In Squid Games (SPOILERS AHEAD), the penultimate competition starts with a room full of jerseys numbered one through sixteen. The contestants have absolutely no clue what they mean.

Do they want the low numbers?

The high number?

When this competition popped up, I had a deep feeling in my gut the protagonist needed to pick a high number. Unless you know exactly what the competition entails, it’s usually not a good choice to go first.

When the game is revealed a few minutes later, it becomes clear I was right.

The challenge is straightforward: cross a bridge, but with one big catch: not every panel supports your weight. At each stage there are two distinct panels, one of tempered glass that can hold human weight and one of… normal glass (which cannot support human weight).

If you choose on the wrong panel, you die. Therefore, the people with low numbers who had to go first were doomed.

Squid Games is not reality. It does have a lot of similarities though.

This game is one of them, where a massive advantage is given to those that go last.

As the youngest of five children, I can directly attest to this. Whenever I do anything in life, I’m usually the last one to do it.

I got more leniency from my parents. (My siblings already pushed them to their limits growing up).

My brothers and sisters make big life decisions before I do, like having kids or getting married.

I can see how everything plays out before I ever need to do it, and learn from the mistakes of those that went first.

In business, a similar advantage plays out. There is what is known as the “First-Mover Myth”: which falsely states that if you are the first to market with a new product, you will likely to gain the most market share. According to Forbes, 50% of first movers fail and only 11% dominated their space.

Apple for example, has rarely had the first-mover advantage.

Think of an iPad, iPod, or Apple Watch. All of these pieces of hardware existed before Apple launched their product. Apple just designed significantly superior versions.

Even the iPhone was preceded by the Blackberry, which was even preceded by General Magic, a 90s venture to build a smartphone that failed even with an incredible group of designers and engineers. The public was just not ready for their product.

When you move first you have one big thing working against you: You don’t benefit from anybody else’s experience.

In fact, you are the one who is creating experience at an incredibly high personal cost to you. The lessons you learn and trailblaze may help you eventually make a better decision, but if you can learn those lessons from other people’s hard won experience that is even better.

Going last does come with its disadvantages. You may not get the recognition for being the first to do something, but even so the benefits usually outweigh any drawbacks.

There are a few things that seem to hold true across many facets of life.

One of them is taking notes.

Whether or not you work in a business or are an artist, if you’re in class, a meeting, or just taking walking around, a notepad is essential for getting anything done.

That’s because there’s one massive weakness every human shares.

We forget things. CONSTANTLY. All of the time.

One time, I even completely forgot about an article I published.

If I can’t even remember something I wrote, how can I possibly remember anything that I think.

At least the important stuff that is. That’s why you need to write it down.

When you hear people talk about the founders of Airbnb, one quote always comes to mind (for me at least):

“No one ever worked harder during YC than the Airbnbs did. When you talked to the Airbnbs, they took notes. If you suggested an idea to them in office hours, the next time you talked to them they’d not only have implemented it, but also implemented two new ideas they had in the process.

– Paul Graham

This shows how important note taking is.

There’s a complete sentence devoted to the fact that they took notes.

While this example is clearly related to business, the concept of taking notes is universal across life.

Just as an example, think about being creative.

You have SO many thoughts, every single day. According to the all mighty Google, each of us has over 6,000 thoughts per day.

Most of those thoughts are probably garbage. (No offense)

There are a few diamonds though, and those are the ones you need to write down.

Creativity can’t be forced, and it isn’t time bound. Sometimes, it just happens.

So don’t forget that notepad.

At 1 years old, my brain couldn’t create long-term memories.

At 2 years old, more of the same, but now I could talk.

At 3 years old, I turned a cardboard box into a store.

At 4 years old, Legos became my new best friend.

At 5 years old, I was shipped off to Kindergarten.

At 6 years old, I met my very first best friend.

At 7 years old, I watched the Twin Towers fall. I was angry I couldn’t watch cartoons.

At 8 years old, I began to learn how to sail.

At 9 years old, I uttered my first curse word (and got in trouble).

