Who am I? I’m Inês Santos Silva. I'm the Operations Lead at AthenaDAO. I’m a passionate and accomplished advocate for diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship, technology, health, and policy. Now and then, I send a newsletter about life, work, and random things.
I love attaching good content about productivity. Cal Newport, Ryan Holiday and Tiago Forte are my favorite thought leaders in the space. The problem is that this content is for people who have a hard time getting things done. I don’t suffer from such a problem. I want a book called “Productivity for Productive People”. More than tips and tricks on how to get more done, this book would focus on picking the right things to do. The book The One Thing is a good starting point. We all have 24 hours a day. Picking the right battles is 90% of success.
On that topic, recently, someone I know started a new job. It’s one of those classic examples of someone super competent and productive embracing a 2/3 out of 10 opportunity. Unfortunately, this happens often. It sure happened to me.
Early this month, I read Cal Newport's new book “Slow Productivity”. In the first chapter, Cal mentions John McPhee, author of the famous book “Draft Number 4” and a super prolific writer. He tells the story of how John spent two weeks lying on a picnic table thinking about the intro to an article he was writing. When was the last time you spent 2 weeks thinking about something? Or a day, for that matter? Never!!
Why do we think SMEs and non-profits should last forever? Last week, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who wanted to re-start an old project that had been super important for 10 years but has lost momentum and relevancy in the last 4/5 years. My message to him: “don’t do it”. Some initiatives should be timebounded. They should exist for a time to solve a specific problem and then end. I would love to see the model of Research-Focused Organizations applied to social impact.
On Saturday, I complained to a friend that I was consuming too much content. Either I’m getting things done or listening to a podcast and occasionally scrolling on Instagram. That leaves very little time to think things through, to be more intentional and less reactive.
But maybe there are times for everything. When your job is to curate information, you must constantly be consuming. If you seek inspiration, there is no better way to get ideas. But sometimes, you need quiet in your mind to get information flowing and make intentional decisions about what’s next.
As I write this, I decided to stop listening to podcasts and scroll on Instagram for a while. I need my brain to wonder. I need my brain to find the right problems and find the best solutions. Today, during my daily 30-minute hike, I didn’t consume any info. It was uncomfortable, but that mental space allowed me to write this newsletter. So, it works 🤩
On a completely different topic, in Feb/Mar, I spent lots of time thinking about AI in Science, focusing on AI in Drug Discovery. This clip from NVIDIA CEO sets the stage for a new future: "For the very first time in human history, biology has the opportunity to be engineering, not science". Worth watching.
Another book I read recently that I wish I had read years ago is Built to Sell. If you have an agency or service business, read this book as soon as possible. The book shows how a company can be a valuable asset or worthless.
I leave you with a question I have been thinking about: “What’s your compelling vision of the future?”.
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Until the next one.
Inês