Hey there!

I hope you've had a productive week! If you are new here, welcome to our Friday Roundup.
What is the Friday Roundup?

A roundup of the best in productivity & systems for Entrepreneurs and small business owners with a ‘TLDR’ summary and our take on how to take action to systematize your business and your life.

Be on the lookout for our Tuesday Swipe file & Case study! Every Tuesday a free behind-the-scenes swipe file from an entrepreneur with the systems, tools, and hires that helped them build sustainable success.

-Jenae :)

The Rundown

• The No. 1 'Hidden' Skill Behind Billionaire Bill Gates' Success—It Works 'In Any Field,' Says Psychology Expert

• Your Brain Is a Prediction Machine. Here’s What to Know to Have It Shape Reality

• Mastering Productivity: 5 ChatGPT Prompts to Crush Your To-Do List

• Google Is Going to Let You Annotate Search Results

• Add this book to your reading list

🔥Quote/Prompt

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)

Did someone forward this to you?

📈 Performance

The No. 1 ‘hidden’ skill behind billionaire Bill Gates’ success—it works ‘in any field,’ says psychology expert

Mastering the balance between optimism and pessimism is key to success, as demonstrated by Bill Gates in his management of Microsoft. He skillfully combined a cautious financial approach with an optimistic vision for the company's future.

Key Insights:

• Understand the Spectrum of Optimism and Pessimism: Recognizing that optimism and pessimism are not mutually exclusive but exist on a spectrum is vital for effective decision-making.

  • Example: Gates' strategy at Microsoft, which involved keeping enough cash for 12 months of operation, showcases a blend of pessimism (preparing for the worst-case scenario) and optimism (confidence in the company's long-term success).

• Embrace Pessimism for Survival: Pessimism is essential for anticipating and preparing for potential risks, ensuring survival in challenging times.

  • Example: Gates' concern about Microsoft's ability to meet payroll and stay afloat without revenue for a year reflects a pessimistic approach to risk management, crucial for the company's survival.

• Leverage Optimism for Growth and Progress: Optimism drives the belief in better outcomes and is key for long-term investment and relationship building.

  • Example: Despite the risks in the technology sector, Gates' optimistic outlook led him to invest in growth and innovation, believing in the company's future success.

⚙️ Optimization

Your brain is a prediction machine. Here’s what to know to have it shape reality

In "The Experience Machine," Andy Clark, a cognitive philosophy professor, delves into the concept that our brain functions as a prediction machine, significantly shaping our perception of reality. He suggests that our experiences are not just passive receptions of the world but are actively constructed by our brain's predictions based on past experiences. As you’ll read below, we can actually manipulate this concept and hack our brains to help us produce positive outcomes and prevent the negative from taking over.

• Predictions Influence Perception: Our brain uses past experiences to shape current perceptions, often leading to a kind of "controlled hallucination." This means our experiences are always influenced by our predictions and expectations.

  • Example: When hearing a familiar song playing softly, the brain fills in gaps, making the song sound clearer than an unfamiliar one. This demonstrates how prior knowledge and expectations can alter our sensory experiences.

• Strong Predictions Can Distort Reality: Overly confident predictions can lead to misperceptions, such as experiencing things that aren't there.

  • Example: The phenomenon of phantom phone vibrations illustrates how strong expectations can create a sensory experience — feeling the phone vibrate when it's not actually ringing or even present.

• Internal Predictions Affect Bodily Sensations: The brain's predictions influence our internal sensations, like pain, which can be more about expectation than actual physical causes.

  • Example: A construction worker felt excruciating pain from a nail that he believed had pierced his foot, but in reality, the nail had passed between his toes. His pain was rooted in the strong prediction of injury rather than actual physical harm.

• We Can Train Our Predictive Brain: By understanding and re-framing our predictions, we can alter our experiences and perceptions for the better.