At 10 years old, I was treated for speech therapy. (Still don’t know why there is an an “s” in the word Lisp.)

At 11 years old, I said goodbye to my elementary school class.

At 12 years old, I joined a private all-boys school. I hated it.

At 13 years old, I fell in love with sailing. Or winning. Probably both.

At 14 years old, I tasted my first sip of alcohol.

At 15 years old, I met my first girlfriend. It was short lived.

At 16 years old, I was deeply addicted to World of Warcraft.

At 17 years old, I became a New England champion in sailing.

At 18 years old, I got my acceptance letter to Brown University.

At 19 years old, I thought I had everything figured out.

At 20 years old, I realized I didn’t. Not even close.

At 21 years old, I was elected Captain of my sailing team.

At 22 years old, I experienced my first true run in with complete and utter failure.

At 23 years old, I joined my parent’s company.

At 24 years old, I developed my first serious health issue. Migraines.

At 25 years old, I quit my job to start my own company.

At 26 years old, I dissolved that company.

At 27 years old, I began publishing my writing.

When I first began writing, I wrote about everything.

Books I had read, life experiences, random thoughts, etc. Even wrote about my 10 favorite beers.

Which was fine, but I wanted to be a great writer.

I STILL want to be great writer.

Specifically, I want people to read, appreciate, and share my writing.

I think that one of the easiest ways to do this is to write about topics you’re an expert in.

Seems hard, but the good news is: Everybody is an expert in some topic.

Let’s use the following three writers as an example:

• J.D. Vance – Wrote Hillbilly Elegy (which is now a movie)
• Scott Adams – Cartoonist behind Dilbert
• David Goggins – Author of Can’t Hurt Me

All of these authors come from unremarkable backgrounds:

• J.D. Vance – Grew up in Rust Belt of Ohio with “hillbilly” roots.
• Scott Adams – Spent 16 years working in the corporate world.
• David Goggins – Had an abusive father and was raised in a single-parent household.

We’ll call these backgrounds “Experience A”.

Yet they all went on to do something impressive:

• J.D. Vance – Went to Yale Law School.
• Scott Adams – Woke up at 4am daily to practice drawing comics.
• David Goggins – Became a Navy Seal and ultramarathon runner.

We’ll call this Experience 2:

These three authors combined these backgrounds with their unique experiences. They identified the different parts of their lives that overlapped, and wrote about that topic. Visually, it looks something like the following:

For me, I publish my best writing on LinkedIn.

This blog is more of an experiment than anything else. I write about whatever I want. There is no Venn Diagram.

On LinkedIn though, I write for impressions and reach. It’s my job.

With over 100+ trial posts, I noticed that I developed a niche:

Job Hunting/Recruitment + Career Satisfaction + Sales = Wriitng About Career Advice

The job hunting knowledge comes from working for 5 years and my industry (recruitment).

I understand career satisfaction because I was unhappy in my first job in finance, and now I love what I do.

My sales knowledge comes from doing sales for 5 years. Getting a job requires that you sell yourself.

Here is what my writing Venn Diagram looks like:

Individually, none of these experience are unique.

But combined, they give me a unique perspective that I want to share with others.

And most importantly, a perspective that others want to hear.

I don’t like buying nice things.

They’re expensive.

You need to take extra special care of them.

Then you end up devoting an inordinate amount of mental energy to your new purchase.

“Shit, did I just drop my brand new iPhone?!”

However, there is one thing that I love. Having quality technology that WORKS.

(Because #efficiency)

So how do I reconcile these two desires?

I try to only buy technology that is either used or refurbished.

Had I done this 20 years ago… it would not have worked.

New innovations were coming out every 6-months in the early 2000s.

But today, you can buy anything that was cutting edge in 2015 and it will work just as well as a something that came out in 2021.

Here are the 5 benefits I’ve come across buying used technology:

1. You can save a ton of money. Usually to the tune of 50% – 75% on each purchase.
   
   
2. The products already come with wear and tear. Getting that first scratch on your screen is the worst… so just let somebody else do it for you. When I saw that my used Fitbit had a scratch I thought to myself “great, now I don’t need to worry about protecting it”.
   
