywriting we do for you is yours to do with as you please. You paid for it, you keep it.

11 – You aren’t stuck with us and we aren’t stuck with you

We will never ask you to sign a long-term contract. Some projects may have a contracted length of up to approximately six months, but all ongoing work is month-to-month. If you feel that we aren’t meeting your expectations, you can leave at any time (also noting item #10). Conversely, if we feel you aren’t putting in the necessary work to move things forward, or if you treat any of our staff with disrespect, we can end the relationship at any time as well.

It was really pretty fun putting this list together! My attempt was to be incredibly straight and clear, and I hope that came across. I got this idea from a law firm that we work with who did an amazing job with a similar list, and perhaps this will inspire you to create something similar for your company.

If you have thoughts or disagreements about anything on the list, leave a comment and let me know.

What keyboard do you use on your phone?

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When asked “what keyboard do you use on your phone?”, I’m guessing the answer that most people give is “the one it came with”, but you may be surprised to learn that there are ton of different keyboards that you can use on your phone/tablet.

I’ve talked about great desktop keyboards before, as well as tools like text expanders to help with efficiency, but digging into your mobile keyboard options can be good as well.

I’ve used Google’s “GBoard” for years, but as I slow try to de-Google my life I’ve taken another look at the options out there. Ultimately, I’ve settled for SwiftKey for now, which is a fantastic keyboard. It’s owned by Microsoft, so I’m still more connected to big tech than I’d like, but it’s a solid option. It works on Android and iOS, so I can have it on all of my mobile devices so that they can sync patterns and custom words to help make it better over time.

At the end of the day it’s not a huge difference, but it’s something to look into. Plus, if you move between platforms at all (I use an Android phone, but also an iPad), having the consistent keyboard in there is a nice thing to have.

You can find more about SwiftKey here, and I encourage you to look at all of the various keyboard options that are out there.

What keyboard do you use on mobile?