Weekend Brew

This week’s article roundup includes some great reads on Habit forming and continual practice, the rapidly changing world of Crypto, Sales Development and macOS automation. Enjoy!

Habit Forming

After just finishing James Clear’s book on Atomic Habits, I’ve come across a few very interesting articles reinforcing the books message on building habits, repetition and incremental improvements. Inc. posted a great article describing how those who prioritized quantity of outputs over quality of outputs ended up with a better quality product in the end, since the quantity reinforced practice.

A Medium article posted by Tom Kuegler had a similar message, discussing the merits of publishing 1 blog post per day. In both articles, there is a clear theme of repetition, practice, and improvement over time.

Cryptocurrency

Since I last posted on my thoughts on cryptocurrency, there have been some recent developments. Visa will now allow some transactions to be settled with USD Coin (a type of cryptocurrency), and PayPal will now allow users to pay in Bitcoin via ‘Checkout with Crypto’. These are pretty major developments in the legitimacy of Cryptocurrency as an actual currency (which was a key issue I pointed out in my opinion post). However, some are still skeptical. Ray Dalio himself sees a ‘good probability’ of bitcoin being outlawed, since “Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand.” At this point, who knows? Crypto will continue to be a fascinating place to watch, whether you’re bought into the investment hype or not.

Miscellany

• Buyer Persona Tips | Sales Hacker – Interesting read on the value of defining the right Buyer Personas when conducting Sales Development. Don’t define personas based on stereotypes. Truly look to understand the buyer persona’s needs and problems they are trying to solve.
• The Case for Shortcuts on the Mac – iOS users are getting great value out of the Shortcuts app, however, many find that automation on the Mac is falling behind. Mac has Automator, some third-party tools (like Keyboard Maestro and Better Touch Tool), AppleScript and the Terminal. Many find these patchwork of tools antiquated for hardware meant for even more powerful automation than a mobile device offers. I hope we see Shortcuts migrate to the Mac. Interested to see where this goes.