Lukas Liebich

What physical activity comes to your mind when you hear “Networking?”
I’m guessing: You being in an event trying to talk to strangers? Here’s a secret:

👉 Meeting strangers is the OBVIOUS way to “network.”

For most people, it’s also the “maybe a waste of time” and also “a bit dirty” way.
Luckily: There are other ways.
Does it also happen to you that you meet someone - have a really good time whenever you meet them - but then life happens?
A couple of months or years later, they’re completely off your mind.
You would actually enjoy seeing them again, but initiating that meeting is just too much effort.

Funny thing: MOST PEOPLE are like that.

👉 People are bad at staying in touch.

Use this to your benefit: Start organizing reunions.

• High school reunion.

• Elementary school reunion.

• Erasmus Student Club Year 20xx reunion.

• Argentine Tango Dancing Platypus Club Year 20xx reunion.

…and more. See what I mean?

Many of those people are in an interesting place in their lives now.
Most of those people will be happy to talk to you.
ALL of them will be happy you got in touch.

A reunion is a more time-effective way of getting back in touch than meeting everyone for lunch or a coffee 1:1.
You have INSTANT TRUST, you’ve known each other for YEARS, maybe DECADES!
And there is NO AWKWARDNESS. Because you are NO STRANGERS.

As you’re thinking of the next networking event or the next humongous conference to attend, remember:

There’s a lot of amazing people FORGOTTEN in your Friend/Contact list.

Most of them are WAITING for you to invite them to a reunion.

Even if they don’t know it yet.

Get in touch.

Imagine that you pick a good habit for yourself today - and manage to stick to it for a DECADE.

Where would you be ten years from now?

Here's how I managed to stick to one habit of mine: Public Speaking.

👉 Thanks to my membership in Toastmasters.

I joined in 2012. Since then, I’ve been speaking in public at least two or three times per week.

The impact on my life was MASSIVE.

Do you think it was easy?

Here's the thing: Actually, it was!

The reason is twofold:

1️⃣ I always knew Public Speaking was GOOD FOR ME

This was clear: Mastering public speaking would be a huge plus for my private and professional life.

But like with exercise or broccoli, just knowing that something is GOOD FOR YOU is never a guarantee of you ACTUALLY DOING IT.

Here came the second, more varied part:

2️⃣ Public Speaking always gave me INSTANT GRATIFICATION

The source of instant gratification changed over time:

▸ First weeks: Adrenaline from overcoming the discomfort of standing in front of a group.

▸ First months: Applause and supportive written feedback from all audience members.

▸ Second year: Making others laugh.

▸ Third year: Winning contests.

▸ Fourth year: Being the star when delivering workshops at international conferences.

▸ Fifth year: Making the crowds sing “Baby One More Time.”

▸ …and so on

While the source changed, there was always SOME instant gratification in public speaking for me.

You might think most of these were “pure vanity.” Maybe.

But they all made me stick to the one thing that was good for me: Public Speaking. Every week. Several times per week.

Here's the lesson for you:

👉 If you’re planning to change your life today...
👉 If you're planning to form a new habit, that could possibly give you MASSIVE benefits: Here’s one thing you need to make sure of:
🔴 Find instant gratification.

If you have it at every step of the journey - you will never quit.

You might even stick to it for a DECADE.

Even thousands are okay. Don't you believe me?

Have a better look at the photo.

It is taken in Museo Picasso Malaga. And that green stuff - these are dots stuck to the wall by hundreds, possibly thousands of participants.

Each participant had the chance to express their opinion on how much is art (left to right):

‣ Truth vs Lie

‣ Profound vs Superficial

‣ Serious vs Fun

‣ Reality vs Utopia

‣ Compliant vs Rebellious

HOWEVER:

Keep in mind that this voting goes on for months, perhaps years. All those voting participants did not have to stand in front of the wall at the same time.

Whenever you're organizing dot-voting in your workshop:

👉 Take into account the size of the room, the size of the wall and the amount of participants that will need to be at the same time in the same spot.

The devil is in the details.

Karl uses his PowerPoint in a boring way. Eugen creates anticipation.

Here's how Karl goes about it:

[click] (slide one appears)

Karl: "This is what you see on the first slide."

👉 But we've seen the slide before Karl opened his mouth. He's telling us old news.

[click] (slide two appears)

Karl: "This is what you see on the second slide."

👉 Again, old news, Karl!

