The Plan vs Do rule, Redigesting the best, Better ChatGPT prompts

What’s on the menu

• The Plan vs Do rule

• Redigesting the best books

• Better ChatGPT Prompts (video)

The Plan vs Do rule

Many productivity books agree that you should distinguish between planning and doing.

Software development teams usually have sprint planning, before executing the work.

If you need to plan the work while doing it, it can lead to procrastination.

Lately, I’ve ignored this advice to my own detriment.

I’m building a new future for myself as a solopreneur and it’s very easy to let doubt creep in about what I’m doing.

So in the middle of doing, I’ll go back to the drawing board, and it completely derails me.

A reminder to plan, then do.

To combat my planning and doing cocktail, I’ll run a short experiment where I’ll set aside time to schedule my day/week, using my calendar to block out timeslots for everything work and health related.

Once I’ve made the plan, I'll activate robot mode and execute.

I’ll create a video about the experience. Keep an eye on my channel if that sounds interesting to you.

Redigesting the best books

Some books are worth reading or hearing over and over, yet I usually just read a book once and don’t return to it.

It’s tempting to think that you are expanding your knowledge by just reading more books.

I find the reality to be different though. After a year or so of reading a book, it’s hard for me to recall multiple crucial insights from it.

I was in Amsterdam this past week. A good friend told me he was relistening parts of the book Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday.

This book is explicitly cut into many small chapters and explains how to cultivate discipline through Stoic teachings.

He likes hopping to different parts of the book, based on what he thinks he would get the most value at that point.

I like this strategy and am currently doing the same.

If you find ideas you resonate with, it seems smart to redigest them so you can internalize them more, and make them part of your daily operating system.

Better ChatGPT prompts

Becoming proficient at writing prompts that yield the most useful results is becoming an important skill in this day and age.

Often, our imagination holds us back from writing a better prompt that provides much better results.

I came across this video where the key message is that you can actually ask ChatGPT to give you great prompts.

So next time you are stuck and can’t get the AI to give you useful results, try asking it for help on what a better prompt might look like.

If you enjoyed this email, please share it with a friend. It really helps!

Also, feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts or feedback.

Cheers,

Arjen