2023 Wasn't Slow Enough. 2024 Will Be Assiduous.
The authority on mixternal communications
If I could ask Santa for one gift it’d be that you share Mister Editorial with your colleagues.
But Santa’s not real.
So what I genuinely want for the holidays is for you to have fulfillment at work. Our job is demanding, relentless, and often overlooked. But I see you. And I want to raise you up. After all, it’s why I do this Mister Editorial thing.
It’s the time of year when you take stock of your accomplishments and write up your self-evaluations. Take your time.
Pro tip: Don’t fall victim to recency bias. Stretch back to the beginning of the year and marvel at all that you’ve accomplished. Remember that big project you knocked out of the park back in July? Can you believe you made such and such breakthrough all the way back in March? Work completed in February is just as important as what you finished in November.
Reflecting on my year with Mister Editorial I think back to March when I announced I was adopting a strategy of “slow productivity” to avoid burnout. Slow productivity meant I would:
Do fewer things
Do them at a natural pace
Obsess over quality
How’d I do? Well, on the surface an increase of 30% in readership since March tells me I’m still delivering content fellow comms-rades want to read. 🤩
And I’m not burned out. 😅
But… but… Almost immediately in May I published four meaty articles, and then in June I crammed your inboxes with five pieces. Fast forward to November when six pieces showed up. So much for slowing down.
If I’m not doing fewer things, am I obsessing over quality? (Another way to ask: are you getting your money’s worth?)
I can do better. While I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, I am contemplating a theme for 2024: assiduity.
as·si·du·i·ty [ as-i-doo-i-tee, -dyoo- ]
n. pl. as·si·du·i·ties
1. Persistent application or diligence; unflagging effort.
My effort to be assiduous will support my slower productivity and thereby, I hope, increase the quality of my work (and, therefore, the value for your money).
It begins today. Until a few minutes ago I had 55—fifty-five—articles in various draft stages. How on Earth can I provide high-quality work when my attention is divided across so many ideas?
I killed my darlings.1 The list is now down to 18. It’s a start.
May your holiday season be merry and bright. May your 2024 at work and home be even brighter.
The Top 10 Articles Published in 2023
If you’re curious, here are the top 10 articles by viewership this year. Number one surprised me.
Five of the top 10 are about artificial intelligence and its role in mixternal communications. Two are about how to respond to socio-political events. I am happy to see that a provocation (#7) makes the list.
The top 10 articles, in order of popularity:
Top Selling Mini-Book in 2023
How to Earn More Money in Communications contains the following:
A little bit about me and where I get off giving this kind of advice.
The four ways you can make more money in communications. (🙄 And no, “following your passion” is not one of them.)
A hypothetical case study on how a comms pro more than doubles her income by following the four steps. (She goes from $113,300 to $259,902, a difference of $146,602!)
A summary plus inspiration for you to become a comms millionaire. (For real!)
I’ll see you again in January.
Among the now-deleted ideas were essays on how expensive comms projects like an intranet migration can fall victim to the IKEA effect; how employees perceive the effectiveness of your comms based on the peak-end rule; and a screed (tantrum?) against the PR profession for looking down on employee comms from high horses. You’re welcome.
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Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I am the editor-in-chief of Digital Publications at Lam Research. The views in this newsletter are my own.