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Work Less Wednesday: May 14
๐ Hey Reader!
This is issue #156 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.
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๐ฑ 1. "Ok, i'm finally worried about AI. Here's my plan." - Article by Jon Courtneyโ
My friend Jon just came back from San Francisco and now he's freaking out about AI.
He just had the same "oh shit" moment that I described in this event recording.
And here's one insight that I thought was interesting:
The Subsidized AI Window Won't Last
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Here's something important you might not know: The current pricing of these AI tools ($20-100/month) is heavily subsidized by venture capital. OpenAI has already said publicly that once businesses start replacing employee tasks with AI (which is happening NOW), these tools will become exponentially more expensive.
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That $320/month I mentioned earlier? In 2-3 years, that could easily be $5,000-20,000/month. And by then, if you haven't become fluent in how to use them, you might not even be able to afford them anyway because your business will be crushed by competitors who jumped in early. You know what I mean? Like, your company might not even be big enough to be able to pay for how much these things are going to cost.
But I will provide one caveat to Jon's story - consider the messenger.
If you hang out with SF tech people, you're going to hear the narrative that most aligns with their economic incentives.
So yes, AI is definitely happening, and fast.
But there are many people who stand to make a lot of money by telling you AI is coming for your job.
With that being said, people using AI are definitely coming for your job.
Here are a few actions steps from Jon worth following to stay ahead:
- Tab-always-open rule: ChatGPT is now permanently open beside whatever I'm working on (like having water at your desk so you remember to drink)
- Learn by collecting use cases: Every conversation I have now includes "how are you using AI in your workflow?"
- Company integration: At AJ&Smart, we're building AI into everything we do - not just for efficiency but to 10x our output
- Go where it's happening: Being in SF this week, surrounded by people building and using these tools, accelerated my understanding by months
- Focus on what AI can't do: For me, that's facilitating in-person experiences. The feeling of being in a room working together still has immense value.
โRead the full article here.โ
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 โTo balance out the AI doom and gloom, here's a reminder that the highest leverage work we can do as entrepreneurs is to work on ourself.
I talked about this podcast with my clients this week and thought it was worth sharing here.
Here are some quotes from Joe I liked:
โIf a voice in your head is constantly criticizing you, youโre living in a war zone inside your own mind.โ โWhen your thinking turns binary, fear is running the show.โ โYou canโt be accepted for who you are if youโre not actually showing up as who you are.โ โWatch the full episode here.โ
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๐ฅ 3. Principle I Learned About This Week - The Veblen Effect.โ
I'm working on a new video about the market for contemporary art and what we as entrepreneurs can learn from it.
In my research I revisited the book The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art.
I came across something I missed the first time...
Have you ever noticed how certain products become more desirable because of how expensive they are?
Think: Luxury handbags, contemporary art, cars, ultra-fine dining, etc.
Well it turns out there's a name for this phenomenon:
โThe Veblen Effect.
It describes a situation where the demand for a good increases as its price rises, contradicting the law of demand.
Here's an example from the book:
In the primary art market, price creates value and buyer satisfaction rather than reflecting it. This is what economists call the Veblen effect: the satisfaction derived by the buyer comes from the art, but also from the list price or conspicuous price paid for it... The higher the perceived price, the more valuable the object is seen to be and the greater the buyer satisfaction.
So what can we learn from this phenomenon?
- There is a strategic benefit to charging high prices.
- Expensive work is valued in part because it is expensive.
- High prices often creates a self-fulfilling cycle: price drives prestige, which in turn justifies the price.
More to come on this in next week's video.
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When I read Cal Newport's Deep Work in 2016 it felt like simpler times.
Almost a decade later, it's much worse - No one can focus.
Here are 5 lessons on focus from the book that felt like Deep Work 2 (2025 brainrot edition):
- ๐๏ธ Notifications make us dumber. In one experiment students who received text messages during an exam did 20% worse than those with phones off.
- ๐ค No sleep destroys willpower. When we havenโt slept properly, our prefrontal cortex (the brainโs focus center) canโt function optimally. We become irritable, easily distracted, and less able to resist temptations (like that late-night scroll through social media).
- ๐ก Fiction is a workout for our emotions. Psychologist Raymond Marโs research shows that reading fiction engages imagination and empathy โ itโs a workout for our attention and emotional intelligence.
- โ๏ธ Multitasking stops us from thinking deeply. Speed and constant connectivity come at the cost of comprehension, creativity, and accuracy.
- ๐ Activity: Build a "deep reading" habit. Hari recommends deliberately rebuilding a reading habit as a form of mental training. He suggests starting with short periods of uninterrupted reading (print books if possible, to minimize temptation) and gradually extending that time. Even 20 minutes of focused reading a day can begin to stretch the attention span.
โGrab the book here.โ
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๐ง ON THE PODCAST ๐ง
Ep. 31 - ๐ก๏ธ Why Youโre Stuck at the Same Income Level (The Success Thermostat)
In this episode, I cover:
- Why entrepreneurs get stuck at the exact same income level for years
- Why using fear as motivation leads to burnout (and what to do instead)
- Why your income ceiling isn't a business problem - it's an IDENTITY problem
- Why your biggest fear isn't failure - it's actually success
- 7 frameworks you can use to reset your internal "success thermostat"
 โโWatch Hereโ
โOr listen to audio only here.โ
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How we can work together
When youโre ready, here are 2 free ways I can help you:
- ๐ง 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.
- ๐ ๏ธ 6-Figure Solopreneur Systems. Free email course. Steal the exact systems I used to run TWO multi-six-figure solo businesses in under 20 hours a week.
And 2 paid engagements:
- ๐ How To Work Less. From 2012-2023, I built a design agency that made me $500k/year, working 10 hours a week. ๐How To Work Less gives the playbook. Enrolling now. (400+ past students. 5 stars)
- ๐งช The Lab. I advise and mentor 6-7 figure Creative Solopreneurs. If you want to work closely with me (i.e. we speak 1-2 times a week), watch this video, then let's talk.
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๐ Have a great week - Rich
P.S. Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here.
P.P.S. Thank you for trusting me with your time. If these emails ever turn into a burden, I encourage you to unsubscribe from Work Less Wednesday.
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