Nipsey Hussle – At Conflict With The World
“And honestly that’s one of the reasons why I call my lifestyle a ‘marathon’ because it’s like, as a marathon runner, your knees be getting ready to go out, your wind will be low. When it’s like, ‘Just finish,’ just keep pushing. You going to catch your second wind and they going to respect that you finished your marathon.”
Nipsey Hussle is on of the smartest businessmen in the hip hop world right now. Growing up with nothing, not giving up and signing away to a label, and being where he is now is very inspirational. You can tell that every move he makes is calculated. We can all learn a lot from Nipsey.
Cynicism kills progress
“James also pointed out that even when you make an unhealthy choice, you can still turn your day around. Did you eat pizza for lunch? Have a salad for dinner, and go for a walk. You don’t need to beat yourself up; you can make a good choice next and change your trajectory.”
Good reminder that we all get knocked down or fall back. That’s normal – that’s called life. But it’s staying in a rut that gets us to repeat bad choices. It’s important to get back up and keep trying.
I read 1,182 emergency room bills this year. Here’s what I learned.
“Some especially savvy patients have even had luck arguing that their facility fee charge was coded incorrectly — that the hospital used a billing code that should be reserved for really intense, complex visits when their visit was actually pretty simple. I’ve noticed that these patients tend to have a doctor in their family who can help them make this type of argument.”
This was a really interesting read. How hospitals in America choose to bill / not bill / charge doesn’t seem standardized at all (and almost random).
On the Law of Diminishing Specialization – Cal Newport
“He identified several factors that explain this observation, but a major culprit was the rise of ‘productivity-enhancing’ computer systems. This new technology made it possible for managers and professionals to tackle administrative tasks that used to require dedicated support staff. The positive impact of this change was that companies needed less support staff. The negative impact was that it reduced the ability of managers and professionals to spend concentrated time working on the things they did best. Among other examples uncovered in his case studies, Sassone highlighted: A corporate marketing department where senior marketing professional were spending more than a day per week of their time preparing charts and graphs for presentations. A large commercial bank where corporate bankers were devoting more than a quarter of their time to handling routine interactions with clients.”
If Cal Newport wrote it, I’m probably going to read it. Another great article discussing the ironic impact of productivity-enhancing technology. It’s getting to a point (probably already is there TBH) that professionals (no matter what trade you are in) are spending less time focusing on doing good work, and more time on busy admin-work.
My Losing Battle with Enterprise Sales
“I knew we had to care more about our customers successfully using the product than we did about closing the initial deal, and that selling to people who would not use the software was a bad idea.”
This article is intended for anyone working in SaaS, but I think the concept applies to anyone. I am a consultant, and I know that selling my service to someone who doesn’t really need it (or doesn’t actually want to be helped) is always a bad idea. Yes, I can get some money. But is it worth the stress? Usually not.