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    The S.W.I.P.E.S. Email (Friday November 11th, 2022)

    Swipe📁Wisdom🧠Interesting🧐Picture🖼 • Essay📄Sketch✎
    A fun email for Friday. I hope you enjoy!

    Edition: Friday, November 11th, 2022

    🎤 Listen to this email here:

    Swipe:

    Here’s some clever ways to turn boring data & stats into easier visuals:

    1.) This was a clever way to spice up a boring “bar chart” and make it into a “Battery Bar Chart!” 📊

    battery-bar-chart.png

    2.) Instead of boring bar charts show boring megaton data, this chart uses nuclear explosion visuals to show the different sizes of nuclear blasts.

    nuclear-explosion-size-data-chart.jpg

    3.) Instead of using words and data to describe lethality of different drugs, these viles each show a lethal dose of 3 different drugs, and shows how shockingly little is needed to overdose.

    This visual hits home harder than plain numbers and data:

    drug-overdoes-images.jpg

    We are visual creatures. Our minds are ~6X likely to remember a message if it's combined with an image:

    image-vs-non-image-line-graph.jpg

    So if trying to get data across, sometimes it's beneficial to make it an image!

    Wisdom:

    This is a neat quote:

    earl-nightingdale-quote.jpg

    Quote

    “The amount of money a person receives will always be in direct proportion to the demand for what he does, his ability to do what he does, and the difficulty of replacing him.” 
    - Earl Nightingale

    This is a cool way to judge which career path or business to get into:
    → Demand for what you do
    → Your ability to do it
    → The difficulty of replacing you

    In fact we could make a measuring scale out of this:
    → Demand for what you do (Rate 1-5)
    → Your ability to do it (Rate 1-5)
    → The difficulty of replacing you (Rate 1-5)

    A janitor is a job associated with low pay because MOST people in the world are capable of doing the job.

    If an average janitor needs to be replaced, it's very easy:
    → Demand for what you do (3)
    → Your ability to do it (3)
    → The difficulty of replacing you (1)

    If an average brain surgeon needs to be replaced, it's very difficult:
    → Demand for what you do (5)
    → Your ability to do it (3)
    → The difficulty of replacing you (5)

    Interesting:

    I've given other note-taking and organization apps like Notion and Coda many solid tries....but I keep winding up back on Google Docs.

    90% of what I love about Notion is being able to navigate to different pages quickly via it's sidebar menu.

    If Google Docs had something like this, it would like beat the pants off any other up-and-coming app.
    I wish Google Docs would add this functionality, like:

    google-doc-browser.png

     

    Picture:

    Editing a physical paper "back in the day" had a whole markup language of its own, shown in this graph:

    proofreading-markup-symbols.jpg

    If you were an editor or proofreader, you would know most of these!

    I only knew two of these symbols: The "insert" mark ^ and the paragraph mark

    How many of these symbols did you know??

    Essay:

    Features -vs- Benefits is a common discussion in copywriting. 

    Feature: Something your product has (ex "Water Resistant Cloth").
    Benefit: Result after using your product (ex: "You stay dry in the rain").

    For example you can sell the features of an umbrella: 
    Unbreakable stems, wooden handle, water resistant cloth.

    -or-

    You can sell the benefits of an umbrella:
    Keeps you dry in the rain, keeps the sun off when it's hot.

    features-vs-benefits.jpg

     

    Selling the "benefits" of a product is usually the wiser decision. Even David Ogilvy said so:

    david-ogilvy-quote-about-features-benefits.png

    My advice on the Features -V- Benefits debate is:
     

    USE BOTH!

    I prefer trying to sell the benefit, and backing it up with the features. So:

    This umbrella keeps you dry, keeps you cool, and never breaks.

    We do this by starting with a strong wooden handle, then use unbreakable stems to hold up the fabric, and use water resistant cloth to keep you dry.

    The result is the sturdiest umbrella you can buy for life.
    [BUY HERE]

     See how both benefits and features were used to create a strong sales pitch? 

    Sketch:

    Love the use of "rhyme" to help people remember important stuff.....such as which bear to run from 😬

    How-To-Survive-A-Bear-Attack-Graphic.jpg

    Something I got from people's comments on Twitter were Polar Bears are by farrrr the most dangerous bear!

    • If they're Polars, they'll soon be spitting out ya molars
    • If it's a Polar, you cannot control her

    If you take away one thing from this email....it's don't play with Polar Bears 😂

    I hope you enjoyed these Friday tid-bits!
    Sincerely, 
    Neville Medhora

    nev-head.webp


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    61 Comments


    Recommended Comments



    Hey Neville, doesn't the document outline on the left-hand side in Google Docs function something like a document browser?

    I'm partly interested in this discussion because I've been using Evernote for almost fifteen years and I'm looking at jumping onto Notion.

    Link to comment

    I'm sure you're sick of recommendations from others... BUT

    I have tried so many note taking apps over the years, Onenote, Evernote, Workflowy, Notion, Roam Research etc...

    I have settled on one and will bet on it FOREVER!
    https://obsidian.md/

    It's open-source, free, and it's all based on simple markdown files stored on your own drive. It's simple, secure and all pages can interlink to all other pages via a simple [[double bracket]] linking format. 

    Truly the best! Check out Obsidian and you'll never go back to anything else. (I have no affiliation BTW, just a raving fan)

    Link to comment

    Great info!!

    I do have to point out one thing, though…

    Just because a lot of people CAN do something (be a janitor) doesn’t mean they WANT to or WILL do it. Yes, anyone can supposedly be a janitor, but who wants to clean up poop and vomit for low pay? Not many people. So, not easily replaceable. Same thing for fast food workers—anyone can do it, but there’s a huge shortage. Ask any restaurant manager. 

    Mark Twain said the same thing when he wrote The Innocents Abroad—anyone could write about their travels, but they didn’t. He did—every night when he got home and it was fresh in his mind. 

    All to say—it’s not just the skills, it’s the willingness to do it that makes someone irreplaceable. 

    How many people do you know who have been, will be, want to be, or dream about being a janitor? 

    Thanks for reading. I always enjoy your emails. 

    Link to comment

    Love your SWIPES emails. I look forward to them every week. 👍

    Re Google Docs, there is a summary feature. Just use the Heading 1, Heading 2 styles to create an outline:

    google-docs-1.png

    google-docs-2.png

    I build online courses with huge scripts, and this is a lifesaver.

     

    Hope this helps!

    -Charlie

    Link to comment

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