Active Recall!

Podcasts, videos, and iPad art

Book Notes: The Sovereign Individual

Check out the full notes for “The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive during the Collapse of the Welfare State” by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg

I’ve seen “The Sovereign Individual” mentioned here and there by crypto folks. Naval has a thread about it and the core argument around how violence shapes society.

“The coming transformation is both good news and bad. The good news is that the Information Revolution will liberate individuals as never before. For the first time, those who can educate and motivate themselves will be almost entirely free to invent their own work and realize the full benefits of their own productivity.” —

The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age by James Dale Davidson, Lord William Rees-Mogg

I’m reading to understand whether my JPEGs will continue to have value or not.

One thing to mention as far as Web 3.0 goes: a bunch of people I follow who were fully involved in empowering others to educate themselves and invent their own work (let’s call that the creator economy) have transitioned almost entirely to building Web 3.0 things.

Teachers of cohort courses I joined last year now have web3 communities.

It’s a very small sample size, but just something I’ve noticed. Plenty of other course creators of courses I joined last year are still running newer versions of their courses.

I am still slacking off on the assignments.

The money-to-happiness engine

Equally, in the future, one of the milestones by which you measure your financial success will be not just now many zeroes you can add to your net worth, but whether you can structure your affairs in a way that enables you to realize full individual autonomy and independence. The more clever you are, the less propulsion you will require to achieve financial escape velocity.

I listened recently to a reunion of the Twitch Founders on Justin Kan’s YouTube channel.

First, this is just amazing that it’s available for free. I’d love to go back in time and tell the authors of The Sovereign Individual that you can go on the internet and watch the founders of a company that sold for a billion dollars talk about their early days starting the company from scratch, laying the foundation of streaming video on their platform. This would be free on a different streaming video site, where 9 figure individuals choose to create their own freely available video channels.

The authors might be distracted by the time machine.

But I could get their attention again by pointing out that the company in question sold to a trillion dollar book store.

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Second, and the actual reason I bring that reunion convo up, is that Michael Seibel talks about money and happiness. They’re all Silicon Valleu successes, so they are and know many millionaires. Not all of those people are happy.

Seibel says it comes down to knowing how to convert money into happiness. The more efficient the better.

At peak efficiency, of course, you don’t actually need the money to realize happiness. Since enlightenment is a different kind of difficult, you can start by figuring out what makes you miserable and seeing if money can help in those areas. Then figure out what activities and people and whatever else make you happy. Then see if money can help you have more of those experiences.

If you’re sacrificing time that would otherwise go toward happy activities to try and make more money, your engine has some kinks in it. (Assuming a lack of money is not leading to misery, e.g. your rent is paid comfortably, etc.)

Podcast Outline: “Alchemy”

I often recommend Rory Sutherland’s Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life.

(I did mention it in a 2020 reading recap here.)

But I haven’t done a full podcast episode on it. I want to change that so here we go. Setting a 5 minute timer to outline and then a 10 minute timer to grab some quotes to talk over in the podcast.

As an aside, I was listening to the Bookworm podcast (“The Extended Mind” episode) and they mention the benefit of writing notes about books you’re reading. You can highlight all you want but it’s in synthesizing things, even just as a quick reaction to the book, that you really start to retain things. Podcasting is how they’ve done it week over week.

I want to do the same with the podcast, detached from any dream of making money with the podcast. It reminds me of Tiago Forte’s phrase “intermediate packets”. The outline for the podcast, the podcast itself, and then the show notes can all be intermediate packets.

Quick overview

  • How would you describe it in 3 sentences? Humans are irrational and the best marketers know how to use that knowledge to make ideas spread. If you think you are immune to advertising, this book will explain while you’re wrong. If you want to look at the world a little bit differently, Alchemy will help.
  • What’s one takeaway that comes to mind? The opposite of a good thing can also be a good thing. My own example: The opposite of 3-star Michelin food is probably food that’s a single course, thrown together quickly and served out of a hole in the wall. Both can be good. Look closer and they’re often not quite opposites.
  • What’s are some similar books that would fit the “Liked that? Read this” bill? Probably any behavioral economics book. If you like Daniel Kahneman or Dan Ariely and don’t want to read a book by another Dan, then this would be a good one to pick up. Also, if you liked Primalbranding by Patrick Hanlon, you’ll enjoy the branding discussion in Alchemy.

