One Quote:

“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” – Viktor Frankl

Pleasure is a dead end street.

Meaning will never flow from pleasure, but pleasure will always flow from meaning.

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One Framework:

Big Mario Selling

This is a power framework I’ve adapted from my friend Shaan Puri.

It’s a play on the classic Super Mario game series, in which Mario is able to “level up” by consuming a mushroom that provides super powers (no word on whether this was a thinly-veiled reference to psychedelics from the game designers).

The generalized application of the idea is simple:

• Little Mario: Your potential customer.
• Mushroom: Your product or service.
• Big Mario: Your potential customer, after your product or service.

When selling, the temptation is to focus on the mushroom—talk about its merits, features, and attributes. But this is what everyone does, so there’s no alpha there. You have to zig when they zag!

You’re much better off focusing on Big Mario—the person that your potential customer will become after your product or service:

• Superpowers they will suddenly possess.
• Pains they will avoid.
• Wealth they will accumulate.
• Status they will garner.

I love this concept because it applies directly to business, startups, solo-entrepreneurship, job recruiting, and more.

No matter what you do, in order to be successful, you’re going to need to learn to sell—a product, a service, or yourself. Big Mario Selling provides an immediate power mushroom to your sales capabilities.

One Tweet:

Really interesting thread on McKinsey’s framework for trust-building.

They deconstruct it into four components:

• Credibility: Do you have the skills and domain expertise to be effective?
• Reliability: Can you be counted on and trusted to stick to your word?
• Intimacy: Is there a safety and connection in the relationship?
• Self-Orientation: Does the counterparty perceive you as selfish or aligned to a common goal?

I found it worthwhile to reflect on my own relationships and trust-building with this framework as a tool. I’m going to do some additional thinking on this one and may write more about it in the future.

One Article:

Is an unknown, extraordinarily ancient civilization buried under eastern Turkey?

Fascinating article on a recent archaeological find in Turkey that may be the most consequential such discovery in history.

The structures are estimated to be 11-13,000 years old. To put that figure in perspective, some of the oldest archaeological finds to date:

• Great Pyramid at Giza—4,500 years old
• Stonehenge—5,000 years old
• Cairn de Barnenez tomb-complex—7,000 years old

If confirmed, this find would completely upend what we previously thought was possible for early human civilizations. So cool!

One Podcast:

Happiness Break: A 10-Minute Guided Practice

This is a short guided reflection to refocus you on the three things you feel grateful for in the moment. I found it while researching for The Beauty of Enough and am so glad I did. 10 minutes provided an immediate boost to my happiness and presence.

Weekend Challenge: Find 30 minutes for yourself. Get outside and listen to this. Then go for a 20-minute walk with no technology—just your thoughts, your breathing, and your gratitude. I guarantee you’ll come back feeling refreshed. Tweet or email me afterwards and let me know how it goes.

Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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