BC LIFE LESSONS
Saved by @Shubham51ngh

THREAD: The top 0.1% of ideas I’ve stumbled upon on the internet.

The rabbit holes (without the distractions).

 1. Directional Arrows of Progress

“Study the undeniable arrows of progress.” - @wolfejosh

• The future is kinda like a crossword puzzle.

• Nobody is going to spell out for you - but clues exist.

• Wolfe uses the trend line of history as clues for the future.
• E.g. Look at this directional arrow of progress

• Every time the computer gets more powerful, smaller and closer to our bodies.

• Wolfe used this trend line to bet that Brain-Machine interfaces will be huge and started funding companies in the space.
2. The Cobra Effect

”When a measure becomes a goal, it ceases to become a measure” - @G_S_Bhogal

• British colonialists tried to reduce the snake population in India.

• They offered bounties for dead cobras with cash given out to the killers

• The incentives back-fired...
• The local population started breeding cobras & killing them.

• When the government discovered this, the reward program was scrapped.

• The cobra breeders then released their $0 snakes into the street, making the problem much worse.
3. Shaan Clubs

• Cliche trope: "You're the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with"

• @ShaanVP takes this simple cliche and actually implements it - by creating clubs of similar people.

• He wanted to learn poker, so lived in a house of people learning poker
• He wanted to learn e-commerce, so created an e-commerce Zoom club.

• "I have a method of trying to get good at something... I form a mastermind of other people in the same boat." - @ShaanVP

• So simple and nobody does it. I felt like an idiot after hearing it.
4. Asch Negative

• The obvious answer is A.

• Asch’s study found that if actors gave the wrong answer, other people would sometimes copy them.

• “Asch Negative“ is a trait where people go against the room. (Contrarian for the sake of truth)

H/T @EricRWeinstein
2 interesting ideas this leads to:

A. Asch Negative will be a test in schools of the future

• How many macro-atrocities (genocide) or micro-atrocities (bullying) could be prevented by having Asch-Negative training for kids?

Watch "@DerrenBrown - The Push" on Netflix
B. We need people to create new words

• Before @EricRWeinstein introduced Asch-Negative, there weren’t any words to truly describe it - resulting in low adoption

• Society’s belief system is like open-sourced software

• New words create new functions & forks in the code
5. CEO's > Presidents

• With the rise of a remote population that can migrate easier, @balajis argues that future presidents will look like CEO's.

• They will focus less on politics - and more on sales, recruitment, and product of their city.

• Early signs are here...
• Smaller cities (startups) will think outside the box to compete with huge attractive cities (mega-corps)

• LA or NYC is the mega-corps that don't have to innovate because they're number 1

• Most challenger cities will fail - like startups. (But % will thrive)
6. Calendar-Priority Alignment

• When @rabois meets with a new CEO, he asks to see:

1. Their priorities
2. Their calendar

• They rarely ever match.

• So simple. So obvious. Rarely ever done. I felt stupid after hearing it.
Reminds me of Munger on Mozart being miserable his whole life - because he overspent his income

"If Mozart can't get by with this kind of asinine conduct, I don't think you should try."

If elite CEO's fail the calendar-priority alignment test, I'm 99% sure we are (I am).
7. Write Before Action

• @Conaw writes down what he plans to do, and how he plans to do it (in detail) before he does it

• "Why? Because sometimes I realize as I am halfway through writing things out that there is a fundamentally better approach."

• So simple. Rarely done
• "...my main reasons for writing things down is because I want to find out if there is work I can safely avoid." - @Conaw

• "Another advantage of breaking down the steps into detailed and discreet chunks of work -- you don't have to do everything yourself." - @Conaw
8. The Hotel Bathroom Principle

• "When you want to cultivate serendipity, stick to the 'Hotel Bathroom' dress code.

Always dress well enough to walk into any a bathroom at a hotel you're not staying at and get away with it." - @david_perell
9. Knowledge = The Value

• "(Knowledge) it's not inside the thing itself. For example, oil is useless unless you know how to refine it, burn it, and use it for combustion.

Information is useless unless there's a brain there to receive it." - @naval
• The internet is kinda like college. Educational but full of distractions.

• Customisable algorithms of the future should optimise for the individual's goals - rather than the goals of the platform.

