Work Less Wednesday: February 4

👋 Hey Reader!

This is issue #188 of Work Less Wednesday, where I share with you 5 things you should know about, in 5 minutes or less. That leaves you with 10,075 other minutes this week.

♠️ 1. Substack Post I’m Revisiting - How To Be More Agentic by Cate Hall​

​This post went uber viral on Substack in early 2024, but most of you probably haven’t seen it, because you aren’t on Substack.

“Agency” has become a buzzword as of late - but how does one become more agentic?

Cate’s definition of agentic is “finding real edges: things that you are willing to do that others aren’t, often because they’re annoying or unpleasant.”

I would argue it also includes solving problems in ways that circumvent the problem completely.

In the book The One Thing by Gary Keller, he offers us the Focusing Question, which is a very agentic thought exercise:

“What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

Asking yourself this question is a great way to start in terms of becoming more agentic.

Being agentic means not doing the obvious thing.

In her article, she lists things like courting rejection and asking for more things that feel unreasonable, seeking true and brutal honest feedback, and learning skills that most people believe are fixed (like confidence, happiness, optimism, charisma, etc.).

It’s a great read and will probably open you up to some new possibilities.

​Click here for the full link.​

📕 2. Book I’m Reading - Chalk - The Art and Erasure of Cy Twombly​

I’m currently reading a biography of painter, sculptor, and artist Cy Twombly by Joshua Rivkin.

Cy is one of my favorite American artists.

He is one of those abstract painters who, for some, they “don’t get.”

But for me, his work is transcendent.

I first came across some of his paintings and sculptures at Glenstone Museum (my favorite museum of all time).

Then when I moved back to Philadelphia, I came across his room-sized work Fifty Days at Iliam (pictured above) at the Philly Museum of Art, which blew me away.

And I’ve continued to research and follow his work since then.

Cy’s history also intersects with mine in an interesting way because he attended Black Mountain College, a free-form experimental art school located less than 20 minutes from my home in Asheville, North Carolina.

If you’re not into art, this book won’t be of any interest to you.

If you’ve not seen any of Cy’s works, this book won’t be of any interest to you either.

But what I do recommend - is that you read more biographies (and fiction).

There’s major diminishing returns to nonfiction/business books in terms of your creativity and output.

​Link to the book here.​

⚒️ 3. Tool I’m Toying With - Monologue by Every​

I’m hesitant to share this. 🤣

I’m currently experimenting with a new tool called Monologue, which is made by Every.

It is a voice dictation tool that allows you to type three times faster.

I’ve previously avoided any kind of voice dictation software because I really don’t like sitting at my desk and talking to myself.

It feels weird.

But the fact of the matter is… I talk much faster than I type.

So I’m playing around with it and seeing what applications there are.

Note: I did “write” this blurb with Monologue, and it was faster.

So there’s that.

​You can check it out here.​

💊 4. Supplement I’m Taking - Kre-Alkalyn EFX​

Over the past 10 years, I’ve gone through the whole supplement cycle.

I went from taking 10 to 15 supplements a day during my biohacking experimentation, all the way down to 0, and now I’m back to only taking two.

Recently, I’ve been experimenting with different brands of creatine.

I tried Thorne’s creatine powder and Momentous creatine chews, but both bothered my stomach at higher doses.

But now I’ve settled back on a brand that I enjoyed using years ago that I just rediscovered, which is Kre-Alkalyn EFX.

The reason I like it over the other brands is because it doesn’t bother my stomach and it is in easy to swallow capsules.

I’ve been re-interested in creatine recently is because I came across a podcast from Dr. Rhonda Patrick detailing the incredible health benefits of taking it, not only for exercise, but for mental performance, longevity, and even sleep deprivation.

So now I am on a two-supplement protocol - creatine & magnesium.

These two have provided a consistent benefit that I can actually FEEL, so that’s why I stick with them:

• ​Kre-Alkalyn EFX​
• ​Based Supplements Dead Sea Magnesium​

🖐 5. More Things I'm Into This Week...

🎧 What I’m Listening To - Yatabe Track Day (Japanese Jazz/Fusion Mix Vol. 2)​

🏛️ Article I Found Funny - Artist sells invisible sculpture for over $18K (thanks Valerie!)

💻 Great Design Inspo Site - SiteofSites​

🧮 Cool Kanban Tool From 37 Signals (Makers Of Basecamp) - Fizzy​

💬 Quote I’m Pondering…

How we can work together

When you’re ready, here are two free ways I can help you:

• 👤 My Substack. My weekly Substack inner entrepreneur discusses the internal side of entrepreneurship - mindset & growth.
• 🎧 My Podcast. Listen to or watch my free podcast The Rich Webster Show. It is an unfiltered look behind the scenes at my life and work.

And two paid engagements:

• 🤝 Consulting. Work closely with me. For 7-8 figure entrepreneurs.
• 💸 How To Charge More (Waitlist). 4 week cohort teaching you how to become the person who charges a ton of money. Cohort 2: April.

😊 Have a great week - Rich

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