💰Gold Rush

No #165 | February 2, 2025

by Matthew Boyd

Good morning, welcome to the weekly Lead It Cool newsletter.

One of my new year's resolutions is to start playing more video games.

Why? It's good for the brain, apparently.

So I was playing Fall Guys with my kids on the PS5 and my teenage son says, as only a teenage boy could, "Dad, you're gonna suck at this." Little did he know that I spent most of my teenage years playing Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64, so I was unfazed by his warning.

Well... it turns out... that he was right😆.

I've got a lot of work to do to get those Nintendo 64 skills back.

In this week's Lead It Cool newsletter:

💰Gold Rush
✍Don't Stop Writing
🤔Maximum Size of a PDF
😆Don't Look Back
😎Cool Links

💰Gold Rush

At a BBQ last summer, a friend posed an interesting question to the group: If you could live through any historical era, which would it be?

Since most of us were millennials, the 90s were a popular choice (nostalgia is a powerful drug). Others mentioned the 1950s, citing its so-called "simpler times," while one others opted for the "Bridgerton" era (which is apparently in the early 1800s). And, of course, there was that one optimist who claimed right now is the best era to be alive. Naturally, he was punched in the face.

I've thought about this question on and off for a while now, and one specific period keeps coming to mind: the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896-1899.

There was something undeniably thrilling about that era.

Thousands of dreamers from across North America set out on a grand adventure, lured by the opportunity of unimaginable wealth. They braved the brutal cold, treacherous terrain, and sheer uncertainty, all for the chance, however slim, of striking it rich.

Back in university, I remember reading Klondike by Pierre Berton, a book filled with incredible stories from that time. A few weeks ago, on a whim, I picked it up again, and I've been slowly working my way through it. Each page is a reminder of why that era fascinates me: an age of exploration, resilience, and raw human ambition.

At the beginning of the book Berton's starts with this poem:

"All my life," he said, "I have

searched for the treasure. I

have sought it in the high places,

and in the narrow. I have

sought it in deep jungles, and

at the end of rivers, and in

dark caverns - and yet have

not found it.

"Instead, at the end of every

trail, I have found you

awaiting me. And now you have

become familiar to me, though

I cannot say I know you well.

Who are you?"

And the stranger answered:

"Thyself."

Would I actually survive the Klondike? Probably not. But the idea of being part of such a grand treasure hunt is a fun thing to think about.

✍Don't Stop Writing

As advances in AI continue, the temptation to let it chatGPT do the "hard stuff" becomes more and more tempting.

Can you please review this article and summarize the notes for me?

Can you write the first draft of an email for me?

Can you brainstorm some ideas about the inter-connectiveness of something?

Owl at the Library encourages you to resist this temptation, and don't be afraid to embrace the grind that sometimes happens when humans try to create things.

I'm not kidding: those who delegate all their writing, thinking and creative expression to machines are going to wake up one day and discover that they can no longer write or think. You need to make you own art. You need to keep your brain working. You need to stay human.

What's happening today is that millions are eager to relinquish having to read, having to create, because it means the discomfort of being alone with your own thoughts. You have to wrestle with yourself in order to create something, and we are scared of the process.

But I promise you, doing the reading, sitting alone with yourself, making the art (even if it's bad art, even if no one sees it) is the only way you're going to live a fully rewarding life. Don't deprive yourself of that experience. It's worth it. It's so worth it.

🤔Maximum Size of a PDF

But what happens when you try to convert the PDF back to Word? 🤣 (source)

😆Don't Look Back

Pretty good summary of how a lot of us are feeling these days...

😎Cool Links

🎹Frank Sinatra Does Not Move Pianos. Frank does two things and two things only: he sings and he prepares to sing. Dan applies this principle today to his coaching of high-end entrepreneurs, but it applies equally to you and me as writers and artists, meaning ... concentrate on the one thing you do best and delegate everything else.

💡9 Trends that Will Shape Work in 2025 and Beyond. Gartner research has identified three key challenges executives must tackle in 2025: New demands for a future-ready workforce, the evolving roles of managers and emerging talent risks to the organization.

📝Writing for Productive Communication. Most people write to sound smart when they should write to be useful. Communicating to sound smart lowers your potential for impact. The harder people have to work to understand you, the less they want your input. Writing to be useful means writing what you would want to read. Simple, but not easy.

🎶The Grammys are tonight. Here is everything you need to know. Editor's note: I still think of this scene from The Simpsons every time someone mentions the Grammys

😲A snowboarder hits a 2340°

💌Tell a friend to subscribe

Thank you!

Let’s connect! 💬 You can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter

Lead It Cool - by Matthew Boyd

💰Gold Rush

💰Gold Rush

✍Don't Stop Writing

🤔Maximum Size of a PDF

😆Don't Look Back

😎Cool Links

✅Every Single Day

⚾Bandwagon Baseball

🦃Thanksgiving