Hello

Here’s an experience Andrea, Putler’s growth evangelist narrated recently…

“I found it!” my nephew exclaimed.

I was babysitting my nephew over the weekend. He is fixated on playing mobile games, but I opened an easy ‘spot the difference’ puzzle.

He struggled initially, but as he solved a couple more puzzles, he could spot all ten differences in under two minutes – not bad!

This made me realize one key lesson – expertise is about learning new ways to notice.

Whether it’s spotting a missing semicolon in code or a typo in writing or a missing element in a design; we grow as we learn to spot and correct errors.

The learn and grow loop

When you observe kids you will soon recognize the pattern we all follow to learn.

• Try something new.
• Witness some results.
• Observe and internalize lessons.
• Think and plan for the next action.
• Repeat.

This four step loop works not only in learning new things, it works for all personal and professional endeavors.

This is similar to the scientific experiment method or John Boyd’s warfield inspired OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) model.

But I like the “try – results – observe – plan” version better.

Now, sometimes we shortchange the loop – and end up with problems.

• If we don’t plan, or plan but start doing different things, we will face upsets.
• If we don’t act or try anything new, we don’t grow.
• If we don’t deny results, we live in a dream world.
• If we don’t take time to review, reflect and observe, we don’t learn. Skipping the “observe” step is very common in today’s “hustle” focused world.

Are you spending enough time on “observe” and “plan”? Too much on “plan” and little on “try”? Is there a level of resistance for feedback you’re getting from “results”? What can you do to achieve your goals?

No SEO lesson this time, what else would you like to master?s

We’ve covered a lot of basic SEO topics over the last few emails. Would you like to learn some more / advanced SEO? Or something else?

Reply to this email and let me know what you want to learn / need help with.

Link salad 🥗

A mixture of quick readings for an inquisitive mind.

• Read the tricks Alfred Hitchcock used for 1960’s blockbuster Psycho and broke the showbiz record to earn $6 million. Can you believe people entered and left cinema halls at any time during the movie before Psycho?
• Getting up from bed has sucked for centuries… People always had problems getting up early. So how did we wake up before alarm clocks became popular?
• If you ever get stuck in a quicksand, the survival technique is to float on your back and slowly swim to dry land. And no, quicksands are not as deadly as they show in movies.
• Did you know? “I am” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. But no, there are other opinions too!

A writing prompt

✍

If you could be remembered for one act of kindness, what would it be? Why?

This week I invite you to do two things:

• Get some time away from the screen and do something fun with your family.
• Make time for some observation and planning.

Will you? Reply and let me know.

Thanks,