Business Ideas

What it’s like to be the writer of an email newsletter

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A couple days ago, I wrote a 1,400-word email about what I called Boredom Therapy, and the strange psychological hypothesis known as “free won’t.”

I ended that email by recommending Brian Kurtz’s $12.67 book Overdeliver, because of the crazy-valuable bonuses that Brian gives away for free to buyers of that book.

As usual, as the final part of the email, I had a link, in this case, to Brian’s page where my readers could go take advantage of this great offer.

In response to this 1,400-word email in which I tried to put in a novel idea and a great offer, I got a reply from a new reader:

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Great. I have read your mail from your engaging story to your closing.

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“Harumph,” I said to myself. I doubt my new reader meant his comment as an insult, and yet…

I’ve been listening to Dan Heath’s podcast What It’s Like To Be. Dan interviews people from different fields — recent episodes featured a marine biologist, a Christmas tree farmer, a life insurance salesman. Dan’s goal to find out what it’s like to live your life doing these sometimes strange, sometimes mundane jobs.

The podcast typically ends with a series of lightning-round questions. One of these is, “What’s the most insulting thing that can be said about the work of someone in your profession?”

I thought about sales copywriting, which is as close to a profession as I’ve ever had. I realized the worst thing you can hear as a copywriter is, “Wow, this is great copy.”

This goes back to copywriter Gary Halbert, who would give his sales letters to the local barflies to read.

If Gary ever heard, “Wow this is a GREAT sales letter,” he knew he had written a flop. The response he was hoping to hear is, “Damn, where can I buy this???”

Writing a daily email newsletter is not quite like writing a cold traffic sales letter. An email newsletter does try to make sales, but it goes out to a warm audience, to people who know you, trust you, want to hear from you, at least sometimes.

And so the responses I’m hoping for are either Gary’s “Where can I buy this?” (hint: usually a link at the end of the email)… or on the other hand, something that indicates I’ve helped the lights come on in some way, usually manifested by responses like, “This made me think of…”

If my email gave you a new idea, or helped you make a new connection, or brought up some personal memory or experience, I wanna hear about it.

Just don’t write me to say something about the writing itself, even if it seems complimentary, because then I’ll know you either didn’t read this email… or that I failed to write it in a way that had any impact on you.

By the way, I’ve been writing lately about cross-pollination — getting ideas from other industries.

The What It’s Like To Be podcast is actually a good resource for that. Plus, it’s easy and pleasant to consume — short, light, and yet substantive.

That’s not surprising, considering that Dan Heath is the author of several books on effective business communication, including a personal favorite of mine, Made To Stick.

If you want to give Dan’s podcast a try the next time you’re at the gym or going for a walk:

https://www.whatitsliketobe.com/

How to look like a wizard without doing any magic

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Two weeks ago, I got a message from a reader who had started a new podcast in the “business writing niche.” He wanted to know, would I like to be his first podcast guest?

I have a long-standing policy of accepting all podcast invites… well, except here.

I replied to the guy to say I’d be happy to be the first guest. I just want to make sure the interview will actually be published.

(I know from personal experience how even seemingly simple projects actually require a lot of behind-the-scenes work.)

And so I said if he would publish just one episode — even just him announcing what the podcast will be about — then I’d come on as the first guest.

The guy wrote back to say he will do as I ask. It’s been two weeks. I still haven’t heard back from him. Maybe he’s working on it, and I’ll hear from him soon. Maybe I won’t.

In either case, I feel good about how I handled the request. And I think it applies more generally, not just if people invite you to a brand-new podcast.

In my experience, you only want to work with people who demonstrate that they are internally motivated, that they get things done, that they will gonna make it one way or another, with or without you.

It makes you look like a wizard, when in reality, somebody else is stocking and stirring the cauldron, and attributing the magic effect of the potion to you.

And by the way, working only with internally motivated, sure-to-succeed people isn’t something you can only do once you have a lot of money, a lot of success, or wizard status.

A few days ago, Josh Spector shared a recipe for how to do it even if you’re completely new.

Specifically, Josh shared a recipe for how to create any career opportunity (or I’d add, business opportunity) you want — in the next 6 months.

Says Josh, this process works amazingly well, and yet, many people won’t do it because it sounds like a lot of work.

