We need a thread for gratuitous fun: Stuff that has nothing to do with marketing, business, copy, daily emails... but that is fun for fun's sake. (Even a little bit of fun is better than none.) I'd like to kick things off with the attached (and real, not AI) photo of a beaver, which I put in an email a long time ago, apropos of nothing. If you have jokes, funny pictures, memes, ideas for "disconnected infotainment," put 'em in here. On Fridays... or really on any other days.

It's Memorial Day in the U.S. It's Whit Monday in Spain. (I'm not Catholic and I have no idea what Whit Monday is, but apparently it's cause enough for everything to work like it's Sunday.) Are you working today? If so, where? On what? I myself am working. My cleaning woman is here so I am on the roof of my building. There's a small pool here, one German girl tanning herself, a couple young Russian guys who I guess live in the building, a woman who must be the mother of one of the guys. She is drinking beer, they are not. Up above, I can hear a few seagulls shrieking and a police siren somewhere in the distance. I'm replying to emails that have built up over the past few days. And in a half hour, I have to get on a call with @Nick Bandy , to hatch evil schemes.

For the past few months, I've been subscribed for free to a Substack called Dead Language Society. They finally got me. Last week I upgraded to paid. It's the only newsletter subscription I pay for. Dead Language Society is about English, as in the language. The history and the structure of English. I find myself reading each post from beginning to end finding myself enlightened. A few recent examples: - The ancient logic of “snuck” ("sneaked" is what the English say, so where did Americans get "snuck"?) - No, Shakespeare didn’t invent those words ("assassination," "eyeball," "obscene," ...) - How far back in time can you understand English? (a story told in progressively older variants of English to show you where the language becomes unrecognizable to modern speakers) With a paid subscription you get all the articles... and there's a book club. Where you read middle- and old-English texts. In the original. I'm looking forward to joining. It takes a special kind of perversion, leaning towards masochism, to take pleasure in this stuff. But if you swing this way, I got 5 free 1-month subscriptions to give out when I signed up for paid. If you genuinely want one, comment below, and I'll get you one. While supplies last.

In another thread, @Gc Tsalamagkakis asks about email stories, like the equivalent of social media updates: "Like, I have a cool new update about something coming up, but I don't wanna write a whole ass email to my list about it + I might already have a different email programmed for the day." About that, I already have my emails scheduled for this week. So let me try a Skool story. I have been almost completely away from this group for the past week because I have been on a boat in Greece. Mostly without reception. And in any case away from the computer. I gotta admit, it's been great! Photos attached for proof. ⛵🌊🇬🇷☀️🧿🐬🍉🍷⚓🏝️😎🐙🔥🛥️💸🌞🧜‍♂️🐟🍾🌬️📍😵‍💫💙 #BornToYachtForcedToWork #HellenicMainCharacterEnergy #SponsoredByTzatziki #MarinaMenace #DrunkOnOliveOil #AegeanSeaEmotionalSupportProgram #CertifiedIslandHopper #HydratedByOuzo #AncientGreekInfluencer #ZeusTakeTheWheel #FloatingTaxWriteoff #NoLandlordCanReachMeHere #MykonosMentallyDelusional #SailFirstAskQuestionsLater

OFFICIAL GAME BOARD WITH CORRECT GUESSES: 1. Shiny object syndrome, too many systems, books, productivity apps, etc. [@Howard Shaw] 2. Lack of consistency with any system [@Ivan Srsen] 3. Procrastination, inner resistance [@Rene Kerkdyk] 4. Not getting enough sleep, not getting to work when you're actually productive [@Ralph George] 5. Kids, life constraints, legit not enough time, particularly for focused work [ @Aneisha Velazquez] A few days ago, I ran a poll asking how you feel about productivity. The largest number of folks voted to say productivity is a priority for them right now. I then followed up with a lot of those people by DM to ask what they had tried already to be productive... and what was really the end goal with being more productive? I compiled all those answers and looked at common patterns — what sucks now, what would be a great outcome, what's stopping people from getting there. (Incidentally, if you need a marketing and business lesson then ↑↑↑↑↑↑ is a great business practice to engage in. In the words of marketer Travis Sago, "Get your market to write your marketing.") I was thinking of sharing my findings in this post. But you know what's 1000x better than sharing data? Playing a game. So let's play FAMILY FEUD. The question is, "What are the most common causes keeping people from being productive?" As in the TV version of Family Feud, you are trying to guess the 5 MOST POPULAR responses from among those I collected. You can guess as many times as you like. But each wrong response gets you a strike. Three strikes and you're out of the game. Whoever gets the most correct answers WINS A CAR. You ready? Then guess away below: