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Today’s conversation is about building and buying businesses with the expert on Holding Companies—Michael Girdley.
Michael is an investor based in San Antonio, TX, with 11 ventures in his portfolio. He’s garnered a massive audience on Twitter, where he shares 25 years of business knowledge, much of which we unpacked in this conversation.
Expect to learn Michael’s step-by-step process for finding amazing talent, his framework for finding kick-ass investments, the two trends that Michael thinks we should be paying attention to, and much more.
If you’re interested in diving deeper into Holdcos, be sure to check out The Complete Holding Company Course.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:32): Who is Michael Girdley?
(2:24): Holdco 101.
(7:56): Fireworks business.
(12:39): Service-based businesses.
(18:08): Tackling the Principal-Agent Problem.
(23:04): Finding amazing talent.
(29:15): Finding kick-ass investment opportunities.
(34:00): Supercharge your business ideas by TRAVELING.
(36:49): A nuanced take on remote work.
(40:44): SMB acquisitions in a recession.
(44:25): Hard skills for young people.
(47:12): Trends to pay attention to (not AI & crypto).
(53:12): Holdco course.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com -
What comes to mind when I say the words ‘financial independence’? Maybe…
* Building a big company
* Recruiting a team
* Pitching investors in stressful meetings
What if I told you financial independence was achievable by building cool websites that make money? And, as a team of one.
My guest today is Scott DeLong. Scott has an inspiring story of escaping the rat race and finding freedom on his own terms: fully remotely, no raising capital and no mindless busy work.
Scott has a passion for writing timeless content that resonates with its audience. He’s developed an understanding of human psychology not by reading books, but by tinkering with marketing campaigns that have generated billions of page views and tens of millions in revenue.
This episode is a bit different. Instead of recording a conversation, I sent Scott a few questions that I wanted his perspective on. Here are his thoughts about creating timeless content.
Subscribe for free to get more stories like this straight to your inbox 📨
Q: Why build in stealth for so long? What eventually led to you opening up about your journey?
A: Since 2005 when I started making money online, I’ve just always been very private about what I’m doing. I never felt the need to talk about it, and it was always difficult to explain it. People just assumed I was a web designer for years, including my own family.
When journalists dug me up after the explosion of Viral Nova, I briefly tried to embrace it… but it wasn’t enjoyable. The site was slightly controversial and the attention was really stressful for an introvert who just likes to build.
Recently, with the birth of my daughter, I’ve thought more about my legacy and what I want to contribute to the world. And the number one thing I can contribute is this skillset – so that’s why I’ve opened up now.
Q: How do you fight feeling like you have to create content, but have NO inspiration?
A: You really need a driving force to combat that. I was very obsessive through my 20s about reaching financial independence by the time I turned 30. The drive was so strong that, even on days I was burnt out, it just didn’t matter.
The end goal was stronger than the lack of inspiration, so I’d just push through and ultimately find inspiration.
It’s different now at age 40. It’s much harder to find inspiration when I don’t need to find it. That’s why I’m focusing on my number one passion: the process of building a business, not so much building a business. But of course this is a business in itself!
Q: Is your motivation helping people? If not, what is it (other than financial independence, which you’re reached)?
A: Yes, helping people is a huge motivator. I genuinely love receiving emails from people who have learned something. I guess you can call that ego-driven but, whatever it is, it works.
I’m not sure if you’re aware of Financial Samurai, but I basically want to be the website builder version of him. His personal experiences and knowledge really shine through in his writing, and you can tell it’s effortless because he really loves it.
Same here, so it’s win-win for me and my readers.
Q: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve ever been given? What are your general thoughts on advice?
A: My dad is a small town businessman, and I realized later in life how many small things he said added up. He’s a believer in paying attention to the details and the psychological effects on your customer when you go the extra mile. He instilled a work ethic in me without even really trying.
As far as the worst advice, I’m not sure. I tend to think what a lot of teachers and guidance counselors said during high school, but it’s not really their fault. It’s all they knew to suggest and they’ve never broken out of the norm, so I can’t expect them to advise anyone else to do so.
Generally though, advice is thrown around far too much. Too many people without all the details give their opinion, and it’s actually pretty damaging.
We should tread very lightly with what we advise others to do!
Q: Should creators strive for originality?
A: Of course. In Austin Kleon’s books, Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, he does a great job of very simply demonstrating that nobody is actually original. We tend to mimic those we admire to the point that we ultimately become original.
So there’s nothing wrong with “borrowing.”
Q: On a recent All-In Podcast, David Friedberg said, "If you don't have content creation in your blood, you have to buy a content business, or you're gonna die." Do you agree?
A: Yeah, I think so. You could also pay others to do it for you from scratch, but that’s mostly the same thing.
That said, if someone doesn’t have content creation in their blood, then maybe a content business isn’t for them?
Q: What makes content “timeless” vs. “cheap”?
A: Content that is true at the very core of psychology tends to be timeless. So even if typewriters are obsolete and we all use computers now, a piece of content created 50 years ago is still timeless if it’s about what you can do with the a typewriter.
It’s still true today; just a different medium.
Cheap content comes from researching low hanging keywords and paying someone pennies to write something about it so you can rank for a few months til Google kills your site.
A lot of what I wrote in my guides on my site is already somewhat outdated (at least as I view it), but the core principles I think have been true forever. I like to think it’s got a timeless element to it.
Q: Explain: “I have had this impossible vision in my mind for years: if everyone put forth all of the knowledge and experiences of their lives into a format meant to help other people, the world would exponentially improve.”
A: It goes back to what I am encouraging people to do: identify your passion and expertise, put your knowledge out there for the world to consume, and profit.
If everybody unleashed the actual value in their minds — instead of nonsense, which is so easy to do — it would be like the ultimate interactive, always-evolving Wikipedia with personality.
We’d all get smarter.
Q: Explain: The emptiness of Twitter is destroying our motivation.
A: I believe this originally came from some notes on my phone. I’ve actually done quite a reversal since jotting that down. I was following some of the worst accounts or, even more so, I wasn’t following enough accounts, so the algorithm was showing me awful posts where everyone’s just the worst versions of themselves.
Since then, I’ve cured my Feed to be much better. I do see the value in Twitter, but too much of it detracts from motivation (unless Twitter is literally where you’re making your job of course).
Q: Explain: The dark irony of trying to get rich.
A: I think what I meant here is that those who successfully become wealthy and no longer have to work… end up continuing to work forever.
And those who would actually stop working to enjoy life inherently lack the right qualities to ever make it.
Q: What’s the most ridiculous content site you’ve seen make money?
A: There are some ridiculous ones, but one of my favorites of all time is coolmath.com. To this day, if you go to the site, it looks like it was built in 1998.
When you dive into the story (and some of this I learned at a bar from a friend in the industry), it was made by a random retired school teacher named Karen. It was making as much as $80,000 PER DAY. Yes, per day.
You’ll be hard pressed to find more information, but I believe she ultimately sold it to a private equity company. But I am not sure — it’s just so wild to me that an old school site that helps kids with math can bring in so much money for one person.
That’s why I love the Internet.
Feel free to share with the world 🌎
Q: Why do you believe “the internet is an infant”?
A: In the grand scheme, it’s still so young. It’s only been the last handful of years that you can have a conversation with the average person and they know what you’re talking about when you say things like Wordpress, Squarespace, Shopify, and so on. And, even now, a lot of people don’t.
Ultimately, we’ll probably all be making our money online in one way or another.
Another reason is that, when we look back on the current tech giants 30 years from now, it’s going to be hard to imagine they had so much control. It’s going to be strange that a small business, like a website, could really just go away completely because Google pushed a button.
There’s a lot of learning and evolving ahead of the Internet, and that’s why I say it’s still an infant.
I’ve met a lot of niche website flipping gurus online, and I have to say Scott is the real deal. He takes his craft seriously, and isn’t trying to scam anyone to make a quick buck.
Scott’s running a challenge to see whether he can turn $20,000 into $500,000 in just one year. You can get front-row seats inside the mind of an Internet genius by subscribing here.
I hope this episode was a reminder of why it’s important to trust your judgement and think for yourself.
Thanks for listening!
Another banger from DALL•E for the cover photo 🔥! This time, I asked it to give me a “wizard sitting at a desk on his laptop with money flowing out of the screen.”
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Fehlende Folgen?
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When I hear the words, Renaissance Man, I think back to learning about Leonardo Da Vinci in history class. A man whose countless curiosities led him down the path of countless disciplines.
Lately, I’ve devoured every piece of content – podcasts, articles and tweets – from Balaji. I can’t help but describe him in the same light as Da Vinci. A modern day Renaissance Man.
In case you happen to live under a rock, here’s a quick snapshot of his resume:
Angel investor. Serial tech founder. Former CTO of Coinbase. General Partner at a16z. Futurist. Author of The Network State.
But that’s not why I admire Balaji’s work. If you spend 5 minutes listening to the guy speak, you’ll realize that he’s a well-researched, articulate, independent thinker. And, he’s funny (at least I think so).
I’ve curated 6 of Balaji’s most thought-provoking reads. If you’re fascinated by leveraging technology to sculpt a better future, this post is for you.
Software Is Reorganizing the World (November 22, 2013)
Excerpt: ”the SoundCloud engineer on a laptop in Berlin builds a deeper relationship with the VC in New York than the nearby Bavarian bank.”
Takeaway: For our ancestors, America was the ultimate destination. The promised land of opportunity. Today, those seeking opportunity might not have to shift geographies at all…
Technology is continuing to make location less relevant. Millions of people are finding their people online (shoutout WOP Cohort 9), smartphones are making everything available at our fingertips, and travel is increasingly efficient (just don’t fly TAP Air).
We’re firmly in the remote work era. Balaji takes it a step further and introduces the idea of creating a new nation of emigrants. This piece marks the early days of The Network State.
2020: The Year the Internet Age Truly Began (May 23, 2020)
Excerpt: “It used to be that the physical world was primary, and the internet was the mirror. Now that has flipped.”
Takeaway: This piece is a dialogue between Balaji and an Israeli Politician discussing two blind spots that COVID revealed.
* We assumed the Internet changed everything, but never noticed how education, healthcare and government were largely unaffected by it. Then, COVID happened.
* Teachers had to adapt to online learning, parents adopted homeschooling
* Digital health services skyrocketed, medicines delivered to homes
* Outdated government processes became online-first. Fighting a ticket on Zoom, for example, is now the norm.
* “Nothing against sports, fashion, or video games, but we've been overallocated on leisure and underallocated on the things that matter, like health.” I argued a similar point in Sober Socializing – how more information is leading us to making more conscious decisions about our health.
The Purpose of Technology (July 19, 2020)
Excerpt: “The point of doing a startup after all is to build something you can't buy.”
Takeaway: YouTube democratized media. Refrigerators made our food last longer. WhatsApp increased communication. Technology is how we describe things that help us do more.
Lifespans are finite. Someday, the music stops. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to do things faster – to not waste time.
But what if we could extend lifespans? Or eliminate death altogether? Would saving time still be as valuable?
Balaji argues that “if the proximate purpose of technology is to reduce scarcity, the ultimate purpose of technology is to eliminate mortality.”
Most of us aren’t aware of the life-changing technologies that exist today, like the procedures proven to reverse aging (yes, really).
Why? Because technologists are so obsessed with building that they forget don’t care about telling the world.
We need to start evangelizing technological progress. By getting people on the hype train, we motivate everything we do with a singular purpose – eliminating mortality.
Balaji hit us with a one-two punch here:
* Instead of looking for faster band-aid solutions, attack the root-cause: human mortality. Which begs the question: can it really be solved?
* He’s right. Hardcore technologists aren’t the ones on Twitter or TikTok raving about their breakthroughs. We need to find a way to get people aware and on board with tackling big problems.
Thanks for reading The Principle Podcast. Feel free to start evangelizing with a friend.
The Ascending World (March 29, 2021)
Excerpt: “The recent introduction of billions of smartphones to places like India and Nigeria affords a ‘mobile telescope’, a way to evaluate talent worldwide.”
Takeaway: Balaji opens with the story of Ramanujan, a mathematician from India who was almost never discovered due to his poor upbringing. By stroke of luck, a mathematician named GH Hardy received his letter (the OG cold email), and flew him out to London to meet.
The existence of Ramanujan changed the face of mathematical research, showing how we ignored the greatest talent due to a lack of a mechanism for discovery. There are tons of examples of this level of greatness outside the Western world that simply don’t get enough attention. This will change thanks to the accessibility the Internet and smartphones provide.
Therefore, the terms “developed country” and “developing country” are obsolete, because they imply an end state. In other words, is the US is done growing because it’s characterized as a developed country? The new paradigm is about “ascending” and “descending” parts of the world.
I’ll probably raise some eyebrows with this opinion, but two cities come to mind immediately: Miami and San Francisco.
Despite parts of the city that are literally declining with rising sea levels, Miami’s got a lot going for it. It’s quickly becoming the crypto capital of America, attracting top talent to its workforce and sending property values soaring.
