Top 5 posts of 2023
Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability and leverage
I sent my first blog post Hi, I’m A Bit Gamey in September 2020, during Covid lockdowns. As I indicated in that post, My mission is to help you understand the mobile app development process by sharing my progress as I develop and launch my own apps. This is weekly post number 122.
Here are the most read posts of 2023. Each heading is a link to the original post.
1. Ten Ideas Per Day
If every day you force yourself to be creative, the brain rewires itself to make creativity a priority. - Jame Altucher
In 2002, life was terrible for James Altucher. He lost is home, family, friends, money and had no job. Deeply depressed, he spent all day in bed and contemplated suicide. Then, one day, he made the decision to write down 10 ideas per day. He started with a simple list of things and progressed to article headlines. Listing people he thought might be interested in his ideas, he started contacting them. One batch of emails he sent started, I admire your work and here are ten ideas that I think can improve your business/blog. Few replied, but some did. This catalyst paved the way for James to work with the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, and publish over 20 books.
Some of the ways I got to my 10 ideas per day habit, include: finding time and space to think freely, noting ideas down on my mobile and defining the next steps.
2. Good Problems for Our Apps to Address
Ideas that could form the basis of a great business can be hard to spot. There are, however, features we can look for in the problem we plan to solve. Good problems do not need to have all these features, but the more, the better.
👩👩👦👦 Impacts many people. To make millions, we have to impact millions.
😣 Painful. The problem consumes much time, effort or resources when it occurs.
🚀 Needs a quick resolution. Problems that need solving in a few minutes are best.
📈 Growing fast. The market for solutions to the problem is growing quickly.
⏲️ Occurs frequently. Short time intervals are best, e.g. hourly or daily.
👁️ Visible. Problems that are discussed and shared with others are good.
3. Uniqueness is Our Power
Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn. - Gore Vidal
Consider, for a moment, people you believe to be successful. Your list will likely be different from mine, but might include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sarah Gilbert or James Dyson. If we consider such individuals, they are each very different. We may believe they are egotistical. However, they have the confidence, vision and determination to stand for something and follow their own path. From such minds, we have visions of autonomous cars, AI, robots, spaceships, vaccines and bagless vacuums. These ideas could only come from people who did not follow in the footsteps of others. We celebrate their individuality, not their conformity. Their uniqueness is a great source of power and influence.
4. Improving my writing
Mathematicians are not renowned for their eloquent prose. I studied Maths at university which involved little writing. Virtually none. On one rare occasion when I was required to compose a small essay, I started it with: And the next. My girlfriend, who studied languages, did her best to persuade me that one needs to introduce the subject before talking about the next. However, I was having none of it. Years later, I apologised for being such an ignoramus.
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost includes some great suggestions that I try to apply:
Find a slant by tying ourselves to a particular perspective on a subject, e.g. Productivity → Elon Musk’s 6 Productivity Rules.
Vary sentence length. Gary said, Don't just write words. Write music.
Provide useful information, e.g. Setting up a Company.
5. How to Join the New Rich
Naval Ravikant, who setup AngelList (startup support), is both rich and happy. He freely shares ideas on how others can achieve similar. Naval posted a thread on Twitter entitled How to Get Rich (without getting lucky). The Tweet is packed with highly insightful, actionable advice, including:
Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.
You are not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity (a piece of a business) to gain your financial freedom. You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get, at scale.
Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.
Other resources
A Bit Gamey archive posts by Phil Martin
How I Write a Blog Post post by Phil Martin
How to Do Great Work post by Phil Martin
I’ll leave you with a quote from Charlie Munger: Acknowledging what you don’t know is the dawning of wisdom.
Have fun in 2024.
Phil…
