Learn: Connection example, “cone of uncertainty”, raising a toast origin

Read: 3 mins

Greetings from Dallas,

Thinking a lot recently about connection. Both with myself and with others. 

Here are 3 examples for you to connect more this week. 

💪 Connection Muscle

Lazy words are words that don’t describe our point. For example, saying something is “interesting” or “fascinating” what does that mean? To be more clear, instead, we can just explain WHY we found it interesting or fascinating. 

Might seem trivial, but the impact is enormous. 

Sure it will improve our communication, but there’s a more significant benefit… How you make someone FEEL. Aka the greatest shortcut to connection. 

Here’s a small (but impactful) example from a few days ago. 

I ran into my friend and his gf walking down the street the other night. We had a great short chat and went along our way. 

The next day I received this text. 

He felt my vitality?! Wow. 

I then immediately looked up the definition of vitality: a lively or energetic quality. I can dig that!

Here’s the point. He could’ve just sent “good to see you.” But instead, he said he felt my vitality. A small shift from a generic description to expressing how he felt, and it made 1000x the impact. 

🤔 Uncertainty vs Certainty 

In a recent meeting with our AppSumo Product team, a PM mentioned the “Cone of Uncertainty” and my (slightly oversized) ears perked up.

It’s a project management concept describing the amount of uncertainty through a project's lifecycle. 

Essentially there's less uncertainty at the beginning of a project, but the further out we go, the more the uncertainty increases.

It's the same concept meteorologists use to predict hurricane paths.

Then it hit me that this same concept applies to our personal lives. 

Knowing there’s more uncertainty the further out we project into the future, empowers us to just focus on the present. 

Not next year, not next week, not tomorrow. Right now. 

Let's call it the “Throne of Certainty.” 

Instead of worrying about what we cannot control (future uncertainty), we can channel that into what we can (present certainty).

🧠 New Thing Learned

This week I learned that the ancient Romans used to drop a piece of toast into their wine, reducing the acidity of the often bitter wine, for good health. Hence why we “raise a toast.” 

A quick toast before a meal with friends or family is the PERFECT time to create a connection moment. 

We can either start eating immediately or take 45 seconds to raise a glass and say “Let’s raise a toast to celebrate/appreciate/etc....”

Happy toasting. 

Salud,

Mitchell 

PS. Yeah Toast