153: Shane Snow - Smartcuts

# Episode 153 **Summary:** In Episode #153 Ari is joined by Shane Snow, author of [Smartcuts](http://amzn.to/1c2AAeL), a book that highlights how hour-hackers and innovators (like Ari Meisel) help improve not only their lives but the lives of those around them. This is a seriously juicy interview and one no Less Doing fanatic will want to miss! **Special Announcements:** # [Less Doing Does Europe!](https://www.gazelles.com/summits/EGS-2015/Barcelona/index.html) Watch Ari bring the lessons of Less Doing to some of Europe’s most famous cities including Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam and Budapest for the 2015 European Growth Summit. Ari will be joined by fellow masters of entrepreneurship Steve Martin, Director of _Influence at Work_ in the UK, and Verne Harnish, founder and CEO of Gazelles. ## EO Vancouver On June 18th, join Ari at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in b-e-a-utiful Vancouver, B.C. as he takes the microphone for _EO Vancouver_. Enjoy this unique opportunity to watch Ari candidly discuss life as an Author, Speaker, Teacher and – most importantly – Achievement Architect. **Time Stamped Show Notes:** - 16:14 – Introduction of Shane Snow, author of [Smartcuts](http://amzn.to/1c2AAeL) and co-founder of [Contently](https://contently.com/) - 16:33 – Shane shares the origins of Contently - 16:45 – There was/is a trend of journalistic talent being treated as a “variable cost” by employers - 17:04 – Increasing trend of non-traditional publishers - 18:32 – We’re talking about [Soylent](https://www.soylent.com/) people! - 20:55 – Living on it is pretty miserable but it IS convenient - 21:53 – The best thing about Soylent?—it sparked a conversation about nutrition - 23:06 – Improper nutrition has emotional consequences - 23:57 – A lot of our social interactions and relationships are formed in or around food - 25:50 – There is a real benefit to doing certain things (like cleaning, cooking, etc) yourself from a social standpoint - 26:32 – Don’t be afraid to take a contrarian view - 27:11 – Too many of us think we’re “working hard” by doing tasks, jobs, etc. the way we were told to do them - 27:58 – Lateral Thinking—Approaching problem solving sideways—shift your perspective and look at the problem differently - 28:25 – Most people solve problems linearly—the algebra way - 29:45 – Those that have accomplished the greatest things in our society have applied their work in a “smarter” direction - 30:02 – [Escape the room](http://static.escapetheroomnyc.com/) - 31:23 – Lateral thinking is a skill that can be learned - 32:40 – Why do immigrants start so many businesses? Why do multi-sex boardrooms outperform unisex ones?—They are immune to the norms of whatever they are getting into - 33:45 – Seeing more of the world is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself - 34:42 – Ask yourself “How would X look at this problem?” where “X” is someone extraordinarily different from yourself - 35:27 – More often than not, we are in our own way - 35:59 – When you become an “expert” you tend to obtain blinders - 38:45 – Having an agitator in your life is really beneficial - 39:00 – Experiencing the uncomfortable spurs the mind to think differently - 39:39 – Shane shares some of his favorite stories from [Smartcuts](http://amzn.to/1c2AAeL) - 41:19 – What makes for a good president or leader?—Adaptability - 43:34 – About half the stories Shane covered didn’t even make it to the book - 46:32 – List out all the assumptions inherent to a problem and create hypotheticals by crossing some of the assumptions out - 47:25 – What is would the expected way of doing “X” be and why are we doing it that way? - 48:42 – Great stories are a product of three things: reporting, writing and thinking—most people are pretty good at the first two but not the third and that’s the difference between OK content and amazing content - 49:10 – Shane’s _Top 3 Tips to be More Effectiv