When we talk of productivity, we typically speak only of tactics and tools.

• Use a Pomodoro timer.
• Use the Freedom app to block time-wasting websites.
• Take some Lion’s Mane to help you focus.
• Use binaural beats to help you get into the flow state.

But whilst these all add value — they are akin to icing on the proverbial cake.

And they are unlikely to deliver sustained, high performance if you’re missing some key ingredients.

These ingredients? Values alignment, strengths alignment, passion, and incentives (or VIPS if you want a memorable mnemonic).

Values-Alignment

As Naval Ravikant put it, “tension is who…

I remember being seven years old and watching my dad working on his 1971 Ford Falcon.

I asked him to help but was brushed aside as being too small.

A few years later, in my early teens, he let me contribute — or at least try to.

But after making a couple of rookie mistakes, he lost his patience and nerve with me, assumed control, and I became a spectator —not really learning in the process.

Unfortunately, this characterized my relationship with my dad to the point where I just stopped asking to help because I didn’t want to cop…

Our fear of public speaking is grounded in our evolutionary roots.

We are terrified of being ostracized from our tribes because this would have meant imminent death when we were evading predators and starvation on the African savannah tens of thousands of years ago.

This is why we might feel our palms get sweaty, our stomachs churn and our heart rate elevate prior to a public speaking engagement. We might have hundreds of eyes staring at us, and we want nothing more than their approval. …

Clubhouse currently doesn’t offer any in-app recording capabilities.

While this might be a deliberate move by its creators to both increase the FOMO when it comes to conversations, and give participants the freedom to speak freely, it can be a bugbear for both hosts and participants alike — especially those that would rather tap into a larger audience than the 5,000 users that rooms are currently capped to.

But just because Clubhouse doesn’t record conversations, it doesn’t mean that you can’t.

But wait, before you run off to record and re-post your event’s conversations, make sure that participants are aware…

Clubhouse is the latest social media app to take the world by storm.

The invite-only drop-in audio platform, backed by VC firm Andreesen Horowitz, now has more than 2 million people using it each week and is valued at over US$1 billion.

The platform received a huge push last week when Elon Musk was joined by embattled Robinhood CEO, Vlad Tenev, and proceeded to grill Tenev about the GameStop saga for a full 15 minutes.

A hit with celebrities and thought leaders, you might find the likes of Marc Andreesen, Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock, Eric Weinstein, Gary Vaynerchuk, or Jared Leto hosting or speaking at a session at any given time.

While social…

Clubhouse is the new drop-in audio social media platform taking the world — or at least the two million active weekly users — by storm.

If you’ve been one of the lucky ones to receive an invite to the as at Feb 2021 exclusive platform, you might have already hosted an event, or might be thinking about doing so. It’s a great way to foster deep conversations, but also to meet interesting people, and build your personal brand.

But just what kind of event should you run?

I’ve taken inspiration from both the world of offline and online events, pre…

Monday morning. 10 am. I’m several hundred words into an article I’m working on.

I receive a notification. It’s a ping from a friend on Clubhouse informing me that superstar VCs Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz are hosting a one-on-one chat for an audience of several thousand. It would be rude of me not to acknowledge the ping and pop in, right?

Before you know it, it’s almost midday and I’m still only several hundred words into that article.

Sound familiar?

The Social Dilemma

The hit Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma shone the spotlight on big tech and social media in particular, and…

Clubhouse is the latest social media app to take the world by storm.

The invite-only drop-in audio platform, backed by VC firm Andreesen Horowitz, now has more than 2 million people using it each week and is valued at over US$1 billion.

The platform received a huge push recently when Elon Musk tweeted that he would be hosting an event on Clubhouse — it seems everything he tweets turns to gold, even Dogecoin. …