Quotes

[GOING TO ADD THEM HERE. IT’S NOT A MISTAKE IF YOU SEE THIS AS A PUBLISHED POST ON THE BLOG I JUST WANT TO POST OUTLINES THERE FIRST AND THEN WILL UPDATE AS THE SHOW NOTES PAGE AFTERWARD. I HELD SHIFT FOR CAPS HERE INSTEAD OF DOING CAPS LOCK BTW.]

How to learn (without needing to cut and watch organs work)

“God’s mother, don’t you know he cut apart living men to watch their organs work? I refuse to look at anything that monster was responsible for.” I set the book down. “You might as well give up studying medicine then,” I said as gently as possible. “Gibea’s research on the human body was the most thorough ever done. His journals are the backbone of modern physic.”

— The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

When going through my book highlights, I realize there was probably some specific reason that I highlighted something. Unless I write a note, then I own’t know the reason.

Here, I’m guessing I just thought it was a good commentary on what it takes to gain knowledge.

Which is to say: not as much anymore.

People used to have to cut bodies open to learn things that are a few taps away from a thing that’s sitting in your pocket or in your hands for like 90% of your waking life.

Another more recent thing that’s been unlocked by Twitch, YouTube, and other streaming platforms: watching other people work.

(In Rothfuss’s world, others could watch Gibea do his brutal research and learn from that instead of having to do it themselves.)

On My Fist Million (#208 with Steph Smith – Why You Need a Chief Automation Officer), Shaan Puri and Steph Smith talk about how effective job shadowing is. You can learn so much in a new role by watching how someone experienced does it. And reverse job shadowing helps also—someone experienced can see all the inefficiencies in what you’re doing. An automation officer would be able to watch you work for a day and see a handful of things right away that could automated.

Most jobs aren’t as entertaining to watch compared to streaming games.

But… you might happen to be in that same job role. It can be even more engaging than any game to watch someone doing the same role, because it will help you become better at your job. This is a different outcome than just being entertained.

Some of my favorite types of videos: over-the-shoulder writing or over-the-shoulder design.

And, of course, there’s cooking shows that are entertaining even if you rarely end up cooking any of the dishes.

Find ways to watch other people work.

Reviewing my highlights from “The Slight Edge”

I do, in some ways, feel I’ve lost my way in the past couple months. In July, I was making good progress with weight loss and writing on the blog pretty much daily.

Then I went on the east coast trip, fell off the wagon, and never quite got it back.

There’s another east coast trip coming up and I’m in worse shape heading into it. I’ve been putting the time in to work out but my eating has gotten much worse.

I did have a micro epiphany moment last night listening to Joe Defranco’s podcast “The Industrial Strength Show” with Christian Thibaudeau. Some notes:

  • Get as lean as possible if you care about longevity
  • Do some loaded carries
  • Don’t try to fill a scooter with more gas

You can optimize things but you won’t be able to speed them up to 2X, 3X normal speed. Adding muscle takes time. Losing fat takes time.

They also talk about being careful with bulking when you haven’t proven that you can lose fat first. Because you’ll bulk, add muscle with some fat, not lose the fat, then bulk again and add muscle with a little more fat, etc. and then find yourself more overweight with worse body fat %.

This may be happening to me right now. I’m doing the workouts and strength is going up, but I’m not eating like an adult so I’m adding fat also.

and with writing, I’ve gotten way too into my head.

I can post into the void here just fine. But when I try to write something in Twitter, where people might see it, I fall into the trap of two things that both can’t be true.

  1. I worry people won’t read it
  2. I worry people will think it’s dumb

Of course, #2 can’t happen if #1 doesn’t happen. But still I worry.

In any case, I’ll keep writing here for now.

oh yeah, The Slight Edge. This might be the beginner self development book I’d recommend if_Atomic Habits_ didn’t take that throne forever.

Still, special place on the bookshelf because it reminds me of the early days doing the podcast with Wally and Jason. So here are some quotes from it. That maybe will help me turn the ship around.

Relentless, double-edged

The slight edge is relentless and cuts both ways: simple daily disciplines or simple errors in judgment, repeated consistently over time, make you or break you.

This is a good reminder: the little bad things you do every day can compound as well.

The food one for me is that I used to not really seek out dessert and now it’s somehow become a requirement after dinner.

