Well friends, the Swift Bowl is upon us.
The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens last weekend to clinch a spot in this year’s Super Bowl.
And of course, all eyes were on Taylor Swift.
Now, every major news outlet is trying to gauge whether or not Tay Tay will be at this year’s Super Bowl.
The biggest hurdle: Taylor is resuming her Eras Tour with the Japan leg wrapping up the day before kickoff.
Now, we know I love my girl, but the media obsession is a bit much. Just look at the Google search results for her compared to the two most well-known names in politics right now:
What a time to be alive….
I’ve spent $106.68 on groceries, $13.05 on takeout/restaurants, and $49.72 on coffee and beer since last week.
My current Bitcoin holdings: are 0.07438292 BTC.
In Audio Note #62 I talked about my parents. Specifically, how I’ve taken for granted that they modeled a realistic marriage for me.
This week on Medium I published Your Resume is Worthless — Skills-Based Hiring is The Future of Work
The future of work is going to be dominated by skills rather than a bunch of fluffed up credentials on a resume. I don’t think most white collar workers have hard skills to offer — myself included — which means we’re going to have to reskill ourselves. This article covers a few ways I think we can do that.
On Saturday I hosted my first potluck in Austin! About 20 people showed up and we had a blast.
I’ve been wanting to host potlucks for years but have never had the space to be able to do it. Really glad to live in an apartment building with a communal space that is perfect for potlucking.
I wrapped up my month doing the slow carb diet. More on how that went in a bit.
Last week I shared that I hosted my first paid webinar on how to hire a virtual assistant. The recording is now available through Eventbrite.
Use BYAMANDA to get access to it at a special rate.
Nothing will work unless you do.
-Maya Angelou
Unintended outcomes.
We talk about the unintended consequences of our actions, but have you ever considered unintended outcomes more holistically?
Specifically, the positive outcomes that come straight out of left field?
For the past month I’ve stuck to a fairly regimented dietary protocol. I cut out carbs, fruit, alcohol, and sugar. My meals consisted of a daily protein shake, salads, soups, and vegetable-heavy entrees.
My goal was to lose weight. I figured if I reduced my body mass I’d be able to run faster because…physics.
I didn’t lose weight like I had hoped. It kind of felt like I failed.
But when I looked at my times, I did run faster which means I didn’t actually fail. I accomplished exactly what I set out to.
That’s where this idea of unintended outcomes comes from. You wind up achieving the outcome you wanted, but not quite in the way you thought you would.
By week three of the diet I was ready to throw in the towel. My weight had pretty much flat-lined. The diet wasn’t working.
Or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. It wasn’t until I logged my pace run from last week that I realized the diet I had put myself on was doing exactly what I had wanted it to do. It just wasn’t doing it in the way I thought it would.
When you focus on achieving a goal, it’s easy to become wedded to a specific idea of how you think you’re going to accomplish it.
Here are a few examples of this from my own life:
I wanted to make money on my own. I thought I was going to do that by creating a personal finance blog. I’ve ended up making money by writing thought leadership essays hosted on Medium instead.
I thought I’d meet a guy by hanging out in coffee shops and being social. I ended up meeting my boyfriend on Hinge, one of the many dating apps I utterly despise.
I thought I’d run faster by losing more weight. I’ve been running faster by cleaning up my diet.
I got all of the outcomes I wanted, but not quite in the way I imagined. The how has been more circuitous and indirect than I envisioned.
I think this is why getting started is the most important thing you can do. You’re never going to know what the actual how looks like until you start doing. It’s something that unfolds over time often outside of the realm of what you think is possible.
Think about one of the big goals you’re working toward right now. Is there an unintended outcome that you haven’t considered? Are you actually making progress but haven’t been able to see it?
What if you let go of the how that’s in your head and let in the how that’s actually happening? Would that change what your perception of success looks like?
Now that I can see the unintended outcome of following this particular diet protocol — faster run times — I think I’m going to stick to it. Maybe not as strictly as I did last month, but I think there is certainly value to keeping this type of protocol in place.
And that’s the benefit of looking for unintended outcomes. They often become the sign post that’s pointing you in the right direction after all.
What I’m Currently Reading
The Plant-Based Athlete: A Game-Changing Approach to Peak Performance
P.S. Check out my recommended reading list here
My running gear:
Whatever clothes I can find at the thrift store
My crypto gear:
My productivity tools:
Task management:
TodoistScrapping this because Google launched a new to do list feature built into Google Calendar. It’s AMAZING.
Time management: Clockify
Email management: Unroll.me
Everything management: Notion
P.S. some of these are affiliate links including links from Amazon’s affiliate program. I may receive a commission from them. This is one way to support my writing and help me build sustainable income streams in 2024.