But maybe that doesn’t deter you. If so, here’s Josh’s playbook:

https://fortheinterested.com/how-to-get-any-career-opportunity-you-want-in-the-next-six-months/

How I use AI in my latest little startup

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Comes a question from a tech-curious reader named Jordan:

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Yo John quick question, is the Daily Email Habit built with the AI tools you mentioned building in the “the death of infoproducts” email?

There seems to be a lot of tech behind this (Especially with the streak stuff) and it only makes me wonder.

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I mainly bring up this question so I can gush about AI. Have you heard about AI? It’s pretty incredible.

At the moment, AI is not doing the content behind the scenes at Daily Email Habit. I write each daily puzzle by hand, and I find the day’s meme or cartoon by hand also.

But as Jordan guessed, AI definitely helped (read: did everything) with the tech.

ChatGPT wrote all the back-end code I’m using to track the streaks for different Daily Email habit subscribers — how many days straight they have been sending a daily email — and to display each user’s streak inside of the Daily Email Habit email (not technically trivial).

And if in the future I decide to add more bells and whistles to Daily Email Habit, you can bet my ragged little AI elf will be the one doing all the work.

The reason why I’m telling you this:

If you’re only offering what you do as courses, or coaching, or really any kind of strict DIY how-to info, it’s worth thinking how to turn some or all of that into a cross-cut saw, or a calculator, or a Wordle-like daily puzzle, or at least how to add in a streak counter.

Because right now, creating tools or devices or games has become shockingly easy and quick, even if you don’t want to write a line of code. And a tool or a device or game can make your customers’ experience much nicer… and it can create a little moat around what you offer, beyond just your personal authority.

And AI does it all. Like I said, it’s pretty incredible.

Except, how do you decide what to tell AI to create?

How do you have cool ideas?

How do you find out what device or tool or game people in your market might want, and might be willing to pay for, so you can command AI to go down to the shed and make it?

Also, how do you develop a sense of taste, so that you don’t just accept the first thing that AI comes back with, but keep going until it matches your vision?

And once you do create something you’re happy with, how do you package it up and sell it?

For all that, my answer is as familiar as it is fundamental:

You write.

Writing gives you a point of view. It gives you a sense of taste. It exposes you to ideas, both your own (which might disappear otherwise) and from other people (which you might ignore otherwise).

Writing puts you in contact with people in your market, so you can get your finger on the pulse of what people are interested in and are willing to pay paying for.

And of course, writing helps you make better decisions — because writing is really an exercise in decision making.

In short, if you want to get the most out of AI, write.

It might sound self-serving when I say that. So let me share a message I got a couple days ago, from Justin Zack, who is the Head of Partnerships at Write With AI, a paid newsletter with 54,000 subscribers, all about how to… write with AI.

I figure if anybody has the inside scoop on getting AI to work for you, it’s Justin. And yet, Justin signed up for my Daily Email Habit service, so he can write and so he can think. Says Justin:

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I’m 2 days into the daily email habit (which means I have a 1-day streak, lol).

BUT, I friggin’ love it.

Exactly what I needed to get me thinking about my list and how to write better emails.

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Actually, I just checked, and Justin’s streak is up to three days now.

Maybe you can start your own streak?

To to find out the daily email puzzle I’m using as a starting point for each of my own emails… the same puzzle that folks like Justin are using to get over the initial hurdle, to write something more interesting, and to write something different than they might write otherwise… take a look here:

https://bejakovic.com/deh

The Hitman’s insane and devious new plan

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It was a dark and stormy morning, and the anti-hero of our story, Bond Jebakovic, was racing his bright red, high-powered crotch rocket down a small and dingy alley of this otherwise fine Catalan town, for Poblenou is where our story takes place.

Bond turned the corner and braked to a screeching stop, almost flying over the handlebar.

Up ahead was a crowd of small and odd monsters, known as Nens, milling about on the street, bouncing into each other, bouncing off the trees, bouncing into the buildings and falling down in the road.

Fortunately, the Nen cohort hadn’t spotted Bond yet. He quietly turned his crotch rocket down an even smaller, even dingier side-alley.

Bond emerged from the other end of side-alley. His blood ran cold. Twice as many small Nens, looking at him with their small curious eyes, their little hands ready to pull him off the crotch rocket and probably tear him apart.

Bond checked his Invisible Watch. It was 8:58am. Of course! The Nen Disciplining Factory was about to begin its morning session, and that’s why the Nens were milling about and bouncing around everywhere.

There was nowhere to turn. Bond quickly fixed his hair, and gunned his bright-red crotch rocket straight into the Nen throng.

