There’s two different main purposes for routines, and advice-givers mix them up. They lump these two quite different things under “morning routine” and it causes trouble when you try to design your own.
Partly, I include this because The Whippet is a sometimes quirky, often insightful, but always interesting little missive that I enjoy following/reading.
But also, WAIT WAT! …how is it I’ve never heard this idea/distinction before? Scroll down about 2/3 in issue № 185 to find this neat stuff about habits.
How can podcasters build meaningful relationships that expand their reach, create new opportunities, and grow their shows—without relying on promotion or algorithms?
A five-step method helps you land dream collaborations by being helpful, not pushy.
[One little shift?] That’s it. If I hadn’t have gone to that event, if I hadn’t have just dumped my coat and helped direct people, if I hadn’t offered to help for free, if I hadn’t got to know the team, if I hadn’t, if I’d asked for the wrong thing or too much or too, I don’t know if I’d got the ask wrong, any one of those things could have ended up being like a Sliding Doors [the 1998 film -ed] moment where I then I go from 3000 leads to just going about my life as a coach.
~ Robin Waite (15:00)
Robin Waite shares how he reinvented his business growth strategy by focusing on building partnerships rather than following conventional marketing playbooks. Feeling burnt out by social media and traditional outreach, he adopted an “outside-in” approach—intentionally targeting people he admired, getting in the same room with them, and offering help without expectation. His approach centers on showing up, adding value, and making intentional asks that are aligned with what others actually need.
He illustrates this with a detailed story of how he ended up as a guest on Ali Abdaal’s Deep Dive podcast, which generated over 3,000 leads and $300,000 in business. Key elements included making himself useful at events, building relationships with team members, and being ready with a modest but well-timed ask. Waite expands on this philosophy by identifying five steps: be intentional, get in the room, be helpful, find the inside person, and offer something on a silver platter. The conversation underscores the power of authentic connection, strategic generosity, and long-term thinking in business development.
Price’s research comes at a moment when a growing number of archaeological finds and genetic analyses of ancient animal remains are adding layers of nuance to the story of domestication and partnership. Canines and humans, through their dynamic interactions, have formed one of the most unique, complex, and mutually beneficial relationships in history.
Another interpretation is that everyday life, for most people, is an untapped gold mine. Certain undone tasks represent huge gains, waiting just a short time away, behind one session of elbow grease. Even ten or fifteen minutes of directed effort, judiciously applied, can improve your life far more than the wages you earn for the same period.
It’s interesting to note that I only just read this, this evening… after fix a table on my patio today. Yesterday, I grouped together a pile of errands—four different stops with multiple “I need…” for different chores and repairs at each stop. The table is a hulking cedar and steel pipe beast. I need some wood putty, and spar varnish. Today, I got out the sander and mixing little work sessions, with other things, I worked through various sandpaper grits, wood putty iterations, and 3 coats of spar varnish. I did an “80%” jobs at every step of the way. By tomorrow it will be completely dry and ready for use again. I use it every day spring through fall, and this couple hours of work will now yield—probably—3 more seasons of unfussy use.
I also used the rest of the little can of varnish to slap a coat on the garden gate.
For example, fasting stimulates the natural production of growth hormone. So does vigorous exercise, particularly resistance exercise with a strong anaerobic component (not cardio though). And, to the surprise of many people, deep sleep stimulates the natural production of growth hormone, perhaps more than anything else. (Although only once every 24 hours; sleeping all day does not seem to work.)
But, when you work in six week cycles, or relatively short time frames, later means something else entirely. There’s no time for later. It’s now or not. Later doesn’t mean we’ll get to it at the end of this cycle. It means we’ll drop it. Later means another time, not this time. Later isn’t an obligation, it’s a maybe. Later isn’t a cage, it’s freedom. It’s not a debt to pay off, it’s an asset. There’s no pile of pile ups, there’s no guilt, there’s no feeling of late nights and crunch time ahead. Later simply means not now, not soon, and not for sure.
I read this and it really landed. Six weeks. Six weeks is an amount of time I can truly apprehend and plan for. Six weeks has become my new project size. If it cannot be done in six weeks, it needs to be broken down into multiple projects.
The movie is also missing (though it very nearly captured) a fascinating archaeological sidenote to the story: the extraordinary investigations of Dutch archaeologist Hendrik Robert van Heekeren while he was a prisoner of war.
Sure, it’s a film from the 50s, so it’s going to gloss over some things. But it’s interesting to learn about what really went on in that theater [of war.]
What foundation is needed to create a sustainable and successful podcast without becoming overwhelmed by the complexity of the process?
Small, continuous improvements differentiate successful podcasters from those who fade.
When the first computers showed up at the school, they didn’t even know how to teach it yet. So you get those tools and you start layering them into your process. Then you learn how to break it and make something your own. That’s where your art, your style, your uniqueness comes through. But if you didn’t have that foundation, you don’t really have a right to jump to those other things— It just doesn’t work out most often.
~ Tracy Hazzard (11:47)
Tracy Hazzard explores the importance of building strong foundational skills before layering on tactics in podcasting, using examples from art and design education. The conversation highlights the ongoing challenges of rebooting a podcast show, particularly the unexpected complexity of shifting to a deconstructed review format. Attention is given to how applying design thinking can help evaluate what parts of podcast production should be simplified or improved.
Other topics include the value of owning a website and email list to control audience relationships, with personal anecdotes about SEO dominance and long-term content value. The discussion also covers practical strategies for sustainable podcast production, including the benefits of small team workflows, using AI to streamline writing tasks, and the pitfalls of overcomplicating production processes.
Our self-awareness as actors is pretty missing in that way! There are plenty of times where I thought, “That was something…” And then nobody thought that was anything. (Laughs) And then there’s other times where I said, “Oh, I don’t know about that.” And everybody loves it! So it’s not that easy.