• Until then, we’re all swimming in sewage trying to find nuggets of gold.
I occasionally send out a newsletter of new ideas + tools I'm exploring.

Clouds = Big Ideas + Mental Models

Dirt = Leveraged Tools + Automation/No-Code + Software.

100% high signal. 0% spam.

Check it out 👉https://t.co/gZLFoqxVV0

More from George Mack

George Mack
George Mack
@george__mack
THREAD: The top 0.1% of marketing mental models.

Compressing a 6-year career into the best 8 ideas:

1. Contrast Is A Drug

• Rolls Royce stopped exhibiting at car shows

• They started exhibiting at private aircraft shows

• "If you've been looking at jets all afternoon, a £300,000 car is an impulse buy. It's like putting the sweets next to the counter" - @rorysutherland

2. The Best Content Involves A Red Pill

• "If you want to build a good podcast, following, or blog - you've gotta create your red pill"

• Hand society something they're not hearing anywhere

• Society says blue pill. Your content says red pill.

(@finnscave via @ShaanVP)

• The irony is that the red pill metaphor is itself a red pill - once you see it, you can never unsee it.

• The best content creators on the internet all have their own red pill, which makes their content so enticing.

E.g. @jockowillink's red pill:


• Society's Blue Pill: Writing is a boring activity from school

• @david_perell's Red Pill: Writing online is the fastest way to accelerate your career
MARKETING
George Mack
George Mack
@george__mack
If I had to give a lecture series on marketing, here's 11 points I'd include:

1. Data is like protein:

It’s valuable - but it shouldn’t be your *only* input.

If all your decisions are guided by A/B tests, you’ll eventually end up with a porn site.

2. The infinite ROI skill stack:

A. Understand how people work - Lindy.

B. Understand platforms + culture - Ever-changing.

Live in the barbell.

3. The best marketers are open source for the *first time ever*

• You can visit ad libraries
• You can sign up to newsletters
• You can see the copy on their website

There's no centralised database like Github - but it's there for the resourceful

4. Copy or reverse-engineer

A. If you want to do good marketing, just copy the greats.

B. If you want to do great marketing, reverse engineer the principles behind great marketing.

Warning: You will then be copied.

5. Think with headlines first

Mr. Beast has full time staff who's sole job is to write headlines for YouTube videos.

If the headline is good, they then make the video.

This is the inverse of making the headline fit the story.

Think of distribution before creation.
MARKETING
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George Mack
George Mack
@george__mack
Flying is accidentally the best ever environment for DEEP work and reflection.

Writers like @rickygervais do their best work on airplanes.

Here's 6 reasons why.

THREAD...

What looks like a bug - can often be a feature.

“A change of perspective is worth 80 IQ points.”

The restrictions we face on airplanes is what makes the experience so liberating.

AIRPLANE FEATURE 1 - HIGH EXIT COSTS

You can't find any escapes.

If you try to escape, you face death.

Negative incentives are built into the system.

"Incentives are a super power." - Charlie Munger

AIRPLANE ADVANTAGE 2 - NO INPUTS

There's no newsfeeds to refresh. No emails to reply to.

It's like knowing your heroin dealer is in a coma.

Boredom is built into the system.

Your monkey mind can't access dopamine - so it starts creating its own.

It is a distraction-free environment:

1. No socialising - You don't know anyone. No small talk.

2. No sound inputs - The engine acts as white noise.

3. No visual inputs - The seating structure means you see barely anybody.
WRITING
George Mack
George Mack
@george__mack
4 Learning phases:

1. Unconscious incompetence - "I don't know how bad I am"

2. Conscious incompetence - "This sucks. I know how bad I am"

3. Conscious competence - "I can do this if I focus"

4. Unconscious competence - "I don't remember the last 10 minutes of driving my car"
ALL
George Mack
George Mack
@george__mack
I get DM's from founders with the same specific problems.

Here's a public list of marketing tools I recommend:

↓

1. Twemex

Twitter Advanced search on steroids.

Whenever you visit someone's account, see their most popular Tweets of all time in order.

H/T @Julian for this

https://t.co/8P2YJ3Jrf0


2. Good UI

Historical log of successful and failed A/B tests from the likes of Amazon, Netflix, Google

3. Blisk

See how your website looks across every device.

Got an Android user complaining how your website looks but you only have an iPhone? Use Blisk.

4. Really Good Emails

Struggling with email ideas?

Library of thousands of quality emails to get inspo from.
MARKETING

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Danny Baldus-Strauss
Danny Baldus-Strauss
@BackpackerFI
23 lessons I learned on my path from $0 to $2M in 8 years

// THREAD

1. “Play long term games with long term people” @naval

Anything that provides instant gratification is probably bad for you and your wealth.

Anything that provides delayed gratification is likely good for you.

There’s no such thing as “get rich quick” or “overnight success”

2. “Focus on the $10K+ questions, not the $5 ones.” @ramit

Spend time focusing on the big decisions like asset allocation & building good credit rather than the $5 Starbucks decisions.

Set an hourly rate for yourself.

Outsource everything that’s under that rate to save time.

3. Invest early and often. Time in the market > timing the market

Consistency is the name of the game.

Automate everything.

Sometimes investing can be boring and that’s a good thing.

Early on, investing more and often is far more important than yield or portfolio performance.

4. Learn to avoid lifestyle inflation.

You really do need less than you think, trust me.

Get out in nature, and you’ll see.

Freedom + time are worth much more than nice cars and clothes.

Keep your lifestyle flat even as you get promoted and make more.

Invest the difference.
ALL , LIFE LESSONS
The Millennial Money Woman \U0001f4b5
The Millennial Money W...
@The_MMW
11 Critical Lessons from Jeff Bezos

// Thread //

1. It's OK to Fail

Bezos helped develop the Fire Phone, one of Amazon's worst failures.

And yet, the Fire Phone led to one of Amazon's biggest successes: Alexa.

“If you want to be inventive, you have to be willing to fail.” @JeffBezos

2. Be Uncomfortable

Before founding Amazon, Bezos worked on Wall Street.

Yet, he left his comfort zone to start an online business.

In 1994, building an online business was incredibly risky.

"One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out" @jeffbezos

3. Your Actions Define You

You are born with strengths and weaknesses.

What you do is what ultimately defines who you are.

It is not your ability that defines you, but your actions and choices.

"It's not an experiment if you know it's going to work" @jeffbezos

4. Embrace Criticism

If someone you trust gives you feedback, decide if their criticism is right.

If yes, then change and stop resisting.

Candid feedback is your ticket to true growth.

"If you can't tolerate critics, don't do anything new or interesting" @JeffBezos
LIFE LESSONS
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The Millennial Money Woman \U0001f4b5
The Millennial Money W...
@The_MMW
How to Build Wealth at Any Age

11 Wealth Building Strategies

// Thread //

1. Diversify Your Income

The average millionaire builds 7 streams of income.

If you've ever heard of the saying "don't put your eggs in 1 basket," then you know that you shouldn't rely on just 1 job.

Start diversifying your income streams today.

2. Own Your Own Business

66% of millionaires own their own business.

There's a reason why so many millionaires choose entrepreneurship over employment: They are their own boss.

Live your life without limits and build a lasting empire today.

3. Build Your Network

A degree is good but your network is better.

One of the greatest indicators of your future success is determined by the people who know you and trust you.

Build and maintain meaningful relationships as early as possible.

Your network is your net worth.

4. Read More

85% of millionaires read books for 30 minutes or more daily.

Books give you a chance to learn from and think like the greatest minds that have walked this earth.

If you want to succeed, you have to read.
LIFE LESSONS
Nick Huber
Nick Huber
@sweatystartup
I'm not gonna lie.

My success is 95% attributable to running with the right people and being in the right place at the right time.

The lucky part for me:

It’s a flywheel and it’s all about momentum.

I’ve learned a lot from those folks. I’ve learned a lot about business and management and real estate.

My network is growing.

And I’ll continue to get even more opportunities and meet more people.

My advice:

Surround yourself with great people, add value to their lives so they keep you around, and focus on spotting opportunities.

Do the not fun, hard, sweaty work early so you can build up capital. Then work smart and keep the flywheel going.

And the thing you need to realize:

50% of people are negative, incompetent, mean and take more than they add.

Like crabs. They pull you back down into the bucket. Instead of lifting you up to help you win.

Cut the crabs (even the family crabs) out of your life.

The other 50% have an abundance mindset.

They don’t complain or blame.

They believe you winning is good for them. So they want you to win and will do things to help you win because they know it comes back around.

