Dickie's Digest - Jocko, Internet GDP, and Marc Andreessen
Hey there! Happy Sunday and happy Father’s Day. I’ve got 18 holes and ribeye steaks lined up for today — I’m pretty fired up.
If you’re a new reader this week, welcome! The Digest just passed 150 subscribers. It’s been awesome connecting with everyone and exploring the ideas I talk about each week. If you know anyone who might enjoy reading, be sure to share it!
Have en epic week,
Dickie
How Marc Andreesen Works | The Observer Effect — The Observer Effect studies interesting people and institutions and tries to learn how they work. This interview with Andreesen Horowitz Co-Founder Marc Andreesen touches on Marc’s views on goals and systems, process and outcomes, learning and viewpoints, and improvements and motivation. This article helped me find the Marc Andreesen Guide to Personal Productivity, an essay from 2007 with timeless productive advice.
Andreesen’s approach to productivity introduced me to the Anti-ToDo List. Every night, Marc writes down five things to accomplish the next day on a 3x5 index card. This is his ToDo list. He tries like hell to accomplish all five things the next day. But many days things would come up that he hadn’t planned, so he often never got around to his ToDo list. The unchecked boxes left him feeling dissatisfied at the end of the day despite getting other things done.
The antidote? The Anti-ToDo List. Throughout the day, on the back of his index card, he writes down anything he does that he didn’t plan on doing. At the end of the day, he looks at both of his lists. He marvels in all the things he actually got done. Then, he tears it up and starts again the next day.
Joe Rogan #1492 - Jocko Willink — Every person should listen to this conversation between Jocko Willink and Joe Rogan. This two-hour conversation is filled with rational, thoughtful, moderate conversation about the big issues society is facing. It’s rare to hear practical solutions proposed while acknowledging and understanding multiple points of view — but that’s exactly what these two guys do.
We hear Jocko’s thoughts on media and social media, the police system in the US, leading in times of uncertainty, and other general wisdom on getting some. You can listen to the episode here and see my takeaways of the best parts in this tweet thread.
Growing the GDP of the Internet with Stripe Co-Founder John Collison — Stripe Co-Founder John Collison might be the smartest person on the planet. This conversation gives us a glimpse inside the mind of the 29-year-old billionaire — how he sees the world of digital commerce unfolding, why writing is the foundation of Stripe’s culture, and why he is obsessed with industrial conglomerates. Stripe’s mission is simple: Grow the GDP of the Internet. How cool is that?
Few people leave me with more desire to learn than John Collison — I highly recommend this episode. You can listen to the episode here and see my takeaways in this tweet thread.
You can’t call something a distraction unless you know what it’s distracting you from.
From Indistractable by Nir Eyal, my favorite book on developing focus. Resurfaced with Readwise — if you aren’t using Readwise, you are missing out.
This little man has some serious aim
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