Habit Building: Systems for Success

TLDR; Creating habit systems, self-improvement leads to business improvement, identifying the marketer’s dark funnel, AI as an inventor, and Jonah’s cooking tip.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

Dear Reader,

This week we are discussing the four pillars to habit building: Systems, Mindset, Identification, and Implementation.

Today, we kick it off with a look at systems. 🧠

Systems

Set up the exact systems you need for incentives and accountability… then ensure you can’t escape.

This year I didn’t just set New Year’s resolutions. I set up systems with accountability and incentives to ensure I know exactly what I need to do daily, weekly, monthly, and even quarterly.

I got started by simply keeping a better record of what I did throughout the day. After each month, my wife and I go over our records. Because we write them down, it makes it easy to go over them at the end of each month and quarter. We then talk about how those tasks are helping us reach larger quarterly goals.

Either we’re on track, or we’re not.

With this system, I know I have to record what I’m doing because I’m going to be discussing it with someone else who is doing the same thing. When you know that your Monday through Friday tasks aren’t going to be forgotten, you start making different choices. When you know that someone is going to hold you accountable, you become much more likely to upgrade your habits to ones that better serve you.

If you want to set up this system for accountability today, stop planning. Pick up your phone right now and text a friend, spouse, or even acquaintance with the challenge, “I want to [workout more]. Let’s track our [workouts] M-F, and keep each other accountable.” It’s that easy to get started, but most people won’t. It’s that easy to talk about, but actually following through and being serious about it is where the rubber meets the road. Ideally, you want to set up a system of accountability where both parties can’t escape, and where you win a few victories together. You’ve got to work hard to make this system of accountability fun, so that it’s easy to follow through.

I can guarantee that every person reading this knows at least a few people who would love to help them be more accountable. Identify them and coordinate with them. Part of the reason “teamwork makes a dream work,” is because accountability is built into the team framework. Find your team, the people who will push you to reach your goals and support you along the way.

Hot Off the Press 🔥

New on Mission Daily. “With all the things that you aren’t happy about in your life, there’s one common denominator in those occurrences, and that is the presence of you.” It may be a rough wake-up call, but it’s one we all need to be reminded of from time to time.

Today, we are joined by Arjun Arora and Jon Low, advisors at Valence Advisory who help founders address their and their company’s unique needs. Chad, Arjun, and Jon share the honest (and sometimes harsh) lessons they’ve learned building their own business and helping others build theirs.

Fresh on MT. Marketers are often proficient at diagnosing and patching holes in a funnel. We spot places where potential customers drop out of the buying process and fix or add touch-points accordingly. But what about the potential buyers who we don’t even know about?

According to Ed Breault, CMO of Aprimo, there is an entire “dark funnel” of people who are looking to buy a product in your category, who never make it onto your radar. According to Ed, using predictive data to illuminate this dark funnel can lead to stunning results. More here.

Mission News 🗞

This section features the best of what the team at The Mission HQ is reading, watching, listening to, playing, doing, and meditating on. 🤗

Reading 📚

🤖 Can AI be listed as an inventor on a patent? Stephen Thaler created an algorithm named Dabus AI that went on to build an easier-to-grasp food container and a lamp that mimics brain waves. So… who deserves the credit for those two products?

“The problem with their case, though, is that even the world’s best AI systems are merely tools — they’re not alive or sentient, and they’re not actually ‘creative’ as a person might be.

A spokeswoman from the European Patent Office told BBC that it’s hesitant to grant patents to AI because doing so would likely set create unforeseen legal precedents — the office doesn’t take upending existing patent law lightly.

The requirement for a human inventor behind every patent is meant to keep patents in the hands of inventors instead of corporations, per the BBC. But this sort of worker protection wasn’t crafted with the future of AI in mind — the human requirement in the U.K., for example, comes from a patent law written in 1977.

‘The current state of technological development suggests that, for the foreseeable future, AI is… a tool used by a human inventor,’ the unnamed spokeswoman told BBC. ‘Any change… [would] have implications reaching far beyond patent law, ie to authors’ rights under copyright laws, civil liability and data protection. The EPO is, of course, aware of discussions in interested circles and the wider public about whether AI could qualify as inventor.’”

📈 For you chart lovers out there: The World’s $86 Trillion Economy Visualized in One Chart

“The world’s GDP still grew a healthy 6.9% in 2018, up from $80.2 trillion in 2017 to $85.8 trillion. Nearly half of this growth came from the world’s two largest economies: the United States, at $20.5 trillion (up 5.4% from 2017), and China, at $13.6 trillion (up 10%). However, fear of a global recession are mounting — much of it related to growing economic tension between the two leading economies.”

Watching 🎬

🐄 Can we stop cows from producing methane by changing their diet? Yes!

How? By adding a particular species of seaweed to the livestock feed.

The only problem? Finding a way to produce this type of seaweed at mass scale.

Food For Thought (Literally) 🥘

🤤 Engineer Jonah Chester is also Mission’s Chief Cooking Officer. Here’s a tip from the man himself:

I have a bad habit of letting produce go to waste. I throw those fresh mushrooms or heirloom tomatoes in the crisper of my fridge with the noblest intentions of creating a delicious mushroom risotto or a savory tomato galette. But, more often than not, laziness takes over, I opt for the same pasta recipe I’ve made a million times, and the fresh produce in my fridge slowly goes from juicy to wrinkled to a biohazard.

To compensate for that, I’ve started incorporating a lot of recipes into my personal cooking repertoire that can quickly use up my excess produce when it’s threatening to go bad. A personal favorite is this Savory Dutch Baby recipe from Bon Appetit. It’s a great receptacle for nearly any fresh, seasonal vegetable. I also add 1 tbsp of thyme for added savoriness. And don’t worry about needing a blender, it comes together just fine when rapidly whisked.

Personally, I like mine with heirloom tomatoes, avocado, basil, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes. Enjoy!

Sign Off ✌️

Happy Hump Day! 🐫

Thanks for joining us for another edition of the Mission Daily newsletter! We hope you enjoyed it and good luck making your own dutch baby! 🙃

Catch ya back here tomorrow!

This was the September 4th edition of Mission Daily. If you like what you read, join us on our mission.