The Nens’ little hands reached out to try to grab him, but he was too fast, too agile. He weaved and zoomed through the crowd, and emerged on the other side without even his hair getting out of place.

Bond cruised safely on. A few minutes later, he was already at The Castle — a sheer cliff-like building in which he lived and worked. He raced up the winding staircase, and unlocked the heavy vault-like doors of his lair.

Bond initiated his communication terminal and uploaded the microfiche he had gone out to collect.

“Come on, come on,” he said impatiently to the terminal. He needed to see what the microfiche contained so he could alert the other operatives inside the B.E.J.A.K.O. network.

“Open the ‘Hitman’ dossier,” Bond commanded his terminal. The terminal obeyed.

“Focus on quadrant 4. Zoom in.”

The picture was still blurry.

“Enhance,” Bond commanded the terminal. The blurry picture came into focus. And suddenly, there it was.

In the lower right corner of the image, which showed the opened pages of a secret report lying on a table, Bond could finally see the new plan of his devious but brilliant Korean arch-rival, known only as The Hitman.

Bond knew that The Hitman was trying to control the world by spinning up dozens of robotic boy bands, including one of the biggest acts in the world, GTS.

The Hitman had already gained control of the minds of hundreds of millions of victims worldwide. Via catchy ear worms, he had turned them into dancing little monsters, much like the Nens that Bond had barely escaped this morning.

But The Hitman would not rest until he had achieved total world domination. He now had a new plan, as Bond could read in the zoomed-in, enhanced image on his communication terminal. The secret report read:

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GTS’s music videos, The Hitman decided, should be designed to deepen viewer immersion. “We thought, Instead of just having a plot for the music video itself, why not have some lore behind it? Wouldn’t that make it easier for fans to dive deep?”

The experiment started in 2015 with the single “U Need I.” The accompanying music video was rife with allusions to a larger narrative. The tone was sombre, and the scenes cinematic in nature, with no bright colors or elaborate choreography. Images had dark subtext: one boy reached numbly for pills behind a bathroom mirror; another stared down at his own bloodied hands.

It was the first entry in the so-called Gangnam Universe, in which alternate versions of the seven members are trapped in a cycle of tragedy, and struggle to break free.

This fantastical scenario energized a passionate subset of fans. As The Hitman had hoped, they generated countless artistic tributes and traded theories about the meaning of each installment.

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But that wasn’t all the secret report showed. Bond read on:

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A few weeks later, The Hitman said, “Music delivers a very strong experience and emotions in an instant of listening. But we want to make it so that it can be part of a much longer and more sustained type of content consumption.”

He continued, “I’ve read books about gamification and why people are addicted to games.” He was studying multiplayer online role-playing games and first-person shooters, and planned to develop games across multiple genres; some would feature alter egos of The Hitman’s artists, but others would have no connection with the idols.

This turn felt at once arbitrary and revealing: increasingly, the organization seemed to be losing interest in the musicians themselves.

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“My God…” Bond muttered to himself. “The Hitman is insane, and even more dangerous than I could have imagined. I must stop him before he has a chance to carry out his plans. I must alert the other operatives inside the B.E.J.A.K.O. network. But how can they protect themselves against The Hitman’s devious mind-control techniques?”

Bond paced up and down his lair. Then he went to make breakfast. Then he picked up the pacing again.

“I got it!” Bond finally said. “I’ll give them a mind vaccine to protect them against The Hitman’s control. I can even help them apply it.”

Bond sat down at his communication terminal, and typed up a quick message. Well, not so quick, but quick enough.

In a few words, Bond alerted his fellow operatives inside his the B.E.J.A.K.O. network of the Hitman’s new plan. And he ended his message with ​this secret link​, containing instructions on how to protect themselves, and how to apply the mind vaccine, with his help.

Not the kind of testimonial I want

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Last night, I opened up my Daily Email Habit service to my entire list.

Since then, over the past 12 hours, close to two dozen new people have signed up.

Many of those people have written me to say they are excited to get started and develop their skills.

Others, who didn’t sign up for good reasons of their own, wrote to tell me how they like the concept and design of the service.

And then, I got the following “testimonial” from a reader who neither signed up for Daily Email Habit, nor had a good reason for not signing up:

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What a brilliant idea!

This is truly an extremely valuable offer for someone who has any sort of expertise and has his/her offers nailed down to get into the habit of daily writing.

