Ehsan Fereyduni
Hey, I’m Ehsan /a-🌞/. Every Monday, I send one short email: 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. You will get one doodle I drew, one small thing to do this week, and one direction to carry with you. A 1-minute read, easy to apply.
1-1-1: The Risk Behind the Reward
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle In the beginning of a career, the formula for success is simple: work hard and you will move up. But eventually, everyone around you is also working hard, and you hit a new baseline. In 2011, I reached that baseline. I had a stable job with a safe game to play until retirement: teach 24 hours per week for the next 30 years, and then retire. But I couldn't imagine staying a chemistry teacher...
1-1-1: June Check-In: Your Next 90-Day
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle Believe it or not, we are already in June. By the end of this month, we will be right in the middle of the year. Like the beginning of each month, I’m sending you this doodle as a reminder to pause and check where you are in your 90-day plan. And if you have not started yet, this month can be the month. You can set your own 3-month plan now. Make it not too easy that you can finish it in one...
1-1-1: Show the North Star
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle Over the past seven years, as I’ve closely coached people in academia and corporate settings, I’ve heard all kinds of stories about management styles. Some managers give people room to experiment. They know the person might fail, but if the failure will not burn the budget, damage the team, or create a serious problem, they let them try and learn. Some managers do the opposite. They...
1-1-1: The Tiny Things That Drive Us Crazy
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle Sometimes the problems we face in life are very small, but they still drive us crazy. For example, for me, putting a cup of water on a wooden desk without a coaster, or at least a piece of paper under it, is a big deal. I know it sounds tiny. It is not a huge life problem. But if someone does it once, I remind them. If they keep doing it, it slowly drives me crazy. :D One of my friends has a...
1-1-1: Next Year Is Always the Scary AI Year
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle In the past two weeks, I talked to 11 people who lost their jobs or were laid off. For many of them, the explanation they were given was AI. I’m going to talk more about this in tomorrow’s YouTube video. If you haven’t subscribed yet, this is your friendly reminder. :) After those conversations, I started watching many interviews with CEOs of AI companies. One claim I kept hearing again and...
1-1-1: Your Next 90-Day Season
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle At the beginning of 2026, we started a 90-day resolution instead of a full-year resolution. A full year feels far enough that it gives us more time not to start. But 90 days feels like a sweet spot. It is not so tight that it stresses us out, and it is not so far away that we forget to begin. At the beginning of each month, I send this doodle as a small reminder. It helps us feel the passing...
1-1-1: Overthinking vs. Doing
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle When I started my YouTube channel, I did not know exactly what I wanted to talk about. I had a general idea. I wanted to talk about productivity at work. Things like how to find a job, how to be more productive, and how to do better in the workplace. But there was one big problem. I did not have the confidence to sit in front of a camera and talk about these things in English. I started...
1-1-1: Respect Your Work Shutdown Time
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle This week’s doodle is about respecting your work shutdown time. Is it 5 pm? 6 pm? 7 pm? Or do you work on weekends just to keep up with the demand? Two weeks ago, I had a coaching session with someone who was thinking about switching jobs because the line between work and life had become blurry. She said, “I’ve changed roles internally three times, and the same thing kept happening. My 5 pm...
1-1-1: Put It on the Calendar
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle One of the questions I ask the people I coach is: “Show me your calendar, and I can tell you about your productivity.” I was not a big fan of digital calendars until 2015. But when I started grad school, things began to pile up: my own classes, professors’ office hours, midterms, finals, my office hours, deadlines for department awards, and cumulative exams. Keeping track of all of that in my...
1-1-1: April Is a Good Time to Begin
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. 1 Doodle We’re at the beginning of April, and for me, and maybe for many of you too, that means the start of a new 90-day season. I know a lot of us prefer 90-day goals over yearly goals because they feel more real, more immediate, and easier to act on. And even if you didn’t set a New Year’s resolution, today can still be your day one. I’m sending this doodle as a little reminder: you can start now. 1...
Hey, I’m Ehsan /a-🌞/. Every Monday, I send one short email: 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction. You will get one doodle I drew, one small thing to do this week, and one direction to carry with you. A 1-minute read, easy to apply.