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#40: Break the rules
Shem Opolot
October 06, 2023
Hi! Welcome to The Friday Fix! You’re reading this because you probably stumbled upon this post somewhere on the internet instead of where it should be—in your inbox. But no worries; we can fix that.
Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
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I have over 10 years of work experience in healthcare, program management, and data analytics on two continents. So, I know a little about helping you work smarter
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I’ll occasionally make you laugh
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Happy Friday 🎉 This issue is dedicated to all those who fill the kettle well above the MAX line. You rebel you.
It’s a new month, and this is the 40th issue of The Friday Fix! I plan to do this until I die, so eventually I’ll have to stop numbering each post. What a good milestone to look forward to!
If you’re new here, please spare 2 minutes to tell me about yourself.
Estimated read time: 5 minutes
💡 1 thing I’ve learned
Break the rules
Gif by aquajogclub on Giphy
Well behaved women never made history.
I mean, statistically speaking, you’re likely to live a mediocre life, die a regular death, and be completely forgotten in a few years. Just think—your great-great-grandkids probably won’t know who you are. And with the way pictures have disappeared from Instagram and you always forget to document the mundane moments in your life, there’s a good chance your great-great-grandkids won’t even know what you look like.
And that’s okay.
But what if you want to be great?
Leonardo Da Vinci, a most troubled and talented artist, ignominously went to unorthodox lengths to create his masterpieces.
Steph Curry, arguably the greatest shooter in basketball history, was underrated going into the NBA. But the light-skinned assassin made his mark in the league by consistently shooting from close to 15 meters away from the basket with unprecedented efficiency.
In English, they taught us that every sentence must have a subject, a verb, and an object. But “Jesus wept” was a full sentence. A profound one, too. And you see what I did up there? I broke another rule: "You can’t start a sentence with “but…” or “and…”—broken that one, too, severally.
When I started the newsletters, the path wasn’t exactly sexy content creation (it still isn't, if I’m being honest). And I was constantly told, “Ugandans don’t read.” I’ve saved those remarks for future reference.
Break the rules.
But to break the rules, you must first master the fundamentals of the game.
DaVinci had to pick up a paintbrush and make strokes on canvas like every.other.artist. And Steph Curry had to play “bounce the ball” for a thousand hours before launching daggers from deep.
So, whatever your craft may be, if you want to be good, then just follow the rules and put in the work. You’ll be good.
And that’s okay.
But if you want to be great, learn your craft. Master it. Get really good at it. Then,… find the cracks in the creed, the road outside the rails, and swerve…
…from good to great!
🔌 Shameless plug
Last week’s issue of TLDR Weekly was the most read issue ever… and this is true every week 😉.
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🎁 My favorite things
A quote
I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.
A question
What can I do in this decade that I won't be able to do later?
🚀 Pro tip
Never make a bad presentation again.
Keep it simple; white space is your friend.
One idea per slide
More images, fewer words: a lot of words make your audience read instead of looking at you
Use the right font size:
Larger than 18 points to improve readability.
Between 36 and 44 for titles.
Between 24 and 36 for text.
Between 18 and 20 when adding explanatory text to a diagram or graph.
Use templates; it’s rarely necessary to build slides from scratch
Minimize the use of color: no more than 3
Use the 2/4/8 rule: 2 minutes per slide, 4 bullet points, and 8 words per bullet point
Practice, practice, practice: you’re the main attraction, so the more you know your stuff, the better the presentation will go.
Try some new tools, like this one, which produced this presentation for me in less than 20 minutes (before class 😅).
and
Once you’ve mastered the basics,… break the rules 😉.
🧩 Where fun goes to flourish
The Friday Fix playlist
Brain teaser
From Braingle.
Find a short hidden message in the list of words below.
carrot fiasco nephew spring rabbit
sonata tailor bureau legacy corona
travel bikini object happen soften
picnic option waited effigy adverb
report accuse animal shriek esteem
oyster
Hint: First and last.
Answer below
Shem’s picks
🎥 Curated links to the best documentaries
🧘🏾♂️ Free guided meditations
👯♀️ You need 8 types of friends in life
Brain teaser answer
Answer:
Starting with the first two words, Take the first and last letters, reading from left to right. Example: Carrot fiascO "from these pairs," the message is as follows:
CONGRATULATIONS CODE BREAKER
Have a great weekend,
— Shem
🤝🏾 How I can help you
Want to be more confident and productive at work? Click here
Wanna advertise in The Friday Fix? Email me: [email protected]
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