Hi there,

Happy Saturday! I hope you had an absolutely fantastic week 🥰

Thank you for being part of the Presently Reading community with 2,311 bookworms from around the world.

​For the month of July 2025, we're reading ​Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World​ by Anne-Laure Le Cunff.​

Enjoy!

Warmly,
Maneet (pronounced muh-neet)

Weekly Bookmark

Quantity has always been my default.

When I started making YouTube videos, I told myself the worst thing I could do was obsess over making each one perfect. The goal was always to keep showing up, get in the reps, and trust that quality would follow. And for the most part, that’s worked pretty well for me.

But this week’s chapter from Slow Productivity challenged this idea.

Cal Newport’s third principle is to obsess over quality. At first, I didn’t get it. If I had obsessed over quality from day one, I never would’ve uploaded half my early videos (which, if you’ve seen them, you know aren’t exactly masterpieces). The same goes for running. It’s not perfect form that builds endurance, it’s the miles you put in, day after day.

So naturally, I’ve always resisted this idea of quality-first.

But the nuance of his point started to click as I continued to read.

Newport isn’t saying be a *perfectionist.* He’s saying once you’ve identified your most important task, your true craft, it’s worth making that the main thing. Everything else becomes secondary. And when you care deeply about what you’re building, it hurts to do it poorly.

That idea made sense and stuck with me.

I’ve gone through phases where I chased other things such as trying to launch a course, publish more books, and grow new revenue streams. But deep down, I know what matters most: making good YouTube videos. If I pour my energy into making better and better videos, and keep making more of them, everything else will take care of itself.

So maybe it’s not quantity or quality. Maybe it’s both.

When I focus on the craft of video-making, the kind of deep focus Newport writes about, I naturally want to do a good job and focus less on everything else. And when I combine obsession over quality with a consistent rhythm of showing up, the potential is limitless.

Discussion Highlight

Every week, I'll select a comment from our community discussions and highlight it in the following week's email.

Last week, our discussion question was: What’s something you’ve stuck with, even when progress was slow or invisible?

Vamsi shared:

Want to be featured in a future email? Participate in today's discussion over on Patreon (free, just create an account) and I'll select one every week!

My Favorite Things This Week

🍁 Netflix Show: I watched a short Netflix series this week called Four Seasons. It's a comedy, but is filled with deep moments regarding marriage and friendship. I definitely recommend it if you're looking for something fun to watch!

💻 YouTube Video: If you're into tech news, you might have heard how legendary designer Jony Ive is joining OpenAI to create some revolutionary new products. Apparently, these will be as important as the invention of the smartphone or laptop. Here is a teaser video they published.

👀 Secret Weekly Poll