Active Recall!

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I just finished reading Ed Latimore’s book

I recently watched an interview between Tom Bilyeu (Quest Nutrition founder) and Evan Puschak (The Nerdwriter). Puschak talks about developing your own world view. Bilyeu says he’s built his by combining great ideas from other people. He looks for the connections between ideas. I’m trying to do the same.

Bilyeu mentions Pete Carroll and his philosophy. In one of his talks, Caroll talked about John Wooden and the importance of knowing what you believe in.

But what hit me is that he had this philosophy. He knew what he thought, and it wasn’t like anybody else. And I just stumbled into trying into figuring that out…. If you want to be great, if you want to do something really at the top of your game, you got to figure out who you are, what you stand for, what’s important. And not even that, so you can convey it to the people around you, so they know about it.

What does this have to do with Ed Latimore’s book? He knows what he believes in. He wrote it down clearly for others to learn from. He knows how to fit wisdom into a tweet. In Not Caring What Other People Think is a Superpower, Latimore starts each chapter with a tweet-length heading and he expands on that idea over a page or two.

Here’s what Latimore has to say about having activities that lead to growth:

Overcoming the struggle is where it’s at. You will always need something to force you to grow if you want to be happy. There must always be a mountain to climb because happiness is in scaling the mountain; not in reaching the apex.

I learned about Ed Latimore through an episode of The Knowledge Project. I opened up Amazon and bought his book after hearing him explaining life before and after alcohol:

You ever watch Angel? That old show Angel? About the vampire with a soul. He was a vampire so he did a lot of ill shit as a vampire. And all of a sudden he’s got a soul so now he feels guilty about it. So he spends a lot of time brooding and feeling bad and trying to do good to make up for all the evil he put into the world.

If you enjoy him in that interview, you’ll like this book. The topics are similar and his voice comes through through in his writing. Some chapters end with actionable steps to take.

I’d love to know what I believe in and share it in a way that’s clear and entertaining. Ed Latimore shows what that can lead to. I’ll do the work to get there. One post at a time.

Book reaction: The Forever War

I just read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Here’s how I think I came across it:

  • I was browsing Audible because I’m always browsing Audible
  • I saw a link to The Accidental Time Machine which is a somewhat recent book and part of the description mentioned that the author wrote The Forever War
  • I came across The Forever War while walking around Amazon Books in Columbus Circle

At that point I learned it was published in the 70s. It was also at that point that I learned it was a science fiction book. I set out to pick up a softcover novel. I’ll write another post on this, but I suspect it will help me practice focus.

I just finished the book and would like to present some reasons for why you might want to check the book out.

Did you enjoy Interstellar? Particularly the haunting idea of aging while your friends check out a planet with time dilation effect and you’re many years older while they’ve only aged a few hours?

You might like The Forever War.

Are you interested in the Vietnam War? And have you ever imagined what it would be like if instead of Vietnam it was different galaxies and times?

You might like The Forever War.

Do you enjoy brutal war scenes with people wearing suits that would fit right into Gears of War or Halo?

You might like The Forever War.

 

I really enjoyed it.

Some questions for myself

Here are some questions I’ve had lately regarding this site and what I’ve been trying to make lately. I’ll work through these. I’m in no rush.

  • What do I actually want to make? I want to write. I want to make videos. I want to make the podcast. I want to draw. I’m figuring out what order I want to do those things in.
  • Do I want to focus on books? Sort of. I’ve been reading a lot this year so it’d be good to share some of what I’m enjoying. I’m not sure if it’s interesting to other people. Then again, it’s up to me to make it interesting to other people. Quantity over quality might be a good idea right now but it might just lead to aimless things like this post.
  • What do I enjoy reading myself? I’ve always loved content from Bill Simmons and then Grantland and now The Ringer. I also enjoy everything from Barking Up The Wrong Tree. I subscribe to Stratechery. I can start by being a terrible imitation of them.
  • Why am I doing this? I’m not clear on this. I want to be a better writer. On an episode of The Showrunner podcast, they said that you should make sure your podcast focused on one of these three things: entertaining others, educating, or inspiring. I want to focus on entertaining others, but I’m a long way off from that. Why do I want to entertain others? It seems like the most fun route of the three. And it’s challenging.

How to post more (by writing less!)

What’s the single idea of this post? I’ll improve by writing shorter posts

I’m reading Josh Bernoff’s Writing Without Bullshit. I liked this idea of getting a grasp of different word counts:

Aim for a word count. Your emails should be under 250 words. Your blog posts should be under 750. Learn the feel of a 100-, 300-, 500-, or 1,000-word hunk of prose. Imagine that words cost $ 10 each. How much can you afford to spend, and where can you economize? A word count makes brevity a concrete goal.

I don’t have a feel for those hunks of prose. Someday I want to be on the Hunks of Prose calendar, so I’ll practice with shorter pieces.

I don’t have trouble sitting down and writing. Not through talent but through practicing and setting up systems. I have trouble sitting down and writing things worth reading. I need to practice improving different elements of writing.

My hunch is that aiming for shorter posts will help me shore up my many weaknesses. While the frequency helps with a strength: I can change topics day to day and stay interested. What am I hoping this will lead to?

  • I’ll actually finish posts. I have plenty of post outlines and drafts. Some even have a lot of words in them. They’re nowhere close to finished. A giant giant wall of text is further from finished than a short, clear outline is.
  • I’ll actually revise my work. I can sit down and free-write for hours on end. It’s overwriting. It’s not meant for reading in the first place. When I intend to write for something I’ll publish, I still end up with raw material that’s way longer than I want to revise. I add placeholders to keep writing a wall of text and then I don’t finish because all the placeholders become overwhelming.
  • I’ll actually stick to one idea. A connection comes to mind, I add a placeholder. Then I try to connect ideas. Some aren’t fully formed. Shorter posts will help me focus on single ideas at a time. If some disconnected idea comes to mind, I’ll pat myself on the back because now I have a new idea. For a different post. For a different day. Back to today’s idea.
  • I’ll (hopefully) actually get feedback. “Hey read this 2000-word thing I didn’t revise.” That’s a hard sell. I need feedback to improve. Shawn Coyne says it’ll be hard to sell a book if you can’t get 10,000 people willing to read a free book. I can’t get feedback on long posts if I can’t get you to read my short posts.

Why all the “actually”s? I’ve read enough how-to-write books to know how important each phase is in writing. Now I need to actually go through those steps.

18: Primal Branding

I made this video before we recorded the podcast. If you’re interested in content from the book, well it still might not be the best resource. But it sticks a little closer to talking about the book.

How professional wrestlers nail the 7 branding elements

We talked about Primalbranding by Patrick Hanlon. In the episode, we talk briefly about wrestlers and their brands. That idea stuck with me so I expanded on it in this post.

On this week’s podcast, we talked about Primalbranding by Patrick Hanlon. In the book, he explains how successful brands hit all seven components of the primal code:

When products and services have all seven pieces of code (the creation story; the creed; the icons; the rituals; the pagans, or nonbelievers; the sacred words; and the leader), they become a meaningful part of our culture.

Let’s take a look at how it applies to wrestlers, because that’s the only mental model I’ve got.

Creation story

Remember how the Midnight Rockers were AWA darlings and went big time by signing with WWF while still champions?

No? Remember when Shawn Michaels kicked Marty Jannetty right in the chompers then threw him through the glass window in Brutus The Barber Beefcake’s portable barber shop?

From Chip and Dan Heath’s The Power of Moments:

Some powerful defining moments contain all four ele- ments. Think of YES Prep’s Senior Signing Day: the ELEVA-TION of students having their moment onstage, the INSIGHT of a sixth grader thinking that could be me, the PRIDE of being accepted to college, and the CONNECTION of sharing the day with an arena full of thousands of supportive people.

The elevation of seeing this on camera. The insight of thinking that could be me if I also was knocked down by standing too close to my close friend body slamming a Nasty Boy. The wounded pride of being a fan of the Rockers. And the connection of sharing that with wrestling fans around the world.

Creed

The creed is sometimes made obvious by a company’s mission statement. From Primalbranding:

The statement was written by founder Horst M. Rechelbacher: Our mission at Aveda is to care for the world we live in, from the products we have to the ways in which we give back to society. At Aveda, we strive to set an example for environmental leadership and responsibility not just in the world of beauty, but around the world.

Our mission at the new world organization, I mean new world order, is to destroy the world we live in, from Rey Mysterio Jr.'s tiny head to the Giant's giant one. And we're always hiring. Come join us (really!)

Icons

A lot of companies have recognizable logos. Wrestlers have them but their brands have more prominent elements. The factions do the best job with logos. DX had theirs and nWo's logo is probably the most popular in history.

Colors and costumes are more important. How do you separate Crush from his Demolition days? Swap the black and white for purple and orange.

It's a world where you can pull off pink through an entire career. From Bret Hart's biography Hitman:

Judy, the seamstress who made our wrestling gear for us, had mentioned to me that she had a nice new color she wanted Jim and me to try: neon bubblegum pink. After careful consideration we realized wearing pink would get us instant heat and give us a new look for our SNME debut. Still, in the dressing room in San Diego where we were doing pre-tapes for SNME, Jim and I felt funny pulling on those pink tights.

I was dressed and picking up my tray in the cafeteria when Vince, who was sitting with Dick Ebersol, head of NBC sports, yelled at me, “Stop! Don’t move!” Heads turned. It got suddenly quiet. I thought we were in some sort of trouble, and I couldn’t imagine why. Vince stood up and circled around Jim and me grinning, “Don’t ever change that color! That color is you! It’s what you guys have been missing all along! From now on I don’t want you to wear anything but pink!”

