Vol. 1; Modern Life Skills

MINDSET/MENTAL MODEL OF THE WEEK
Inertia

I talk a lot about taking action, and how valuable it is for young people to develop a bias for action.

Action affects everything. I love this quote from young Jeff Bezos that talks about how action is connected to stress, or lack thereof

I firmly believe that. I also firmly believe that one of the best benefits of taking action is the inertia that it creates.

It can be difficult to get started, but once your status quo is one of taking action, you become near impossible to stop. Particularly important in a time where so many of us confuse thinking with work.

But like anything else, inertia can be a double edged sword. Once it’s started, it’s hard to stop.

As Shane Parrish, author of the Great Mental Models, and host of The Knowledge Podcast puts it, “You can think of inertia as the guardian of the status quo.”

You get to choose… what do you want your status quo to be? Default to someone who takes action.

Here’s what Shane has to say about the Mental Model, Inertia.

Think about somewhere in your life where you have created positive inertia.

Something that would be hard to stop at this point.

Where else can you create inertia? It starts with action.

LIFE SKILLS
Pick up a hammer

Have you heard of Generation Toolbelt?

Stats show that young people are strongly considering trading in keyboards for toolbelts, at least in respect to job opportunities moving forward.

I shared this clip on LinkedIn earlier this week. It’s from the All In podcast. Here’s the tl;dr.

This doesn’t seem surprising. The number of underemployed people seems to be growing every year, it feels that people using working in a field related to their undergrad is the exception to the rule, and where I live anyways (Ontario, Canada), the government and school system has been pushing skilled trades hard for as long as I can remember.

In fact starting with students entering high school in the 2024–25 school year, all students are required to earn a Grade 9 or 10 Technological Education credit (aka modern shop class), which is a compulsory graduation requirement for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma.

That being said, the stats above, and conversation in the clip is in reference to American students, so tbd if that plays out elsewhere.

Anecdotally, it feels like Canadian high school students are still pursuing 4-year degrees over alternatives; though that’s pure assumption.

CAREER ADVICE
Small, Specific Asks

Here’s a great piece of advice from Austin Belcak on doing cold outreach; one of my favourite things to teach young people to do, so I’m definitely going to be borrowing this.

Little bonus that Austin didn’t include… this strategy a big part of the way that you can find a mentor. 

Ask them something specific, and then go and actually do the thing they recommended you do. After you have completed the task, come back, report on your progress (in this case show the portfolio of suggested UX improvements), and then ask another specific question. And repeat.

It’s crazy how few people will actually do this. 

After a few rounds of this, you’ve demonstrated your ability to get stuff done, your communication skills, your value for their advice/time. You’ve begun to develop trust. 

And at this point, you’re no longer a (internet) stranger. Asking for that 30 min call now is a lay up. 

THIS IS COOL
Mr. Beasts Memo

Want a way to relate to the kids? Bring up Mr. Beast.

Last week, a 36 page memo of what he wants new employees to know when they start working for him got leaked. Mr. Beast aka Jimmy Donaldson has a strong personality, intense work ethic, and rarely seen drive.

His demeanour is not for everyone.

But his employees know what they’re signing up for. They understand going in the standards he has for his business.

I think this is important for students to see. Especially those who say they want to be creators, to understand the sheer level of focus, effort, and obsession it takes to get to a level like Jimmy has.

Have your students read it, and then turn it into a class/family discussion.

You can open it into a conversation about culture, ambition, taking ownership, being persistent, communication style, work-life balance, and generally what they took away from reading the memo.

Some students might get excited about working in a high stress, high reward environment like that. Some might not want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. Good. Have those conversations.

The more students know about how things work outside of the classroom, the better prepared they’ll be for it.

With anything though, perspective matters. Train students to become independent thinkers by considering multiple data points.

Meaning? Meaning - if they only ever see one memo, they might only think every workplace is like working for Mr. Beast. That’s obviously not the case.

Call upon your own experiences, or look online for other examples to contrast with, like the famous We Don’t Sell Saddles Here from Stewart Butterfield to the team building Slack, before it became Slack.

• Here’s the leaked Mr. Beast memo

• A 45 min podcast episode that breaks it down, with another perspective.

• A blog post with a personal perspective on the memo.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
What did you think?

I’m confident that there’s value in sharing this content - I’ve seen the effect it can have on young people first hand - but I’ve never done it like this in a newsletter before.

• Should it be more actionable?

• Was it too long?

• Or was it the best thing since sliced bread?

Would love to hear your non-sugar coated feedback.

Damian