Ok fine. It was the picture from The Bear that stopped my scrolling. But it was the message that brought me back three times to re-read it, each time shaking my head in the “so true, SO f*cking true” fashion.

And he’s absolutely right, this is how it feels right now. That every two minutes you have to change what you’re doing because something newer and better came out. But that’s not what stood out to me.

What he really highlighted was the obsession around how you’re doing something - specifically how clever and cutting edge it is.

Not what you’re doing.

Not how it’s going.

The new status symbol, the new flex, the new game is writing about how you eliminated employee reviews by just having this bot track employee activity and that agent generate a summary, and this other robot evaluate it against others, and then another agent go to the Chili’s app to send them a gift card. HOW BRILLIANT!

Whether it was needed or not.

I think the reasons are clear. It makes for great content and there is that dopamine hit when you discover a new clever solution. We’ve been wired for this since the first movie we ever saw that featured a clever twist that gets the hero out of a jam.

I blame YOU MacGyver.
(sigh… you don’t know MacGyver do you…)

Point is, it’s fun. It feels good. It feels good to discover, to build, to share. It is just so damn satisfying to come across these. So we hunt for more and chase that feeling again.

And before you say, “ok sure but this isn’t a trend. We’ve always been focused on how tech can improve our lives”. Well here’s the biggest signal yet.

The counter trend.

Ultimate proof. It’s not really a trend until there is a trend countering your trend.

Sam Parr here showcasing his dad does 8-figures in revenue with paper order sheets, a binder of contacts, two phones, and a fax machine.

The UN-clever anti-hack movement!

Take THAT OpenClaw.

But it’s not about using AI agents, keeping it analog, or consulting the moon phase before signing a contract.

The problem is the focus.

The problem is in the priority placed on the outward perception of a good business based on how contrarian or clever you can be rather than… you know… how good the business actually is.

The “win” here is that hit of dopamine. The “lose” here is feeling like a sucker that you’re not on the hottest trend. But when did that become the measure of success?

We’ve gotten so fixated on chasing what I’ve taken to calling party tricks rather than focusing in on what’s really important.

It’s like if the bomb is about to go off under the kids jungle gym and everyone is screaming “SOMEONE HELP US!” and MacGyver looks at the onlookers and says: “most people think bombs are super dangerous (scroll stopper), but actually (contrarian take) more kids die from car accidents TO jungle gyms with bombs than actual bombs… so I created this automated reminder to…”

Boom.

Apologies. That got morbid. Definitely didn’t expect to blow up a playground of children 500 words in. But here we are.

Point is. Somewhere along the line we got way more focused on being impressive than being effective.

We’re more concerned with not being the sucker still using Google Sheets or * gasp * taking clients to dinner, sending personalized emails, or whatever the latest party trick has automated out than simply going about diffusing the metaphorical bomb in our business.

And be honest.

You’re doing it aren’t you? We ALL ARE!

It makes good content so it’s quickly everywhere. We see it everywhere so we perceive it as being important to us too. We do it. We get the hit. We want the hit from sharing it. We share it. Flywheel: engaged.

But it’s not actually improving your business.

These party tricks, that’s what they are, are most likely saving you 8 minutes across a week and you spend a week running down rabbit holes.

Some of them might have much bigger impact. Maybe they created a far better process for the customer experience or dramatically improved your visibility into employee feedback or whatever.

Was that your biggest issue?

Was that the big thing that’s going to unlock the next level for you?

If it was, great, good for you.

But I have a hard time believing your biggest obstacle to leveling up was data enrichment for your CRM.

Next week get out there and focus on that true public enemy number one boulder of a problem for you.

Get more customers.

Make those customers more valuable.

Hire better talent.

MacGyver had to be resourceful because he has one very big problem he had to solve in the episode and not a lot to work with. It was about the bomb, not the paperclip and duct tape. That’s how we should be using these tools. In service to the larger priority.

Diffuse the bomb.

Don’t burn the week coming up with a process that mostly serves to show you’re not the sucker still using Nurple.

Best,

Chase “counter-counter-counter trend setter” Spenst

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