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: Growing Pains
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle When I started studying chemistry, I imagined a pretty clear future: earn my PhD and become a scientist at a pharmaceutical company. I even remember talking to a friend about Pfizer long before COVID, and he had no idea what company I was talking about. But during my PhD, I became fascinated by how chemistry, physics, and engineering come together to make microchips. Moving from pharma to semiconductors felt far...
1-1-1: The Two-Hour “QQ”
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle At work, it is very common to get a ping on Teams, Slack, or whatever communication tool you use with a coworker asking, "Can we have a quick call?" or "QQ" (quick question). What looks like a few-minute sync often turns out to be a Trojan Horse, turning into a long call that derails your schedule. This week’s doodle is a reminder to watch out for these stealth time leaks that steal hours away from your own projects....
1-1-1: October Check-In: Your Next 90-Day
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle I’m writing this newsletter from Singapore! I’m here for training in my new role. If you missed it, I explained why I changed jobs in this video. Looking back, the process that led me here began when I adopted the 90-day goal strategy, and making a career move was at the top of my list. This week’s reminder feels different. It’s more than a reminder. It’s proof to me that setting a 90-day goal and backing it up with...
1-1-1: Lunch Is a Meeting Too
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle Last week, I was setting things up on my new work laptop. I feel I should make a YouTube video about setting up a work laptop so new hires can follow along and get off to a better start. One of the things I did was block out a one-hour meeting for myself and food! :) I usually schedule it from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, but I stay flexible if something needs my attention. I might push it earlier or later, but I never skip...
1-1-1: Decision Making
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle This week, I made one of the biggest career decisions of my life. I left Intel. Yesterday was my last day and today marks my first day at KLA. If you don’t know, KLA is one of the leading companies providing equipment and solutions to the semiconductor industry. When facing a choice between a "good" option and a "bad" one, the answer is obvious. The real challenge comes when we are faced with two great options....
1-1-1: Difficult Conversation
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle This week, I coached an engineer (let’s call him Peter) who was frustrated because a coworker (let’s call him Mike) didn't give him the credit he deserved. Peter is a senior engineer, and Mike joined the team six months ago. Peter spent four hours of nonstop work training Mike on a task that Mike couldn't have completed on his own, ultimately helping him finish it. That evening, Mike emailed the stakeholder who...
1-1-1: September Check-In: Your Next 90-Day
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle This was the first year in my life I ditched "this year's resolution" and went with a "90-day resolution" instead. This week, I finally hit my goal! I failed in the first 90 days (or in corporate speak, Q1). I worked to make it better and failed again in Q2. But when failure triggers something in me, it makes me unstoppable, nothing motivates me more than falling short! I kept tweaking, and in Q3, I finally reached...
1-1-1: Semiconductor Iceberg
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle This week, I was looking through the visual templates from the Thinking in Visual Metaphors course by PJ Milani that I took a few months ago. I recalled his advice to explore how we could apply these frameworks to our own areas of expertise. Having worked in the semiconductor space for about six years, I considered which concept would fit best and chose the classic iceberg model. In an iceberg diagram, what sits...
1-1-1: Find Your Passion
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle Recently, a friend of mine started making handmade soap. Since he has a degree in chemistry, I trusted his product completely. However, after spending over $2,000, he abandoned the project to look for something else. I think the word "passion" is often misused. When someone tells me, "This is my passion," I usually think they are at the latest stage of their interest. This week, I drew a visual to remind both him and...
1-1-1: The Detachment Detour
Hey friends, Hope you had a good weekend. Here’s this week’s 1-1-1. 1 Doodle This week's doodle, "The Detachment Detour," is about what happens when we hit a wall at work. When you are stuck inside a messy problem, trying to force your way straight through the chaos usually just leads to more overthinking. But as the doodle shows, taking a detour below that line of noise, into mental detachment, is often the quickest way to bypass the clutter and find a clear path forward. You have probably...
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.