May 2019 : A newsletter
/Status: 🌻🕶🎿
Courtesy update: According to Year Progress (and math), as of May 1 we are 33% of the way through 2019. I vote we continue.
Here’s a reason: The 7-stage Ski to Sea adventure race is on the near horizon (May 26) and I’m doing the downhill ski event again. In this case, ‘downhill’ is a 97% misnomer. For the uninitiated, participants in the downhill ski climb 900’ uphill while carrying their skis (or snowboard) in deep snow from the base of Mt. Baker Ski Area to the top of the lift-accessed portion of the mountain, then click into their gear and race back down to the base. It’s bonkers and painful and I think I might order some of that wacky kinesiology tape to help fend off the 100% probability of pain. Sufferfest self-talk: This is fun this is fun this is fun.
In other news... Loyal readers will recognize that Marketing ROI remains a personal quest and frequent topic at morebetternow HQ. To wit, two more articles worth a scan: 1.) A Better Way to Calculate the ROI of Your Marketing Investment; and 2.) Calculating the ROI of Customer Engagement. Today I Learned (TIL). 💯
In business, success requires balancing right-brain creative juice with left-brain quant skills. Book reco reprise: Damn Good Advice (for people with talent) by George Lois. I reread this classic last week and the advice remains damn good.
It (success) also requires feeding the beast, nourishing the spark, gathering inputs, staying sharp. All the things. This time of year, I like to check out What’s on at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Then tune in again during the show from 17-21 June 2019.
A few weeks ago, Adobe sent me (and thousands of others, I presume) an email titled: Collaborating is validating, exhilarating, and hard as heck. First, I agree - and am aware it can be at least that hard. Second, there’s a thoughtful collection of articles that were linked via the email, starting with Collaborating on a Creative Project? Tips for Making It Work. I like tips. They help reinforce targets.
Segue to podcast-land and a recent installment from the author of Extreme Ownership and one of the most successful podcasters of them all, Jocko Willink. Reco: Set Standards. Aspire to Achieve Them. Become an Eminently Qualified Human. It’s a dose of equal parts reality and motivation. 🏋️♂️
We’re also all about data here at morebetternow and with numbers on my mind I offer you Significant Digits, brought to all of us by the data pros at fivethirtyeight. Significant installments are weekly and I try to visit weekly because I don’t want to miss anything important. For example, I had no idea that NASA and other space agencies are running simulations to prepare for a 100-300 meter wide (hypothetical) asteroid strike in 2027. I’m unclear how much of the year 2027 will have passed before the (hypothetical) asteroid strike but I’d like to request it (the asteroid) wait until beyond the 75% point because I’d really like to get my summer vacation in.
One more thing: I’m continuing to chisel away at MySportsMath. It’s a program that helps elementary and middle school students reinforce their math skills by focusing on categories they enjoy. In other words, it helps make math fun. The program features 405 questions spanning 8 sports. All sports-related questions include a range of math concepts, helpful tips, and an answer key complete with an example scratchpad. Get started today @ (where else?) mysportsmath.com. Check it out and let me know what you think, OK?
And finally, as ever, per usual, a closing quote: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -R.W. Emerson. True, true.
Keep moving forward.
-John