Dickie's Digest - Feynman, Crypto, The Tail End, Cold Emails, Chamath, and Annie Duke
This weekend I’ll be in Texas for the first time ever. I’ll be in Dallas Friday, Houston Saturday and Sunday, and Austin Sunday and Monday. If you live in Texas, I’d love to meet up with some Digest readers! Reply directly to this email to get in touch.
On my end, I published an essay for the first time in a bit. It’s about Polarity, one of my personal operating values. It takes a deep dive into how I apply it in all the areas of my life: health, wealth, relationships, work, and growth. Check it out and let me know what you think. Polarity: For Exceptional Results, Operate in Extremes.
And one last thing: the Digest community hit 1000 members! 🥳 🎉🎊
Thanks to everyone who shared it last week. Next stop: 10,000.
In this week’s Digest:
Have an epic week!
Dickie
💰 Naval Ravikant on the Tim Ferriss Show
This episode dropped like a bomb out of nowhere. Naval has refused to be on anyone else’s podcast since he was on the Joe Rogan Show 18 months ago. I had high expectations going in, but this one was truly top-notch.
You know an episode was good when it jumps out of the “This Week in Podcasts” section and gets its own dedicated header. I listen to podcasts almost exclusively at 2x speed during my morning walks. But as I tried to listen and take notes on this one, I was overwhelmed within the first few minutes. I could have made a note of every sentence if I wanted to. So for this one, I slowed it down and soaked it in.
In this episode, Tim and Naval talk Richard Feynman, building wealth, applying specific knowledge, anxiety, meditation, self-examination, and hash out their thoughts on $BTC. Here are a few of my favorite quotes 👇🏼
All effective self-help books can be boiled down to one lesson: play long-term games.
Fiat currency is just a bubble that never pops.
Proper meditation, proper examination should ruin the life that you’re currently living.
Listen for more: Naval Ravikant on the Tim Ferriss Show
📅 The Tail End from Wait But Why
I have a reminder in my calendar to reread this essay every two months. Two months is about how long it takes for me to get so caught up in the day to day that I lose sight of the bigger picture. And nothing resets my perspective better than this essay.
If you’ve never read it, stop what you’re doing and read it. The essay so clearly puts the shortness of life in perspective. My words don’t do it justice.
Here’s my favorite quote:
“If you’ve graduated from high school, more than 95% of the time you will spend in-person with your parents has already elapsed. Does that change how you think about the last 5%?”
If you’re lucky enough to be working from your parents’ home, soak this time in. If there’s any silver lining to 2020, it’s that many 20 year-somethings get to spend another big chunk of time with their parents.
Read more: The Tail End from Wait But Why
📝 How to Write a Cold Email
I found this short essay concise and practical. I needed to write a few cold emails this week but had never thought about the best way to do so. This essay explains that the perfect cold email is:
Short and grabs attention
Super clear on who you are
Provides value to the receiver
Has a specific ask
Simple enough! When you start to send and receive cold DMs and emails, you realize there is quite a disparity between the ones you answer and the ones you ignore. Being able to craft these emails well is a skill worth working on.
Read more: How to write a cold email
🎧This Week in Podcasts
This week I listened to three epic podcasts which served as the inspirations for three tweet threads.
Chamath Palihapitiya on the Knowledge Project [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
Talk about poor timing: this episode was one of the best I’ve heard this year, but it’s hard to top Naval and Tim Ferriss. Chamath has defined a niche that resonates with me: he’s a baller who is clearly ambitious and looking to bend the world to his will, but he’s open and transparent and shares his struggles far more than any other successful investor and operator. This episode goes much beyond investing - I highly recommend checking it out. You can see my takeaways in this tweet thread.
Annie Duke on Modern Wisdom [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
Annie Duke is the premier thinker on decision-making. Her two books, Thinking in Bets and How to Decide are masterclasses in probabilistic thinking and decision making. In this episode, Annie and Chris talk about when to make decisions quickly or deliberately, process over outcome, and why gut decisions hurt us in the long run. I highly recommend this one. Also, be sure to check out her new book How to Decide.
😎 Cool Things Corner
I’m a pretty big Apple nerd. I geek out over their product launches, even though I still have a three-year-old iPhone X. It’s something about their marketing, attention to detail, and aesthetic presentations that make each one enjoyable. If you’re looking for a breakdown of the new tech, check out this video.
🧠 Idea Corner
This section explores one new idea I came across in the past week.
🥃 Sunday Chaser
I may get some heat for this, but the Bill Burr monologue was hilarious. No one was safe, he went after everybody.
Thanks for reading!
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