## You have _got_ to try this!

Think back to the last time a friend emphatically recommended a product or service to you.

For me, it was shoes.

A friend was raving to me me about Shoe Company™️ - an incredible, new, online-only merchant. My friend was vibrating with excitement as they told me how wonderful it was to buy from them. The website was beautiful and straightforward, the product was well-designed and sustainably made, and the ordering experience was exceptional.

They explained that when their shoes arrived, they looked great, and fit just right. Even so, the packaging that they were shipped in was minimal and thoughtful - made from recyclable materials, the box had a small strip of adhesive tape integrated into its lid so that the box could be easily re-sealed and mailed back thanks to the return label provided inside.

I _really_ love thoughtful experiences -- so this recommendation stuck with me. Around 6 months later, I was looking for a gift for my wife, and recalled the fervency of my friend's recommendation. Just like that, I bought her a pair of shoes that I thought my wife might like.

You might be able to guess where this is going already.

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/quality-and-the-hype-cycle/hype-cycle"
 caption="A modified version of the Gartner Hype Cycle chart, showing my experience"
 alt={`Gartner Hype Cycle chart, with my experience overlaid on top. I was recommended the company when they were in the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" phase, and bought from them when they were in the "Trough of Disillusionment" phase.`}
/>

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my experience was different. The website was still beautiful, but the ordering process was clunky. The product was still well-designed and sustainably made, and the packaging was nice. The shoes arrived, and while they looked great, they didn't fit quite right. The return label was missing from the box, and I found myself driving out of my way to one of a few shops in the city that could process my return.

Woof.

I was disappointed, and I felt like I had been misled by my friend's recommendation. But what was happening here? Why did my purchase differ so much from my friend's? At the risk of oversimplifying, I think it comes down to growth.

The company in question saw rapid growth, and as a result, they had to make some trade offs to keep up with demand. They prioritized growth over quality, and their product and experience suffered for a while.

On the other side of the spectrum are companies who make the decision to grow more slowly, and focus on quality as job #1. These companies may not grow as fast, but they tend to have a much higher chance of success in the long run. I find myself more loyal to these companies and experiences, having never been let down by them.

Growth-first companies _can_ bounce back from a dip in quality, and many have done so. I've been impressed lately with [Airbnb's efforts to improve their product](https://twitter.com/bchesky/status/1589541705921212416), and I'm hopeful that they'll get back to providing the unique alue they once did. But I think that the companies who prioritize quality will have a much easier time sustaining growth, and handling issues as they arise.



_(Newsletterman's footnote: I'm intentionally **not** naming Shoe Company™️. The point of this musing is not to shame or call anyone out. I'm just using this as an example to illustrate a point. I've noticed this same pattern in all sorts of companies and services, and I think it's worth thinking about.)_



## Recommendations from all over the hype cycle

Now that I've pointed out that you shouldn't trust recommendations from your friends (lol), here's some things I've found lately that you might enjoy.

- 🐘 [Mastodon (specifically, hachyderm.io)](https://hachyderm.io/@irreverentmike) - You may have seen that I've left Twitter, at least while it's under Elon Musk's control. I've moved to Mastodon, and have an account on Hachyderm.io. If you're on Mastodon, feel free to follow me there! If you're not sure what Mastodon is, check out [joinmastodon.org](https://joinmastodon.org/). If you're still not sure, reply to this email, and I'll find some time put together a quick explainer video.
- 📖 [The Innovation Stack](https://hardcover.app/books/the-innovation-stack) is a book by Jim McKelvey, who co-founded IRL payments company Square (now and its parent company Block). It's hard to imagine how a glass blower became the founder of such an influential company -- his story is fascinating, and the book is a great read.
- 📚 [Hardcover.app](https://hardcover.app/@irreverentmike) (Public beta) is a service for rating, recommending, and discovering books to read. If you've used GoodReads and find its UX lacking for 2022, or you're looking for a service not owned by Amazon, you'll love Hardcover.

## My recent work

- 🏳️ [**Twitter, and the Perils of Obedience**](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience) I wrote a long-form opinion article on my departure from Twitter, relating it to a famous experiment in behavioral psychology from the 1960s.
- 📹 Quick tech tips on TikTok and YouTube - I've been experimenting with releasing 60s tech tips on TikTok and YouTube. If you're active on either platform, I'd love to hear your feedback! TikTok: [@irreverentmike](https://tiktok.com/@irreverentmike) / YouTube [@mikebifulco](https://youtube.com/@mikebifulco)
- 🎙️ Did you know you can write C++, C#, and Java code that can be used directly on the web? My recent [interview with Matt Butcher from Fermyon](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2022/11/25/cloud-native-webassembly/) on the Software Engineering Daily podcast dives into Web Assembly, and was one of my absolute favorite interviews yet.

Customer experience, quality, and the hype cycle

Recommendations from all over the hype cycle

Hey friend,

Earlier this week, I had a discussion on Polywork with [Brian Green](https://www.polywork.com/brian_green), who is the founder of a learning platform called Curricular. He posed a question that I think we can all identify with:

> How do you know when your work is ready to publish?

I feel like this issue is at the heart of _everything_ I create, but it's particularly spicy when it comes to video. I can publish articles all day long, and go back to update them on a whim if the need ever arises.

Video is much more final - at least on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, because those platforms don't let you edit your videos after they're published.

After some thought, here's my answer to the question:

**Imperfection is part of the brand.**

Showing some scuffs here and there, and the vulnerability it takes to let those things out into the world helps people connect with you. It also gives you wiggle room to improve over time.

If you're constantly aiming for perfection, you'll never publish anything, and because of that, you'll never get any better.

It's a balance, of course - you don't want to be so imperfect that your work is incoherent or unprofessional. But a few scuffs along the way show that you're a real person, trying your best.

In fact, I think that I grow a much deeper personal attachment with creators who let me see into their process a bit. Things like editing, deciding on a voice, and what to deliver all make the brand feel more real, and more relatable to me.

There's also a subconscious element to it - I feel like I'm getting a peek into the creator's brain.