[click] (and so on)

Eugen, on the contrary, goes like this:

"On the next slide, I'm going to show you something that might surprise you... Some of you might even get uncomfortable. But it's something we all will have to deal with."

[pause]

[anticipation rises]

"Are you ready for it? Please pay good attention..."

[anticipation rises further]

[click]

👉 Don't be like Karl. Be like Eugen.

The 3 Steps to Create Anticipation:

Step 1️⃣: Hint

Step 2️⃣: Pause

Step 3️⃣: Deliver

I worked in Management Consulting for 4.5 years.

In that time, I collected some amazing experiences:

• Evaluated which real-estate an energy company should keep in its portfolio - and which to get rid of

• Helped test an actuarial system for a big insurance company

• Improved an Excel model that suggested which IT assets should be replaced when

• Ate 27 waffles with whipped cream and nutella while meeting consultants from all over the world in our company training center near Chicago

There isn't much I would change about my journey.

But if I could go back, here are a few of the mistakes I made in my first years—and what I would have done differently:

Mistake 1: Not saying "I don't know how to do this" early enough

Everyone around me seemed so busy. Even when I was struggling with something, I would not dare to ask for help.

Trying to figure stuff out on my own resulted in a lot of stress - and poor performance.

Today: If I was asked to do something, but would not be clear on how to do it - I would ask immediately. I would not stop asking until I would get a clear guidance how to get it done.

Mistake 2: Volunteering Mindlessly

It's good to be the "nice guy" helping everyone out. But without giving it any thought, I often ended up doing stuff that was hard to do, but nobody appreciated.

Today: I would offer help with things that were hard for the other person to do - but easy for me. And I would make sure I get the credit!

Mistake 3: Focusing more on "Doing Pretty Slides" than "Understanding the Business"

Our deliverables were the slides. It was my job to create the slides. And trust me, they had to be very pretty slides.

I ended up spending 80% of my time on making the slides pretty and only 20% of time on trying to understand what was the big idea on those slides.

Today: I would drastically cut the time on making the slides pretty. Instead, I would think more deeply about the work I was doing. And I would also get more sleep.

Jason Fried is the co-founder 37Signals, author of the book ReWork and speaker in the TED Talk “Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work.”

Here are 4 Jason Fried quotes that clearly answer the question: "Why should we be careful with meetings?"

🧂 Meetings = Salt

“Meetings should be like salt - a spice sprinkled carefully to enhance a dish, not poured recklessly over every forkful. Too much salt destroys a dish. Too many meetings destroy morale and motivation.”

Too much salt can make you sick. Think every time before adding it.

🍰 Meetings = Treat

“By rationing in-person meetings, their stature is elevated to that of a rare treat. They become something to be savored, something special.”

When you know you can’t have a meeting ANY TIME YOU WANT, everyone will put more thought and more prep work into it.

You might even book a pro facilitator to make sure you get the most out of your meeting time!

👨‍✈️ Meetings + Managers = Work does not get done

“These two staples of work life - meetings and managers - are actually the greatest causes of work not getting done at the office. In fact, the further away you are from both meetings and managers, the more work gets done.”

If you’re a manager, your job is to protect your people from meetings - and from yourself.

🔪🗡🤺 Meetings and Interruptions Cut Your Day to Pieces

“It's like, the front door of the office is like a Cuisinart, and you walk in, and your day is shredded to bits because you have 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there, and something else happens, you're pulled off your work, then you have 20 minutes, then it's lunch, then you have something else to do.”

Block your time - or the salt will keep falling in and you won’t get anything done!

Use any of these quotes to appear smart in your next meeting!

Or even better:

👉 Give them some thought.

👉 Act on them.

👉 Help create a workplace where people get stuff done and don't spend their best years in meetings.

Look, I get it - why waste money? It’s great to live by the rule that you never buy anything unless you REALLY need it.

And after all, it’s not about the tool but about how you’re using it, isn’t it?

But being too rigid about this makes you miss out on possible big life improvements.

Here are five examples that did the trick for me:

1️⃣ Notion

I actually started organizing my notes since I switched from Evernote to Notion. For me, organizing notes in Notion is much more intuitive.

Lasting effect: I organize my notes as I create them, and then I can find what I want FASTER.

2️⃣ Macbook

My writing output increased since I switched from Windows PC to a Mac. I just love to type on my Mac keyboard.

Lasting effect: A TON MORE LinkedIn Posts & Tweets.

3️⃣ Dutch Oven

I started cooking more healthy meals since I bought the Dutch oven. Throw in some meat, throw in some vegetables, put in the oven for 2 hours. As easy as that.

