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Siobhan Solberg

009: Systems, Sunk Cost Fallacy, and Client Negotiations.

Writing and developing systems, dropping thinks after much thought, and client negotiations. A week that makes you think you are a ninja - but are you real?

Process (and how they help me stay on top)

As mentioned last week I noticed that I'm becoming my own bottle neck by keeping all my processes in my head. This thought got me to start jotting down the general outline of most of my processes that involve teams and work in general. It also got me thinking that I already have some really solid systems when it comes to learning and staying up to date (a must if you dabble in the data protection and privacy field).

Thinking on this triggered a re-read of "How to Take Smart Notes" as well as optimising my system a bit - mostly to allow for better citation of sources.

Magic happened. It took really thinking on the system, and what systems are for, to realise that I had let some crucial elements go and bringing them back to the forefront has allowed for a better understanding of what I am learning as well as better notes on the reading I"m doing to facilitate that learning. I'm excited to improve even more and finally start writing better and with less effort again.

Thinking on this was great timing as I was asked to give a presentation to others in my privacy master mind as to the importance of staying up to date and how I create systems to process, learn, and gain understanding to stay up to date and develop my own ideas.

For those who want to know, my rough system resolves around the Zettelkasten method and uses the following tools:

  • Pen and paper (mostly my reMarkable)

  • Zotero

    • I am thinking if there is a better alternative or if this is what I need to commit to. Let me know if you have any better suggestions.

  • Tana

    • My daily everything. Finally a note taking app that works for my brain. Use it for all my fleeting notes, tasks, to-dos, content creation, and project management. Some hesitancy to adding my permanent notes here as it's still in beta - will need to work around that and commit or come up with a better system.

  • Readwise (and their reader app)

    • Reader: I read almost all here. From EDPB reports to Techcrunch articles. I also take a lot of my notes within the reader and then sync the to Tana daily to process.

    • Readwise: syncs all my kindle notes and highlights to Obsidian (my old notes app which I have not fully let go of yet).

That is it, roughly. But it needs some work. It's a system that works for me and I'm not so worried about where everything goes as I do save my sources in Zotero and have my fleeting and literature notes processed daily, but it can be improved. It will take time and will evolve as I need it to.

Sunk Cost Fallacy & Decisions

A major decision of the week was to let my podcast, Marketing Unfucked, go on a hiatus. It was not an easy decision but needed to be done. It serves me, and others, the least out of all the content I produce and wears me thin. In short, until I rethink what the purpose is and how to achieve it, it's not beneficial to anyone. It's surprising how hard it was to make the decision and got me thinking of something we discussed at length during my altMBA - the sunk cost fallacy.

The awareness of the sun cost fallacy is what allowed me to make this decision so clearly. I had so much invested in the show. Money, time, guests time, writing, branding, etc. It was soooooo hard to let all that go - I have been pushing forward on the show only because of what I had invested - not because I had an clear idea, direction, benefit, or desire. So, it had to go.

I know it will be back better than ever but, for now, there are better things for me to focus on and develop.

Client Negotiations

I've been in the negotiations phase with a client for a few weeks. I hate the word "negotiation phase" as there is hardy any negotiating happening. It's more like a clarification phase. A time to gain clarity and avoid the disaster of assumptions in the future.
This specific one has been exactly that - gaining clarity and confidence in each other. We are, after all, about to enter a lengthly cooperation. It has been such a joy to work through this together with a team that thought about this whole process in the same way as I did.

Currently Reading

How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens

Best Short Read of the Week

Æon Flux’s Surveillance Aesthetic

Best Short Privacy Read of the Week

There really was not much other than dry reading of reports and cases. This one article is the only one that sort of stood out for an interesting thought.

Protecting privacy online begins with tackling ‘digital resignation’

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