Learn From My Mistakes

Short story of how I break life chaos into small, solvable problems - 2 min read.

My wife left me home alone on Saturday night and I accidentally discovered a hidden Netflix feature.

It’s called “Are you still watching?”

First time ever for me. Of course I googled it.

Official site says the prompt appears when:

• You watch 3 episodes in a row without touching any controls, or

• You watch for 90 minutes straight

So Netflix basically does not believe in a 90+ minute attention span anymore.

Fair.

However, Scarface is about 2.5 hours and I did not move. Hence the check-in.

The problem is the wording. It’s boring and a little rude.

I want my apps to ask, “Are you still a person who falls asleep mid-watch?”

Or, “Are you still a person who stops at one episode?”

Different question. Different me.

Isn’t it a cool manipulation?

Of course, it is not!

Do you know why?

Because they are just checking if it is a good time to cut off the stream and save some bandwidth (which you paid for!).

But do you know which cool manipulation is disguised as a psychological effect?

The Pygmalion Effect.

Named after an ancient Greek sculptor who fell in love with his statue. The neighbors thought he was weird.

But modern people are fine with marrying the Eiffel Tower, a Barbie doll, or a cardboard cutout of Robert Pattinson from the vampire saga (I blame my sweetheart wife for knowing Mr. Pattinson exists).

Despite the name, the trick is great.

The Pygmalion Effect says expectations change behavior.

In other words, light manipulation. Or priming.

Call someone a pro, they act like a pro. Call them sloppy, guess what happens.

A few that work in the wild:

• Define the role, assign the job: “You’re great at cutting fluff. Can you trim this to 5 lines?”. Watch the five become tight, punchy, and usable.

• Create a public identity so they protect it: “Shoutout to Jakub for the clearest brief this month”. Next time, he runs it through three AIs to keep the crown.

I’m not immune.

Once upon a time I was a chaos goblin (yes, unmarried). Someone called me “famously organized.”

Now I’m stuck inside Notion, Todoist, and Obsidian. Neat prison.

It also works on yourself.

Me, weekly: “I’m the kind of person who writes an ugly first draft of a newsletter on Mondays.”

Lesson: expectations create reality.

Or, put another way: looking successful makes you successful.

Many people did it already:

• Zappos (later bought by Amazon for $1.2B). In the beginning, no inventory. The founder shot photos in local shops, posted them, then drove to buy and ship each order himself. Customers saw a real store. Behind the curtain: one guy and a car.

• Warby Parker. First “showroom” was a cofounder’s dining room. Photos of people trying frames made it look like they had retail presence. Orders exploded.

• Dropbox. A slick demo video made a half-built sync tool feel finished. The waitlist went from thousands to tens of thousands in days. Perception created pressure to make the real thing.

Are you still reading? 

Then your attention span is fine.

You passed the scroll test.

Now pass the generosity test.

Share with one human.

Till next time.

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Lights-Out Early, Up Before Dawn: He turns in around 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. and gets up at 4 to 5 a.m. to work out, so mornings are calm time for thinking and the day starts with energy already banked.

Decisions by Data Sweep: Big calls come after he collects lots of small signals, from phoning customers and suppliers to grilling analysts, then he acts once the pattern is clear.

Focus by Subtraction: His rule is decide what not to do first, which shows up as cutting side projects, simplifying product lines, and freeing teams to hammer the few bets that matter.

Create Constructive Pressure: “If you don’t have a crisis, make one” is how he keeps urgency alive, using tight deadlines and visible scoreboards so drift never sets in. Reminded me of Elon…

Kill the Quarterly Treadmill: Taking Dell private in 2013 for about 24.9 billion let him ignore the noise and fund long bets in servers, storage, and services without second guessing every 90 days.

Remote by Proof, Not Vibes: Work style is chosen by the team, and performance is judged by outcomes, not office time, which pushes managers to measure results instead of attendance.

Measure, Then Improve: If it can be measured, it can be improved, so factories, supply chains, and sales funnels run on dashboards and weekly reviews that force specific fixes.

Celebrate for a Nanosecond: After a win he thanks the team, writes down what actually worked, and moves the target forward, which keeps momentum high and prevents victory laps from turning into stalls.

Direct-Model Feedback Loops: Real customer orders flow straight into daily build plans and back to suppliers, which raises turns, cuts finished inventory, and speeds up product tweaks.

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