Consulting for a billion dollar company.
Welcome to my November Newsletter! If you're new here, I cover cool tech stuff, personal progress + mindsets I've learned, and valuable insights I've gained. Enjoy!
This month was a month of change, to say the least.
In many ways, November forced me to level up and truly seize the various aspects of my life - whether it be productivity, mindsets, habits, or progress.
(This is going to be a little longer than usual - but tones of valuable insights).
Let’s dive in, starting with:
Consulting for Instacart 🥕
Alright, I’ll add some context.
As a part of TKS, we do challenges - 3 week long sprints to solve a real problem, given by a company. In the case of Instacart, that problem was improving customer experience.
Aiming to get to the core of the customer service issue, our team found an interesting correlation between Instacart’s delivery + grocery team (called “Shoppers”) and the overarching problem of customer service:
Inadequate metrics = Shopper Stress = Poor customer service
We found that the metrics being used to track shoppers promoted speed rather than service - a critical problem for a service-oriented company.
So, we proposed a new, gamified metric system - keeping speed, while doubling down on satisfaction and service.
The proposed result? Greater employee happiness, increased service, lower turnover, and higher satisfaction.
All in all, it was an incredible 3 weeks - teaching us the necessities of consulting, building recommendation decks, and the basis of team co-operation.
Lessons Learned 💡
Data is king 📈
This sounds obvious on the surface - but it’s an incredibly important principle in the world of business.
A lot of times, we tend to make assumptions that seem obvious to us, but may be far-fetched and non-apparent to others. Doing anything has a cost + risk attached to it, and (good) data helps reinforce ideas, justifying that initial risk.
Without concrete data, it’s difficult to see the real-world impact of something or understand the scale of a problem.
If you want your team to be valuable, be valuable to them 💪
Sounds simple, but it’s a lot more “iffy” in reality. As PM, I found that it was easy to pressurize and overwork a team without getting much of substance. To truly get a team to succeed, value exchanges are critical - doing more yourself, motivates others to do the same.
In other words - give more than you take, and you will get more than you give.
Define high standards early, and define them well 🎯
High standards is one of those hard-to-explain things. Case in point - trying to describe a high-standard deck. You might be able to pick apart some of the key things done right, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts - it needs to be seen to be understood.
We can’t work to achieve something when we don’t know what we’re trying to achieve. That’s why defining quality (and defining it early) is so critical - it gives you a view of the forest, before asking you to look at the trees.
Tones of value derived from it - can’t wait for the next one!
Bringing Ideas to Life 🎨
Content creation was pretty big this month.
Along with working on other videos + articles (more coming out soon 🤭), I released a second video: a 108 second (pun intended) intro to Space Tech.
I placed a much higher emphasis on cinematic quality this time around, and I think the result turned out pretty well. Next video - the power of consistency + repetition, hopefully with better storytelling 🔥
On top of that, I also published my Learn Article - detailing the tech behind AI, and its far-reaching impacts. Check it out!
Usually, my articles are more formal + detail oriented. With this article + future ones, my goal has been to prioritize readability and being to-the-point - a definite goal for the upcoming month.
Fun fact: I’ve been working on a book (Productivity - The Art of Getting Stuff Done), and I’m hoping to get it out in ~2.5 months. Hope it’ll be valuable! 📝
What I learned: 🤔
Improve consistently and slowly 🧗♂️
This applies to a lot more than just content creation, but it’s a solid principle nonetheless. While identifying high-standards for my content, I developed something called the taste gap.
It’s a pretty big problem in the creative world, but here’s the rundown: the taste gap is when you know what high standards looks like, but don’t have the skills to get there…yet.
Point: don’t judge yourself on the product - focus on perfecting the craft, one step at a time, making the gap smaller and smaller.
Creative work takes time + effort: more than we expect 🕜
Blatant when pointed out, but easily ignored. Producing content is an art in it of itself, and mastery of that art takes time + effort. My original goal for this month was to publish 2-3 videos and a couple articles, but that didn’t end up happening.
Instead, it took 1.5 weeks to film, and another 1.5 to edit.
Point - understand that creativity takes time, and use that to give yourself more room to produce content - you’ll get faster with time.
And last but not least - mindsets + habits!
Self Improvement x 10. 🚀
This part was crazy. 🧠
You’ve probably heard the next part a million times, but I don’t think we really realize it. In the immortal words of Gary Vaynerchuck:
You’re gonna die.
Pretty harsh - but it’s something that I don’t think we acknowledge enough.
Most of us live life coasting - letting it take us where it wants, passively living and reacting to what happens around us. We tend to think of short-term benefits and in hours, rather than long-term ones. Rarely do we think in decades, what we’re really doing this all for.
Instead, we spend our lives chasing non-compounding things - success, money, fame, whatever it is that we like to occupy ourselves with. We base so much of our happiness off of others, that we forget ourselves.
What really matters is legacy - what we leave behind for future generations. What people think of, when they hear our names. The mark we leave stays - but we don’t.
That’s the mindset explored in probably one of the best books of all time: The Subtle Art of not giving a F.
Key insight: we are the product of our values 🔑
That being said: here are some habits I developed in the last month:
Habits 📅
Working with intensity 📝
This was a game-changer. Often, we think that our outcomes and results are a direct product of how much time we spend on them - the more time we spend on something, the better the end result!
While that does make sense, it’s only true to a certain point. There are only 24 hours a day, meaning that working for hours is only going to get you so far. What’s more important is efficiency - working with blistering intensity, to make the most of the time you are working.
