Watch These 40 Minutes To Unf*ck Your Life
20 Jun 2024 (3 months ago)
The rise and fall of the Lehman Brothers
- The quote "most of us have two lives: the life we live and the unlived life within us" highlights the resistance that prevents us from pursuing our true potential.
- The Lehman Brothers, German immigrants who started as fabric sellers in Alabama, transformed into a prominent investment bank in New York through adaptation and innovation.
- Their success was attributed to emphasizing trust and people, but later generations focused on financialization and trading, leading to their downfall in 2008.
- The author reflects on the choice between opportunistic paths that offer financial rewards and paths that are more interesting, fulfilling, or impactful, acknowledging their own tendency to prioritize short-term gains despite being aware of it.
- They express interest in hearing stories and insights from others on the topic of choosing between short-term gains and long-term goals.
The life we live vs the unlived life
- Resistance, a powerful and often unnoticed obstacle, hinders us from reaching our full potential and achieving our goals.
- Consistent action and dedication are essential for success, regardless of feelings or circumstances. True professionals treat their work as a job, showing up and doing the work every day.
- Copywriting has had a transformative impact on the speaker's business career.
- A comprehensive document has been created, compiling all the tips, techniques, and frameworks related to copywriting discussed on the podcast. This document includes the speaker's daily resources, frameworks, and techniques.
- The link to the document is provided.
How Jerry Seinfeld puts in the work
- Writes jokes for an hour every day, even if most of it is garbage.
- Has a specific process and routine for writing.
- Gets specific about the tactics behind his success, which is rare.
- Compares his life to his successful friends and feels like he's sacrificing too much.
- Seinfeld tells him that true artists embrace discomfort and do what they love, even if it means sacrificing a comfortable life.
- The story of Glen Miller's Orchestra illustrates the idea that true fulfillment comes from pursuing one's passion, even if it means enduring discomfort.
You don't have to save the world
- Brett Adcock, the founder of Figure, shared his journey from a successful job board company to a humanoid robot company.
- Adcock emphasized the importance of spending time on something truly loved and valuable, rather than just pursuing world-changing ideas.
- Adcock's new company, Cover, focuses on AI security and developing concealed weapon detection systems to prevent school shootings.
- Brett was inspired by a NASA technology that can detect weapons and bombs from a distance and decided to invest $10 million of his own money to develop it.
- The best businesses, known as "one chart businesses," have a simple and compelling reason for existing, which can be represented by a single chart.
- Brett's passion for solving a significant problem and his willingness to invest his own resources make his venture stand out when recruiting employees.
- The speaker's takeaway is that it's not necessary to solve a significant problem to find purpose in one's work. Instead, one should consider what they would do if they had no constraints.
“What would I work on if I wasn't afraid?”
- Ask yourself what you would work on if you weren't afraid of failure or any other obstacles.
- Fear of failure, difficulty, or competition can prevent people from pursuing their true passions and goals.
- Creative endeavors, such as writing a book or making a TV show, can be daunting due to the possibility of failure or lack of popularity.
The separation of choice and result
- Distinguish between the choice of what you do and the outcome of your actions.
- Focus on the controllables, such as putting in the effort and giving it your all.
- You cannot control the outcome, such as popularity or success.
Rick Rubin's advice on making stuff
- According to Rick Rubin, your job is to make stuff, not to make it popular.
- Create a lot of content and put out your best work consistently.
- Popularity is not something you can control or should be the primary focus.
- Eventually, your efforts may gain attention and popularity.
Sylvester Stallone and the wolf at the door
- Sylvester Stallone wrote the first draft of the Rocky script in three and a half days while facing financial difficulties, including a meager bank balance and monthly rent.
- He initially rejected offers for the script because he wanted to star in the movie as Rocky.
- Stallone's goal was to pay his rent, not to become rich, as he had never experienced wealth and lacked a frame of reference for its value.
- The final deal resulted in a $1 million production budget, significantly lower than other movies at the time.
- Stallone produced the movie for $960,000, casting his brothers and uncles in various roles.
- Due to time constraints, a scene where Rocky was supposed to be ice skating on a date was changed to walking instead.
- Despite the low budget, Stallone earned only $400 more than he had before the movie, demonstrating his disinterest in money and his focus on proving his abilities as an actor.
- Stallone overcame challenges, including a speech impediment caused by forceps damage at birth, to achieve success.
- Contrary to his action hero roles, Stallone is highly intelligent, well-read, and creative.
Low Key Billy of the Week: Michael Pryor
- The speaker recommends visiting wanderer.com for inspiring visuals of luxurious properties and shares a personal story about fishing with his friend Michael, who lives in a beautiful home with access to the Long Island Sound.
- Michael Prior, the former CFO of Stack Overflow, achieved remarkable success by selling Stack Overflow for $1.8 billion and Fog Creek Software for $400 million.
- Despite his success, Prior remains humble and low-key, avoiding social media and living a relaxed lifestyle.
- Prior's business approach emphasizes adaptability and contrasts with the "hardcore" mentality often associated with successful entrepreneurs.
- Joel, Prior's business partner, is known for his insightful and opinionated blog, which offers valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
- The speaker highlights the blog "software" as a valuable resource for entrepreneurial insights, even though it may no longer be updated.
- The speaker describes an effortless fishing experience using advanced technology that indicates the location of fish, questioning why people are impressed by it.
Sam reflects on being popular
- Sam was the tallest person in his environment and was often the only one people would talk to.
- He found it odd that rich and successful people are curious about what it's like to have an audience.
- Sam believes that having an audience is not as enjoyable as people think and would rather have a $2 billion company.
- Sam asks what the other person was interested in when they talked about being popular.
Sam and Shaan's "number" to walk away
- The speaker contemplates hypothetical scenarios involving substantial monetary offers to cease content creation and delete their online presence.
- Initially requesting $250 million, the speaker lowers their demand to between $100-200 million due to their enjoyment of content creation.
- To maintain anonymity while continuing their work, the speaker considers using a pen name or remaining anonymous.
- Actors like Cal Penn (real name: Culpen Sesni Modi) and Mindy Kaling (real name: Vera Mindy Chokalingam) serve as examples of name changes for professional reasons.
- The speaker emphasizes the significance of selecting an appealing and marketable name, citing Leonardo DiCaprio's refusal to alter his last name despite industry pressure.