Steve Austin had the Austin 3:16 shirts which I'm guessing are still the best selling wrestling shirt ever. It's immortalized in Kevin Love's Budweiser celebration. Stone Cold also has the smoking skulls as another icon. But it doesn't stop with visuals. Icons can target your other senses. Steve Austin's most recognizable icon targets your ears.

Wrap your hand in a towel and punch through the nearest window. A bathroom mirror will work also. Or grab a drinking glass and toss it as hard as possible at the ground. Just make sure to say say da-dun-da-dun-da-dun.

Every wrestler has intro music.

Ohhhhhh what a rush!

That looks dumb on screen when I type it. But that really got me going when I was 5.

It plays before the match but there's a more important time for it to play. Someone you like is in real trouble. You tense up. You don't notice that your ears are waiting for it. Mick Foley got his sock blocked and now he's getting stomped in the middle of the ring. No mercy. They're taking turns hitting him with chairs now. By god, someone's gotta stop this madne..

…If ya smelllllll..!

Rituals

Monday nights, I'd fire up Nitro and watch the first hour passively as the various Mortal Kombat clones wrestled without much narrative. Then the overlap came and I queued up USA Network. For the next two hours I jammed on the 'Jump' button to toggle between Raw and Nitro. I'd run into my brother's room. "Did you see that?!" Nods. Then run back to my TV.

Popping when someone's music hits is part of the ritual.

When dark characters come out, people now put their cell phones in the air like lighters.

And you can always throw your toothpick at your friend and say "Chico".

Nonbelievers

Nonbelievers are the people who don't believe in the creed. Or who actively oppose it. Nonbelievers usually have their own brands.

Here's a shortcut to see which creeds are opposed to each other: look at the Survivor Series rosters.

Demolition's got 3 partners and they need one for Survivor Series. And their mystery partner is… one of the Bushwhackers?

It wouldn't happen. Well it probably would. But it's noticeable. It feels off.

Sacred Words

Brands have sacred words. If you want to have a strong brand, just do it.

What?

It takes time to develop your brand. But it's what you need if you want to be the best there is. The best there was…

What?!

Personal branding is more important today than ever. Start working on it, whether you're the realest guy in the room or you're 7-foot tall.

What?!!

You've got to nail all the elements of the brand. Again it takes time. But once it's all together, brother, you'll be able to run wild on everyone.

What?!!!

You sit there and you thump your silhouette of guys on horses playing polo. Talk about your Swooshes and your Jobs 3:16. Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass.

Leaders

"Bret screwed Bret."

Vince McMahon became Mr. Manager. He stepped into the light. Whoever had that winged eagle belt around their waist used to be the leader. The company followed that champion.

Now reality mattered. Well. "Reality."

Listening to older WWF broadcasts, ok there a ton of things to notice. But one thing that sticks out is hearing McMahon as strictly an announcer. That was his character.

The Montreal Screw job was the creation story for his personal brand. He was the manifestation of The Man, which itself is a personification of corporations. It gets exaggerated at each step. He became The Devil adjace.

The villains need someone to answer to. The antiheroes need a leader to antagonize. Now they looked to Mr. McMahon.

Backstage, they had always looked to Vince.

17: Better Than Before

This week’s book-of-the week is Better Than Before, by Gretchen Rubin. On the show, we talked about a few topics from the book:

  • Four Tendencies
  • Four Foundational Habits
  • Convenience, environment, and the 20-second rule
  • The Strategy of Pairing

First though, we got a listener question (Thank you!):

How you deal with self-sabotaging thoughts?

Jason uses music to get into a positive mindset. Wally talked about Kevin Stirdivant’s appearance on Short Story Long. In that episode, Kevin Stirdivant gives 3 Rs for handling the incorrect stories you tell yourself:

  1. Recognize
  2. Realize
  3. Re-create

I said awareness is the most important part of handling self-sabotaging thoughts. That aligns with recognize. Recognizing a self-sabotaging thought is a great first step. By seeing a thought as self-sabotaging, you know it’s not helpful and that it’s just a thought.

If only it was just a thought, right? Inception is an entire movie about the power of a single thought.

So what can you do? Remember that a single thought can be just as powerful for positivity. There are different tools to try. Stoicism helps with recognizing them as just thoughts. Meditation really is practice in recognizing any thoughts and steering your focus away from them.

You’ll have to try some of the tools and see which ones work for you.

