Discover "what don't you want" with contrast thinking [WRAP 146]

Hey Reader, I hope you had a good holiday weekend (if you're here in the States). Labor Day weekend is the unofficial fall kickoff, with football literally kicking off, temperatures cooling down, and bonfire season about to start cracklin'.

In case you don't realize it, there's right about 12 weeks between Labor Day and the week of Thanksgiving (depending on what week Thanksgiving lands on. This year it's exactly 12 weeks, which I believe is the real Q4 of any given year, what with how much (well-deserved) time off is taken during the holidays.

I'll write about this more next week, and probably should have done a video about, but this one about the same topic from 2 years ago will do just fine.

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Ok, now let's get to the newsletter 👀

💡 One Big Idea: Contrast Thinking

One of the lessons I've learned from my friend and business partner, Darrell Vesterfelt, is about contrast thinking. Here's what it is...

A lot of people struggle to decide what they want. It's not a lack of desire, it's more about the decisions and opportunity available, It could also be a fear of failure (which we talked about this summer).

To think his away around this, Darrell plays a mind game he calls "contrast thinking". Simply put, you start making a list of what you don't want, which indirectly helps you narrow down what you do want.

After a few rounds of contrast thinking, you're much closer to realizing what you do want, and can start taking action to achieve that goal or build that habit.

Here are some examples of contrast thinking from the coaching group we lead:

• I don't want to work on holidays anymore.
• I don't want to be reliant on brand deals for income.
• I don't want to have 20 clients (but still want to have the same income).

Now that we figured out what we didn't want, it's easier to see what we do want. Here's how we can move forward with these examples...

• Set more boundaries with clients, work ahead on content, or just take a break and see what happens!
• Start to diversify income streams with coaching and courses.
• Raise prices and offboard clients who aren't really a fit. Even if your income dips a bit, you're close to the same income with 30% less work.

Darrell's idea made me think of a humorous scene in the movie Hell or High Water (great movie by the way). The server asks the state troopers, "what don't you want?" leading to a bit of confusion from the troopers. And well, you just gotta watch it to get it.

​Follow Darrell on LinkedIn for more cool business advice.

👀 Video to Watch: The Case for Pen and Paper​

This video won't come out for a few weeks, but I wanted to share it with all of you fine folks earlier. I have to add a bunch of b-roll and get my guy Tim Forkin to tell me how it can be better, but the content of it is done.

I've always loved pen and paper, but I've had even more of a resurgence with loving it these past few months. And now that I'm back on YouTube more consistently, you heard it here first that the channel is going to be (almost) entirely focused on pen and paper productivity.

So give this video and early watch and share any feedback you have — maybe it will make it into the final cut!

📰 Article to Read: AI & Generalists​

I won't spoil the article, it only takes a few minutes to read, but it was inspired by this post from my friend Nat Eliason:

​Dan Shipper argues the opposite. He says that in a world of even more abundant knowledge, i.e. 10,000 PhDs at your fingertips, Generalists are going to be more in demand than ever.

The reason is because of what David Epstein calls "wicked environments", the types of situations where broad knowledge and the ability to synthesize that knowledge into unique questions and solutions — is exactly where Generalists thrive.

​Read the full article here.

Sponsor Shoutout: Mighty Networks​

2024 has been a year of community building for me, and the best community platform I've found is Mighty Networks. I run the Father Fire community on Mighty, and also am a part of the Daily Stoic and Bullet Journal communities, all build on Mighty!

It has all the features you would expect from a community platform, like spaces for posts, chats, and the ability to go live. But my favorite little feature are the AI-driven polls and questions.

If you're a person building community with others over a common vision or goal (like living a great life) — then check out Mighty Networks and see what they can do to support your mission.

Check out everything that makes Mighty great by signing up for a free trial here. You can also listen to my friend Gina's podcast People Magic — it's like a step by step guide for building a successful community.

Have a great weekend,

Matt Ragland

p.s. if you have a (literal) minute to share feedback, click here.