The secret sauce seems to be leaning into the bumps and bruises, and pointing out from time to time "hey, this isn't perfect, but I see that too".

When things feel _super_ polished all the time, it creates a veneer of false authenticity that just feels like... marketing? I think most people don't want to be sold to; they want to feel like they're a part of something genuine.

So, in short… here's what I think: don't be afraid to put something out there that's not perfect. It'll be more relatable, you'll meet more interesting people, and you'll have more fun with it.

To me, that's something people can get behind.

<SponsoredSection
 imagePublicId="sponsors/twirp.ai/cover"
 sponsorName="Twirp.ai"
 CTAtext="Try it for free"
 href="https://twirp.ai?utm_source=nl_tinyimprov"
>
 This dispatch of Tiny Improvements is sponsored by
 [Twirp.ai](https://twirp.ai?utm_source=nl_tinyimprov), a tool for A/B testing
 your twitter profile. Test different bios, profile pictures, and header images
 to see which ones get you more followers.
</SponsoredSection>

## What I'm reading

I've had a few connections ask me which newsletters I read regularly, so I thought I'd some of my favorites:

- 🗞️ If you're publishing a newsletter, you have to check out the [Growth Currency newsletter](https://www.growthcurrency.net/?utm_source=MikeBifulcoNewsletter). It's a weekly newsletter by Dylan Redekop providing highly-actionable tips, tactics, and resources to help you grow, improve, and monetize your own newsletter.
- 🏙️ For all my Urbanist / NUMTOT pals - my friend Barry Greene has been sharing his thoughts on Urbanization and public transit in his newsletter [Density Dad](https://cutloose.substack.com/?utm_source=nl_tinyimprovements). His perspective on responsible growth and planning for cities is refreshing, and I always learn something new.
- 🖍️ If you're a parent of an elementary-aged youngster, you should check out [Primary Focus](https://newsletter.primaryfocus.tv/), a newsletter by Miss Natalie, a 10-year veteran of the classroom who also happens to be my best friend and partner. She's been sharing her thoughts on education, parenting, and the future of learning in her newsletter for a while now, and it's a great read.

## Oh and BTW - I've been publishing videos, too

Despite publishing Tiny Improvements weekly, I've taken the last few weeks to recharge my cells a bit. It's a funny time for me - I'd love to be outside enjoying the weather even though it's cold out, but a recurring injury means I really need to take it easy. It's probably a good thing, honestly.

I've been making ~60s tutorials for creators and developers, and publishing them both on [YouTube](https://youtube.com/@mikebifulco) and [TikTok](https://tiktok.com/@irreverentmike).

If you're active on either platform, I'd love it if you checked them out and subscribed.

That's it for now - thanks so much for reading, and if you're in the US, enjoy the holiday.

Until next time,

Mike

Put a fork in it - how to know when your work is ready to publish

Oh and BTW - I've been publishing videos, too

Hi friend,

Today I want to talk about publishing things online.

My writing habit (and my [personal site](https://mikebifulco.com)) started on a lark - I wanted to learn about building websites with [Gatsby](https://www.gatsbyjs.com/). At the time, I was technical director for [Gymnasium](https://thegymnasium.com), and had been building a SaaS product in my spare time. I was learning so many things all at once that it seemed like a good idea to give myself somewhere public to write them down.

Fast forward to today, and I've got a few years of publishing under my belt. I did a quick audit over the weekend to see how far my words have gone, and I gotta tell you - I was not ready for the results.

Between articles written for [mikebifulco.com](https://mikebifulco.com), [apisyouwonthate.com](https://apisyouwonthate.com), and my past employers Google & Stripe, I estimate that **my work has reached about 1.3 million people.**

That is _STAGGERING!_

...and _super_ humbling -- even after all this time, I can't help but think _who wants to hear from little ol' me?_

<SponsoredSection
 imagePublicId="newsletters/today-is-your-day-to-start/taplio"
 sponsorName="Taplio"
 CTAtext="Try it out for free"
 href="https://taplio.com/?utm_source=nl_tinyimprov"
>
 This dispatch of Tiny Improvements is sponsored by
 [Taplio](https://taplio.com/?utm_source=nl_tinyimprov), the first AI-powered
 personal branding tool for LinkedIn. Increase your impact with your network,
 by creating high performing content 10x faster.
</SponsoredSection>

## Getting started as a writer

I hear from lots of people who _want_ to start writing online. Many people get in their own way, and never publish anything because of impostor syndrome, or because they don't have an audience yet. The best thing about being a creator is that you can start with _nothing_, and you don't need anyone's permission to get started. The sooner you create something and share it with the world, the sooner you'll get better at it.

Don't get me wrong - I've seen countless people set up a blog for themselves, publish a ["hello world" article](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/it-was-time), and only come back every 6 months to post something like _sorry it's been so long since I've written something here. I'm back for real this time_.

The biggest challenge for online creators is avoiding that pattern.

If you've been on the fence about starting a blog, or a YouTube channel, or a podcast, **this is your call to action:** publish something (_anything!_) and send it to me on twitter [@irreverentmike](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike) or mastodon [@irreverentmike@mastodon.online](https://mastodon.online/@irreverentmike). I'd love to see what you're building, and be a signal boost for your work.

## 2 guiding principles for publishing online

1. [**There is no bar**](https://chriscoyier.net/2022/06/27/there-is-no-bar/). In my absolute favorite blog post of all time, [Chris Coyier](https://twitter.com/chriscoyier) writes about how there is no minimum bar for publishing online. You can start with anything -- and you shouldn't be the one holding yourself back. The only thing you need to do is start.

2. **Writing triples your impact** - during his recent keynote at All Things Open, [Scott Hanselman](https://twitter.com/shanselman) shared a poignant observation. When you teach someone by sharing your knowledge, you've doubled the reach of your brain. If you write it down and even **just one other person** sees that, you've tripled your impact - and it only goes up from there.

When you have something to share -- write it down, and make it available **anywhere** with a public URL. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that!