Here’s a very specific exercise. After a self-sabotaging thought, try making your immediate response “Good.” I learned this from Jocko Willink’s chapter in Tim Ferriss’s Tools of Titans:

“Now. I don’t mean to say something clichéd. I’m not trying to sound like Mr. Smiley Positive Guy. That guy ignores the hard truth. That guy thinks a positive attitude will solve problems. It won’t. But neither will dwelling on the problem. No. Accept reality, but focus on the solution.”

Take action! Think of a negative thought and think “Good.” right after it.

I have less than 10 views on a majority of my videos. Good. I really am willing to practice without immediate outer rewards.

I’ve been trying to lose the same 10 pounds every year. Good. I didn’t quit. And it didn’t turn to 20 pounds and then 30 pounds over the years.

Awareness is also important for habit change.

Four Tendencies

Know yourself. In Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin explains different personality groups and uses them throughout the rest of the book. It must have resonated with a lot of people, because she ended up writing a separate book about these four tendencies:

Everyone falls into one of four distinct groups:

  • Upholders respond readily to both outer expectations and inner expectations.
  • Questioners question all expectations, and will meet an expectation only if they believe it’s justified.
  • Obligers respond readily to outer expectations but struggle to meet inner expectations (my friend on the track team).
  • Rebels resist all expectations, outer and inner alike.

Which of the four tendencies do you align with most?

On the podcast, Jason pointed out that all three of us were parts of military families and are first generation Americans. I want to be a questioner, but I probably fall back to being an obliger more often than I’d like.

Wally talks about taking a hip-hop dance class recently.

Let’s say you want to get good at hip-hop dancing:

  • If you’re an upholder, you can probably find online videos and maybe an online class and actually follow through on it.
  • If you’re a questioner, you’ll ask why you’re doing it and question a coach’s methodology. If you’re convinced, you’ll become a stout defender of it.
  • If you’re an obliger, you should probably sign up for a bunch of classes. And probably with a friend.
  • If you’re a rebel, you’re probably a better dancer than all three of the people above.

Take action!

  • Get to know yourself. Think about which of the four tendencies you align with. Then you can create an environment that’s customized to your needs.

Four foundational habits

We discussed sleeping, exercising, eating right, and uncluttering. These make up the four foundational habits from Better Than Before:

Foundation habits tend to reinforce each other—for instance, exercise helps people sleep, and sleep helps people do everything better—so they’re a good place to start for any kind of habit change. Furthermore, somewhat mysteriously, Foundation habits sometimes make profound change possible. A friend once told me, “I cleaned out my fridge, and now I feel like I can switch careers.” I knew exactly what she meant.

The life-changing magic of tidying up, sleeping enough, eating right, and moving your body.

Which of the foundational habits have you found most useful and which do you need to improve on?

Wally talks about the idea of how small things are important because they reinforce a positive mindset. You make your bed and you can take on the world. You lift weights and slowly see the weights increasing over weeks, months, and years. You’re really practicing discipline and patience.

I mentioned something from James Abel, who hosts the Fat-Burning Man podcast. I really enjoyed his book, The Wild Diet. In a chapter on fasting, he talks about how it really gets you thinking about what you’re actually capable of:

I don’t really know how to explain it, but there is a fascinating phenomenon that often kicks in when people try fasting. Once you find that you can in fact go without food for some or most of the day with great energy, you ask yourself: “What else am I capable of?” That’s where life gets interesting.

I’ll offer my own example. In my first two years of regular fasting, I went from a struggling musician with a desk job to a multiple-award-winning talk show host, bestselling author, and millionaire at the reins of the hottest food app publisher in America. With the extra time, clarity, and confidence you get from fasting, you might find that the entire trajectory of your life changes.

Take action!

  • In the spirit of knowing yourself, pick one of the four habits that’s most behind and start working on improving in that area.

Starting, stopping, and the 20-second rule

In Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin talks about convenience:

One thing that continually astonishes me is the degree to which we’re influenced by sheer convenience. The amount of effort, time, or decision making required by an action has a huge influence on habit formation. To a truly remarkable extent, were more likely to do something if it’s convenient, and less likely if it’s not.

What’s a bad habit you stopped or a good habit you started?

  • Jason stopped snoozing and started working out. Have you heard of the trick where you put your alarm clock across the room? He builds on that by putting it across the room and also underneath some workout clothes.
  • Wally stopped smoking by using nicotine gum. Yes, he then needed to wean off the nicotine gum. Then off of chewing gum. Then off of chewing plastic stirrers. Then off of

I’ve been writing more in the past year. I’m not a good writer, but I can sit down and write a little bit every day. People already write daily and don’t recognize it. We send so many emails and texts. I made writing something creative as easy as writing an email. Now I need to structure it so that I’m practicing the right things when I write, but that’s another story for another book for another episode.

Take action!

  • Think of how you remove 20 seconds of friction before a good habit. (Meal prep!)
  • Think of how you can add 20 seconds of friction before a bad habit. (Take that addicting app off your phone!)