Sadly, I have none of the above 2 things at the moment. Once I do find my ICP for whom I have sufficient expertise, this will be something I’ll definitely come to you for.

Thank you for launching such an amazing offer!

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I didn’t reply to this. I had a sense there’s a game afoot here that I don’t want to play.

I tried to figure out what game that is, and what’s really going on in the message above, in between that compliment sandwich.

I had to translate it to myself to understand. For some reason, I thought of a little olive, looking out at a large tract of land and saying:

“What beautiful, fertile soil! This land would be perfect to support a whole orchard of olive trees, given that they have deep roots and broad branches. But alas, as you can see, I have neither. Just look at me! Do you see any roots or branches on me? No, there are none. It’s quite sad. Beautiful land though.”

There are lots of good reasons not to write daily emails, but lack of expertise is not one of them. You don’t write consistently because you have expertise… you have expertise because you write consistently.

That’s something that I believe on a deep level, and that’s why I put it right on the sales page for Daily Email, at the very start of the deck copy, right after “I’ll help you start a consistent daily email habit that…”

Like I said, there are lots of good reasons why you might not want to write daily emails. There are also lots of good reasons why you might.

If you decide to write daily emails, you most certainly don’t need my Daily Email Habit service to do it. But my service might help you stick with it… be more consistent… save time… or write better emails than you would otherwise. For more info on all that:

https://bejakovic.com/deh

Why I can no longer be a Flat Earther

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I was on a plane a few months ago, looking out a window facing west, at sunset, in a perfectly cloudless sky, with the Mediterranean sea below me, all the way to the horizon.

I’m telling you all these details because I believe each one was crucial to a once-in-a-lifetime scientific discovery:

I could clearly see the Mediterranean Sea below me, looking cool and darkened. But there was a line ahead, towards the west, past which the sea gradually became warm-colored and bright, being still lit up by the setting sun.

Like I said, this was once-in-a-lifetime scientific discovery for me. I believe it was the first time in my life I had convincing first-hand evidence that the Earth is in fact round.

For much of my life, I’ve had sympathy for Flat Earthers, the people who insist, today, in 2024, that the earth is or at least might be flat.

I don’t necessarily have the “water can’t cling to a spinning ball” kind of sympathy… or the “Antarctica is a giant ice wall to keep you from falling off and finding out the truth” kind of sympathy.

Rather, I have sympathy with what I feel the Flat Earth movement is really about. Because after I first heard that Flat Earthing is a thing, I asked myself, “How do I know these people are wrong? How can I be sure the Earth is round and not flat?”

I’ve been told that’s how it is…

I’ve also seen pictures, illustrations, and videos, supposedly from space…

I’ve even been given models of the solar system, and arguments about rotation and magnetic fields and gravity…

… but I had zero first-hand experience. At least until that flight across the Mediterranean a couple months ago. I now believe 100%, though I’m certainly not trying to push my strong faith on you, that the Earth is in fact not flat, but round.

And I STILL have sympathy with the Flat Earthers.

Yes, the world is immensely complex.

It’s inevitable that much of what we believe about it gets passed on to us unquestioned. We couldn’t function otherwise.

But there’s still value in proving some things to yourself, regularly.

Not everything — there’s too much of that. But some things.

It can give you confidence when you find proof for yourself, beyond the confidence of being given proof.

It can lead you to insights you might not have otherwise.

And possibly, every so often, more often than you might think, it can help you find extra stuff, which others have swept under the rug.

Which things you choose to question is of course up to you.

But maybe stuff that’s directly connected to your work, success, or professional competence is a good place to start.

And if making sales or writing sales copy comes into what you do, then here’s a way to get first-hand experience and proof, which nobody can take away from you:

https://bejakovic.com/cr

Why I’ve been turning away doubting subscribers

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Over the past few days, I launched my Daily Email Habit service to people who raised their hand to get on the priority list. At the end of the sales page, rather than linking to an order form, I asked people to write me to say if they are in, out, or have any questions. Most people who wrote me said they are in, like these folks:

#1. “Yes, I am in!”

#2. “No questions, I’m in!”

#3. “This looks brilliant John, I’m in. Thank you for coming up with such an exciting service!”

#4. “Count me in, please! Looking forward to it…”

#5. “I am IN. Please send me the link to join.”

#6. “Wtf dude you are such a badass. Yes I’m in.”

#7. “Yes absolutely im in. This sounds like an awesome idea”

… but some people had questions. Here’s one that came up a few times:

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I took a loooong look (plus a night to sit on it), and I want to try it out.

But I’m going to be honest with you:

I’m still debating whether I need prompts like this or random insightful articles to expand my thinking.

(for example, the recent one you shared from Sean got the creative juice flowing)

This means I can’t promise I’m in for the long term yet. I understand that the concept of any subscription is to lower the entry cost in exchange for longer loyalty (like Daniel’s AiC newsletter).

So, if this “test the water mindset” bothers you, I’m okay with putting this one off for now, too.

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Each time I got this particular question, I’ve been telling people NOT to sign up. Why?

I read once of a study in which people evaluated the attractiveness of a core offer (a bunch of saucers and cups and plates) + a free bonus bundle (more saucers and cups and plates, some in good shape and others a little chipped).

The conclusion of the study was that people evaluated the core offer as more valuable if it were sold on its own, with no free bonuses (perceived value: $33)… than if it were sold with the free bonuses, some of which were good and some of which were chipped (perceived value: $23).

I’m not saying that people who are not sure if they want my Daily Email Habit are “chipped saucers.” I’ve known a few of them for a while, and I know they are good people. Plus, I appreciate their honesty in voicing their doubts.

I just mean to tell you a kind of psychology quirk. The human brain tends to evaluate sets of items by using the AVG function, rather than the SUM function.

That includes my own brain. Yes, maybe it’s not very smart. But the fact is:

1. I don’t need the money from an extra subscriber.

2. I particularly don’t need the money if that subscriber won’t be getting anything out of it. (I can’t say for sure that anybody who expresses doubts on signing up will not get value out of it, but to my mind, the odds jump up dramatically.)

3. There’s an impact on my will to work and my long-term sticktoitiveness if I feel that what I’m doing has some sort of meaning vs. if it’s meaningless.

Maybe that makes perfect sense to you.

Or maybe it makes you a little uncomfortable. After all, aren’t we in business? Isn’t the goal to make money? When and how do you decide to turn away good, hard money today because of something vague like “will to work and long-term sticktoitiveness” tomorrow?

All that, and more, is something I tried to address in my Most Valuable Postcard #1.

Most Valuable Postcard was my short-lived paid newsletter, some two years ago.

And Most Valuable Postcard #1 was about the most important and valuable topic I could find — the most important thing to focus on in your business, whether you sell products or your own services, according to the most successful direct marketers in history.

If you’d like to find out more:

https://bejakovic.com/mvp1/

Keeping my streak alive

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I’m on the couch as I write this, under a blanket, with my eyes closing and opening every few seconds. I’m more tired than I’ve been in years.

I picked up some kind of sickness yesterday. All night long, I was running a fever and generally feeling awful.

So I will keep today’s email short, but I wanted to send it out nonetheless.

For one thing, I know that at least a few people look forward to my emails, and write me in rare cases my emails don’t arrive on time.

For another, I am now selling a service called Daily Email Habit, so I figure I should practice what I preach.

Finally, I have an interesting article to share with you.

It’s by Sean D’Souza, an online marketer who’s been at it since before YouTube was created.

Sean runs his business in an unusual way. It’s just him and his wife Renuka. They purposely cap their annual income at $500k so they can take three month-long vacations each year, travel around without doing anything for their business during those vacation times, and see the world before returning to sheep-covered New Zealand where they live.

Sean can do this because he has an understanding of the fundamentals of persuasion and online business, on a deeper level than most other people I know of. The article I’m about to share with you is proof of that.

If you’re interested to find out why negotiation regularly fails in the real world, in spite of “negative striplines” and “yes ladders” and BATNAS, you might find this interesting:

https://www.psychotactics.com/why-negotiation-fails/

What’s happening in my business: CENSORED

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Today I had planned to write an email about changes I’m making to this little online info publishing business, and my plans for the coming months and next year.

But then I stopped and censored myself.

There was a quote echoing in my head. It said:

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One of the greatest clues I ever had was working at Mercedes-Benz. My most successful clients — STFU. They were, “Lid on it, black box.”

So many times, they would buy a very nice car — I’m talking an SL 65 — but they wouldn’t drive it to their workplace. They would just keep it for their other place, down by the beach house, hinterland property, like it wasn’t part of their public thing.

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That quote came from business coach and Internet marketer James Schramko. James has been in the industry for a few decades, and has coached big-name, multimillionaire marketers like Ryan Levesque (ASK Method), Patt Flynn (Smart Passive Income), and Kevin Rogers (Copy Chief).

James says it took discipline, but in time he’s learned to keep a “cone of silence” around what he and his clients are doing and planning. He says not sharing his best ideas is what makes him valuable to his clients, and it’s also intensely valuable to him.

Is what James is saying true? Is it right?

I don’t know. Maybe it is. I can imagine the opposite also, that giving away your best ideas is the smart way to go, because ideas are ultimately cheap, while things like relationships and reputation are really where value lies.

But the concept behind this newsletter has always been to share ideas that are first of all interesting and second possibly useful. “True” or “right” is not something I obsess over. I like to try things out and see how they fit. And so — my plans are CENSORED, at least in this email.

The past few days, as I roll out my Daily Email Habit service in private, I’ve been sharing links to content that is “not predictable” for a newsletter like mine.

The link I’m about to share is quite predictable, because it’s James Schramko’s podcast. It’s predictable both because James is part of direct response world, so it’s normal I would link to him, and because his podcast episodes cover (seemingly) standard industry topics.

But maybe something more is going on?

I don’t listen to podcasts by business gurus and I had no intent on listening to James’s podcast either.

And yet, each of James’s past 5 podcast episodes, ever since I got on his email list, got me sucked in, and ultimately gave me interesting and possibly useful ideas I didn’t have before.

Maybe it can do the same for you? If you’d like to try it out:

https://www.jamesschramko.com/list-all

An old Soviet joke from a modern Russian prison

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Here’s a Soviet joke for you:

A shy, unathletic, bookish boy is walking across a snow-covered courtyard in Moscow, past a group of kids who are playing football.

The ball rolls to the boy’s feet. He decides against habit to join in the game. He kicks the ball awkwardly, and it veers off and crashes through the window of the janitor’s apartment on the ground floor.

The janitor emerges. He’s a huge, bearded man, who has clearly been drinking. He roars and starts to chase the boy.

The boy runs for his life, thinking to himself, “Why do I need football in the cold and the snow? I should be at home, safe and comfortable, reading a book, conversing with my favorite author Ernest Hemingway.”

Meanwhile, Ernest Hemingway is in a Havana bar, drinking rum, with a salsa band playing next to him. It’s hot. Hemingway thinks to himself, “God I’m sick of this heat and rum and salsa. I should be in Paris, the center of the world, drinking Cavalos with my great friend Jean-Paul Sartre, and discussing philosophy.”

Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Sartre is in a Paris cafe, in a cloud of cigarette smoke. He’s taking part in an abstract but heated discussion that means nothing to him. “God how I’m sick of all these cigarettes and cafes and empty discussions,” thinks Sartre. I should be in Moscow, talking to my friend, the great novelist Platonov, about things that are real and mean something.

Meanwhile, back in Moscow, Platonov is running across a snow-covered courtyard. And he growls through his gritted teeth, “God I swear if I ever catch him, I’ll kill the little bastard.”

That’s from the memoirs written by Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Navalny wrote down the Soviet joke above — “my all-time favorite joke” — while in prison in the Pokrov correctional colony.

You might know Navalny’s story. Back in 2020, he was poisoned by the Russian secret service with a nerve toxin, almost died, but somehow made it to Germany to get medical treatment.

He recovered over the course of months. During this time, he cold-called Russian secret service agents and tricked them into revealing how they had poisoned him (I wrote about the crazy story ​back in December 2020​).

In spite of the assassination attempt, Navalny decided based on his principles to return to Russia.

He was promptly arrested as soon as he landed at the Moscow airport. He was then charged with embezzlement, fraud, and extremism, and was tossed in jail.

That was back in 2022.

Navalny never made it out of jail. He died earlier this year, on February 16, at age 47, under mysterious circumstances in the “Polar Wolf” prison, which sits in Western Siberia above the polar circle. “All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out but did not yield positive results,” the prison statement read.

I’m telling you this because somehow, during all this, Navalny remained cheerful and optimistic, in spite of the fact he was in prison in Siberia, in spite of the fact he had a 19-year sentence, in spite of the fact he knew he was really in for life, one way or another.

All that’s to say, if you think that whatever you’re writing about is too serious for joking, that your audience cannot and will not stand lightheartedness, that certain topics are sacred, well, it might be worth reading some of Alexei Navalny’s posts from prison. They are fascinating, inspiring, and well-written. Plus they might give you a change of mind on some things.

In case you’re curious:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/21/alexei-navalny-patriot-memoir