San Francisco, once the golden child of the US, is almost unanimously described as a shit-show (no pun intended). The city is plagued by homelessness, crime and a high cost of living.
Bitcoin is Civilization (May 14, 2021)
Excerpt: “If you care about free speech and privacy, if you care about free trade and rule-of-law, if you care about provable fairness and economic stability, then you should care about cryptocurrency.”
Takeaway: In this article, Balaji gives us 10 reasons why Bitcoin (and, more broadly, cryptocurrency) is a tool for Western values.
* In places with economic instability and authoritarianism, Bitcoin has been used by activists (Venezuela to fight inflation, Alexei Navalny in Russia).
* Prominent investors (Druckenmiller, Paul Tudor Jones) are using Bitcoin as an inflation hedge – similar to gold in the Weimar Republic.
* Decentralization guarantees access and fairness. DeFi protocols make the crypto banking system accessible without gatekeepers.
* With no central authority to moderate content, crypto’s decentralized social networks protect free speech.
* Civil asset forfeiture is a controversial practice in which the police can seize your property without conviction or charging for a crime (WTF). Crypto provides a solution – it’s harder to seize digital property.
* Crypto, because of its inherent encryption, protects online privacy.
* Crypto is experiencing hypergrowth. “It’s the next Silicon Valley.”
* Smart contracts provide surety and commitment. Contract enforcement is part of the protocol.
* Crypto can be a force for unity. Regardless of your political views or your geography, everyone in the same crypto network prospers or fails together.
* International code-based order. Because the blockchain executes the same way regardless of territory, crypto will facilitate cross-border trade.
I’m not sure numbers 2 and 7 hold up in Q4 2022 (thanks, SBF), but compelling nonetheless.
The Network State (July 4, 2022 – well played)
Excerpt: “In a Nation State, geography is primary, belief is secondary. In a Network State, belief is primary, geography is secondary.”
Takeaway: And finally, Balaji’s magnum opus. The culmination of the ideas he’s shared for years, distilled into v1 of an online book.
Why reform a country when it’s easier to build one from scratch? Something that doesn’t rely on what already exists, because that leads to fighting over resources like land.
There are 3 conventional ways to start a country: election, revolution and war. Unfortunately, they all suck.
There are 3 unconventional ways to start a country: micronations, seasteading and space colonization. Unfortunately, these are largely unproven or flat-out foolish.
Balaji proposes that the best way to do it is through Network States.
A network state starts with One Commandment – a unifying idea that motivates people to build something bigger than themselves.
A vegan society, for example, would outlaw all animal-based goods in favor of awful tasting foods (jk, vegan friends).
The state would begin as an online startup society, developing its own cryptocurrencies and laws enforced through smart contracts. Members would hang out first in VR settings, but migrate to IRL once the society has crowdfunded the purchase of physical land.
It’s important to note that thanks to the hyper-connectivity of the Internet, the physical land does not need to be contiguous.
Once the society has reached a significant size, it may seek diplomatic recognition from the UN to become a full-on Network State.
Thanks for reading The Principle Podcast! Subscribe for more content right to your inbox.
Welcome to the future.
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Going to the gym sucks. The traffic on your drive there. Waiting for an open squat rack. Cleaning up after the guy who leaves pit stains all over the bench.
What if there was a better way to get strong and look great?
What if all you needed was a bell, a rope, and a mat?
You’re in luck. Follow me.
Fitness is a broad term. It can mean a lot of things. Training for an Iron Man looks vastly different than training for a Men’s Physique competition.
Start with a simple question: what does fitness mean to you? For me, it’s funny how much the answer to that question has evolved.
Flashback to my high school and early college days, when all I cared about was getting as “yolked” as possible. Just thinking about the Arnold wallpaper on my iPhone 4S makes me cringe.
As I got older, I started understanding the importance of taking care of your heart and moving pain-free. Nobody should be the bodybuilder who’s out of breath walking up the stairs.
I now look at fitness as something that should be enjoyable & enhance other aspects of my life. Workouts should be fun, efficient, and energizing. You shouldn’t have to commute 30 minutes, then sit around waiting for equipment.
Mainstream gym protocols emphasize isolating parts of our bodies into muscle groups. The problem is, our bodies aren’t machines (yet) in which the parts can be isolated. How often in your real life are you doing a movement that looks like a tricep pushdown?
This isolating of muscles from the entire body is what sets us up for fragility and easy injury. Strength is important, especially as we age. There had to be a better way to build strength and move better…
Enter the bell
That’s when I found kettlebells. They can be as heavy as you need (some brands offer up to 200 lbs) and can be stored in your apartment.
There are plenty of resources online to understand the benefits of kettlebell training. Tim Ferris’ episode with Pavel Tsatsouline is a great place to start.
Like what you’re reading? Feel free to spread the word!
The reason I started training with kettlebells is because I wanted to move better. Think of it as developing Holistic Strength.
Doing leg extensions with 100 lbs is cool. But you know what’s cooler and has broader applications to the real world? Rotating your torso, pressing a 50 lb kettlebell over your head, and touching the ground.
That movement works nearly every muscle group in the body at once. How’s that for efficiency?
Kettlebells work your muscles through real planes of movement. Not only will they strengthen your muscles and tendons, but they’ll also test your cardiovascular health. A true double threat.
Simply testing my cardiovascular health wasn’t enough. I needed a way to build my endurance…
Enter the rope
I don’t have anything against running on the treadmill, I just think it’s f*cking boring. Okay, yeah treadmills suck…
When the pandemic hit and gyms shut down, I needed a way to train my endurance. I ran outside for a while, but that gets dicey with snow on the ground. So, I bought a jump rope since I could use it indoors. Spoiler alert: I haven’t looked back since.
There’s no better feeling than the euphoria from a morning jump rope session, with the crisp fall breeze cooling you down. Music blasting in your ears as you crank out your last set of high knees, criss-crosses, and pushups.
Not only are jump rope workouts a fun way to build endurance, but they also develop your agility, coordination, and strengthen your feet. All things high on the list for functional fitness.
If you’re in the fitness game for the long haul, you need to keep your heart healthy. Grabbing yourself a jump rope is an amazing way to do it.
Strength and power from kettlebells: ☑️.
Cardio blasting from jumping rope: ☑️.
Now, what about recovery from all that work?
Enter the mat
As we train with heavy weights, mobility and flexibility aren’t just important, they’re essential.
On average, Tom Brady has been sacked 1.71 times per game. Over 326 games, that’s a gargantuan NFL lineman running you over full-speed 557 times. Ouch.
Can you believe he’s still playing in the NFL at 45 years old? What’s his secret? Pliability.
Pliability is when your body is resilient and moves without restriction. How do you make your body more pliable? Through a combination of deep-tissue massaging and stretching.
My favorite way to work on my mobility and recovery at the same time is by practicing yoga. The poses might look funny, but you’ll feel 10x better after doing them.
The fitness industry has us convinced that a gym is necessary to be your fittest self. It’s simply not true.
All you need to start is: two kettlebells (20% and 40% of your bodyweight), a $15 jump rope, and a yoga mat.
So do it. Break up with your gym, and make a commitment to yourself. If you need some guidance, here’s my fitness page. (Wondering how I got here? That’s a story for another day.)
Subscribe for $free.99
Let’s break the stigma of needing a gym to have strength, flexibility, and endurance. Together.
DALL•E is 2 for 2 on cover photos!
This week, I asked it to create “a photo of Michelangelo's sculpture of David holding a kettlebell.” 👏
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com -
The sun rudely bursts through the sliver of space my blackout curtains decided to miss. I reach over to grab the S’well bottle on my nightstand, but find that it’s only half full. After gulping it down, my mouth still feels as dry as the desert.
“I barely had three drinks last night… how am I hungover?”
I drag myself out of bed, knowing full well how ineffective my brain is gonna be today. “I’m never drinking again,” I lie to myself.
A week passes by, and the glorious cycle repeats itself again.
I’ve never had a binge drinking problem. But lately, for me, things have changed. I’ve stopped entertaining even the casual drink, and have opted for no drinks at all. Most of the time, the tradeoff doesn’t seem worth it.
Dr. Andrew Huberman was recently a guest on the Modern Wisdom podcast. After they recorded, the host, Chris Williamson, tweeted something that resonated with me:
Holy shit is that true.
I find it funny that every time I’ve turned down a drink, people have assumed it’s because I have a drinking problem. We know how harmful alcohol is to the body:
* Higher stress levels
* Shitty sleep
* Side effects to the gut
Yet I’m the one with the problem for not having a beer? The whole thing seems so backwards.
I’m noticing an *anti-alcohol* movement starting to emerge. At least in the people and places I pay attention to. Hearing “nah, I’m not drinking tonight” seems way more common than it once used to.
Even more surprising to see this happen with my coworkers. It’s always been taboo (dare I say, career-limiting) to not have a couple drinks at happy hour.
Don't get me wrong, I’m thrilled to see that people are waking up to the effects of alcohol. But, I’m also curious why it seems to be happening all at once.
Before you jump down my throat asking for the data, here are a few disclaimers:
Could me citing this study about how Gen Z consumes 20% less alcohol than Millennials be a strawman? Yep.
Could it be because I’m a late-20s millennial living near woke NYC? Also yes.
Could it just be me projecting my own changing world view onto the world? Sure.
I don’t have enough significant data to back up my argument yet. Most of it is anecdotal. We need more time to see how this plays out.
But I do have a theory if you’ll play along…
Living in the digital age has given us access to information at our fingertips 24/7. Clips of Paleo Paul preaching about the dangers of bread, sugar, and alcohol are imprinted in our heads.
Then, the pandemic comes around and shuts off all social triggers to drink for over a year. These two factors combined created the perfect recipe for breaking up with booze.
All that time alone might just be why sober socializing is becoming so popular.
Sober Socializing. Like that one?
Could more information actually have been a good thing?
Over the past decade, search volumes for “mindfulness” and “fruit bowls” have trended upwards. (Simple heuristic – how many restaurants near you offer green smoothies?)
It’s not a long-shot to say that the average American is more aware of her health today than 40 years ago. I’d like to think this has something to do with information availability.
The Whoop is a wearable device that tracks your sleep, heart rate, and recovery. The technology is only getting better. In the future, we'll know more about our body metrics than ever before.
I bet you'd be less likely to drink after seeing a whopping 4% recovery on your Whoop.
Thanks for listening to The Principle Podcast. Subscribe to get more gems in your inbox.
I’m not denying the social benefits to alcohol. I still believe alcohol can bring strangers together, and make a night out twice as fun.
Will I still indulge on occasion? Absolutely.
Will I ever crack open a “cold one” to watch Sunday Night Football? Absolutely not.
Information about the negative effects of drinking changed my world. It made me wonder what other blind spots could be hiding in plain sight.
The Food Pyramid in elementary school told us to eat more white bread than raw veggies. It was endorsed by the USDA, so it had to be the healthy way to eat, right? Wrong.
Could the glass-of-red-wine-with-dinner advice be the modern day equivalent of the Food Pyramid? Time will tell.
We’re going to see more sober socializing in the future. So, don’t be shocked when your friend turns down that poolside High Noon, and grabs a Spindrift instead.
Image courtesy of DALL•E.
I asked for: “cheers a glass of beer in one hand and a glass of lemonade in another hand.”
Not bad, huh? Check it out if you haven’t already.
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“The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates.
Today’s conversation exposes the importance of developing self-awareness with Khe Hy, the founder of RadReads.
RadReads is an online community that teaches people how to live productive, examined, and joyful lives. It’s been featured in the likes of TIME Magazine, Bloomberg, and WSJ.
Throughout the episode, Khe drops wisdom about the questions we should all be asking ourselves. I call these “questions that will change your life.”
Expect to learn why introspection is the key to fulfillment, how independent thinking & self-awareness go hand-in-hand, how to conquer productivity guilt once and for all, and much more.
For more on maximizing your productivity, check out Khe’s principles for doing $10k Work.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:23): Who is Khe Hy? What is RadReads?
(2:46): Uncomfortable introspection.
(12:07): The questions that will change your life.
(20:00): How being outcome-oriented can lead to blind spots.
(26:43): Thinking for yourself.
(33:23): Conquering productivity guilt.
(38:25): Routines & fragility.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com -
"You take the blue pill... the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill... you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
—Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)
If you’re a blue pill-er, looking to continue about your day in peace, I suggest you turn this episode off. Come back next week.
If you’re still here, I’ll assume you want to know the truth. A truth so uncomfortable that we don’t want to believe it’s true. This reality challenges the beliefs we’ve held so closely all our lives. It uproots the very fabric of lies that our society is built on.
Here are the hard, cold facts:
→ It’s no longer enough to get paid a nice salary for 40 years. The modern economy has made your work a modern commodity. If you’re not essential, you can, and will, be replaced.
→ You MUST work with a purpose and towards an end goal, or face getting left behind.
Most people haven’t woken up to why this is important. There are two reasons to avoid replaceable jobs at all costs: Globalization & AI.
