The Grinding Wheel vol. 6

For the (many) new subscribers to This for That, The Grinding Wheel is a semi-regular collection of recommendations. Most are aimed at helping you sharpen your toolkit. Some are just delightful or funny or interesting things I think you will benefit from. I tend to keep these posts short and infrequent (every few months). If you want recommendations more often, let me know.

For ways to say no

As author James Clear says, “the ultimate productivity hack is saying no.” Here is a website with templates for how to say no.

To sharpening your technical knowledge:

Success in tech partnerships requires a technical aptitude. Technically is a newsletter that can help. Technically provides in depth answers to some of the questions you may have within a tech company but prefer to avoid asking outloud, like “what does dbt do?” or “what is ETL?” A recent post addresses “how do I get more technical?”

For your inspiration

Most horses that start the race in last place do not win. But this year’s Kentucky Derby was a rare exception. The horse that won, named Rich Strike, was only added to the race the day before after another horse dropped out. Rich Strike had 80-1 odds of winning the race. I’ve watched this video dozens of times. It is incredible. Most partnerships you pursue will not succeed. Rich Strike reminds us to never give up.

For a summer read

I love books. But summer reading means different things to different people. For simplicity, I’ll suggest one fiction and one non-fiction read. City of Thieves is a fun, quick story based during WWII that I’m hoping they turn into a film; it is written by David Benioff who also wrote HBO’s Game of Thrones. Educated is Tara Westover’s powerful memoir about finding the courage to break free from the limitations of her family.

For building relationships:

Naval @naval

The greater the emotional content in the conversation, the more it needs to happen face-to-face.

For changing your attitude

Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday

"The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood." — Voltaire

For a laugh

Porter ✰ @ItsRetrop

after i say “that’s crazy” twice please wrap up your story

To reflect on

Two asks of you:

• If there is someone you know that would benefit from This for That, please take a moment to share this newsletter with them.

• If there is an article, video, book, etc. that you enjoyed and you think partnership leaders would benefit from, please let me know.

Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash