3 obsessive years writing about the future of work

Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I explore ideas focused on the future of work and how to design legendary careers.If you'd prefer to receive this newsletter in your inbox every Thursday, join 1000s of others who are subscribed on Substack (check out the details in my profile).

It’s exactly 3 years since I launched this newsletter, a decision which has, appropriately enough, transformed my future.

Since I’m partial to numbers as well as words, here are some numbers to illustrate the impact it’s had on my work and life.

100,000

137 editions in, I’ve written well over 100,000 words exploring the future of work from many different angles, including the hybrid work debate, the role of technology in shaping businesses and jobs, and why we’re experiencing the greatest work/life transition in history.

Considering I’d barely written a word in the previous 15 years, that’s a lot!

1,000

While calling myself a ‘writer’ has taken some getting used to, accepting that I’m someone who enjoys networking has been an even bigger adjustment.

It turns out that meeting and discussing ideas with new people is really easy when you’re talking about something you genuinely care about.

Some quick maths told me I’ve spoken with around 1,000 new connections because of my work. That would have taken a hell of a lot of pressing the flesh at conferences in the olden days.

100

If the newsletter kicked things off, the podcast accelerated my progress.

I’m now well over 100 episodes into creating something that’s radically changed how I think about communicating and connecting with others.

Writing helps you crystallise your thinking and develop your point of view, but there’s nothing like speaking to fascinating, smart people to reinforce your learning and stimulate new ideas.

10

More on this in a minute, when I share 10 of my favourite or notable newsletters from the past 3 years.

These 10 editions trace a journey from the depths of lockdown, through various periods of self-exploration, to today.

They also include many predictions and opinions.

Some have been proven correct.

Some have been proven wrong.

Many are yet to be determined.

1

My commitment to writing Future Work/Life led to my first book, Work/Life Flywheel, being published in January 2023.

If you’d told me that 3 years ago, I would have laughed. Sometimes I still do.

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So, thanks as ever for your support.

And if you know anyone interested in the subjects I write about in this newsletter, I’d appreciate you sharing it.

Cheers,

Ollie

Top 10 Newsletters:

FWL#1: Introducing Future Work-Life (feat. Shaun Tomson )

FWL#3: The long view on cities and offices

FWL#13: Trust me, employee surveillance is a bad idea

FWL#34: The future of the office looks like market day in Abergavenny (feat. Rory Sutherland )

FWL#43: AI, decision-making, and the future of jobs (feat. Azeem Azhar )

FWL#54: Flipping the switch on hybrid work (feat. Allison Baum Gates )

FWL#80: You're wasting 100s of hours a year: 9 simple ways to reinvent meetings

FWL#93: The power of a point of view during a recession (feat. Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴☠️ , Eddie Yoon and Nicolas Cole 🚢👻 )

FWL#109: How to scale your career by doing things that don't scale (feat. Dror Poleg )

FWL#111: How to ask better interview questions? Like, what browser tabs do you currently have open? (feat. Tyler Cowen )

FWL#132: Reflection is the underappreciated partner of action (feat. Sarah Stein Greenberg )