## Tools for publishing online

- 🗒️ [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) is note-taking tool, and is perfect for creating a second brain and getting things off your mind. If you're used to writing with [Markdown](https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/), it will feel very familiar. It's free for personal use.
- 🌁 Ever try to upload an image from your phone to your website, only to find it's 30mb and takes forever to download? Enter [Squoosh](https://squoosh.app/), a tool for compressing images. Pull up the URL, drag-and-drop your image, and hit the download button to grab a compressed version. It's that easy.
- 🖼️ Speaking of images, [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com) is a treasure trove of beautiful, high quality images licensed for use online (with attribution). You'll never want to use clip art or a stock photo again.
- 🧇 Waffle -- city -- ice cream cone -- if you've ever had trouble finding an icon for something, you're going to love [The Noun Project](https://thenounproject.com/). Their mission is to provide a library of icons for every _noun_ in the world. Can you imagine such a person, place, or thing?

Alright friends - now go smash some words on a page, and hit publish. I'll be waiting to see what you do!

Get started: The trick to publishing online

2 guiding principles for publishing online

## This is how my day went last Thursday:

**08:00am** - hop on a zoom call with a teammate to discuss Twitter's developer conference, Chirp, which had been canceled the night before. We were scheduled to give a tutorial on building SaaS apps at the event.

**08:05am** - While still on the phone, an email landed in my inbox, from Stripe's CEO Patrick, announcing that there would be a round of layoffs that day.

**08:08am** - While _still_ on the phone, another email hit my inbox. Subject line: "Mike, your role at Stripe".

 
 
That was it. I got laid off.
 
 

If you're new here, it's likely because you saw my tweet later that same day:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" align="center">
 
 🚨 I was laid off from my job at Stripe this morning. I will always look
 back on my time at Stripe DevRel fondly. Time to unwind and decompress. If
 you are a newly-former Stripe, DM or email hello@mikebifulco.com. I'll do
 whatever I can to help you find your next job.
 
 &mdash; Mike Bifulco (@irreverentmike){' '}
 <a href="https://twitter.com/irreverentmike/status/1588197009315442688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">
 November 3, 2022
 </a>
</blockquote>
<Script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" />

The timeline above outlines a vast simplification - to give you some idea of what happened in my world last week, here's a few high-level events:

- **Monday**: I enjoyed an emergency dentist appointment after a crown come off my tooth during a weekend trip to Philadelphia.
- **Tuesday**: Went to [All Things Open](https://allthingsopen.org/) in Raleigh, NC, and gave a talk about [Markdoc](https://markdoc.dev) to 50 devs.
- **Wednesday**: Drove home to Charlotte, to pack for the next day's trip to the [Caribbean Developer Conference](https://cdc.dev) in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
- **Thursday**: Ya boy got fired. lol. In the afternoon, I boarded a jet to Punta Cana with my wife, and shortly after arriving I fired off the tweet above.
- **Friday**: With the help of my incredible better half (Natalie 🫶), and steady stream of Piña Coladas, I responded to a trillion messages from people who had seen my tweet.

My dudes - it was a wild-ass week.

As I write this, it is almost exactly one week later. I've managed to untangle most of my brain by now, and have heard from a _massive_ number of people who reached out to me with love and support. I have probably sent hundreds of replies by now, and I'm extremely grateful for each and every one of you who reached out, RT'd, and subscribed to this newsletter.

Seriously -- Tiny Improvements has _doubled_ in subscriber count since last week!

## On moving on & momentum

You can't control everything in life, but you can control how you react to it. I am extremely grateful for the experience I had - my team at Stripe was truly unique, and indescribably talented. I'd tell my colleagues that working with them was like having lightning in a bottle.

I still feel that way, but it's time to move on.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my tweet getting so much attention. It's the most viral thing I've put on the web to date, and I'm trying to use that attention for good. Since getting laid off, many people have reached out to me who are hiring for super interesting jobs. I've been maintaining a list of these jobs, and will continue to keep it up for as long as I can manage.

**If you're looking for a job**, or know someone who is, check out [@irreverentmike's job list](https://airtable.com/shrbIYV7uOCfQDeGR)

**If you're hiring**, please DM me on twitter [@irreverentmike](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike) or [submit a job directly through this form](https://airtable.com/shraftW1575L6nGED).

## What's next for me

I am endlessly thankful for the great network of people I have in my life. Friends, family, former colleagues, and complete strangers have reached out about job openings. I'm thrilled to say that my next job is lined up already. I'm excited to share more about that soon.

### Now back to your regularly scheduled newsletter...

As you can imagine, this dispatch of Tiny Improvements is fairly atypical. Generally, this newsletter caters to people building great products - I'm a designer and front-end developer at heart, and a serial SaaS builder.

Generally my newsletters include a couple paragraphs diving into a topic like [design for developers](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/design-rules-everyone-should-know), or [managing burnout](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/burnout-and-stress), a photo or screenshot from my week, and links to a few interesting & helpful tools for getting things done.

If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'd love it if you stick around.

If you know anyone else who might benefit from my writing, please forward this to them, or send them off to [mikebifulco.com/newsletter](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter) to subscribe. Thank you!

Here's hoping this next week is extremely un-interesting. ✌🏾

What it's like to get laid off and go viral on the same day

Now back to your regularly scheduled newsletter...

It's no secret that I like playing with new tech, and lately there has been no shortage of AI tools making the news. By now, I've spent quite a bit of time testing out AI tools of various descriptions. It is encouraging to see consumer-facing AI products quickly becoming more useful.

Even on my own website ([mikebifulco.com](https://mikebifulco.com)), I've used AI for a pretty broad variety of tasks. This includes writing and publishing articles, and maintaining the code that keeps the site running. Some recent articles have cover art generated by Open AI's DALL-E. I bet you can probably even pick them out if you look closely! Until this moment not a single soul has asked me about where they came from. That's one point to the machines for their good work. 🤖

I also use GitHub's Copilot as a pair programmer when I'm working on personal projects. It's definitely not perfect, and I have my concerns about the way that GitHub/Microsoft are sourcing the code that Copilot uses to generate suggestions, but it's still a really useful tool. I find that it helps me avoid brain fatigue when I'm coding, even if it suggests solutions that are sometimes incomplete or incorrect - it's still a great way to get unstuck.

