Index Page
Index Page
I’m a person of many interests and I love writing about them, which is why there are so many different topics in this newsletter. I hope this page will help you navigate this second brain of mine.
Table Of Contents
Start Here: My top 3 picks, the articles that will help you get to know how I think about things and what I’m about.
Meta-Skills And Adjacent Topics
Other Interests
Start Here
If you’re new to my newsletter, these are the posts I recommend you start with.
The articles below are my top personal picks. Out of hundreds of high-quality blockbuster articles I published, I choose these as the most efficient way to introduce myself and my work to you:
People Who Have “Too Many Interests” Are More Likely To Be Successful According To Research. One of my most viral articles, probably because it’s the most comprehensive case that has ever been made for why nearly everyone should become a polymath in a modern knowledge economy. (more articles on polymathy)
6D Thinking: Bezos, Musk, & Buffett Learn Faster And Better Because They See Learning Differently. Over my last 8 years of writing about history’s most influential innovators and successful entrepreneurs and Nobel Laureates, I’ve realized that they don’t just work harder or do more productivity hacks. They actually inhabit a different paradigm of reality that’s hard to see. The big clue is that many of their core work habits go completely against conventional wisdom… (more articles on integrative complexity)
Blockbuster 2.0: The #1 Mental Model For Writers Who Want To Create High-Quality, Viral Content. How did I go from almost no experience, no email list—in a world of information overwhelm—to having articles consistently seen by stadiums full of people in just a few years? It all comes down to one mental model, which I will dissect in this article. (more articles on blockbuster model)
Augmented Reading: Learn 10x Faster And Better With AI. Out of all of my newsletter posts, this is one of the ones that I’m most excited to share with you. It will open your eyes to how you can use ChatGPT to drastically improve how quickly and deeply you learn. (more articles on using AI to improve human intelligence)
Now, let me break down the rest of my newsletter content for you…
Meta-Skills And Adjacent Topics
Each of these topics has its own page so please follow the links below.
Learn How To Learn
Decades ago, I realized that one of the highest-leverage skills that will serve us for as long as we live is the meta-skill of learning how to learn. This skill allows us to:
Learn faster & better
Conquer information overwhelm
Remember what we learned
Of course, it’s a complex skill, so I put together a dedicated page to help you navigate these articles in my newsletter:
Mental Models
I’ve been learning and teaching about mental models for over a decade, and I have a separate website and membership if you want to really study over 50 of the most impactful mental models—Mental Model Club.
But I also wrote articles about them and, as you may imagine, that library is pretty big. On the page below, I broke down those articles by topics:
50x Productivity
Productivity, and especially the possibilities for achieving enormous productivity for knowledge workers—as much as 50x more than what we’re currently capable of—is a topic I spent hundreds of hours researching and writing about.
Creativity
Creativity is an essential human ability that allows thought leaders to conceive new ideas, approaches, and solutions that can revolutionize industries, technologies, and methodologies; it enables thinkers to approach challenges from unique perspectives, identifying novel solutions that might not be apparent through conventional thinking; it fosters adaptability, allowing thought leaders to pivot and innovate in response to evolving circumstances.
Blockbuster Blueprint
***** UPDATE THE VISUAL ******
Blockbuster Blueprint is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive map of though leadership, to which I devoted thousands of hours over many years. I outlined the model in the article Blockbuster Blueprint and created a visual overview of all the steps of the blueprint:
Each of these stages and steps is intertwined with others. I’ve already written about many of them in this newsletter and you can find the unsorted view of these articles on this link. However, the amount of the information I share can be overwhelming so I put together a map to help you navigate content based on what interests you most.
As the newsletter develops, I will be writing about them more so make sure you read the newsletter regularly to stay updated.
1. Align soul and market
If you are out of alignment internally, creating content will feel like a bore or a chore. If you are out of alignment externally, you will not create content that resonates. The most successful thought leaders love what they do so much that they would still do it without money. Yet, they become so good that they have a huge impact and create wealth.
2. Prepare the foundation
The strategic decisions we make have a huge impact on our thought leadership journey, and it often takes months or years for us to realize that a path wasn’t right for us. Being a little bit more thoughtful in the beginning can help you avoid taking dead-end paths.
3. Live boldly - ADD CONTENT
4. Curate others’ ideas
Standing out online is super-hard. If you’re just pulling from your life experience, you’ll likely be outcompeted by people who complement their life experiences with the best of what humanity has figured out. For any topic you’re writing about, there are likely hundreds of people who have thought for years about all or part of it and have thoughts that can improve your thoughts.
5. Develop your idea
Your most important currency as a thought leader is your ideas. Once you have one big Trademark Idea that people in your industry use, you will be in demand. One idea can make your career.