Lasting effect: Eating LESS FRIED FOOD.

4️⃣ Smart Scale

Another I can trace another improvement to the purchase of a smart scale. I measure my weight every morning after waking up. When I start putting on weight, I see it IMMEDIATELY.

Lasting effect: Ability to respond QUICKLY to my changing weight by limiting my NACHOS & BURGER INTAKE.

5️⃣ Spinning Bike

My fitness has improved tremendously since I bought a new spinning bike, which I can connect to my iPad.

Lasting effect: HUGELY improved cardio fitness.

Mindlessly buying every shiny object is not sensible. But neither is refusing everything.

Use common sense. There's some stuff out there that can change your life for the better!

It was a Friday, June 10th, in one of my favorite places in Brno.

I asked the waitress: “Could you take a picture of me behind the bar?” She hesitated…

I was in Brno back in June because I was attending a weekend Toastmasters event. But I arrived already on Thursday.

Brno is a city 2.5 hours away from Prague.

It has a population of 380 thousand, and its center is filled with cool hipster bars & cafes. My favorite one is called “4 Rooms”.

While it is likely more known for the nightlife (it is open till 5 am), it’s a great place to have breakfast too. The layout and lights make me feel I’m in a different world - and the menu offers an original twist on classic hipster cafe items such as eggs Benedict or affogato.

They have a very cool-looking bar. On that morning, I thought: “Would be nice to have a photo of me standing behind it.”

Of course, it’s an “employees only” area. So when the waitress - a dark-haired woman in her early twenties came to my table to ask if I wanted anything else, I asked her: “Could you take a photo of me standing behind the bar?”

When she heard my question, first she was confused. Then she said: “I don’t know. I will ask the manager.”

“No problem.”

She walked away from my table, and found her manager - a lady a couple of years her senior. I saw the waitress explain the situation - and point at me. I looked somewhere else, not to make this too awkward.

A minute later, the waitress came back to me and said: “Sorry, we can’t do that.”

A slightly awkward situation finished with a clear rejection.

But you know what? I did not mind at all.

How come?

Because I had made SAME REQUEST, in the exact SAME PLACE, one year before.

You know what the answer was back then?

“Sure, no problem!” 🤷 🤣

This means: In June this year, I already had a photo of me behind the bar in my iPhone’s camera roll. I just wanted a new one.

Many times before, I heard things like: “When you get rejected, it’s not about you, but about the other person and the situation.” But this situation made me experienced it.

It was not ME BEING REJECTED - just the situation on June 10th at 8:30 am was: No photos behind the bar for you TODAY, Lukas.

The takeaway?

Wayne Gretzky said:

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.”

You don’t get 100% of the things you don’t ask for.

Well then: Whenever you have something you consider asking: Ask!

A lot about the answer you’ll get does not depend on you, but on circumstances that change every day.

Why not improve your chances?

P.S.: I was in Brno again from Sunday to Tuesday. On Monday morning, I went to have a breakfast at 4 Rooms. Again, I asked for the photo - and this time, I got it. Improving my success rate to 66%!

Looking back at my 8 years of online writing: Here are 5 things I wish I knew when I started.

Use them to accelerate your own progress:

1. No one will remember the writing that sucked

It took me more than two years to publish that first blog post.

Why? I was worried: “What if someone will think what I wrote was stupid?”

Now I know: Nobody cares.

Don’t postpone - it will only delay your growth!

2. …but you should aim at getting better!

For years, I was just posting stuff, without reflecting on it. What a missed opportunity!

Now I know what my goals are - and I’m trying different tactics to achieve them.

Do people click the link? Do people engage with the content? Do they share it? How can I get more of all that?

3. Headline Should Give a Clear Promise, Not Create a Mystery

Sample headline from my first year: “I Hate Doing This!”

What a mysterious title! But can this help anyone?

At the time, I had a lot of friends who were interested in what I had to say. But someone who did not know me back then? They had no reason to “click.”

Now I know that my headline should have been:

“Hate Doing Spreadsheets? Here’s how you can turn it into a competitive advantage!”

4. You Won’t Get Magically Discovered

For years, I never took any effort for my writing to be discovered by strangers. I shared it with my friends on Facebook - and that was it. No effort whatsoever.

Today I post on LinkedIn and Twitter - and actively engage with people outside of my network who I think could be interested in what I have to say.