  • Example: The concept of "pain re-processing theory" where sufferers of chronic pain are taught about the power of the predictive brain and trained to re-frame their pain experiences, altering the hidden predictions that shape their experience.

⏲️ Time Management

Mastering Productivity: 5 ChatGPT Prompts To Crush Your To-Do List

We all know ChatGPT is great for brainstorming, adding emoji to a social media post, etc. But can it help you prioritize? Manage your team? Yep! Check out some ways you can use ChatGPT to help you run your company and optimize your time.

Key Insights:

• Prioritize Urgently and Impactfully: Focus on tasks with high urgency and impact.

  • Example: Use ChatGPT to assess and prioritize tasks based on deadlines and project impact. Entrepreneurs can implement this by regularly updating their task list in a document and asking ChatGPT to prioritize it, ensuring they focus on what's most critical.

• Streamline Team Efficiency: Delegate tasks based on team members' strengths.

  • Example: Analyze team skills and delegate accordingly using ChatGPT. Business owners can create a list of team members and their skills, then use ChatGPT to suggest the most effective task delegation, optimizing team productivity.

• Eliminate Low-Priority Tasks: Clear your schedule of non-essential tasks.

  • Example: Use ChatGPT to review and trim your calendar. Entrepreneurs can take a screenshot of their schedule, ask ChatGPT to identify low-priority tasks, and then reschedule or delegate these to maintain focus on high-value work.

• Track and Adapt Progress: Regularly monitor and update project progress.

  • Example: Set up a system with ChatGPT for tracking ongoing projects. Business owners can input daily updates into ChatGPT, which then generates progress reports, helping them stay informed and adapt strategies as needed.

💻 Tools & Technology

Google is going to let you annotate search results

Google introduces a "Notes" feature in Search Labs, enabling users to annotate search results, and updates its search functionality to allow following specific queries. Additionally, the "Perspectives" feature is enhanced to provide more detailed information about content creators.

Key Insights:

• Personalized Annotations in Search Results: Google's "Notes" feature allows for custom annotations on search results. This feature offers a new level of interaction with search results, enabling users to personalize and enrich the information they find, useful for keeping track of insights, ideas, or important details directly within the search interface.

• Following Specific Queries: Users can now follow specific search queries for updated information. This functionality is akin to subscribing to a topic of interest, a powerful tool for staying informed about specific subjects, trends, or news.

• Enhanced Content from Perspectives: The "Perspectives" feature now includes more detailed information about content creators. This enhancement allows users to gain a deeper understanding of the source of information, adding a layer of transparency and credibility to the content found in search results.

• Content Moderation and Privacy: Google implements algorithmic and manual moderation for notes, with a focus on privacy. This approach is crucial in maintaining the quality and reliability of the annotations, preventing the spread of misinformation and ensuring responsible, ethical use.

👀 Read, Watch, Listen

This week’s awesome books, YouTube videos, newsletters, etc. to add to your list!

The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality (Book)

"The Experience Machine" by Andy Clark presents a groundbreaking theory that redefines our understanding of the brain's interaction with the world. Contrary to the traditional belief that our senses directly perceive reality, Clark argues that the brain is a dynamic prediction engine, actively shaping our experience by merging sensory data with expectations. This concept has profound implications for understanding mental health, as disorders like chronic pain and mental illness may stem from prediction malfunctions. The book explores how this theory blurs the line between self and environment, suggesting a more interconnected existence and offering new perspectives on treatment and our understanding of reality.

🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements

• Announcement: NO OFFICE HOURS Nov. 24 for the US Thanksgiving holiday

• Monday: Doers Mastermind RSVP here

• Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: SOP and Productivity

• Wednesday: Book club RSVP here

• Monday/Friday: Goal Setting + Plan Your Week Party

• Accelerators: August 25 is your Monthly Goal Setting Workshop RSVP here

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I hope you found this valuable!

Wishing you much productivity!

- Jenae :)