Globalization
If there’s anything the pandemic proved, it’s that people don’t need to be in an office to work hard. In fact, not wasting so much time commuting proved that people will spend more time working. Here’s an astounding stat – Americans are saving 60 million hours that would have been spent commuting. I can almost taste the productivity.
If your company was smart, they likely downsized their office footprint, or got rid of it. This begs the question, “if I don’t need office space in Manhattan, why do my employees need to be in NY? Or in the US, for that matter?”
There are loads of talented engineers, designers, and consultants all over the world. And, adjusted for cost of living, many won’t ask for six-figure salaries to do the same jobs.
By 2030, a billion Indians will have access to the internet. This means that the majority of English speakers online will be from India (h/t Balaji). If you don't have a US HQ, why not hire your next engineering lead from India?
Feel free to share this stat with a friend.
If you’re not highly skilled at something that is directly value-creating, you’re a commodity. And all commodity goods compete on price. Is that a position you want to be in?
Automation → Artificial Intelligence
I’m not talking about Artificial General Intelligence, like the robot that gave Will Smith a taste of his own medicine in iRobot. If that happens, we’re all screwed.
I’m referring to the menial, mundane tasks that will be automated very soon. Why pay an employee $70,000 per year to do mindless data entry work when a robot can do it for a fraction of the cost?
My favorite example of this comes from my last corporate job.
“Hey Arj, could you take a look at these 30 apartments and list out the physical specs of each?”
I thought, “oh, you want me to waste 5 hours manually writing specs down, when a script could do it in a fraction of the time?”
It was at this exact moment that I knew it was time to go.
Moore’s Law states that chip density doubles every two years. In non-Geek speak, this means that the pace of innovation speeds up every year.
Look around you. Automation is already here. We’re leaping towards exciting breakthroughs in AI. Have you seen this video of Dall•E?
Instead of trying to fight it, figure out how you can leverage the power of AI. Is there a creative passion of yours that you can amplify through the use of technology?
The problem with pencil-pushing jobs is that they will keep you busy. You will have enough work to feel tired at the end of your workweek. The guise of productivity.
But it’s a sham. Here’s my framework for identifying whether a job is worth pursuing:
* Is it revenue producing?
* Does it create value for the company?
* Is it important for humankind?
Is it revenue producing?
In a big company, it’s not always easy to see the impact on your work. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “will doing this task generate money for the company?”
Are you cold-calling to find potential customers for a medical device startup? Are you analyzing properties for a real estate investment company to buy?
These types of jobs produce revenue for a company. Revenue producing → important job function → job security → happy you.
Does it create value for the company?
Now, not all valuable jobs must be revenue producing. Are you designing a new marketing campaign from scratch? This campaign won’t produce tangible dollars on day one, but over time, it may have an impact on the value of the company. It could turn into an intangible asset.
If you’re in a job search, try to put the positions you’re looking at through point number two of this framework. It’ll make you more skilled, it'll make sure you’re not wasting your precious time in a meaningless job.
To put it simply, if a job requires zero creativity, leave it.
Is it important for humankind?
The third part of the framework could be a separate episode; I’ll keep it short.
David Graeber illustrates this point beautifully in On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs:
“Say what you like about nurses, garbage collectors, or mechanics, it’s obvious that were they to vanish in a puff of smoke, the results would be immediate and catastrophic.
It’s not entirely clear how humanity would suffer were all private equity CEOs, lobbyists, PR researchers, actuaries, telemarketers, bailiffs or legal consultants to similarly vanish. (Many suspect it might markedly improve.)”
I find it hard to disagree with Graeber’s point.
It’s obvious that schoolteachers have a profound impact on the future of our world. They spend 8 hours each day molding the minds of our future innovators.
Many find meaning in doing work that benefits society in some way. It’s far easier to care about your job when you’re teaching kids, saving lives, or fixing cars.
The paradigm has shifted dramatically, and it’s not in our favor. If you are going to work a corporate job (there are PLENTY of benefits to doing so), I want you to be strategic about it.
Too many of us get caught up in thinking: “this job pays $150,000. That’s awesome!” It’s no longer enough to stop your critical thinking there. Your skills should mean something in the open market.
Think, is my role mission-critical? If I disappeared tomorrow, would it have a meaningful impact on the company’s performance?
More importantly, would it have a meaningful impact on the world?
Don’t be a pencil-pusher.
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You’re about to read something different from anything I’ve ever written.
My writing is a contemplation about one specific idea. It’s my space to think openly, without constraints. Today, I’ll be vulnerable. Sharing something personal about myself, instead of philosophizing on a topic.
Among my friends, I’m known for being indecisive about the little things.
Deciding whether to go to an event, or where to grab dinner. I can never seem to make a decision and follow through with it on the day of the activity.
“Arj, why are you so indecisive?“
Resolving my indecisiveness is a work in progress. For anyone else plagued by it, you know it’s not as simple as flipping a switch from on to off. I can assure you it comes from a good place. Let me explain.
See, we live in an era of abundance, not scarcity. The inability to make a decision stems from the abundance of good options:
Should I freelance, or work for a remote-first company?
Should I read The Network State, or The Boron Letters?
Do I want a teriyaki chicken bowl from China Café, or a spicy shawarma from Mamoun’s Falafel?
Each selection can lead to a favorable outcome. Money, fulfillment, a full stomach. It’s not enough to compare each option directly with the next. Perhaps I could introduce randomness into decision-making?
Next time I’m figuring out where to DoorDash from, let Siri flip a coin to decide.
And while that works for something stupid like dinner, I’d rather not leave the direction of my career up to chance. You want to be in the driver’s seat of your life. You want to make the optimal decision to put yourself in the absolute best position possible.
The problem is – sometimes, it’s not even possible to know what the best option is. Teriyaki chicken and a spicy shawarma sound equally satisfying right now. See the dilemma?!
The only way to decipher between your options is to have an unwavering idea of what you value in life.
* What is your long-term goal?
* What do you not care for, at all?
Literally sit down with a pen and paper and make a list.
“Begin with the end in mind.” —Stephen Covey
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
(Fun fact. I never read that book. But, I think he’s got a point.)
Things I care about:
* Health
* Wealth
* Independent Thinking
* Genuine friendship
* Self-reliance
* Responsibility
* Discipline
Things I don’t care about:
* Status games
* Politics
* Keeping up appearances
* Leaving my future up to somebody else
* Living for the camera
This list is a sample. I’ll iterate on it over time. But it’s already helping.
For example, I shouldn’t go work for someone who can fire me on a whim. I should spend the hours and effort to learn to program and become a better writer. Programming will allow me to rely on myself, and writing enables me to think for myself.
