Each and every Friday — I outline a few of the articles and/or books that I have read over the last week or two that are worth taking a look at.
The Essential Hayek by: Donald Boudreaux
The Essential Hayek is a book that distils the key ideas of Friedrich August von Hayek, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and political philosopher. Hayek’s work has had a significant impact on the fields of economics, political science, and social philosophy. The book aims to provide a concise and accessible introduction to Hayek’s most influential concepts, making his ground-breaking theories more approachable for a wider audience.
Hayek’s ideas centre around the importance of individual freedom, the role of markets in organizing society, and the limitations of centralized planning. The book delves into Hayek’s insights on the function of prices in conveying information, the dangers of inflation, and the vital role of the rule of law in a free society. Furthermore, it explores Hayek’s critiques of socialism and his advocacy for classical liberal principles.
The Essential Hayek serves as a primer for those who are new to Hayek’s work, as well as a refresher for those already familiar with his ideas. By providing a succinct overview of Hayek’s most important contributions, the book allows readers to better understand and appreciate the enduring relevance of his insights in today’s world.
Go here to get a copy of this great book: https://a.co/d/dEW5Tlp
How To Be More Embodied
Most of us live in about 8% of our body most of the time — the head. Even though we have a lot of body beneath the head, we forget about that most of the day.
We’re on our screens, doing work, consuming content, messaging. We’re distracted, worried, ruminating. We’re overthinking, building up a case against someone, or watching video after video.
There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s a very human thing. But what would it be like to live more fully in our bodies? We might call this, “Embodied Living.”
To live embodied means to:
- Notice when we’re caught up in our heads, and bring a mindful pause.
- Feel and appreciate the breath.
- Move the body, stretch it, appreciate it.
- Be more present in the moment, feeling the experience of the moment.
- Notice our surroundings more often, and be curious about them.
- Feel more alive, rather than stuck in thoughts.
- Act from the heart, instead of overthinking, and to trust those actions.
Things that help with being more embodied include meditation, yoga, breathwork, movement, awe walks, coaching, martial arts, and more.
But it can be hard to move from being in our heads most of the time … to being more embodied throughout the day. Let’s talk about how to do that.
The Embodied Pause
It’s always a good idea to start small. Let’s start with the Embodied Pause:
- Multiple times throughout the day … pause.
- Take in some breaths. Notice how the breath feels. Let yourself savor each in-breath, and let tension out with each out-breath.
- Stretch. Stretch your neck (gently), your shoulders, your jaw. Maybe the rest of your body too if you like. Let yourself release tension in these areas, and remember that you have a body.
Go here to finish reading: https://zenhabits.net/embodied/
Is Email Marketing Still Effective? (1 undeniable fact)
Organizations are asking the question, is email marketing still effective?, for several reasons.
- Email has been around a long time, maybe its run is at an end
- Other marketing methods appear fresher
- People are overwhelmed by crowded inboxes
- Spam filters make it hard to hit the inbox
- Email deliverability is not easy to manage
Those notions are just the tip of the iceberg making businesses wonder “is email marketing still effective?” We could toss in email list decay and Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection too.
Obstacles everywhere, but I’m going to lay out the case for email’s effectiveness. So you don’t miss out on the benefits of this sturdy form of marketing. And I’ll address those main issues above. Oh, and I have one fact that will convince anyone the effectiveness of email marketing remains intact.
Point #1 Is Email Marketing Played Out?
Email is the oldest form of digital marketing. Many early adopters made a fortune by seeing the value of access to the inbox of customers.
Today, the internet has ballooned to a distraction dystopia compared to early days of the web. Making the inbox one of the few calm places on the web to get your followers’ full attention.
I read recently that an email holds the attention of people about 10x longer than an online ad.
Attention is vital to making sales and email holds attention longer. Nobody signs up to view online ads, right? But millions of people sign up to receive brands’ emails every day.
Point #2 Is Email Marketing Effective as Newer Advertising Options?
Online ads are full of what? Fraud.
Professor Scott Galloway has noted studies revealing up to 88% of online clicks could be fraudulent (bots / click farms).
Plus:
- Experts say nearly half of all internet traffic is bots
- Almost 56% of all online ads are never seen by any human (ClickGuard)
- Ad fraud on ad exchanges costs ad publishers as much as $3.5 million a day (Marketing Drive)
- 36% of businesses don’t even know how much they’re exposed to ad fraud (WFA)
Why is this allowed to go on and cost companies billions? Governments are incapable of keeping up with technology. Painfully obvious in any Congressional hearings on tech-related issues.
Go here to finish reading: https://inboxmailers.com/is-email-marketing-still-effective/
Elon Musk Secrets to Growing Business
The Thought: When you know the parts of something you can build, grow and adapt anything.
Context: This is the mental model Elon Musk used to start and grow Tesla and SpaceX. When you understand this mental model you can grow what you want.
What First Principles Thinking Is…
It’s the parts or components that make up the whole.
In my businesses I was able to take the house “down to the studs” so-to-speak. If I wanted to start a business, scale a business or optimize a business I would go to First Principles thinking. It’s what I’m real real good at.
You don’t have to be an expert in every part of a business to be an expert at scaling a business.
All you have to know is the components and the standards of how those components should operate at for a successful operational “machine”.
Take Elon for example, he wanted to take rocket ships into space. When he looked at buying a rocket he realized the $60-ish million $ price tag wouldn’t work.
Instead, he used first principle thinking to identify the components of a rocket ship create his own manufacturing company and build them himself. 😅 💅
Utilizing First Principles Thinking to Grow…
- List out the parts (components) that make your business work
for example:- Leads
- Sales
- Fulfillment
- List out the goal that you have for your business
for example:- $1,000,000/month
- Identify what standards are required to hit the goal
for example:- 3000 leads
- 100 sales x $10k
I really oversimplified this for a reason, so that it’s clear.
If we’re not able to break down the components of our business, understand how that component operates and if its up to snuff it’ll be a tough road growing the business.
It’s very common that business owners don’t know all the components of their business—hence why they’re capped.
Elon wasn’t a rocket ship expert—he became a components expert.
Go here to finish reading: https://chrisaevans.beehiiv.com/p/elon-musk-secrets-growing-business
Hope you enjoy these articles and books. Have a great rest of your Friday and amazing weekend