Of course, alongside good experiences, I've had my fair share of eye-opening and distinctly bad experiences with AI tools. In my favorite article ever, I wrote about a positively jaw-dropping moment I had when attempting to use one product to write blog posts. Sound interesting? I hope so - give it a read here: [Why no one talks about the best marketing campaign in history](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/product-marketing-defy-expectations).

It's important to point out that AI makes many people (myself included) nervous. We're anxious about what implications AI tools have on the future of our work, culture, and politics. Those concerns are valid - right now, I think one of the most important things you can do is get some experience using AI. This will help you understand its strengths and weaknesses in a practical way. It will also help you stay in touch with what's going on in the industry.

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/what-i-learned-from-using-ai/autumn"
 alt="A photo of a vast mountain landscape, showing blue-colored mountain tops extending into the distance"
 caption="A landscape from my recent trip to North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains."
/>

## AI tools you should try

These tools all use machine learning and AI to help you get things done. While most of them are not free, they all have some version of a trial or free tier that you can use to get a feel for them. If you haven't tried any of these, I recommend giving at least one a look - AI has come a **very** long way since the days of Goldeneye 64.

### No Code AI tools

📝 [Jasper AI](https://jasper.ai/) is a fantastic aid for people who write - it will help you write better emails, blog posts, and more. It's a great tool for people who want to write better, but get stuck on the details, or suffer from writer's block.

🎙 [Snipd](https://www.snipd.com/) is an incredible tool for people who listen to lots of podcasts. They use AI to automatically create an analyze transcripts of the shows you listen to. You can then use those transcripts to **snip** moments from a podcast, just like you'd bookmark a link to a webpage, or earmark a page in a book. I use it to take notes on podcasts that I listen to, and it's a great way to keep track of the things I want to remember.

🛋 [Interior AI](https://interiorai.com/) is a tool that lets you upload a photo of a room and it will suggest furniture that would fit in the room. It's pretty cool, and has been growing by leaps and bounds. Full disclosure: I happened across the product on twitter recently, and [have been helping its creator](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike/status/1579959127932968960) hone in on their pricing strategy using Stripe's tools. Apart from that, I'm not affiliated with, or paid by them in any way.

### For developers

✍🏼 [Open AI](https://openai.com/) are the creators of GPT-3, a language model that can generate text. It's pretty amazing, and you can try it out for yourself [here](https://beta.openai.com/).

🖼 [Stable Diffusion](https://github.com/CompVis/stable-diffusion) is an AI tool that you can run on your own computer to generate images from text. This one is for my more code savvy friends - it's written in python and not too challenging to use, but it does require some comfort with using a terminal.

What I learned from using AI in my work

After I finished undergrad, I was hired by Microsoft to work in their consulting organization. I was hired as a software engineer, and traveled around the US building software for big, impressive Fortune 50 companies. The first project I was placed on was at Dell, in Austin TX -- all because I was the first one to raise my hand when someone asked "has anyone here used jQuery?" (this was early 2009).

Because I was the resident JavaScript expert, I thrust into the deep end immediately, leading front-end development for a complete rebuild of dell dot com. Our team of ten-or-so Microsofties were sent to deliver a from-scratch rebuild of the website, reporting directly to Dell's CTO. The stakes were high: we were expected to deliver a world-class website in a matter of months.

Seriously. If you're thinking _wtf, there's no way that's right_ -- it was truly surreal. Just a few months earlier, I had been loudly proclaiming "Wednesdays are little Saturdays!" while skipping all my classes one day a week, and splitting my weekends between going out drinking with friends and building my 1965 Corvair into a race car.

I was barely an adult, and had been given a huge responsibility. I was not equipped to deal with the stress of the situation. I worked 12-hour days to keep up with the other people on my team, and traveled between Charlotte and Austin every week. After 6 months, I was exhausted, and barreling toward burnout for the first time – and I didn’t see it coming.

One early Texas morning after a long night of coding, I dragged myself out of bed and showered, and... what the _fuck?!_ On the top of my head, directly above my left eyebrow, a small patch of my hair was missing. I had been pulling it out in my sleep. I was so stressed out that I was literally pulling my hair out.

**Burnout hit me like a ton of bricks.**

I called my manager that morning, and calmly told him I would be taking the next week off.

---

Look, we all experience stress and burnout - in different ways and to different degrees, certainly, but everyone feels it. In that moment, I learned a lot about myself. I'm a hard worker and I love my job, but I am not a machine. If I can help it, I'll never let myself get to that point again.

Learning to manage burnout has been a career-long journey for me. Stress ebbs and flows day to day, and week to week, but I've found being proactive about managing the way I work keeps burnout away.

There are many things we can do to manage stress and burnout, and I believe the details will be different for each of us -- but figuring out the right mix of work, rest, and play is where it all starts.

It's not just about you, either. Think about the people around you in your life who will benefit from you being less stressed and more present. Your family, your friends, your coworkers, your boss, your clients... the list goes as far as you can imagine.

You can't be expected to do good work if you're not feeling your best, and you can't get there if you're not actively taking steps to be selfish about what you want and what you need in life.

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/burnout-and-stress/autumn"
 alt="A photo of a beautiful autumn scene. The trees are all shades of red, orange, yellow, and green, and the sky is a pale blue."
 caption="We took a field trip to North Carolina's Blue Ridge parkway over the weekend. It was beautiful, and I'm so glad we got to go."
/>

The [World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases) classifies burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job
3. Reduced professional efficacy

...sound familiar?

Thankfully, the WHO is also working with scientists to develop guidelines on identifying and managing burnout. Science is looking out for us again, y'all. While I'm definitely not an expert on the subject, I've found that the following tools have helped me stay ahead of burnout in my job and my relationships.

## The tools I use to stay ahead of burnout

- 🛌 **Sleep better**. I'm intentionally putting this at the very top of the list so that you take it seriously. People always underestimate the effect that sleep has on their life. Don't take my word for it, listen to the experts - [**Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams**](https://hardcover.app/books/why-we-sleep) by Matthew Walker is an exploration of our scientific understanding of sleep, and why it is critical to living a good life. Still not convinced? Check out this review from [Bill Gates](https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Why-We-Sleep).

- 🖼 **Therapy** is something that we all can benefit from. Especially men -- we are often not equipped with the right tools to deal with and express our emotions. Speaking to a professional can help you understand yourself better, and can help you learn to manage your emotions in a healthy way. Whoever you are, wherever you are, give it a shot. Talk to a _real_ professional (I'm looking at you, evangelicals) and invest in yourself. There are many options available, and [**BetterHelp**](https://www.betterhelp.com/) is a great option if you're looking to try therapy online.

- 📝 **Take notes** - No single habit I've adopted has had an impact on me like note taking. Writing down my thoughts helps me offload tasks from my brain, stay organized, and work more efficiently. I'm a big fan Zettelkasten-style note taking, and I use [**Roam Research**](https://roamresearch.com/) for my notes. It is a paid service - if you're on a budget or just dabbling for now, check out [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) and [LogSeq](https://logseq.com/).

- 🧘 **Meditate** - I use [**Headspace**](https://www.headspace.com/referral/z6jb3?slug=cebee0&audio=false) for a few minutes of peaceful meditation when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

- 🧠 This [5-minute video on Burnout from Dr. Sahar Yousef](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFjK5WLpSHE) was actually produced by Headspace, and I found it to be pretty enlightening. Your brain's fear and anxiety center is literally activated by the accumulation of small bits of stress building up for days and weeks on end. The researcher from this video, [Dr. Sahar Yousef](https://www.saharyousef.com/), is working to develop frameworks to help us deal with burnout before it happens.

- 🪐 [The third place](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/remote-work-and-the-third-place) is a term that has been making the rounds on the internet lately. The long and short of it is this: we live a more balanced life when we somewhere to go that is not our home or our workplace. It's a place where we can go to relax, to socialize, to be fulfilled. Check out the linked article for my feelings on the importance of [The Third Place for remote workers](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/remote-work-and-the-third-place).

I'll leave you with this: if there's someone in your life who may be going through a tough time right now, drop them a line and tell them you see them, and you care about them. That little gesture can go a very long way.

Tips for managing burnout and stress

I never got on well with art when I was a kid. I didn't have a steady hand, which meant that I could never draw or paint well. My handwriting has always been abysmal, and I didn't have it in me to do better.

I was not an artistic person. Or so I thought.

After studying CS in college, I started working as a front-end engineer at Microsoft. Back then, front-end engineering was a blossoming discipline. Very few engineers worked in the land of CSS and Javascript, and almost nobody cared about design.

I got into design as a curiosity. I sure wanted to build better looking apps, but because I'm not an artistic person, I never thought to try...

...until...

one day, at the recommendation of a mentor, I picked up a book on design. I tore through it, gobsmacked by the revelations I was experiencing with each new page.

Friends, I am here to tell you: design is for EVERYONE.

## Heck, grits is just corn

In software, 99% of the things that you might think of as "creative" are careful and deliberate application of basic rules. Sure, there's usually a bit of taste and color sprinkled in, but the basics are all science.

In cognitive science, we study behavior and functions of the mind. It has helped us make sense out of how humans think, and distill that into rules and patterns.

In UX, we use these to take advantage of how people interpret and experience software.

Once you understand some of these rules, you'll find it gets easier to write letters, design graphics, build products, etc.

Whatever it is you're doing, design can help.

## 5 Rules of design to give you superpowers

...no matter what it is you're doing. Seriously. From writing to graphic design to designing products for the web, I promise you'll find something helpful in here.

### 1. **Hierarchy**

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/design-rules-everyone-should-know/hierarchy"
 alt="A screenshot of part of an article layout, showing a large, bold title followed by the familiar shapes of a date and author, and text below"
 height={300}
 width={300}
/>

In western countries, we tend to read from top to bottom, left to right. It is something we've all been subconsciously trained to do since an early age.

When you're designing something, you can use this pattern to help guide your reader's eye. Assume they will go from looking at the biggest, boldest thing on the page, to the next biggest, and so on. You should therefore make sure that the most important things you want someone to see are the biggest and boldest, and step down from there.

This is called hierarchy. It's a way to help your guide your reader's eyes predictably.

### 2. **Similarity**

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/design-rules-everyone-should-know/similarity"
 alt="A grid of buttons that all look the same, except for one that is a different color"
 height={300}
 width={300}
/>

One nice thing about the way humans perceive things is that we use **similarity** to recognize things, and group them together. This comes from basic survival instincts - if you ate a fruit from a bush without getting sick, others that look similar are probably safe, too.

Apples to apples, literally.

Your reader will use similarity to group things together -- and just as well, things that are _dissimilar_ will stand out like a sore thumb. Break similarity when you want to bring attention to something, like the most important action on a page. This is why you'll often see a "sign up" button in a different color than everything else on a given page.

### 3. **Half the words, and then half again**

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/design-rules-everyone-should-know/half-the-words"
 alt="A paragraph of lorem ipsum text, with many words struck out by black lines"
 height={300}
 width={300}
/>

Every one of us has a tendency to write too much. We want to be thorough, and we want to make sure we cover all the bases. The trouble is, our natural disposition to write long-winded descriptions is at odds with our readers' desire to get to the point. Cut down the words on the page to the bare minimum, by following Steve Krug's adage:

> “Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left.”

Here's how I might rewrite for the paragraph above:

When it comes to writing, less is more. Don't waste users' time by making them read. Get to the point, and be memorable.

### 4. **Colors are math**

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/design-rules-everyone-should-know/colors"
 alt="A grayscale colorwheel, with an equilateral triangle overlayed on top of it, showing the relationship between 3 colors"
 height={300}
 width={300}
/>

For me, this was a big one - colors, and the way they interact with one-another, are predictable. In other words, we can tell whether a set of colors are likely to be in harmony with one another based on where they fall on the color wheel.