Spending my time and energy elsewhere is wasteful, if that’s the direction I want to go in.
No one can tell you what your values are. You must define them yourself.
I want to build a happy, fulfilled life, and I bet you do too. Save your list of priorities in a Word doc on your Desktop, and read them every week. Better yet, write them down in a notebook.
Remind yourself of these values by looking back at them every couple months. Revisit these priorities, just like you do with your annual comp. review at work. Once you realize YOU are the manager, you’ll take it seriously.
Turn your gaze inward. Indecisiveness comes from losing touch with what you want. You lose touch with what you want by placing others on a pedestal.
Do you not trust yourself?
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The other day, I heard a friend say something that stuck out to me:
“Being obsessed with anything is bad. Too much of one thing can’t be good for you.”
That’s exactly the conventional “wisdom” the world wants you to believe.
Do everything in moderation!
Don’t be too extreme!
Today, I’m going to explain to you why that advice is complete bullshit.
I’m always using entrepreneurs and businesspeople in my examples, so let’s switch it up. Akaash Singh is one of my favorite new comedians. He has:
951,000 TikTok followers.
263,000 YouTube subscribers.
A hit special on YouTube.
We see the likes. The followers. The sold-out shows. He’s made it.
What we don’t see, is that Akaash worked on his craft for 15 years before reaching any semblance of success in the conventional sense. That means he:
* Bombed a lot of shows.
* Got booed off stage.
* Struggled with writer’s block.
And guess what? He’s not alone.
Nikki Glaser has been perfecting her standup for 20 years.
Russ has been rapping since he was 10.
Mr. Beast has been making YouTube videos for 10 years.
Greatness takes time, duh. What’s your point?
My point is, greatness requires obsession.
Every high-performer will tell you to stick with the process. What they won’t tell you is how agonizing that process can be. It’s all that grunt work that only YOU get to see. Like editing for 10 hours to ultimately get one view on YouTube from yourself.
What person in their right mind would be able to stick with the agony of this beloved process for 10+ years, with no promise of success on the other side?
Uhh… nobody? A psychopath?
Nope. Someone who’s obsessed.
People often ask me, “how can I become more disciplined about working out?” You can force it, but that motivation fades over time.
The real answer’s way simpler. Become obsessed with your health — the discipline will follow.
Obsession is what keeps you pushing when all the signs tell you to give up, and go work in a cubicle, under those shitty, fluorescent lights for 40 years.
Now that I’ve convinced you to relentlessly pursue your obsession, I have to deliver some bad news.
Finding your obsession is difficult. You’ll try 30 different things, only to find that the 31st thing might be the one.
In many ways, I’m still pinning mine down. But what I know for sure is that it’s worth it. The best you is the most obsessed you.
So, next time someone tells you to avoid obsession, politely see yourself out of the conversation.
Or, better yet, text them this episode along with the words: “food for thought.”
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You‘ve heard about the business model of the digital age: Software-as-a-Service. The old SaaS.
Today, let me introduce a model for personal development: Solitude-as-a-Skill. The new SaaS.
The importance of social skills has been drilled into our heads from a young age. Be a social butterfly!
Socializing is a critical skill, but its importance is dramatically overblown.
In the social media age, we’re more connected than ever.
Unfortunately, it’s made us lose sight of the importance of solitude.
Warren Buffet is an amazing example of this.
Value investors are a dying breed in this era of hyper-growth tech companies.
Buffett has this uncanny ability to ignore groupthink. He carefully reasons through each investment decision.
He behaves like a Stoic, investing only when he believes in a business.
He doesn’t care to seek validation from analyst opinions.
Groups need the majority to agree before taking action.
This agreement often comes at the expense of your beliefs. You have to bend to do what’s best for the group.
That’s not a bad thing when you and your friends are trying to pick a restaurant.
But when it comes to something like politics, it’s horrible. Yep, we’re going there…
Are you for gun-control & pro-life?
Are you a gun-nut & pro-choice?
Too bad.
In an arena like politics, there’s no room for nuance.
You have to pick Left or Right because the group needs consensus.
Being in a group setting keeps you from thinking for yourself. You’re forced to take shortcuts, rather than going through the hurdles of reasoning.
In other words, you don’t arrive at a conclusion by yourself.
All my life, I loved socializing. I’d drop anything to hang out with my friends.
It wasn’t until I found this quote that I started to question it:
“All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” —Blaise Pascal
For many of us, our natural inclination is to be social. It’s counterintuitive, but you have to train your mind to understand why you need solitude.
Now, this isn’t easy, because it feels good to be social.
At first, it doesn’t feel good to be alone. You may even feel lonely.
That feeling of loneliness is a fear of having to face your thoughts. A fear of not having somebody to distract you from them.
What’s something you used to believe, that you’ve come to realize is complete BS now?
I’ll go first: you should attend at least one networking event per month.
Bullshit. Aimless networking is not an efficient use of your time.
It’s much better to:
* Reach out to people one-on-one.
* Make something valuable, and attract people to you.
I want you to write down 5 ideas from your circle of friends.
Think about which of those ideas you alone believe in, and which you believe in because they’re easy.
The results will surprise you.
This isn’t an excuse to be shy or anti-social.
You don’t want to be 100% introverted or 100% extroverted.
People agreeing with you can fool you into thinking you’re correct. Extroverts fall victim to this because they thrive in groups.
Introverts tend to look within, but miss details in front of their eyes.
You want to harness both powers to be exceptional.
Use introversion to think. Use extroversion to communicate.
Your best thinking happens in solitude.
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If you’re subscribed to this podcast, I know exactly who you are. Even if we haven’t met yet.
You’re ambitious, curious, and motivated. You want the most out of life.
You tend to think logically. You try not to let your emotions guide you. You’re always looking for opportunity.
But, I bet you’ve ignored about the most life-changing trait a human can have:
Showmanship.
When was the last time you interacted with someone, and all you could think immediately after was, “that was dope!”?
Don’t worry if nothing comes to mind. Like I said, most people ignore this.
Here’s the opening scene in The Dark Knight Rises (the one with Bane).
It’s objectively dope.
Watch it, even if you’ve seen it!
If your first thought after watching that scene wasn’t, “holy shit, that was dope!”, stop listening.
It’s hard to put into words the feeling that you get after something is masterfully executed in front of your eyes. You’re awe-struck.
At this point, you’re probably thinking, “that’s cool, but I don’t make movies.”
Don’t worry about it. Everyone can and SHOULD be a showman.
Here’s how. I call it, the P-E-D framework:
Personal.
