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- Issue No. 142: The Rise Of The Lazy Overachiever
Issue No. 142: The Rise Of The Lazy Overachiever
LinkedIn tests personal post boost option
Jenae Spry
December 27, 2024
Productivity Express
Issue No. 142
The Best in Evidenced-Based Productivity
for Small Business Owners, Freelancers & Founders
Helping You Work Smarter and Live More
The Rundown
The Rise Of The Lazy Overachiever: Why Your Best Employees Are Working Less And Winning More
LinkedIn tests personal post boost option
Your Reasons for Accomplishment Determine Your Success
Whisk: Visualize and remix ideas using images and AI
Google: AI agents, multimodal AI, enterprise search will dominate in 2025
Add this book to your reading list
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🔥Quote/Prompt
To be happy, drop the words “if only” and substitute instead the words “next time.”
Use the quote as a writing or thinking prompt to finish your week strong.
A bit from mine:
(posted in our Doer Entrepreneurs Free Community — off social media)
HI have a family member who loves to dwell on "that which isn't".
For example, on a holiday, she'll be upset from day 2 about the fact the holiday will be ending instead of enjoying the holiday.
Whatever the event or situation, unless it is spot on what she desires, she's more focused on what's wrong.
But what is interesting about this is how […]
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📈 Performance
Those old measures of success - first one in, last one out, constant desk presence - are starting to look as outdated as a fax machine in a TikTok meeting. The reality is that the highest performers are probably working fewer hours than everyone else, and it's time to understand why that's actually fantastic for our business. If you’re a solopreneur and pride yourself on your hours worked, this is also, and maybe especially, for you.
"If Sarah delivers $500,000 in value working 25 hours a week, while Jim delivers $300,000 working 50 hours, who's really the harder worker? ... Traditional management would say, Jim, look at those hours! He's first in, last out. He sends emails at 10 p.m.! But modern business owners are facing a new reality: We've been measuring the wrong thing all along."
Key Insights:
True productivity is about problems solved, not hours logged.
Top performers are obsessed with efficiency, not appearances. They (well, we 😉😉) might do things like build automated systems while others perfect manual processes.
Shorter hours often lead to better innovation. It means having the mental energy to create new solutions instead of being burnt out.
Traditional compensation models need updating. A team member delivering a month's work in one week while requesting both a raise and fewer hours. If you’re a solopreneur, are you falling into the hustle trap or are you optimizing for real productivity? May be time to start tracking your time to find out.
Read the full article for specific strategies for transitioning your business to an outcome-based culture.
Sponsor
⚙️ Optimization
LinkedIn's increasingly pay-to-play environment presents a tricky challenge for business owners focused on organic growth. This new feature that lets individual users boost posts feels like both an opportunity and a step backward for those building authentic professional connections.
"Unlike LinkedIn's Thought Leader Ads, which are geared toward business-backed campaigns, this tool puts control directly in the hands of individual users, democratizing access to content amplification. However, many users feel forced to pay for reach that should be organic, similar to Facebook's shift to a pay-to-play model years ago."
Key Insights:
The boost feature targets individual professionals rather than just business pages. So, a freelancer can now boost their thought leadership posts even if they don’t have a business page.
Content amplification options cover all major formats. Boosts apply to text posts, images, articles, videos, and newsletters.
Current testing is limited to Premium Business subscribers in the U.S.
Platform engagement patterns are shifting toward paid visibility. In other words, users with large networks and meaningful engagement may experience limited organic reach.
Read the full article for detailed platform changes affecting organic reach and strategic recommendations for maintaining visibility without relying solely on paid promotion.
⏲️ Time Management
That endless drive to achieve more - hit bigger targets, rack up more wins, check off longer lists - might actually be sabotaging your productivity. This insightful analysis reveals why our motivations for achievement matter more than the achievements themselves, especially for business owners juggling constant pressure to perform. This is not a completely new concept, after all, one of the most recommended business books is Start with Why for a Reason. But, let’s talk about it.