There are _many_ tools out there to help with this, too (see below for some examples). If you're working with a brand that has a specific color palette, you can use these tools to select colors that both complement _and_ contrast the brand's colors.

You don't need to have a _feel_ for colors - you can go a long way with the help of a calculator.

### 5. **The Rule of Thirds**

<Image
 publicId="newsletters/design-rules-everyone-should-know/rule-of-thirds"
 alt="A photo of a field of sunflowers in front of a clear sky, with a grid overlay demonstrating the rule of thirds"
 height={300}
 width={300}
/>

The Rule of Thirds comes from photography, where it's used to help guide the eye of the viewer. It's a simple rule: divide your image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, and place the most important elements of your image on the intersections of those lines.

It's a shortcut to make your image look and _feel_ great every time. You can do this with photos, graphics, and entire page layouts.

## Colors, colors, everywhere

Color is a powerful tool, and a tricky concept to master. There are many tools out there to help you pick colors that work well together, and I've listed a few of my favorites below.

🎨 There are many **color scheme tools** available online to help you pick the right colors for your project. I really like [Coolors](https://coolors.co/) for picking colors, and [Color Hunt](https://colorhunt.co/) for finding inspiration. If you happen to be using Material UI, Google has some incredible docs on [generating Material-friendly color palettes](https://material.io/design/color/the-color-system.html#tools-for-picking-colors).

🧙 I'm a huge fan of **[@color.nerd](https://www.tiktok.com/@color.nerd) on TikTok** - he's a wizard when it comes to color theory, and does a great job of illustrating how colors interact with one another in the real world.

🧰 Did you know that about **1 in 12 men are colorblind**? That's a staggering percentage - and it's why it's so important to make sure your colors are accessible to everyone. [Stark](https://www.getstark.co/) is an accessibility tool that plugs into Figma, Sketch, and your favorite browser. It will help you make sure your designs are accessible to everyone.

📙 If you're ready to dive into more, the **[Color Design Workbook](https://hardcover.app/books/color-design-workbook)**, by Terry Lee Stone, Sean Adams, and Noreen Morioka should be required reading. You'll get some great fundamentals of graphic design and color theory, and learn how to use colors in your designs.

📚 Ready to take a course on design? The squad over at [The Gymnasium](https://thegymnasium.com/ux-design) have a whole suite of **free, online courses on design**. Check out their [UX Design Collection](https://thegymnasium.com/ux-design) to get started.

## Just enough to be dangerous

I hope you found something useful in here - and you can start applying these rules to your own work. If you did, please consider sharing this with your network, or sending it to a friend who might benefit from it.

If you're looking for more, I've got a few resources to keep you busy - check out [my articles on design](https://mikebifulco.com/tags/design), and let me know what you think.

I'd love to hear your feedback, too. Did you learn something new? Are you thirsty for more? Let me know what you think, and I'll keep writing.

5 Design rules everyone should know

5 Rules of design to give you superpowers

3. **Half the words, and then half again**


This week, I'm thinking about the lifecycle of moonshot companies. In particular, ones we may have forgotten about as they lost popularity.

A moonshot company is one that aims to solve a big problem, but is unlikely to be profitable in the short term. They're often started by a small team, and are often funded by venture capital. The idea is that they'll grow quickly, and eventually become a big company that solves a big problem.

The term comes from the old adage, _Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars._

_Most_ moonshot companies don't make it to the moon or the stars. Instead, they become a stepping stone for new use cases, competition, and other product ideas. Every once in a while, though, an interesting thing happens -- an app that was once outrageously popular seems to fade into obscurity. I'm not sure why this happens, but it's worth thinking about.

## A blast from the past

You may remember [**FourSquare**](https://foursquare.com/), the popular app which let you check-in to a location and review it. If you checked-in frequently enough, you could become "mayor" of the spot.

It was a super cool idea that ended up being a direct competitor to Yelp, Google Maps, Trip Advisor and other services like them... and I thought it was _gone gone_ until last week, when a colleague mentioned that he was still using it. Get this: FourSquare has a loyal following! Superusers leave reviews on the app which tend to be more thorough and trustworthy than Yelp.

So, surprisingly enough, I reinstalled the app! It ended up being a great way to find good coffee shops while visiting my team in New York last week.

## Remember these apps?

- **Vine** was a social network that let users share 6 second video clips that would repeat when viewed. It was acquired by twitter in 2012 for $30M, and was eventually shut down because Twitter had other plans for video on their platform... and now the world uses TikTok, whose parent company, ByteDance, is worth an estimated $300B.

- **HQ Trivia** was a live trivia game show app that was wildly popular in 2018. It was acquired by the gaming company, Intermedia Labs, for $100M, and then shut down in 2020. Strangely, it appears to have been rebooted, asit is once again available in the app store.

- **Path** was a photo sharing social network app, which was popular in the early 2010s. It was founded by Shawn Fanning (of Napster fame) and was acquired by a South Korean company called Kakao in 2015. It was shut down in 2018, and the app is no longer available in the app store.

- **Yo** is definitely my favorite among this group. It was an app that let you send a message to your contacts -- and the only message was "Yo", accompanied by a sound effect. It was cofounded by [Or Arbel](https://twitter.com/orarbel), and the company raised $1.5M in funding. It was all over tech news for quite a while, but somehow never found a path to profitability. Even still, I sent my fair share of `Yo` messages to friends. I'm still not sure why, but this app has a special place in my heart.

## Recommendations: No-code for everyone

🤓 Last week, an article that I worked on for a while finally went live. [Devs: It's okay to use no-code tools](https://dev.to/stripe/devs-its-okay-to-use-no-code-tools-1gld) is a treatise I wrote to devs, imploring them to _try_ no-code tools. It's so much easier to automate work today than it was even just a few years ago. Even if you don't consider yourself technical, you can make something impressive with no-code tools.

🧪 Along those lines, [Mike Cardona](https://twitter.com/CSMikeCardona) has been publishing [Busy to Leveraged](https://letters.busytoleveraged.com/), which is all about how to build an automated a business with no-code tools.

