Make Room For Lazification

Everyone knows, "Necessity is the mother of invention." But that begs the question, "Who is the father?"

I would argue it's Laziness.

And it appears Bill Gates would agree with me.

Take Pickleball for example. The fastest-growing sport in America in 2023. It has been around since 1965, but it has grown by 159% in just the past three years and has over 9mm people playing it now. Pickleball courts are popping up nationwide, including inside shopping malls where Old Navys and Bed Bath and Beyonds used to be.

But let's be honest, it is just lazy tennis.

But appealing to laziness can be a powerful business strategy.

Innovation and technology have done many things for society - but making it easier to be lazy is a side benefit of most big ideas of the past 100 years. Successful companies make it easier for people to do things that have to be done that they don't like doing. My Dad used to say that the world changed once the microwave arrived in suburban homes and people found out they could have a hot meal in less than two minutes. We wanted everything to be that easy and that fast.

But, the desire to do something in the simplest, not the smartest, way possible feels counterintuitive to the way we are trained to learn, study, and mature in our educational and professional lives. Most educational systems teach "the way" to do something with the expectation of showing your work. If you get to the correct answer but not in the "correct way" your answer is wrong. If you use readily available tools like calculators, Wikipedia, and more recently, ChatPGT, to complete your work, you are not given credit and possibly even accused of cheating.

"Cheating implies there is a contest. Schools should not be a contest. Most schools are childcare systems with status games. I think schools should embrace this technology and really think 'how can we impart knowledge and critical systems into individuals?' - Today's students will never not be without this A.I. as they grow up and you have to prepare for that." - Emad Mostaque, Founder, Stability AI

The question that I am asking this week is what game, what industry, or what educational system will laziness revolutionize next?

I am working on a few ideas right now to use the laziness mindset to help optimize my work, but I'd love to know what laziness has taught you recently.

Hunch I Had That Turns Out To Be True

Croc's first-ever appearance was showing how dumb future people would be.

Journaling For Leaders Made Even Easier

Thank you to long-time subscriber Adam for seeing what I'd built with my 30 Days of Journaling giveaway and finding a way to make it EVEN EASIER for you to get started and participate in the 30-day challenge. Adam is an investor in a company called Framework and introduced me to their CEO. He and the Framework team helped me help you get started with an online digital journal that includes daily reminders to make sure you get the most out of the experience.

Check it out HERE and let me know how much easier it is for you now!

2023 TED Talk I Tweeted About

Request I Have For Easierness

When I finish watching, reading, or listening to something, I want it to be stored in my "Global Content Consumed" record and then I want to be asked, "Do you want to learn more about any of these topics covered in your most recently consumed piece of content?" and see a curated list of topics I could dive deeper on followed by a menu selection of curated content about said topic. I'd be even more excited if I knew that other people who'd traveled a similar path had found value in the next node of content recommended.

I love when serendipity happens in the "next recommended title" but the feeling of randomness of the recommendation leaves something to be desired.

What is it that I am looking for? A personalized curator? A syllabus? An all-seeing, all-knowing, AI bot that follows my every piece of content consumed?

I am bullish on curation - but am not yet settled on how to use laziness to make it the next big thing. I know it is needed, and I know there are countless ways for it to be achieved, but I am not sold on any one answer just yet.

Conversation I'm Looking Forward To

Next Wednesday evening is our monthly Members Meet-Up. We are very fortunate to have had more new paid subscribers join in the past month than any other month thus far, so the conversation should be riveting as some of the long-standing Roomies welcome our newest friends.

If you were forwarded this email and aren't already subscribed to Make Room, we'd love to have you join our curious community. You can see those options and explore which one is right for you HERE