Energetic.
Different.
Imagine you’re a barista at a coffee shop.
As you can imagine, your average interaction is pretty forgettable.
Take an order, make it, next customer.
It’s monotonous.
What if you started putting some effort into breaking that monotony?
Be personal.
Instead of saying “hey, what can I get you?” Say, “hey, I’m _____. What’s your name?”
Be energetic.
Smile. Laugh. Walk with some pep in your step.
Be different.
Crack a joke. If the customer’s name is James, write ‘Bond’ on their order.
Here’s a secret – no one cares if it’s corny! You’re still different.
You do get bonus points for actually being funny though…
In short, you want to find a way to make interactions memorable.
The fancy term for this is: pattern interrupt.
We’ll call it having some sauce.
That sauce will be key ingredient to get people coming back for more coffee.
In a world where everyone is competing for your attention, you have to stand out.
And you won’t do that by being like everyone else.
Go put some sauce on whatever you do.
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Ever find yourself lost in a conversation with a friend about nothing?
Nothing important. Just a fun back and forth. Shooting the shit.
Hours pass before you notice that familiar feeling setting in.
You know the feeling I’m talking about.
It’s not anxiety… but it’s close.
It’s that overwhelming sense of guilt that feels like a pit in your stomach.
The voice in your head starts whispering:
“Why are you wasting time?”
“This is so unproductive.”
It kills the vibe immediately.
Every high-performer I know can relate.
Want to see something fascinating?
Google the words “productivity hacks” right now.
Almost all the search results follow the same playbook:
We’re OBSESSED with feeling productive.
But what does that even mean?
To me, productivity is learning or creating at a high speed.
For example, reading Atomic Habits is “productive.”
Watching Gladiator is “unproductive.”
Now, that begs the question:
If it’s easy to classify whether something is productive, why not cut out all the unproductive things?
Well, not only is that unrealistic (good luck having any friends if you do pull it off), but it’s also short-sighted.
* You’re a human. Not a robot (yet).
Picture a life where all you do is work or read.
No vacations. No hanging out with friends.
Who wants to live like that?
Some of my favorite times in life have been while completely unplugged from my phone. Savoring the moment.
* You’re missing out on the 8th wonder of the world: serendipity.
We’ve talked about expanding your surface area for luck. Let’s take it a step further.
Having an original thought is so cool. You feel smart for thinking of something before anyone else.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I’ll let Mark Twain do it instead:
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope."—Mark Twain
What I’m saying is: Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Lion King are all the same movie.
Each one follows the beloved Hero’s Journey.
The same goes for your thoughts.
Our ideas are iterations of things we’ve exposed ourselves to.
Articles, experiences, conversations.
Ideas have to come from somewhere. They need inspiration.
Without the unproductive moments, you lose that ability to connect the dots.
This isn’t an excuse to lay in bed and watch Netflix all day. Rather, it’s a simple realization:
There is no productivity without un-productivity.
You have to LIVE so you can SPRINT again.
In a few weeks, we’ll share some strategies from an expert on understanding productivity guilt.
In the meantime, I want to hear from you:
* Is productivity guilt something you relate to?
* How do you deal with it?
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Picture the boxing ring of business:
On one side, you have the old-reliable fighter. Sustainable, cash flowing, profitable-from-day-one. This fighter’s slogan is: build a business that works, and do it better than everyone else.
On the other side, you have the kinda crazy fighter. Pick the biggest problem to solve. The needle-in-a-haystack. This fighter’s catchphrase is: chase the vision, the profits will follow.
Each fighter gets chirped by the other side, but either one can win.
What kind of fighter are you?
It all comes down to your definition of reality.
Let’s go back to college for a second. Remember the risk-reward tradeoff?
It looks like this:
Stupidly straightforward.
Think US government bond on the bottom-left and boom-or-bust pharma stock on the top right.
This model works fine for investing.
It only breaks when you use it to figure out your life.
Let's say you want to invent bed sheets that make themselves. How risky is that?
On a scale of 1-10 — 1 being a lemonade stand, and 10 being mining the moon — maybe a 7?
If you ask 10 people, you’ll get 10 different answers.
My point is — no one knows.
Most people would tell you “it's impossible, move on."
If that were true, there would be a tiny amount of businesses, which would all be competing with each other.
Thankfully, that’s not the case.
You can't base your idea of what's possible on someone's opinion. Especially when that someone isn't even in the game.
That ability is what creates visionaries. It's called distorting reality.
Listen to this story about Steve Jobs:
In 1984, Steve Jobs asked one of his engineers, Larry Kenyon, to reduce the Mac’s boot time by 10 seconds.
Kenyon, stunned by the ask, said it wasn't possible.
Jobs then said, "if it would save a person’s life, could you find a way to shave 10 seconds off the boot time?"
Jobs found the nearest whiteboard to make his point:
If 5 million people each wasted 10 more seconds booting the Mac, that would equal 100 lifetimes every year.
Kenyon returned, a few weeks later, with code that booted 28 seconds faster.
Magic.
Jobs had this reality distortion field that let him suspend his team's disbelief. Making even the most outlandish tasks somehow seem doable.
It's what led to the creation of the best Apple products, including the one in your hand.
I know, Steve Jobs was a legend. Most people aren’t like him.
But I use that story to illustrate a point: stop adopting someone else's reality as your own.
Advice is only useful in certain rare instances. Most of the time, you should ignore it.
Being more detached from a commonly-held idea of reality makes you powerful.
Create your own reality distortion field and see where it leads you.
Thanks for listening to The Principle Podcast! Subscribe for free to receive new episodes.
Image courtesy of André Carrilho.
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Every subscription you sign up for is competing for your attention.
Don’t believe me? Go on YouTube right now and read the first 3 video titles you see.
Now hit refresh and do it again.
And again.
See what I mean?
For online creators, your attention is currency. The more they capture, the more they make.
Everyone gets distracted.
Your phone lights up with a link to an Andrew Schulz clip. You end up down a rabbit hole when you’re supposed to be working.
It happens.
The good news is — these distractions are obvious.
Go on “Do Not Disturb” mode.
Boom. Problem solved?
Not quite.
Here’s the bad news — the obvious distractions aren’t the problem.
It’s the distractions you can’t even see that keep you from who you want to be.
Don’t kid yourself. You want to control your time. You want to make more money.
The opportunities are endless.
So, you set a goal: learn graphic design.
For two months, you spend an hour every day on a graphic design course.
Until one day, your friend tells you how much she makes as a software engineer…
You think, “I should try that!”
So you ditch graphic design, and start learning how to code instead.
