Focus Doesn't Mean Doing One Thing at a Time
And a plumber meme from Elon Musk
Hello my friend,
How are you? How was your week?
It's been 3 months since I came to Singapore. Time flies!
I've gotta say I've never been that busy at work in my life. Not saying I wasn't busy in the previous company, but back when I was in Vietnam, I still at least had some energy at night to write/work on this personal project.
But it's "good busy".
I am learning a lot while trying to manage a cross-functional project that involves more than 200 people (developers, product managers, designers, QA,...). More specifically, as shared in one of the previous newsletters, I learned how to "make people do something for me" while having never worked with them before in my life.
A friend wisely asked if I've fulfilled my goal - my reason to leave the previous company - when I chose to come here. After these past few months, I'd say I'm still on track.
A decision: Going after the $
Alright, t’is important.
Starting 6th November 2022, I’m going to monetize this newsletter for 6 months. 80% of my letters will require a paid subscription to read.
ASK: What does that mean?
ANS:
Anyone who subscribes to this newsletter before 6th November 2022 will still be converted to a paid subscription at no charge (as mentioned in newsletter #71)
Anyone who subscribes to this newsletter since 6sth November 2022 will stay as a free subscriber and can only read free posts. Only if that person pays, they can then read every premium post.
ASK: Why did you decide to do that?
ANS: I never actually thought about making money when I started this newsletter or even my blog at tuanmon.com. But the idea of earning some extra bucks while doing what I love is so tempting it kept floating around my mind for the past year (yes, year). It also aligns with my financial goal: to have multiple, self-running income streams. With the technical feasibility of Substack, now I can (hopefully) realize that goal.
I don’t know how well this whole monetization thingy will fare out, I can even lose some of my existing subscribers. However, if I don’t do it, I would forever regret it because I never try: “What if I could actually make money out of something I love”
ASK: What if you fail?
ANS: All the better! I’d then be able to drop the idea that I can make money out of this. I set a deadline of 6 months in which I will go all in. No distraction. After all, this is an experiment.
ASK: Does it affect me as your existing reader?
ANS: No, and it never will. I consider all of the subscribers I’ve had until now my bravest, most supportive humans on earth. You stayed with me throughout 77 newsletters. You shared this with multiple friends. You replied to encourage me and give me feedback. I simply cannot betray such trust.
Whatever changes occur to this newsletter, you will always receive the highest-tier benefits, at no extra cost.
ASK: Will there be any change in the content?
ANS: Yes, but not that much. I’m still planning everything, but all the core components of this newsletter like Weekly learning and Weekly discovery will be kept. No worries :)
—
Last words: If you have some friends who might like this newsletter, I hope you can break this news to them early so they can still benefit from the free-to-paid subscription scheme before 6th November ✌️
Alright, on to today’s show!
Weekly learning: Focus Doesn't Mean Doing One Thing at a Time
I really enjoyed reading this piece by Cedric (Or should I say any piece of him - if you haven't, subscribe to his newsletter pls). However, it's not the message of this essay that I want to discuss today.
It's Weber’s quote:
The secret to success is constancy of purpose
The story of how Weber transformed an on-the-brink company into a multi-billion-dollar brand further strengthens my belief in this quote. All the tough (some seemingly disastrous) decisions made by Weber serve a single purpose: Pivot from selling various types of shoes, to only performance running shoes.
What also struck me: all the most respectable leaders I've ever met are very consistent with their purposes.
Do you remember the last time you felt bored because your boss kept saying the same thing he had mentioned to you many times before? I bet that is one of the reasons he/she is your boss.
It happens to me in every 1-on-1 meeting with my current team leader.
After reading this article, I realized that when I'm at the individual contributor level, my definition of "focus" is "doing one task at a time". But when I'm at the managerial level, it should also be "doing many things but with one purpose at a time".
The key question is: How to adopt the other mindset and put it into practice? Let's see if I can figure that out in the next few months.
This article is member-only, so you can subscribe and then read it here. But if you don’t want to, might as well read these two articles that revolve around the same idea:
Weekly discovery: Uploading photos on Instagram web
I hate it whenever I had to airdrop a ton of photos to my (64GB :<<) iPhone just to upload them to Instagram Mobile AND delete them later because they are highly-retouched-therefore-heavy-as-fuq photos.
Say goodbyes to the bad old days!
This morning I just found out that Instagram web has allowed me to upload photos from my computer directly.
I was in doubt until I found out it comes with full-fledged features like the mobile version: filter, retouch, caption, etc.
Aside from this, there was a UI overhaul as well: The navigation bar is moved from the top to the left side. Notifications and messages are also displayed within the left pane. Now I'm seriously thinking about ditching the mobile app :)
Around the Internet
1. After Elon Musk closes the chaotic $44B acquisition of Twitter, the first thing he did as its new CEO is bringing a sink into the office. Well, I don’t know about the management team that has been laid off, but at least the office guards "let that sink in".
Anw, you can read the latest updates about this Saga here.
2. Alright, promise this would be the last Elon thing in this newsletter. I just find this absolutely pathetic that these two tweets show up at the very same time on my feed.
3. Not tryna to offend any of my consulting friends. But this is hilarious =))
4. Someone made a list of almost all the types of music existing on Spotify. Click on any phrase to listen to it. Can even try searching for "Vietnamese" ;)
Thanks for reading this week’s (a bit long) newsletter. If you find it useful, please help share it with your friends or consider donating/subscribing :”>
Wish you a relaxed night, and a productive week ahead!
Yours,
Tuấn Mon
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