Dickie's Digest - Values, Letters, Friction, Leverage, and Streaming Wars
Hey there - happy Sunday.
This week’s Digest is loaded up with things for you to explore throughout the week. Make sure you check out Idea Corner for an epic hack I found for managing your newsletter subscriptions, something people found very useful.
In this week’s Digest:
Have an epic week!
Dickie
☑️ My 12 Operating Values (and how to find your own)
This week I published an essay on my Operating Values - the overarching concepts I use to make decisions in all areas of my life. The essay explores how I came up with these values, how I use them in reflection and decision-making, and how you can find your own. You can read the full post here and see my full list of values below.
Acceptance: to embrace the truth of every circumstance.
Leverage: to maximize output per unit of input.
Efficiency: to minimize input per unit of output.
Momentum: to work like a flywheel, every step easier than the next.
Ownership: to be self-reliant, independent, and take matters into my own hands.
Polarity: to operate in extremes, fully on or fully off, and to avoid the greyscale.
Patience: to understand great things take time and to respect the force of compounding.
Empathy: to actively seek to see things through other's perspectives.
Gratitude: to appreciate the little things, the ups and downs, and to take nothing for granted.
Honesty: to confidently express opinions, interpretations, and motives with myself and others.
Clarity: to meticulously question everything, removing all ambiguity.
Transparency: to share all parts of my journey, from the greatest struggles to the greatest successes.
📝 The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
This week I finished The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert, an excellent book with the perfect mix of practical life advice and actionable marketing, copywriting, and sales strategy. Many people say this is the only book you need to read on copywriting, and I think I agree.
You can find my entire breakdown of the book in the book notes section of my website. Here are a few of the best ideas:
When selling something, think AIDA:
1. Attention 2. Interest 3. Desire 4. Action
Grab their attention. Generate interest. Spark desire. Encourage action.
How to measure truth: not by the words people say, but with how they use their wallets.
The best sales candidates: people you’ve already sold a product to.
Before making a decision, HALT. Never make a decision when you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.
Read more: The Boron Letters
✅ Lessons Learned from James Clear (THREAD)
This week I wrote a thread on everything I’ve learned from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. Atomic Habits is the most impactful book I’ve read in the last three years, but his wisdom goes far beyond behavior change. He has profound ideas on everything from wealth, decision-making, friction, modern-day superpowers, and why you should listen to speeches over podcasts. Check it out 👇🏼
Read more: Lessons Learned from James Clear
🎧This Week in Podcasts
This week I listened to two epic podcasts, both of which I highly recommend.
Tim Ferriss with 80/20 Author Richard Koch [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
This episode of the Tim Ferriss show was an absolute gem. Richard Koch is the author of The 80/20 Principle, one of my favorite books on leverage. Tim and Richard riff on investing, getting more from less, and Richard’s new book Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It - one I’m really looking forward to.
Goldman Sachs The Battle for Our Screens Series [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
This is a four-part podcast series with equity analysts across Goldman Sachs, taking a deep dive into the streaming wars, the future of work, social media, and big tech regulation, all through the lens of COVID’s impact. If you work in media or are interested in these things, this one is can’t miss.
😎 Cool Things Corner
This section explores any new gadgets, apps, study playlists, or anything I found cool this week.
Two cool new things came across my radar this week.
The Chase Freedom Flex Card. If you’re into credit card point hacking, this new card is for you. It’s 5% back at grocery stores, 3% back on dining, and there’s a $200 sign-up bonus if you spend $500 in the first three months. The best part: there’s no annual fee. Chase is making a hard push into the consumer card market, and this is quite the offer. Sign up here.
I found a new YouTube channel with some of the best work/study music out there. Almost every video is three hours long, perfect for locking in for a good session of deep work. My two favorites are this video for analytical work and this video for creative work.
🧠 Idea Corner
This section explores one new idea I came across in the past week.
This week I wrote a thread on how I manage my inbox to read the best newsletters. If you find your favorite newsletters (like Dickie’s Digest..!) are getting buried in your inbox, use the neat trick in this thread.
🥃 Sunday Chaser
We could all use a little bit more ice cream.
Thanks for reading!
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