For the next 5 minutes, let’s elevate your career.
In today’s email:
Benefit of the doubt
Confidence comes from
Wandering
Euphoria
Reed Hastings’ coaching wisdom
ON YOUR CAREER
Benefit of the doubt
Perceived problems with colleagues often have a silver-lining or could be positively re-framed:
❌ My colleagues are nosy and ask me about my private life
✅ My colleagues are friendly and want to better know me
❌ My manager exploits me by giving me more and more work
✅ My manager believes that I’m capable and reliable
Give colleagues the benefit of the doubt - most people, most of the time, wish us no harm. We reduce negative emotions by assuming that our colleagues are well-intentioned. This makes it easier to ask colleagues to change their behavior toward us. An optimistic outlook on people is a happier way to work and live.
Give people the benefit of the doubt. Assume good intent until proven otherwise.
COMMUNICATION
Confidence comes from
True confidence comes from what we say to ourselves.
Our self-talk bolsters against disbelievers.
It helps us be bold and bounce forward from setbacks.
Confidence is not something you get from the outside. Confidence is what you say to yourself — it’s the conversation you have in your own head.
PRODUCTIVITY
Wandering
Photo of Lake Marian (which I wandered)
Jeff Bezos said, “Wandering is so important because wandering is a kind of humility… The only way to go straight to your destination is if you know where you’re going. And sometimes you know where you’re going, but sometimes you don’t. … you can see the mountaintop, but you can’t see the trail and you have to explore and wander. It may feel very inefficient, but it’s actually very valuable.”
Long-term productivity is fuelled by things that may not immediately seem productive.
Allowing our minds to wander helps us be creative.
Exploring better ways leads to innovation.
And massive productivity gains.
The outsized discoveries—the 'non-linear' ones—are highly likely to require wandering.
1 MINUTE TO HAPPINESS
Euphoria
The best things in life are free. We can experience euphoria by the presence of endorphins and oxytocin.
Endorphins are feel good hormones that surge when we exercise and laugh. They’re natural painkillers.
Oxytocin is the bonding hormone. It’s released during touch, trust, and emotional connection.
Exercising with family and friends can produce a double shot of euphoria.
It's simple science: exercising creates endorphins and endorphins make us happy. On the most basic level, Peloton sells happiness.
CAREER WISDOM
Reed Hastings
Reed Hastings (1960 — ) grew up in Boston and graduated from Bowdoin College. He joined the Peace Corps and taught high school maths in Swaziland for 2 years. Hastings returned to the USA and completed a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford. He founded Pure Software, which was acquired for $750 million. Hastings’ entrepreneurial vision led him to co-found Netflix in 1997 — initially a DVD-by-mail service that would become the world’s leading streaming platform.
As Netflix CEO and Chairman, Hastings focused on innovation, data-driven decision-making, and a culture of freedom and responsibility. Netflix expanded to most of the planet and has more than 300 million subscribers. Hastings retired from Netflix in 2023. Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO of Netflix, said, “Reed changed the way humanity watches stories — his vision didn’t just build a company, it transformed an entire industry.” Some of Hasting’s career wisdom:
Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly.
If you give employees more freedom instead of developing processes to prevent them from exercising their own judgment, they will make better decisions.
Do not tolerate brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is too high.