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SD#29: Subscription models, journaling and crypto

Written by

Tomas Ausra

July 31, 2022

Hi friends,

Welcome to another edition of Seven Dawns, your weekly newsletter on marketing, productivity, psychology and more.

Our seven ideas this week:


1. (Marketing) Subscription models should take into consideration the perceived utility others derive relative to ours
Our perception of value is not simply a case of “utility minus price”, there is also a sense of fairness relative to others. In other words, we don’t only perceive value based on the utility we might derive for ourselves, but also the perceived utility others derive relative to ours.
 
Let’s say Jane is paying £3,000 per year for an annual season travel ticket in London, and she travels 5 days a week. Rachel is also paying £3,000 per year, but only travelling 3 days a week. Rachel would begrudge paying the same rate as Jane because she is extracting less utility for the same price.
 
The New York Times understands this. They make the subscription much cheaper to a Brit than it is to an American. They understand that a large amount of their content is irrelevant to a Brit – for example, New York restaurant reviews are of little interest to a subscriber who lives in Newcastle.
 
For these reasons, the crude subscription model will always struggle to achieve mass adoption, because there will be relatively few people who are confident that they are getting optimal value from the arrangement. I would argue that there isn’t a single example of a news outlet achieving mass reach with this model.
 
Per Rory Sutherland
2. (Psychology) Strength-based journaling can help us improve our self-esteem and resilience

Have you ever noticed that it is far easier to dwell on mistakes than it is to focus on the things that went well? For instance, you might become fixated on the three seconds in which you tripped over your words during a presentation, rather than acknowledging the remaining twenty minutes in which your performance was flawless.
 
This tendency to dwell on our shortcomings can negatively impact our mental health, leading to low self-esteem, and even anxiety and depression. However, simple, accessible tools such as strength-based journaling are available to help us build resilience.
 
Strength-based journaling is a free, convenient, and accessible positive psychology tool. This mindfulness method helps us to shift from dwelling on negative thoughts and beliefs to focusing on our strengths and capabilities.
 
Start by crafting a list of curated strength-based journaling prompts. Find recurring time in your diary for journaling and other self-reflection exercises. Write down your answers consistently to reap the rewards.
 
Ness Labs
3. (Productivity) Be intentional at the start of every day

With a fresh 24 hours before us, it’s easy to just get started in our usual way. But to make the most of this new batch of hours, it is important to take a few moments at the start of the day to reflect on what we want to do with them. We might not end up doing things exactly as we plan, but we’re much more likely to spend the hours wisely if we set intentions at the start. Make a list of what you would like for the day.

Zen Habits
 
4. (Marketing) True personalisation is unachievable and ineffective due to poor data quality and should be replaced with creative that resonates with everyone

The biggest problem with personalisation is that it’s impossible. Personalisation assumes that marketers have perfect data on every individual customer.
 
Most personalisation efforts are powered by third-party data. Marketers infer who customers are based on their browsing behaviour. So how good is that third-party data? It must be extremely good if you’re claiming to understand buyers on a personal level. It’s really not. Most third-party data is garbage.
 
I’ve written a whole rant about it last year, the long story short is that data is unreliable and so personalisation is unachievable. Marketing Week explains further.
5. (Investing) Crypto world is slowly turning into the system it was initially created against

The crypto ecosystem has been a fascinating world to observe over these years as it recreated financial rules and made (or broke) people. Katelyn Donnelly summarises this piece from Sarah Resnick:
 
There was the promise of crypto for many: Many were here, trying to make money in crypto because they felt they had no other choice. People struggling financially; who despise their jobs; who feel the system is rigged and there is no way out. People whose country has been at war for years and want to leave, or who have left and want to help family members who stayed behind. From crypto they draw optimism for the future, the possibility that their lives could change or that they could change the lives of others.
 
But now the economic reality is setting in: These are signs that the economy has muscle but its vigour is being overshadowed by the spectre of inflation. All the news of rising wages notwithstanding, the average earner is worse off than they were a year ago.
 
And so is the practical reality: There is a contradiction that those who truly believe that crypto exists outside our financial system will have to contend with: (1) this latest bull run appears to have been fueled by government stimulus and easy monetary policy; and (2) banking giants BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase have all begun offering clients access to crypto products.
6. (Psychology) Our fights with our partners might be because we’re hangry

In 2014, Researchers from Ohio State University found that most fights between couples are because someone is hungry.
 
People are often the most aggressive against the people to whom they are closest—intimate partners. Intimate partner violence might be partly a result of poor self-control. Self-control of aggressive impulses requires energy, and much of this energy is provided by glucose derived from the food we eat.
 
So the next time you feel angry against your partner or your partner is angry at you, think if all you need is a meal.
 
PNAS
7. (Environment) Cement ranks third among the top 10 biggest sources of industrial pollution, biologically grown limestone could change that overnight

Every year about two gigatons of CO2 is released into our environment due to the production and usage of cement. According to a report from the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA), cement ranks third among the top ten biggest sources of industrial pollution. Surprisingly, a team of researchers claims that we can put a full stop to this cement-driven carbon emission overnight by replacing traditional cement with their new microalgae-based biogenic (a substance made using living organisms) cement.
 
A team of researchers have developed a unique carbon-neutral method using which portland cement can be produced from biologically grown limestone. This new material can drastically reduce the environmental pollution caused due to construction activities around the globe.
 
Interesting Engineering

Fun things to click on:


A list of the 50 funniest books of all time. An ancient living forest was discovered in a 200 meter sinkhole in Guangxi. ‘How to say no’ is a collection of email templates that you can use to decline social events, meetings, dates, phone chats and other work-related requests you might get.


Thanks for reading! If you have any learnings you’d like to share with me, or disagree with any of the ones above then do drop me a message.

Loving this newsletter? Then why not share it with your friends.

Speak soon,

Tom

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SD#30: Branding, sleep deprivation and doing nothing