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The Observe and Rapport Newsletter
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A weekly guide of my favorite books, articles, products, and lifestyle habits.
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December 16th, 2022 | by Kyle Brennan
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The title of this book is appealing, but it’s a standard management manual sprinkled with lots of praise for Google and Apple. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just personally didn’t find much new information in it that I haven’t heard elsewhere.
All of that is to say this is a business book by @kimmalonescott that actually offers a significant amount of practical advice to managers, starting from the basic "how to have a 1-1" to "how to implement the right performance review process for your company." I was impressed by the amount of content. This is an actual book, not just an expanded TED talk. The framework is pretty simple: care personally about people, and challenge them directly. Healthy teams practice this in all directions.
Some takeaways:
* Being direct in the short term saves you pain in the long term, even (especially) when it's awkward and hard.
* Guidance should be 2-minute conversations that happen between meetings. Don't hold on to it! Be as specific with your praise as you are with your criticism. Don't forget sincere and honest praise.
Rating: 2.8 / 5 ⭐️⭐️
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I've become a big fan of Chris Williamson's podcast, Modern Wisdom, lately. He has quickly emerged as a great voice on social media (IG - @chriswillx, Twitter - @chriswillx) and in the podcast world. In this episode, he has on Dr. Russell Kennedy, who is an MD, Neuroscientist, and an anxiety specialist.
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Anxiety is one of the most common challenges faced by people in 2022. In small doses it makes sense evolutionarily, but why is it running so rampant in the modern world, where does it come from, and what methods can limit its impact on our lives?
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Dr. Kennedy believes almost all anxiety is a result of something that occurred in childhood - whether that's physical trauma, neglect, resentment, or lack of reassurance that we all need as humans. He also firmly believes in Bessel van der Kolk's work that trauma and anxiety are held in the body. In this great episode with Chris Williamson, expect to learn what most people misunderstand about anxiety, the relationship between anxiety and trauma, why most existing treatments don't create lasting improvements to anxiety, the relationships between anxiety and a victim mindset, whether it's possible to have an anxious body as well as an anxious mind and much more.
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In our last podcast episode, I spoke about one of my favorite articles that I read every single year. It's called The Tail End by writer/illustrator Tim Urban. In my opinion, it's one of the most important things you'll read. The perspective change in shifting your mindset from measuring your life in time vs. measuring it in events is monumental. And so I share this article every year to remind myself of the finite time we have left and to encourage everyone to spend more time doing the things they love with the people they love.
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2023 is just a continuation of the same journey. With. Minor. Tweaks. You don’t need to overhaul your entire lifestyle,` but what you can do is have a check-in with yourself.
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Kyle and Keith discuss measuring your life in events rather than time, reincarnation, the law of attraction, mass hysteria, flying spiders, and much more!
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Books discussed in this episode
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Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you're donating blood.
- Bill Murray
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What's on My Reading List?
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Kyle's Published Work
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33 Life Lessons on My 33rd Birthday
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Thirty-three was a big one. Mostly because I became a dad. Our daughter was born on New Year’s Eve — a fitting arrival for a kid destined to reset everything. It’s been a beautiful, if slightly sleep-deprived blur ever since. I’ve only been “Dad” for less than ten months, but if I’m being honest, I’ve been preparing for the role for over …
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Depth Over Downloads: Why Spending Time with Books Still Matters
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Everyone wants faster information. But no one asks if faster information leads to better understanding — or a better life. In the age of AI and tweet-sized wisdom, we’ve confused information with transformation. But there’s a massive difference between knowing what a book says and being changed by it. The Delusion of Instant Learning In a recent interview, political journalist Ezra Klein admitted he once believed …
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The Jack Reacher Approach to Never Being Caught Off Guard
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There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.’ Either way, nothing happens.” —Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia I don’t read much fiction, but I’ve always been hooked on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. He’s not your typical …
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