Applied to writing, I don’t really review my notes even though I’m taking them all the time. Not taking that action isn’t deliberate but it may as well be.

Someday

What’s more, it’s one that the majority follow their whole lives.
Someday, when my ship comes in …
Someday, when I have the money …
Someday, when I have the time …
Someday, when I have the skill …
Someday, when I have the confidence …
How many of those statements have you said to yourself? Have I got some sobering news for you: “some day” doesn’t exist, never has, and never will.

I fall into this a lot. Even now I’m thinking that I can wait until after the east coast trip to really get down to business with both the fitness and the writing goals.

But there’s two weeks before that trip and it’s important to build the habits going into that trip so that I don’t fall too far off the wagon.

Some day is today and tomorrow. Not a month from now. Not the new year.

Time is part of the function, and time is going to pass no matter what you do

The secret of time is simply this: time is the force that magnifies those little, almost imperceptible, seemingly insignificant things you do every day into something titanic and unstoppable.

I always say that Booster (my dog) is relentless. No matter how tired she is from a day out, she’ll get up and investigate if I’m opening a bag of something up in the kitchen.

Time is similarly unstoppable. Compounding by saving money and doing nothing with it at all is powerful because time won’t stop.

If you do small positive things repeatedly, over time, you’ll make big changes in your life.

If you don’t make that deliberate choice, the defaults can often times be small negative things. They’ll also make big changes.

Time to start being slightly more deliberate each day.

Revenge to 159: Don’t miss twice

“Whenever this happens to me, I try to remind myself of a simple rule: never miss twice. If I miss one day, I try to get back into it as quickly as possible. Missing one workout happens, but I’m not going to miss two in a row. Maybe I’ll eat an entire pizza, but I’ll follow it up with a healthy meal. I can’t be perfect, but I can avoid a second lapse. As soon as one streak ends, I get started on the next one. The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.” — Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

I am, again, on a treadmill walking. Drove back from Napa today and wanted to not miss two days in a row. Because boy oh boy did I miss my workout and healthy eating yesterday.

This was one of those planned ones, but I did assume there’d be a hotel gym when there wasn’t. And instead of making up a body weight exercise, I made up a body of excuses.

This excuse begins in a wooden barrel and then is transferred to stainless steel for the crisp finish you’ll feel.

That excuse is made up of 7 different varieties of smaller excuses creating a fascinating blend that goes with nearly everything.

In any case, the post vacation bloat stats

  • current weight: 175 lbs
  • goal weight for Oct 9: 164 lbs (not happening!)
  • goal weight for Dec 31: 159 lbs (possible)

What went well this week: Bigger Leaner Stronger 5 day split

I’m really enjoying this split. The numbers seem to be going up so it at least seems like I’m getting stronger if I’m not losing fat. The frequency is nice and it’s good to not really need to think about if I’m going to go to the gym that day or not.

What could be improved: Some choices in Napa

Planning to indulge at a wedding is fine for the goals I have in mind.

Eating to 110% at meals the day before, probably not necessary. That said, I don’t quite regret it the way that I do destroying a bag of Cheetos.

Still, I have a sneaking suspicion that I shouldn’t order two desserts.

What to focus on this week: Back to salads and pre cooked meat

Loaded up on Caesar salads, chicken breast, and grass fed sirloin at Trader Joe’s.

Going to a Seahawks/Niners game this weekend. When I went to an SF Giants game earlier this year, I ate a crab sandwich, steak sandwich, and half pound kielbasa.

So for this upcoming time at a stadium, I will try not to eat a crab sandwich, steak sandwich, and half pound kielbasa.

Podcasting stages of an episode

Today’s experiment is an idea I’ve had but never quite execute on it. Basically: write an evolving post.

  • Stage 1: Podcast outline (book highlights)
  • Stage 2: Podcast + show notes
  • Stage 3: Podcast + show notes + transcription
  • Stage 4 (optional): Podcast + show notes + video

The final output would be:

  • Blog post: book highlights + my thoughts on it + embeds (podcast and video)
  • Podcast
  • Video

And if I try to map this to some kind of converge diverge thing:

  • Diverge: Brainstorm topics (no research yet)
  • Converge: Outline with highlights
  • Diverge: Podcast
  • Converge: Show notes
  • Converge even more (optional): Video