6. Create content
Most people think that creating content is primarily what thought leadership is. In actuality, it’s just the final stage. It means drafting, structuring, and editing your idea so that it is easy, enjoyable, and beneficial to read.
Your content is the spark for the fire of your ideas. Without the spark, the fire will not ignite.
7. Share everywhere
Understanding the dynamics of where you publish is essential because simply posting your content on lots of platforms is a recipe for failure…
Luminary Video Lessons
Often, we hear the big ideas of prominent people in a second-hand manner—quoted or interpreted by others. However, I often find that the best way to get a lesson is to hear it directly from the person who distilled it, which is why I spend a lot of my time curating the best clips where experts, artists, and entrepreneurs share their wisdom.
People
Over the years, I learned from some of the most prominent experts in different fields. As a result, I wrote about many of them, their mental models, habits, systems…
Below is a list of articles I wrote on these extraordinary people. In some articles, I’d go deep on their ideas and thinking, in others I used them as examples to illustrate a point:
Other Interests
Aging Wisdom
Sometime in my 30s I got super interested in aging….
Here are all the articles I’ve written on this topic so far, and my current personal pick are these:
I’m 36, And I Just Realized A Timeless Truth I Missed All This Time. [originally published in 2018] A weird but cool combination of Jeff Bezos and aging studies that will make you think differently about aging.
69-Year Old Nobel Laureate Writer: Turn Your Age Into Your Greatest Advantage. I started deeply researching aging six years ago. Even though I was only 36 at the time, I suddenly felt the immediacy of my age the same way most people feel the immediacy of death only when confronted with a near-death experience, a terminal diagnosis, or the death of a loved one.
Researcher Explains 50,000-Hour Rule Behind Mid-Life Achievement And Creativity. The research I present here is fascinating because it challenges the idea that creativity is the purview of young people and that older successful creatives are anomalies if they do occur.
Human Super Intelligence With AI
Another topic that fascinates me—so, naturally, I went deep into it. I publish all AI-related articles under this tag but I recommend you start with these first:
Top AI Experts Predict Artificial General Intelligence In 3-5 Years. Now What? On January 4, 2021, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the leading Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) company, tweeted the following question… “If an oracle told you that human-level AGI was coming in 10 years, what about your life would you do differently?” It’s now three years later and AGI has advanced faster than almost anyone— even the top people in AI—expected.
How To Use AI To Accelerate Human Super Intelligence (HSI). Exploration of ways to use AI to bolster our own intelligence and wisdom to heights we can’t even imagine now.
My Personal Journey
Occasionally, I share about my personal life and experiences in my articles, but there are a few articles I wrote purely from a personal perspective:
An Ambitious Person’s Brutally Honest Take On Work-Life Balance. We hit rock bottom. Now, we’re happily married for 12 years. Here’s what I learned.
Raw Truth: My Top Lesson From A Bittersweet Decade in Thought Leadership. Today's musings are a departure from my usual style. I've always been drawn to the rigor of research, the solidity of facts. But this time, I'm peeling back the layers of my own journey, sharing a slice of my soul with you.
Podcast
If you’re up for listening to some conversations I had with super interesting people around topics ranging from learning to different aspects of knowledge work and running a thriving business, I invite you to check out my podcast. Below are a few of my favorite episodes:
The 5-Hour Rule #3: Knowledge Is The New Money. In this series, I talked about two “mega-trends” that are fundamentally changing your life: The Acceleration Shock and The Great Digitization. It’s become more urgent than ever to learn faster and better—so that you succeed in the new world we’re in now. In this episode, I talk about the third and final “mega-trend”, specifically how it has made previously expensive products and services cheap or even free… and how it has made knowledge a lot more valuable—to the point that companies would pay $10 million per skilled worker...
Turning Your Ideas into a Profitable Product with Jack Butcher. As a novice entrepreneur, it can be difficult to gain a following and get your business widely recognized. According to Jack Butcher, who has successfully launched two of his own companies, you can build off of your unique ideas and promote yourself through digital platforms. So how exactly do you begin your launch and build your brand? Jack shares how you can turn your ideas into a product, stand out from other businesses, and build your network to develop your brand.
Focusing on Strategy, Mindset, and the Best Ways to Scale Your Business with Russ Ruffino. As a successful entrepreneur who has scaled his business to over 10 million dollars (with only 31 employees), Russ Ruffino knows exactly how to overcome the challenges of starting a company. According to Russ, growing your business is like a chess game: you take small, strategic steps to eventually craft a decisive win. By focusing on those small improvements, you’ll be able to evolve both personally and professionally while reaping the rewards of constant growth.