I had a family emergency this week, so I'm going to (try to) keep this newsletter brief. But I still wanted to share 3 takeaways:

On The Menu For This Week’s Tapas:

• [REFRAME] 💩 It's just data...
• [EXPLANATION] ☎️ Comms vs Marketing vs Ads
• [QUOTE] ✍️ “You have to standardize before you can optimize.”

My mom was unexpectedly in the hospital this week and I had 2 conversations while we were there that made me think.

1. It's Just Data...

When it comes to, ahem, using the restroom in a hospital when you’re mobility challenged and bed-bound, it can feel pretty uncomfortable for the patient.

My mom kept telling the nurses, “I know you probably hate this part of your job”. But the nurse would always shrug it off as just another part of their job.

One of my favorite nurses said “You call it gross. We call it data."

If that thing for you is marketing, that's my favorite kind of data. I'd love to take that off your plate.

2. Comms vs Marketing vs Advertising

If you don't have a communications or marketing background, you might assume these are just synonyms.

When I told one nurse what I did for work, he said this: "Communications AND marketing? Is there a difference?".

I cannot tell you the joy I felt when he gave me permission to explain this to him, so I'll do so here, too:

• Communications is any format that sends a message (typically focused on written, audio, visual). Technically, marketing lives underneath the communications umbrella. So what's the main difference? The audience.
• Marketing is when you are communicating with a business purpose: To sell, to engage, to persuade. These audiences are external (not within a company and usually customer-facing). There are countless channels within marketing like social media, content, email, SMS, or print.
• Advertising is under the marketing umbrella where these customer-facing messages are now backed with money. Companies pay for a specific spot in order to guarantee a select viewership from their ideal audience. (Think of the panels within public transportation centers like bus stops or metro stations. Those are called "Out-Of-Home" placements.)

3. “You have to standardize before you can optimize.” - James Clear

If you read last week's edition, you know I've been reading "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. This past week, we read the Third Law of Behavior Change which is "Make It Easy".

Clear writes about many ways we can start making itty-bitty-teeny-weeny habits. He recommends building the habit that takes the least amount of time possible: between 2-5 mins.

He wrote of a man who wanted to lose weight.

Instead of setting a weight goal or a running distance goal, his habit was to go to the gym for 5 minutes each day. It didn't matter if he was enjoying his workout, he was only allowed to stay for 5 mins.

Sounds crazy, but it worked.

This man was building the habit of going to the gym, not working out.

Once that habit became easy, staying at the gym was incredibly easy. He lost 100+ pounds in 2 years.

When I read the last sentence, I was like "DANG JAMES, STOP YELLING, I HEARD YOU!"

I have a tendency to build optimizations and automations before I even have a standard operating procedure in place.

I thought, "You should build a system with the end in mind. My end is automation."

Well, James had an answer for that, too.

Earlier in the chapter he wrote "Habits are the entry point, not the end point."

I focus on automating because I can be forgetful (ADHD). So automating tasks means I never forget to do them, right? WRONG. Setting up a system has meant I don't need automations in places where I once thought I did.

Raven, 0. James Clear, 13.

Feel free to reply, I'd love to know what part of this email you enjoyed the most.

Until next week! ✌️