Dickie's Digest - Observer Effects, Sovereign Individuals, 10x Creators, Seeking Order, and Golden Handcuffs
Hey my friends, happy Sunday.
First, a sincere thank you to everyone who lets the Digest occupy some space in your inbox. It’s a treat to put together each week, but the best part is hearing responses and recommendations from each of you. Here’s to many more!
A handful of things from me this week:
There are only a few days left to enroll in the next Ship 30 for 30 cohort. We’re up to 171 members currently enrolled, and expect to get to ~300 by next week. As always, Digest readers can lock in their spot for $50 off using this link. We’d love to have you!
I published threads on the best Tim Ferriss episodes on build a writing habit, James Clear has published on writing, and aggregated my best threads on writing.
That’s it from me! In this week’s Digest:
Have an epic week!
Dickie
👁 The Observer Effect
After sitting in my bookmarks for far too long, this weekend I finally dove into this incredible interview series. The Observer Effect “About” page reads:
The Observer Effect studies interesting people and institutions and tries to understand how they work.
But this is an understatement. These are dense, insight-filled deep dives into the working habits of boots-on-the-ground CEOs.
They’ve released three interviews so far:
Marc Andreessen (Found of Netscape/a16z)
Daniel Ek (CEO of Spotify)
Tobi Lutke (CEO of Shopify)
I love reading long-form, in-depth pieces like this because they require a bit of investment. These each take ~30 minutes to read, and even longer if you’re taking notes. But by the end, you walk away with at least two or three new ideas to experiment with. It also humanizes these larger-than-life CEOs. It helps you realize the people changing the world aren’t that much different than you.
My favorite part of the series is the section on Trust Batteries in Tobi Lutke’s interview.
Read more: The Observer Effect
🧠 The Sovereign Individual
After listening to Robert Breedlove on the Pomp Podcast, I’ve gone a bit down the rabbit hole of The Sovereign Individual.
Written in 1997 (way before its time), The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western Civilization. I’m only a few pages in, but this book comes out swinging.
We’re entering into the fourth stage of human society:
• Hunting and gathering societies
• Agricultural societies
• Industrial societies
• Informational societies
In the future, wealth will be measured not just by the amount in your bank account, but in your ability to structure your affairs to realize complete individual autonomy and independence. Unprecedented financial independence will be possible for you in your lifetime.
As our financial freedom increases, governments won’t have any choice but to treat us more like customers, and less like victims of an organized crime ring.
And these quotes are just in the first 10 pages! The Sovereign Individual idea is gaining traction as $BTC gains steam, enabling the individual to hold their wealth in a currency with no sovereign owner.
I’m not fully bought in on the idea yet, but I’m getting there. And I mention the Robert Breedlove episode with Pomp because he’s written a 12-part series on the topic of sovereign money and the sovereign individual. I’m excited to dive into it and see if I emerge a full-blown crypto zealot.
Read more: The Sovereign Individual
🔥 Last week’s most popular link
🧵This Week in Threads
The 10x Creator from Justin Mikolay
An incredible thread from my friend Justin. The most prolific creators are seeing themselves more like engineers, creating systems that make prolific production inevitable.
Combining the skills of creating great content and products, building better systems, and better leveraging those systems make the best creators 10x more productive than the average.
🎧 This Week in Podcasts
Robert Breedlove on The Pomp Podcast
This is the podcast that sent me down the Sovereign Individual rabbit hole. In this conversation, Robert and Pomp talk Bitcoin as the apex monetary predator, the future of taxation, and the radical changes coming to the financial world.
Jordan Peterson on The Tim Ferriss Show
This was a surprise to see pop up on my feed - I see these guys operating in similar spheres of thought but never really interacting. But the conversation did not disappoint. In this episode, Jordan and Tim talk self-authoring (a very cool exercise), seeking order (and the signal lack of order represents), and much more.
NerdWallet Co-Founder Jake Gibson on The Creator Lab Podcast
Another fire episode of Creator Lab from my friend Bilal. The diverse range of guests he has makes for a truly differentiated podcast that leaves me flooded with ideas. In this episode, Jake and Bilal chat personal finance, audience-first products, and Jake’s transition out Wall Street’s “golden handcuffs.”
🧠 Tweet of the Week
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