🤖 My friend Aron Korenblit has been writing about automation for _years_ on his site [Automate All the Things](https://www.aatt.io/). Did you know you can use an Airtable as the content source for an entire website? Some real magic there.

📸 [Shottr](https://shottr.cc/) for MacOS is one of the best tools I've found for quickly annotating and sharing screenshots. It's optimized for new M1 Macs, too, so it's is super quick, and best of all - it's free!

## Please, make sure you're registered to vote!

(This is for my American friends - sorry international readers, but you'll have to bear with me for this one).

For crying out loud, please make sure you're registered to vote. Next month the US holds Midterm elections, and keeping the Congress in Democratic control is critical to the future of our country. You can check your voting registration status and register to vote over at [vote.org](https://www.vote.org/register-to-vote/).


Remember these apps?

Please, make sure you're registered to vote!


Hi there,
I hope you're well.

A few weeks ago, Apple launched their 2022 lineup of iPhones.

It was a typical event for Apple, with tremendous production values and exciting product announcements from executives. I'm always struck by how much intention and design goes into the production of Apple's live events - every single moment is scripted carefully; every camera angle is calculated and precise.

One thing that always stands out to me is the way that _Apple_ refers to their phones. During launch events, you'll never hear someone from apple talk about "the iPhone", or "an iPhone".

Seriously - go back and listen.

They will say things like "iPhone enables gorgeous photo capture across the entire range of light", or "iPhone 14 is designed to last".

That's a tiny change, but it's so significant. By never saying "the iPhone", Apple creates an air of elevated expectation for their product. The way that language is used is critical in marketing and sales, and Apple is a master at using language to create an emotional connection to their products.

If you're not paying attention, you might not even notice it. But it's something that I think about every time I see Apple use language to manipulate buyers.

What's even more interesting to me is the other side of this -- consumer behavior. Listen to people talking about their devices, and they speak differently still. Most people won't say "yesterday I got an iPhone 14" - instead, you're likely to hear "yesterday, I got **the** iPhone 14".

My friends, they made more than one. I promise.

And yet, it feels more special, exclusive, privileged to call your phone **the** iPhone 14.

Fascinating!

This week's dispatch of Tiny Improvements focuses on language and cognition.

## The way we talk about our things

You don't have to take my word (lol) on language and cognition. These are some of of my favorite resources on the topic, from around the web:

🎙 [**The Allusionist**](https://www.theallusionist.org/): A podcast about language, hosted by Helen Zaltzman. Helen is a fantastic host, and the show is always interesting and entertaining.

📖 [**Cultish: The Language of fanaticism**](https://hardcover.app/books/cultish) is a book by [Amanda Montell](https://twitter.com/AmandaMontell) on the language used to create and control people within cults of all sorts - from religion to fitness, politics and MLMs. It's a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it.

🦤 [**Toucan**](https://jointoucan.com/) is a browser extension that helps you immerse yourself in language learning, by replacing words on web pages you're visiting with vocabulary in another language. I've been using it to bolster my learning of Japanese. Their free tier is generous and super helpful. Give it a shot!

## From me this week

- I published an article on [using the ConvertKit API with Remix](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/publish-your-newsletter-with-convertkit-api-remix) to publish past newsletter issues to the web. It started as a quick experiment, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'll be publishing a follow-up article on how to use the same technique to publish your newsletter with Next.js, too.

- A great demonstration of why I love sharing on twitter - what started as a [tweet on my thoughts about figma getting acquired](https://twitter.com/irreverentmike/status/1570393684130103298) turned into a discussion on how to improve UX for signups on my site. You may be here because of it!
- It's officially busy season for work - and I'll be attending a few events in the coming weeks. Most will have livestreams or recordings, so I'll be sure to share them here.

That's all for now - thanks for reading. If you found this useful, I'd love it if you shared Tiny Improvements with a friend. It's the best way to help me grow the newsletter.

Until next time,

-M


The way we talk about our things


Hey - stop keeping your work a secret.

People building new products have a tendency to keep their projects secret until launch. Usually this is chalked up to a fear of a person or company stealing your idea. I'm willing to bet that we all know someone who has hidden their work from the world until it is "ready" or "done".

Here's the thing: When you keep your product journey a secret, you are robbing yourself of the chance to connect with people who might be interested in you and your product. There are countless success stories from people building in public online -- I'll even share a few below -- and very, very few success stories about things that are built in stealth, and only revealed to the world on launch day.

You don't have to trust me on this, but you should - I've made this mistake before.

You have more to gain by sharing your work with the world than you do by keeping it a secret. It's simple: make the process of building your product part of marketing it. Let people see the bumps and bruises, the moments of joy, and the uncertainties you encounter. Use this to build yourself a community of people who are interested in your product and your journey. Their interest will go past just your product - they'll be interested in you, and your story, and you'll see attachment that is difficult to replicate with a traditional marketing campaign _after_ launch.

The #indiehackers community has been doing this for years, and it's a big reason why many have been so successful.

![A chart comparing the kinetic energy of a Tesla Model 3, a Honda Civic Si, and a Hummer EV in a crash](https://res.cloudinary.com/mikebifulco-com/image/upload/v1663072457/newsletters/building-in-public/cover.png)

## Bigger trucks endanger us all

Have you noticed trucks are getting bigger? Next time you see a new truck in a parking lot, stand next to it - the hood on a new Chevy Silverado comes up to my forehead!

Trucks are extremely popular in the United States - there's no getting around that. I saw some friends sharing an article about the New Hummer EV, which weighs in at an absolutely staggering 9,046lbs. I made the chart above to highlight an important point: in an accident, the hummer EV carries _much_ more energy with it, especially at speeds above 40mph. It has the potential to be far deadlier than the other two cars in the chart. For the sake of comparison, I also included two lines for the F150 (the most popular truck in the world) - depending on its configuration, it can weigh between 4,021lbs and 7,050lbs.

Heavier trucks are worse for the road, more dangerous in collisions, and worse for the environment. I'd wager that more than 90% of these trucks are bought for the sake of vanity... and that's a problem.