"When accomplishment becomes about proving our value to the people around us, as this culture often encourages, it is destined to fall short — leaving us feeling empty and unfulfilled. So, the next time you're out there working toward a goal, stop and ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Your motivation for achieving will likely determine whether or not you find real success."
Key Insights:
Achievement-based validation creates an unsustainable cycle — constantly chasing bigger goals without feeling satisfied.
Modern metrics often miss what truly matters by focusing on quantifiable results while ignoring crucial qualitative growth.
Authentic accomplishment comes from personal growth and helping others. Using natural talents to create value rather than prove worth.
The motivation behind goals affects their lasting impact.
Read the full article for a framework to evaluate your current goals and realign them with more sustainable, fulfilling motivations.
💻 Tools & Technology
Visual ideation for business content just got a lot more interesting. Google Labs' new Whisk experiment flips the script on AI image generation by letting you prompt with images instead of text - perfect for those of us who know what we want but struggle to describe it in words.
"Behind the scenes, the Gemini model automatically writes a detailed caption of your images. It then feeds those descriptions into Google's latest image generation model, Imagen 3. This process captures your subject's essence, not an exact replica. That way, you can easily remix your subjects, scenes and styles in novel ways."
Key Insights:
Three-part input system streamlines creativity. There are separate inputs for subject, scene, and style images.
Focus on rapid exploration over pixel-perfect editing. It prioritizes the quick generation of dozens of variations to spark ideas.
Transparent prompt editing gives users more control. You can view and modify the AI's interpretation of your images.
Read the full article for step-by-step instructions on using Whisk and real examples of how artists and creatives are incorporating it into their workflows.
🤖 AI
If you've been watching the AI space and wondering when it'll actually deliver real business value, 2025 might be your year. Google's latest trend report suggests we're moving from the experimental phase into practical implementation - and it's about to change how small businesses operate in some fascinating ways.
"Moving forward, you'll see different agents talking to different agents, almost to the point where we all go to sleep at the end of the evening, and there's a series of tasks and things and actions that are happening behind the scenes... Being able to have a single canvas for managing and enabling your agents is where we think there's going to be a huge opportunity."
Key Insights:
Six types of AI agents are emerging to handle specific business tasks. For example, Customer Agents managing support across channels while Employee Agents streamline internal processes.
Enterprise search is evolving beyond keywords. The prediction is we will use conversational prompts and images to quickly find internal data across multiple platforms.
Multiple AI models will become the norm. For example, Gemini for creation, Anthropic for analysis, and Mistral for specific tasks.
Multimodal AI adoption is accelerating rapidly. The market is projected to grow from $2.4 billion to $98.9 billion by 2037.
Read the full article for detailed breakdowns of each AI agent type and specific implementation strategies for different business sizes.
👀 Read, Watch, Listen
This week’s awesome books, YouTube videos, newsletters, etc. to add to your list!
"Who Not How" by Dan Sullivan presents a transformative mindset shift for entrepreneurs and leaders. Instead of asking "How can I do this?" Sullivan teaches readers to ask "Who can do this for me?" This simple but powerful change helps build successful businesses while avoiding burnout. The book shows how to leverage relationships and team building to free up thousands of work hours, achieve ambitious goals, and create a life of choice. Sullivan explains that success comes not from doing everything yourself, but from connecting with others who can help transform your vision into reality.
🎉 Celebration Corner
Every week Doers Inner Circle members do a weekly review & get help when they need it — check out the progress they made this week!
Optimized my task management
I finished the Admin tasks on my list
I stuck to my morning habits of writing newsletter, doing finance tracking
I did write my article for [business] and it got accepted with high praise.
What did you do this week? We feature non-member successes too. Just post them here!
🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements
Monday: The 90-day Planning Formula Bash Kickoff (2 of 2) RSVP here
Monday: {EU Time} Work ON Business. Theme: 2️⃣ Process & Productivity RSVP here
Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: 2️⃣ Process & Productivity RSVP here
Monday/Friday: Goal Setting + Plan Your Week Party
Accelerators: Jan 3 is your Monthly Goal Setting Workshop RSVP here
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I hope you found this valuable!
Wishing you much productivity!
- Jenae :)
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