5. You Don’t Need a System. But System Helps You Create Faster.

It is possible to start writing on a blank page and finish with a 1,000-word blog post. But it’s a LOT OF WORK and takes a LOT OF TIME.

Now I know it is better to separate: Generate ideas for topics - Create (reusable) structures - Fill those structures with content.

Since July this year - I’ve been posting almost every day.

Knowing all these, today I feel smarter. But had I known all these things eight years ago, I could have been improving much faster.

You can learn from them now: And keep getting better right away!

For 11 years, all my notes were in Evernote.

In numbers: 8,320 notes as of today. That is after last year's "purge" when I deleted ±4,000 more.

In brief: I was a committed user.

But as I doubled down on online writing, I found out that there's another app that suits my needs better.

You might have guessed, it's:

Notion

Here's why:

• Reason 1️⃣: You can organize your notes in a kanban. That's great when you want to capture a number of writing ideas and display them based on how much you've developed them, such as:
  Idea → Outline → Draft → Published
  

• Reason 2️⃣: Organizing your notes into hierarchies is super-intuitive. It takes a simple drag & drop to make Page 2 a child page of Page 1. The best thing about it? A link to Page 2 will automatically appear on Page 1.
  

• Reason 3️⃣: It's easy to move content around the page. Need to swap the order of paragraphs? Move an image to the right spot? Create an extra column? Easy.
  

• Reason 4️⃣: Assigning an icon to a page makes it easy to find in the "Pages" panel. This looks like the smallest thing - but the smallest thing repeated a hundred times in a day becomes a big thing.
  

• Reason 5️⃣: Notion is THE tool used by other creators of digital content. When I bought the 2 Hour Writer course from Dan Koe, his "Writer's Hub" was in Notion.
  

Considered individually, none of these reasons would push me to switch.

But added together: They add up to a significantly better writing experience

Better experience writing → more writing.

And more writing, that's what I want.

Starting a podcast sounds easy - at first.

Record yourself talking - alone or with someone - and ➡️ post it... somewhere.

But once you get more into it, you face some challenging questions:

❓What should the podcast be called?

❓What mic to buy to get perfect sound?

❓What music should play at the intro and the outro?

❓What format should it be - host on mic, interview, bro talk...?

Before you realize it, you're overwhelmed - and stuck.

Now, let me tell you a secret:

You Don't Need All The Answers to Get Started

Easier said than done? Check how the hosts of the Product Breakfast Club (later Jake & Jonathan) podcast figured those questions out along the way:

Question #1: Podcast Title

Having a title sounds like the most basic thing. And yet: The whole Episode 1 goes without it. The title "Product Breakfast Club" is first mentioned in the intro to Episode 2 (and changed later).

Question #2: Sound Quality

The first ±10 episodes of the podcast sound as if they were recorded in the toilet.

So what? The hosts proudly call attention to it - promising, they would improve it (which they ultimately did).

Question #3: Intro & Outro Music

The first 8 episodes have a generic sounding, stock "James Bond-Inspired" intro & outro music. This is replaced in Episode X (read: Ten) by a track composed by the boyfriend of one of the podcast's early fans (that's right).

Question #4: Format

▸ The first episode starts as a semi-structured chat between the two co-hosts Jake & Jonathan revolving around one main theme.

▸ Episode 7 is a recorded live Q&A session between Jake & the staff of AJ&Smart.

▸ Episode 8 is an attempt at bringing more structure to the episode (which does not hold for long)

▸ Episode X is an unplanned interview with Jason Fried

▸ Some of the later episodes are solo casts, where one of the two co-hosts speaks on a topic of their choice without the other one being present.

Getting started is more important than being right

When starting something new - like doing a podcast - it's natural you don't have all the answers.

Don't let that hold you back!

Getting started is more important than being right. You'll get right along the way.

If you're an avid reader of non-fiction, chances are that you're proud of the volume of books you can read every year.

But maybe you've asked yourself: What are all those books I've read good for?

I struggled with this for years: I loved learning about new ideas, concepts, and frameworks. But when I looked back at all the books I had read - I realized that I barely used any of those ideas.

Was I just killing time?

Reading with a Goal in Mind

Then one day, I decided to create a 3-hour training on Critical Thinking and Decision Making.

I did not have any previous experience with this topic. I just found it cool - and I wanted to have my own training teaching it.

I found three highly-relevant books:

▸ Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

▸ Think Smarter by Michael Kallet

▸ Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath

With those three books I had a clear objective: Identify interesting frameworks, exercises, and stories - and use them in my training.

