Hey there —

We’ve all got a monster living in us. 👹

Author and speaker Michael Bungay Stanier calls it the Advice Monster. It crawls out when you’re listening to a friend or co-worker and you blurt out unsolicited advice — even though you don’t have context on the full situation.

Our advice monster sabotages our conversations and hijacks our ability to truly listen. (And let’s be honest, it’s also pretty annoying, even if we think we’re great at giving advice.)

So, how can you tame this beast?

By paying attention and asking relevant questions.

This means instead of spacing out (because you’re too busy preparing advice) you try to really listen — and then follow up with pertinent questions to ensure you’re picking up what they’re throwing down.

Because, as it turns out, the best conversations happen when you ask lots of questions.

A study by the Harvard Business Review found that people who asked at least 9 questions within a 15-minute conversation were better liked by their partner and learned more about them than those who asked 4 questions or fewer.

Questions unlock magic within a conversation. When done correctly, they can:

🤗 Facilitate vulnerability and honesty.

💭 Uncover the true underlying issues of a problem.

😅 Release us from the burden of needing to have all the answers.

💫 Empower people to create their own wisdom — rather than simply following someone’s “advice.”

But not only are we not asking enough questions — many of us aren’t even sure what a helpful question looks like!

The good news is that asking the right questions is a skill you can learn and build on. To help with that, Bungay Stanier curated a list of high-impact questions in his book, The Coaching Habit.

Try these next time you’re having a conversation:

“What’s on your mind?” → This allows the other person to decide what’s important for them to share, instead of you nudging them in a specific direction.

“What’s the real challenge here for you?” → Bungay Stanier recommends, “And what else?” as a great follow up to tame your advice monster and help your conversation partner go deeper than the first answer that comes to mind.

“If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?” → The person you’re speaking with gets clear on what it’ll actually take to make said “yes” happen.

Going forward, try to see what happens when you end more of your sentences with a question mark. As Nancy Willard once said:

“Answers are closed rooms; and questions are open doors that invite us in.” 🚪

Amid crypto crash, trading can be an addiction

by Andrea Chang

Whether it’s Bitcoin or Ethereum, cryptocurrency is a volatile market defined by huge swings and deep dips — and it isn’t uncommon for crypto to yo-yo from green to red. 📉

This unpredictability, paired with gamified and unregulated trading apps, has sparked a mental health crisis. Investors, who once believed crypto could make them rich, are now being driven to addiction and dependency.

Andrea Chang writes a thoughtful portrayal of both the victims and the mental health professionals who are navigating this new world of digital finance addiction.

Read the article →

Is success luck or hard work?

by Veritasium

Imagine you just snagged the opportunity of a lifetime. You won the scholarship. You got the dream job. Your crush agreed to go out with you.

Was it because of your skill and determination? Or was it because you got lucky?

Most of us don’t want to write off our accomplishments as mere “luck.” But, as YouTuber Veritasium explains, being unaware of the fortunate events we’ve experienced can have a big impact on how we view ourselves — and the world around us. 🍀

Watch the video →

The daily routines of famous creative people

by Podio

Uncover the daily routines of some of the world’s most famous creatives! 👩‍🎨

This chart breaks down the daily habits of the greats and is both thought-provoking and wonderfully weird. (For instance, Victor Hugo would chow down on two raw eggs before writing. 🤨)

If you’d like to dive deeper into these strange artistic habits, check out these articles by Mason Curry, author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. Besides being fun, this infographic is a fantastic reminder that there is no right routine for creativity.

Check it out →

Alex Llull

Meet Alex! He’s a marketing consultant, freelance content writer, and self-proclaimed video game nerd. His newsletter The Steal Club teaches creatives and entrepreneurs how to leverage social media through resourceful “heists” that dissect the winning strategies of successful content creators so you can apply those strategies yourself. +3 XP for cleverness. 🥷

Introduce yourself! Who are you?

My name is Alex and I’m from Spain. I’m a content strategist, content writer, and creator.

Why do you create? Who is your content for?

After getting fired from what looked like my dream job in the advertising industry, I was left with two options: get back into the industry and the 9-5 race, or try to build something on my own.

You reading this means I went for the latter. I create content for people like me. People who recognize the power of creating content daily and want to use it to generate new opportunities around the internet.

The biggest lesson you’ve learned since you began creating content?

“Success comes slowly, then all at once.” I don’t know whose quote this is but I’ve experienced it far too many times to disagree with it.

One thing you wish you knew before you started?

The internet is a compounding machine. You need to trust the process of what you are doing. And be patient.

In one to two sentences, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring creators or self-development nerds?

Get out of your comfort zone as much as you can, as early as you can. That’s where real growth happens.

Would you rather speak to animals or know other people’s thoughts?

I have an 18-month-old puppy, so I would love to speak to animals. I often wonder what goes on inside that tiny head of hers, but I feel she would scream “FOOD” all the time.

Written by Alice Lemée

Edited by Matt D'Avella & Kerstin Sheppard