As you can probably tell, this is easier said than done. It’s “easy” to work with intense focus when we feel motivated - we have the means and necessary stimulation needed to focus for longer periods of time. Where the battle is lost. is on the days that we don’t feel motivated.
This is something that I’ve personally struggled with this month. After the week-long deck sprint for the challenge, I found myself struggling to get things done, or anything done. It was as if I’d reached some limit - a line in the sand that kept pushing me back.
Most of us think that our bodies and minds have infinite motivation and energy, and that not being able to do something just means you’re lazy. But guess what? Just like we can’t work out every second, we can’t focus every second either.
Our motivational reserves are finite - there needs to be time given for it to recharge.
As of right now, I’m in a better spot than 2 weeks ago. How? It’s surprisingly simple - by doing, instead of thinking (more on this at the end of the newsletter).
Happiness + Productivity 😊
This was another, major aspect that I was missing. In the daily hustle and bustle of life, we often forget that the reason we’re doing this, the reason we’re putting in our blood, sweat, and tears into anything - is to be happy.
We go to work, because it makes us feel fulfilled and enlightened (for some people anyway 😅). We work on meaningful projects because we want to change the world. We eat and sleep well, because we value our physical health.
That’s why it’s important to incorporate happiness with productivity. Rather than having to choose between working and enjoying - why not include both?
Ever since the pandemic, I’ve found myself inches from a screen for longer and longer periods of time - whether it’s working on an AI model, writing articles, studying, or editing videos. And when I did take a break, I once again, turned to a screen for communication, entertainment, or reading. That’s a huge problem, given how much humans need the outdoors to thrive - both mentally and physically.
So to fix this, I decided to start small - just adding 10 minute walks to my schedule. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it worked wonders - it gave me the change to re-energize after class, clear my head, and just made me feel better.
Most people think that doing something for enjoyment is unproductive - but in my case, giving up time to go outside and walk improved my productivity. And that too, on a mere 10/15 minute investment!
I’ll definitely be looking to expand in the remainder of this month - improving efficiency, by improving happiness.
Clearing Entropy 🧹
If you’re like me, you have a lot of systems backing you up. Whether it’s your alarm, task management list, calendar, or note taking system, we organizational nerds typically have dozens of systems responsible for getting things done.
What happens then, when these systems break down? This too, I learned the hard way. Not only did the challenge wipe out my motivational reserves - but it caused my systems to break down too.
I stopped using a task list, calendar, habit tracking, working out - basically every system I’d build for myself in the first 3 weeks of November.
These systems are like cogs in a well-oiled machine - a sense that life is in our control, that we’re being intentional with our time and what we use it for. Without them, we start feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.
That’s why it’s so important to clear the entropy out of these systems - to reset, and come at life again with renewed vigor. Now, doing this is pretty difficult - because by the time you know there’s entropy in your systems, it’s already too late. You’ve already defeated the point!
To fix that, I’ve started a meta-habit: a habit to manage all my systems + habits, from task management to reading to working out. I’ll aim to do this once a week for an hour - giving me time to explore and improve my systems.
Really - our external failures indicate internal faults, mere symptoms of deeper issues.
Alright, that’s enough babbling on my part - let’s get into goals + reflections!
Reflecting on Reflection
Closing off, this month was wild.
I got - and learned - an insane amount. Here are my main takeaways:
Takeaways from November: 🎯
Do - don’t think.📃
This seems counterintuitive at first - if you don’t think, then how are you going to get quality work done? How are you supposed to do something well, if you just don’t think about it?
Here’s the catch - this doesn’t mean don’t calculate. During this month’s work sessions, I found that I often spent more time thinking about doing a hard task, rather than just doing it. Case in point: thinking about how much work the challenge would be - which just demotivated me and made it harder.
Worrying about the future makes doing harder than before. So - just do!
Always be open to learning.⚡
Obvious, I know. But here’s the thing - this doesn’t just apply to your teachers, parents, directors, and mentors. It applies to everyone. You can learn some, incredibly valuable piece of information (maybe even multiple) from everyone on this planet - whether it be your sibling, colleague, or family. No one is above learning, and learning is not below anyone.
Not just everyone - but everything, too. That textbook that you don’t want to read? A learning opportunity. The test you just failed? A learning opportunity. The speech you messed up? A learning opportunity.
Humans tend to overestimate everything. We overestimate our successes. We overestimate our failures - which can, blind us from achieving our goals. If you think that a failed test is the end of the world for you, then it will be.
But if you take that experience, move on, and actually take the time to improve - you never failed in the first place. In fact, if that “failure” never happened, you wouldn’t have learning from it. You would still be repeating the same mistakes - over and over again.
You can control how you react to your life.🧠
As Marcus Aurelius once beautifully said:
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Never, can we control the end outcome. You can’t magically make yourself a billionaire, a philanthropist, a world-renowned videographer - whatever your goals may be. If you base all of your success and failures off of outcomes, then you’re always going to be stuck. You just can’t control whether you “succeed” or “fail”.
What you can control is the process. How much you’ve learned, improved, adapted, how many skills you’ve acquired - these are all things we can change. If we aren’t learning enough, we can research more. If we aren’t getting better at a skill, we can expose ourselves to higher standards - and then execute.
The point - we don’t know when we’ll be lucky, but we can increase our probability of being lucky. Just because only 1% of people are successful, doesn’t mean that you can’t increase that to 50%.
Goals for December:😎
Get 75% through replicate
Clear out all system entropy - establish meta system
Finish productivity video script
Edit another 30-45 pages of the book
Thanks for reading all the way through! If you like what you’re seeing, smash that subscribe button to get insights on my journey and progress! Thanks! 😋