I learned like never before.

And as soon as that clicked, I realized that previously, the effect of my reading was very small.

Here's my lesson in one sentence:

Don't read to learn, read to solve a problem

When you read about something interesting, you may feel excited in the moment. But if there's no way for you to apply it, you will forget quickly.

That's how our brains work: They are good at forgetting everything they don't need!

On the contrary: When you read something and apply it immediately - you use your knowledge actively, get feedback and generate questions that will help you learn more deeply.

This is why courses like Ship 30 for 30, or programs like Toastmasters, are so effective at helping people get better.

You learn something new - and immediately, get the opportunity to apply it.

The next time you're picking up a non-fiction book to read, ask yourself: What problem will this help me to solve?

If you are at all interested in increasing your Social Media presence, then you need to clear your calendar and read:

Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson.

And here's why:

• Reason #1: It tells how you can identify your dream customer - and where & how to find them online.

• Reason #2: It explains the fundamental concept of "traffic," the source of your leads - and how to generate it.

• Reason #3: Instead of addressing specific of any social media platform, it explains the principles that will help you understand any social media platform.

• Reason #4: It will introduce you to the Hook, Story, Offer framework for selling online.

• Reason #5: You will learn how to create your "Attractive Character" on social media - and what that is good for.

• Bonus - Reason #6: (if you listen to it as an audiobook): The author reads it himself - and he's a cool guy with a fun voice!

Honestly, this book was one of the key things that got me writing on LinkedIn - and completely changed the way I think about Social Media.

It covers everything you could be looking for in different expensive social media marketing courses.

I still can't believe it costs less than $15 on Kindle.

Do you like sharing your knowledge? - Great!

I've been doing this for six years now: Identifying interesting topics, doing my research, and packaging it in simple and entertaining ways, for people to understand it easily.

Now, what if you want to get more paying clients?

Here's something I realized only recently. If you start doing this now, you will save yourself A LOT of time.

Build Your Training with Re-Purposing in Mind

If you want to let the world know about what you do - you'd better have some useful content ready!

Earlier, I did not have any system for organizing my training material.

When I started preparing a new training, I would take random notes in Evernote, Miro, Mural, blank sheets of paper - then I would put together a PowerPoint - and deliver the training for the first time.

After doing the training once, I would forget all my notes - and let them disappear in the depths of my various note-taking apps.

That was a mistake.

Why?

Because My Notes Are Valuable Assets

This year, I started posting on LinkedIn. I realized that somewhere, there was a book-worth of notes. All those notes could easily be transformed into posts.

The problem? Those notes were all over the place (in those depths!) and whenever I tried to search for something in them, I had a challenge finding it.

So I had to start writing from scratch.

I learned my lesson

When I do research to deliver training: That's a lot of effort.

Capturing it in a structured way and filing it for later use always feels like an unnecessary hassle.

But now I know that three years from now (or perhaps next week), I may want to write a LinkedIn post, record a podcast or do a YouTube video on the topic.

So I show my future self some love.

And I get the notes ready now.

I have been practicing Presentation Skills for the past 10 years now.

Along the way, I have done all sorts of things to try to get better:

• I read books like Resonate, Presentation Zen and TED Talks

• I competed and won in Toastmasters Speech Contests

• I jumped at every opportunity to speak in front of an audience

And all of these things helped me a ton.

But if I had to start all over again (as a beginner), this is the simple framework I wish I had used:

Step 1: Buy a crazy-expensive presentation skills course

Not something that would you ruin you financially. But something that would make most of your friends raise their eyebrows: "Really? Why would you pay so much for that?"

The big expense will motivate you to work on getting your money back.

Step 2: Build your own presentation skills training for PAYING clients.

The best way to learn - is to teach.

The key detail here is: "PAYING clients."

Hey, I know you're now saying: "But Lukas, when I start as a beginner?"

Look, I said it would be SIMPLE, not EASY.

Nobody really learns just for pleasure. We learn best when we ABSOLUTELY MUST learn.

The answers to the question: "Why should someone pay me for this," will be your learning goals.

Step 3: Deliver the training so well that the client either refers you or books you again.

If your goal is just to be "okay," you will become "okay," not OUTSTANDING.

If you perform "okay," you will get paid, but likely not booked again.

Aim to be so good they refer you or book you again.

As soon as this happens: You can be pretty sure your presentation skills reached an OUTSTANDING level.

And as a side-effect - you likely recovered the cost of the crazy-expensive training from Step 1!