The Friday Thing #772

Thanks for all the birthday wishes last week ??

The Friday Thing #772 is based on a request from a reader to understand the process behind how the Friday Thing comes together each week. I read (another) great interview with Sir Paul Smith a few weeks ago and decided to use the format of that interview which was a Q&A. So, here goes….

Q: How did the Friday Thing come about?

A: About 14 or so years ago, I caught myself sending fun things I’d found on the Internet that week to a few friends and realized I should tun this into a series. Initially, that was what it was all about – one fun thing per week that would hopefully end the week with a smile. Edition #1 was a link to a Seth Godin post titled Visualizing the Satin Pillow – a ode to the shipping confirmation note he’d gotten from CDBaby. Yeah, that CDBaby who used to ship physical CDs to you. That’s how old this thing is.?

Q: How do you choose the topic each week?

A: I wish I could tell you that there is some magic formula but there really isn’t. A friend who also writes a weekly email like this one aims to have a good sense of the topic by midweek. I admire that planning and maybe I will get there one day but in general, I tend to think of something late on a Thursday and often on a Friday afternoon and then begin to write. I now intentionally use my commute times during the week to think about lessons I’ve learned during the week, or things I have read or observed and how I can turn them in to something valuable to share. I also think a lot about the visuals to accompany the edition and in particular, have enjoyed of late sharing some of my own photos as part of the storytelling.

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Q: Do you ever struggle to come up with something?

A: Oh yes, all the time. There are times when I have found myself frantically looking for something to share at 11:30pm on a Friday, knowing that I can’t break the sequence. This has been stressful at times and almost forced me to quit once or twice, but I’ve become way more relaxed about it, knowing that even if it’s a brief thought from the week, there is always something. I will confess that on occasion, I’ve had editions that felt like they’re not really worthy of a Friday Thing so have also given myself the freedom to skip a week should there really not be something I think worth sharing – and also to skip when I know I will be on vacation. Note: like the source of this edition, I welcome suggestions for topics ??

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Q: How has it changed over the 700+ editions?

A: I like this question a lot because I spent time this summer chatting with my friend Donard about this exact topic. In fact, he gave me his observations about how it has changed and how much he likes the changes. In many ways, the Friday Thing has grown as I have grown and become less frivolous and more thoughtful (I hope). Another friend of mine pushed me in this direction a few years ago when I had written a somewhat out of character, more personal and introspective edition. Gini encouraged me to do more like that because she felt I had stuff to share about life, leadership and careers. I’m a lifelong learner on all of those topics, but I have enjoyed expressing myself more each week vs. simply tossing a web link over the wall. I’ve also realized that subconsciously, part of the reason I still do this is because it gives me at least one disciplined and thoughtful piece of writing I need to do each week. I like the rigor and routine of that because it also encourages me to read and observe and continue to be curious about life, the world, my work and more. The other way it has changed over the last year or so is that I have started to publish via LinkedIn – in part due to my brother suggesting I should publish somewhere in order that I have an archive and can perhaps reach a different audience who don’t want to get it via email each week.

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Q: Do you plan to make a book out of The Friday Thing??

A: Yes, Dona. One day I will. I promise.

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Q: How many people subscribe to The Friday Thing???

A: I think it’s approximately 400.

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Q: How do I subscribe or invite others to subscribe?

A: I was very intentional from the outset to make the Friday Thing be a word-of-mouth thing – i.e., there is no signup process other than sending me an email saying “hey, please can you add my friend?”. I appreciate everyone who has done that over the years.

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Q: How do I unsubscribe?

A: Click that link below. No hard feeling and no judgement. A few good friends have done that recently. As I said above, we all get too much email and you can always dip in and out on LinkedIn if you prefer.

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Q: How long do you think you will continue?

A: I’d like to make it to 1000 but in truth, I think I’ll continue until I run out of things to share. Which may be a while.

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That’s it - but if you have other questions, please send them my way or respond on LinkedIn and I’ll be happy to answer.

Thanks for the original idea, Dominic.

?Cheers & happy Friday

?- Steve