The challenge today is about delegation and automation, an area we are starting to implement - in the early stages of delegation and automation, the workload can double.  In contrast, the training and automation process is executed.  Inspiration is the theme of today's letter; in the words of Austin Kleon, Creative is Not a Noun.  When you are done with the verb, you can use the noun to describe the experience.

Two books take the concept of delegation and turn it into a recipe with step-by-step instructions for running a business.  The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Farris is a well-known bestseller and focuses on themes like; delegation, elimination, and automation.  The second book was pre Tim Farris, a book called The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, and it aims at Entrepreneurs that exhaust themselves by doing everything.  He uses real-life examples of well-known businesses that could take a fast food-style production assembly line and use it in a services-related company.  Both books can be enlightening if you have been an exhausted entrepreneur, manager, writer, artist, or teacher.

What if you are a solopreneur, a writer, or you don't work in an environment where you can delegate?  Focus on Eliminate and if that's not possible, automate.  There is a benefit to exhaustion for a cause.  It forces creativity and constant thought on ways to improve the process.

Changing the Night Journal post, ask yourself the same three questions, throw your answers into the comments, and we will highlight some of the responses.

We started our Book Report on Keep Going on Monday; you can revisit the first post here – Chapter 1 Routine.

Chapter 3 is all about action; the title of the chapter is "Creative is Not A Noun."  Here is the opening quote:

That's a banger of a beginning to a chapter focusing on the work.  Please go out and do it, earn it and improve it.  Kleon also talks about several strategies for starting, getting out of being stuck, and looking at things from another angle.  The chapter is less than a five-minute read, worth reading twice and taking notes.  He tells a story about his son who, when he was 2 years old, used to draw all the time.  Kleon noticed that his son didn't care about the finished drawing; he just loved the act, the doing of the picture. 

Aaron Sorkin created a TV series called Newsroom about a decade ago.  It started with Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy as the anchor of a prime-time cable news show.  The show begins with a powerful scene when Daniel's character is on a stage at a college campus, and a student from the audience asks him why the US is the greatest country in the world.  If you have seen the series, you know this scene – if you haven't seen the series, chances are you've seen the clip of Daniel's rant.  Aaron Sorkin is a master at writing dialogue; he also wrote many seasons of the West Wing TV show, and this scene is one of his best.  After McAvoy rips apart the notion of the US above every other country, he pulls back and talks about how we used to be. 

Below is a truncated version of the end of the speech, and it talks about the best of us, a part of us that isn't hard to argue is the majority of the US.  We care, we sacrifice, we build, and we aspire.  Why do we feel so bad?  Why is a typical day filled with the highlights of hate and division?  What changed?  Are we informed?

In the 10th episode of the first season, the sorority girl is in the newsroom offices applying for an internship.  In this episode, Daniel's character sees the girl and goes racing into the conference room where she is being interviewed.  He rehashes the viral video parade that started with her question and all the things he went through over the last several months as a fallout from her question. 

The Guardian has a story about innovation, similar to an item we covered previously that talked about disruptive innovation over the last 100 years.  The Guardian story is unique in a few ways; the story reports that a researcher named Hyejin Youn researched all the patents filed in the US between 1790 and 2010, looking for the term innovation.  According to Youn, new technologies were mentioned in patents up until 1870; after that, more patents were filed combining a new technology or idea with an existing patent. 

Herb Simpson

The best part about the article is the reference to Homer Simpson's half-brother Herb, who wanted to invent the machine for translating baby talk.  Homer sums up the speed and progress of innovation this way:

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

Pretend-ers.

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With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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