These are the folks you need to find, help and spend time with.
LIFE LESSONS
Ankur Warikoo
Ankur Warikoo
@warikoo
The art of cold emailing

A thread...

Cold emailing is the act of sending an email (or a DM) to someone who doesn’t know you (hence the word, cold!)

Every day I get 300+ emails, most from those I do not know, and a shocking number of them are poorly written.

Here are 10 things that work for emails that I reply to

1. A different (but not aggressive) subject line

Ask yourself, what is the most likely subject line that EVERYONE will tend to write.
And then DO NOT write that.

What works?
Personalization (I think Vidur and Uzma will love this)
Intrigue (This is when I first saw you)

What doesn’t work?
Common themes (Seeking investment; Job application)
Aggression (Your content sucks - true story btw. It was used only to catch attention)
Buzzwords (AI/ML startup by Stanford founder)

2. The salutation

It is crazy how this small thing is so impactful.
How do you start your email?

Hi Ankur / Hey Ankur / Good Morning Ankur / Dear Mr. Warikoo etc

Adding harmless emoticons helps (😊)
LIFE LESSONS

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Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you.

Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games.

You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity - a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom.
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Sara Benincasa
@SaraJBenincasa
#NationalAuthorsDay Hi! Here's a thread about how I love you for buying my books anywhere, but I especially love when you support independent bookstores. You can get delivery through @indiebound via a store near you. Read on for places I love around the US and beyond...

In Asheville, North Carolina, go buy or order some great books by authors you love (hint, hint) via @Malaprops! #NationalAuthorsDay

In Chapel Hill, NC visit @FlyleafBooks. If they don't have my books in stock, I bet they'll order them for you! This is also true for other authors! #NationalAuthorsDay

In New York and NJ visit @wordbookstores! Ask for my books if they don't have them, and also buy lots of stuff by other authors! #NationalAuthorsDay

In Washington, D.C. visit @PoliticsProse for all your #NationalAuthorsDay needs. Ask for my books and those of hometown hero @baratunde and also buy cute objects!
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dan spaceman
dan spaceman
@ohlaika
I'm gonna do my other star wars thread tomorrow, which will primarily be me yelling at a @RowanKaiser-shaped strawman for calling the First Order and The Resistance "cosplayers who the rest of the galaxy has to deal with"

the deal w/the New Republic, the First Order, and the Resistance is very weird and complex and I actually take issue with how Story Group frames the actual conflict.

pre-TFA stuff is presented as a "cold war" between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire that form the First Order, which 100% makes sense.

But they frame the First Order's attack on the Hosnian system and the subsequent battle that takes place across TFA and TLJ as a full on war when it's very clearly a coup. A war implies at least equal standing, but the First Order completely wrecks shop and takes over the galaxy.

ok never mind I'm fucking doing this now.

The First Order fleet we see in TLJ is *not* the entire fleet of the First Order (I don't even think Starkiller Base was their main base of operations honestly, it couldn't have been considering they were operating out of Wild Space)
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Paul M Domenick\U0001f43a
Paul M Domenick🐺...
@PaulMDomenick
10 Signs of Social Intelligence 🧠

1-Smile
2-Good posture
3-Strong eye contact
4-Fluid hand gestures
5-Let’s others talk more
6-Listens & relates
7-Comfortable Touching people
8-Walk with a swagger
9-Speaks at slower pace
10-Keeps calm under criticism

[ QUICK THREAD ]


1-Smile

How do you feel when you see someone that looks angry?

It’s a downer

No one will want to interact with you if you look pissed all of the time, it’s just negative energy

Plus, smiling is a sign of confidence and boosts others moods


2-Good posture

Don’t walk Into any social setting looking like the hunchback

It’s weak and makes you look low energy

Plus, you’re displaying low status with weak posture

Stand up straight with your chin up & chest out like a god

Walk like you’re proud of yourself


3- Strong eye contact

Ever shake someone’s hand & their eyes are either looking down or darting?

It’s weak & you probably won’t trust them

Or in conversation?

Eye contact while talking means you’re listening and paying *Attention*

Strong eye contact displays confidence


4-Fluid hand gestures

Use your hands to talk & express your points

Don’t stand there like a robot

Using the hands can make what you’re talking about exciting

It can also be used to emphasize

Exciting = positive emotion

Remember, making people FEEL is what’s important
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