   
3. Accessories are dirt cheap. Just snagged this OtterBox case for $10 for my iPhone X. That’s an 83% discount compared to having a new phone.
   
   
4. Avoiding the BS of new product releases. Things are more expensive and… they don’t always work. Just look at the Cyberpunk 2077 debacle.
   
   
5. You are helping save products from the landfill. The more demand there is for used technology, the more businesses will be forced to refurbish their old goods.
   

Technology isn’t advancing fast enough that buying used puts you at a disadvantage.

In many ways, you come out ahead.

Just over a year ago many people across the world suddenly found themselves working from home.

A few buckled in for the long haul. They set up their work from home offices planning to be there for a while.

Then… you have people like me. Who worked on a laptop at the kitchen table for longer than I’d like to admit.

6-months into the pandemic I realized that this wasn’t sustainable. It led me to take a few steps to improve my workspace.

Here are the three areas I wish I had upgraded earlier.

Technology

There are a lot of things that go into the technology you use each day, but here are the 5 main categories I think of:

The computer you are using.

This is arguably the most important piece of technology you have. It’s always been important to me, even pre-pandemic.

I’ve been using the same laptop for many years now. It’s a workhorse ThinkPad. Old reliable that is just sometimes a bit slower than I would like. I’ll probably continue using until it gives me a compelling enough reason not to (such as breaking or slowing to a crawl).

Monitor (or Monitors)

It took me 9-months to realize a monitor is important.

After a while, I realized that if I were going to continue staring at a screen for 10+ hours each day, I wanted a nice one that would not hurt my eyes.

I decided to get a 32-inch curved Samsung. It’s not cheap, but I absolutely love it and it’s large enough that I don’t need an additional monitor.

Webcam

It took me 6-months to realize a webcam is important.

This is one that I wish I had done WAY earlier. I actually believe that my low webcam quality (and lack of a front light) hurt me earlier one when I was interviewing.

Now I have a Razer Kiyo on top of my monitor. High quality and with a built in backlight, your face will always be lit up.

Mouse & Keyboard

I’ve been in love with a mechanical keyboard and nice mouse for a few years now, so this wasn’t new for me.

My Keyboard is the Razor Ornata Chroma Gaming Keyboard. While I don’t use it for any serious gaming, I do use it for a lot of serious typing! Plus the backlight makes the workspace just a bit more inviting.

My mouse is the Razor DeathAdder Elite. I actually had no say in this one because it was bought for me as a gift. However I love it. Definitely overkill for what I use it for, but having a matching keyboard and mouse is quite nice.

Audio Setup

It took me 6-months to realize an audio setup is important.

This is still one where I don’t think I have it figured it out. I got a pair of refurbished AirPod Pros and while they are definitely high quality, they aren’t as great as I thought they would be. A headset might be where my future takes me. (Or if I want to get REAL serious, a podcasting mic).

Your Background

It took me 12 months to figure out your background is important.

It’s amazing how much the background people see in video calls can play in people’s perception when they meet you.

I know it’s not possible for everyone (depending upon your work situation, where you live, or if you’re travelling), but for my main office, I wish I had tackled this sooner.

Mine now has multiple bookshelf’s in the back, pictures of my previous teams, and other general nick-nacks that I care about.

As an added benefit, the overall organization of my room and workspace has also dramatically improved.

The Desk & Chair

It took me 5 months to figure out a good chair is important… and 11 months to figure out a good desk is important.

This one also seems SO obvious… or at least it is to me in hindsight.

Getting a high quality chair that you actually enjoy sitting in for 8+ hours each day is lifechanging. It not only makes doing actual work more enjoyable, but it’s great for your back and long-term health / posture.

Add in a standing desk that you can raise up and down so you’re not sitting all day – Suddenly you’re in heaven! Work almost starts to become fun. If you want to go the extra mile here, you can also get a