This Week’s BIG Idea
For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to contact some of my favorite authors via email. As silly as it sounds, some of the most meaningful online interactions I’ve had have been via email. Sending cold emails is a terrific way to show appreciation for someone’s work at the same time you can ask questions about their habits or routines. Surprisingly, most people are comfortable replying to an email and answering your questions.
In this day and age, no one’s unreachable. And if you don’t believe me, read Alex Banayan’s The Third Door, a book that took this idea of contacting and cold emailing people to the extreme. The truth is that you never know what opportunities you can get by cold emailing people. Worst case scenario, you never get a response. In most cases though, you have a warm exchange with someone you admire. While this may not matter to most people, it can be the highlight of your day. You never know what sending cold emails can do for you, so go ahead and try it.
What I’m Working on
For the past few days, I’ve decided to take SEO more seriously. Although I’ve read several books on the topic, including SEO 2023 and 3 Months to No. 1, those books pack so much information that reading them can be an overwhelming affair. So for the past few days, I’ve been watching videos and reading blog posts on the topics.
One of the problems with SEO is that information that’s relevant now will soon be forgotten and replaced. That said, there are some search engine optimization techniques that will never go out of fashion, but technology tends to change and update so often that it’s hard to keep up with it. Everything I’ve learned so far allowed me to understand the basics of SEO in a way I didn’t before. Also, I added some of the best resources to my Feedly account to keep in touch with new updates.
What I’m Listening to
There’s nothing new on this front really. I’m listening to some old episodes from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal, a podcast where the content creator interviews experts in different fields. This is one of my favorite podcasts so far and one of my favorite parts of my week.
What I’m Reading
- The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin: this book’s been on my TBR for some time. I knew it dealt with the topic of happiness, but I had no idea what a Happiness Project was. The idea is that anyone can design the life they want by implementing things that bring them happiness. In the case of Gretchen Rubin, this meant dividing her life into different areas and focusing on them over the course of a year. Since I just started reading this book, I barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer. But if the only thing I take away from this book is the concept of a happiness project, the money I paid to get this book was worth it. The thing I liked the most about the book is that the author chronicles her own journey to happiness and explains everything that worked or didn’t work. This might seem like a systematic approach to happiness, and to a certain extent it probably is, but sometimes I find it more helpful when people discuss their own experiences rather than telling you what you’re supposed to do to be happy.
What I’m Watching
While I feel that I’m too old to watch this video, I can’t ignore anything that Marc Manson puts out. If you watch the video above, you’ll know what I mean. The famous author can take a tried-and-true topic, but he can take that and create something refreshing and deep. Although Manson doesn’t post content on his YouTube channel regularly, I make sure to watch when he does.
This Week’s Quote
A great piece of advice I got from one of my medical school professors – "An hour before 9 is worth 2 after 5"
— Ali Abdaal (@AliAbdaal) May 5, 2023
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