The next week, another friend tells you there are too many programmers for hire…
“Shit. What do I do now?”
All along, you’ve been so excited about getting paid to be creative.
The harsh reality is: these so-called opportunities are distractions. Throwing you off course without you even realizing it.
Remember when I said the opportunities are endless? That’s not always a good thing.
Each of us has a voice in our minds. This voice speaks when it likes something, and avoids when it doesn’t.
But it’s influenced by our surroundings. Making every new opportunity look like a shiny object you should chase.
With information everywhere, we forgot how to listen to ourselves.
Here’s a simple framework for you to use.
Next time you’re about to jump into an opportunity distraction — ask yourself:
* Can I spend hours sucking at this and still enjoy it?
* Would I do this for free?
If you answered “no” — STOP.
Go outside. Slap yourself. Splash some water on your face.
Recognize that no one great was born great. They stuck with it and became great.
Stick with your thing. Put your own spin on it. You’ll get what’s yours.
This episode is inspired by my boy, Marcus Aurelius. Couldn’t get him on the pod, unfortunately.
Let me leave you with a quote from his private journal, Meditations:
“Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. […] People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time - even when hard at work.”
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Today’s conversation is with Arpit Gupta, an Associate Professor of Finance at NYU Stern.
Arpit runs a newsletter called Arpitrage (clever!) in which he researches fascinating ideas that almost nobody is paying attention to.
In this episode, we explore two topics in detail:
* How Finance Killed Democracy
* Incarceration’s Social Spillovers
Expect to learn why wealth inequality has increased (20:34), how to protect yourself from inflation (38:53), how a judge’s strictness can impact students’ test scores (41:31), why we might be completely wrong about how to reduce crime (51:24), and much more.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:42): Arpit’s research style.
(6:13): How Finance Killed Democracy.
(40:13): Incarceration’s Social Spillovers.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com -
Today’s conversation is with The Gut Expert, Nishtha Patel.
Nishtha’s gut health journey was a very personal one — in 2010, her daughter became extremely ill.
Since then, she’s spent over 13 years researching how to harness the full power of nutrition, helping dozens of clients regain their health along the way.
Expect to learn why all of us should care about digestive health, all the factors that determine gut function, how having pets can positively impact your gut health, the importance of rotating your foods, and much more.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:20): Nishtha’s gut health journey.
(7:17): Why gut issues are so difficult to diagnose.
(14:00): What is the gut microbiome?
(19:30): How to reduce stress levels.
(25:47): Easy techniques for a healthier gut.
(37:12): The impact of specific foods — coffee, stevia and other sweeteners, probiotics, alcohol, and lecithins.
(51:50): Enzyme supplementation.
(54:00): Developing intolerances to specific foods.
Links:
* The Gut Expert, Nishtha Patel.
* Listen To Your Gut by Jini Patel Thompson.
* The Notecook gut-friendly recipes.
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Today’s conversation is with Evan Burk, a leadership coach who is obsessed with building championship organizations.
Evan spent years coaching college and NFL athletes before coming to a realization: character is a competitive advantage.
We overvalue talent and past experience — Evan flips this thinking on its head, digging deep to uncover traits like resilience, coachability, and humility.
Expect to learn about the talent paradox, intangible traits of elite performers, creating your own games, how to be memorable, and much more.
For more leadership content, be sure to check out The Highest Level podcast, and Evan’s book, Finding Intangibles.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:41): Who is Evan Burk?
(4:05): From coaching 4th graders to coaching in the NFL in just 6 years.
(19:43): The Talent Paradox.
(26:43): Finding the championship traits.
(29:32): Why so many talented people fail.
(35:41): Decision-making is an emotional process.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com -
Today’s conversation is a masterclass on negotiation with Sandy Hein, a coach and instructor alongside Chris Voss at The Black Swan Group.
We all think we understand negotiation — ask good questions, control the narrative, don’t lose your cool.
Sandy dives deep into each aspect of negotiation through the lens of tactical empathy, providing us with a blueprint to influence the outcomes we desire.
Expect to learn the five levels of active listening, the benefits of addressing the elephant in the room, why tone of voice is the number one tool in your toolbox, and much more.
For more on effective negotiation, check out The Black Swan Group’s YouTube channel.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:30): What is The Black Swan Group?
(3:27): The most common negotiation mistakes.
(9:19): How to build rapport.
(15:20): The power of labels.
(21:35): The 5 levels of listening.
(34:37): Mirroring.
(37:36): The #1 Tool: Tone of voice.
(44:43): Don’t tell people they’re wrong; ask calibrated questions.
(49:36): “Negotiations are won by whoever demonstrates that they care more.”
(1:02:44): Why women should lean into empathy.
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Today’s conversation is with The Real Estate God, an anonymous account on Twitter sharing ideas on entrepreneurship, real estate, and most importantly, mindset.
Our conversation today unpacks a number of his principles that challenge conventional wisdom. The common thread amongst these ideas is simple: always bet on yourself.
Expect to learn why you should prioritize learning over money, why the 401k mindset is cancerous, what skills to focus on in order to ensure you don’t get left behind, and much more.
To dive deeper, check out his article, A Roadmap For The Future, and his course.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:42): Who is The RE God? Growing up with a chip on your shoulder.
(10:12): “The highest Return On Investment items in life have no clear ROI in the beginning.”
(14:51): How to approach risk.
(17:10): “The 401k mindset is cancerous.”
(28:54): Finding passion in any line of work.
(32:18): Competition.
(41:31): Audience building in 2022.
(43:58): How to position yourself for success in the future.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com -
Today’s conversation is with Bill Stainton, a 29-time Emmy Award winner, TEDx, and Keynote Speaker.
Bill believes we are all innovators — his mission is to unleash the creativity that we all have inside of us.
Experiences are dots. Creativity is simply connecting these dots. The more dots, the more variation, the more opportunity for creativity.
Expect to learn why creativity loves constraints, why outsiders are able to see our blind spots, the role open-mindedness plays in creativity, daily habits to exercise your creativity, and much more.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
(0:38): Who is Bill Stainton?
(2:57): How did we start to believe we’re not creative?
(15:20): Creativity loves constraints.
(20:25): Corporations and creativity.
(34:40): Open-mindedness increases your receptivity to creativity.
(38:12): Reactive vs. Proactive creativity.
(45:15): An innovator’s mindset.
(55:42): Bill’s most unique experiences.
(1:02:06): Bill Nye the Science Guy.
(1:05:14): Daily habits to exercise your creativity.
(1:11:00): Creativity during N1 sleep.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theprinciplepodcast.substack.com - Mehr anzeigen