## What I've been working on

Practice what you preach, right? It's been a busy few weeks over here.

I recently published an article showing how to recreate [The Orton Effect](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/orton-effect-css-react) with CSS and React. A few weeks back, I shared a post about my thoughts on working remotely, and finding happiness. It has started some great discussions, which was exactly the goal. Check out my article on [the third place](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/remote-work-and-the-third-place) and let me know what you think.

I've also been publishing **new episodes of my podcast, Tiny Improvements**, which you can [subscribe to here](https://plnk.to/tiny-improvements?to=page).

## Great products being built in public

**Todo lists for people with ADHD**
[Llama Life](https://llamalife.co/) is a thoughtfully designed web app for keeping track of the things you need to get done. It's a project that I've been watching for a while, particularly because the app's creator, [Marie Ng](https://twitter.com/threehourcoffee) does an amazing job of sharing her story over on twitter. It's a simple product that is changing peoples' lives, and has a serious following.

**Write like a doc, present like a deck**
[Gamma.app](https://gamma.app) puts a new spin on the presentation tool. It allows you to create beautiful presentations with a workflow much closer to authoring a document than something like a traditional PowerPoint. If you like writing, and hate laying out slides, this one's for you. Built by @by [@thatsjonsense](https://twitter.com/thatsjonsense) and [@thisisgrantlee](https://twitter.com/thisisgrantlee)

**Convert your most engaged readers into newsletter subscribers**
[Polite Pop](https://politepop.com) is a website plugin that _politely_ prompts your readers to sign up for your newsletter. I use it on my site (you may be reading this because of it!), and it's been a great way to grow my newsletter. It's built by [@panphora](https://twitter.com/panphora), and you can see updates for the product on twitter at [@polite_pop](https://twitter.com/polite_pop)


What I've learned from working in public


Hey there,

I hope you had a great week. I [spoke at a conference](https://twitter.com/fintechdevcon/status/1562477596343816193) called Fintech Devcon last week in Denver, Colorado, about how we use Friction Logs to make our products better at Stripe.

It was the first time I had traveled for work in a while, and I found it extremely refreshing. The recording for my talk should be available soon - I'll be sure to share it once it is live.

I was also able to explore Denver a bit while I was there. The River North Arts District (or Rino) was great fun - I can see why people are moving there in droves.

## Learn with me

📝 Finding balance as a remote worker - I wrote an article on the Third Space and why it is important for remote workers finding balance. It was a super fun project to work on and I'm excited to share it with you. It's called "[The third place - the secret to a happy life for remote workers](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/remote-work-and-the-third-place)".

📹 Supercharge your video call setup - This [twitter thread by @theKevinShen](https://twitter.com/theKevinShen/status/1565791729906745348) shares some helpful tips for improving your video setup for calls. This one is really useful if you're doing a lot of calls with other people for work. Your presentation on video can have a real psychological effect on the people you're meeting with!

🧘‍♂️ Write more, write better - I've been working on developing a daily writing habit. This has helped me become more aware of how I use language which is making me more effective at writing great content for my job, and for Tiny Improvements!

Thanks for reading Tiny Improvements. If you found this helpful, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. It helps me out a great deal!

Until next time - be excellent to each other!

-Mike


Balance for remote workers

Hi there,

I hope you're well.

This week we remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., just days before the inauguration of America's 46th President, Joe Biden. As the inauguration draws nearer, I hope you're able to take some time to sit with the importance of this week in the context of history, of the past four years, the past year, and within the context of your own life.

I'll leave you with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that a friend shared:

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

This is the time to step up and do your part. I'm proud of you for the hard work you put in, and I understand if you feel tattered and exhausted from the past year. Do what you can to stand up for the things you believe in, and use your voice and your actions to amplify the people that are making this world a better place.

✊ We're all in this together.

## This stuff has been living in my brain rent free...

- ⏲️ **Temporal illusions** are like optical illusions... but for time. (Note: Very 2019 metaphor incoming) Ever wonder why a delay at the airport on your way to vacation (I know, I know) feels so damn long? [Check out this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHL9GP_B30E) from YouTube channel Vsauce for a stretchy explanation of our trippy perception of time.
- 💃 About a week ago, the **Great Gatsby lost copyright protection in the US** (the life of the author plus 70 years). That means it is now in the public domain, and we may start seeing some interesting works based on Gatsby.. What an appropriate time for it, too! Check out this really cool [Graphic Novel version of The Great Gatsby](https://www.woodmanmaynard.com/the-great-gatsby-graphic-novel), by K. Woodman-Maynard.
- 🤙 If you're an American, [5Calls.org](https://5calls.org/) is a super easy way for you make 5 quick calls to people who represent you in congress. Tell them you're a constituent, what city you live in, and a brief message about what you support. For example: "Hey, this is Mike, a citizen from Charlotte, and I'm calling to voice support for removing president Trump from office." That's all it takes!
- 🎵 Ever wonder what goes into **designing a font for musicians** to use? Did you know that sheet music used to be freaking hand engraved?! Honestly, neither did I! That didn't stop me from going deep on this fantastic [video from Tantacrul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGo4PJd1lng) about his work on the matter. Get in there and learn a bit - it's fascinating, even if you're not a musician.
- 🏞️ In green-ness news, the city of Paris has approved plans to **turn the iconic Champs-Élysées into a giant city park**. I have fond memories of meandering the Champs with two dear friends during a work trip in 2016. Freeing that area of car traffic will be absolutely transcendent. Check out this [article from The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/10/paris-approves-plan-to-turn-champs-elysees-into-extraordinary-garden-anne-hidalgo) discussing the project.

If you enjoy my musings, I'd love it if you'd share _Tiny Improvements_ with a friend. Feel free to forward this to them, or shuttle them directly over to [newsletter signup on my website](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter). Thanks in advance - it means the world.

Do yourself a favor and take an extra moment to be kind to yourself this week. While you're at it, be excellent to each other.

<hr />

Talk soon!

Mike

Has it been four years already?

This stuff has been living in my brain rent free...

💌 Tiny Improvements

Read past dispatches