Weekly Mix #171 - Public Revolt, Better Writing, Living a Life That Works & Career Decisions

Weekly Mix #171 - Public Revolt, Better Writing, Living a Life That Works & Career Decisions

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Happy Monday!

First of all, apologies to anyone who tried to download 72 Tips for Living a Better Life and got the broken link. Here's the correct one!​

This week I got into some older, classic articles. Time really does filter out the noise. Most were recommended reading from The Almanack of Naval, which I finished this week and will post book notes for soon.

A couple things to note:

I just added a new section on my website called Shorts, where I'll be publishing a mini-essay daily. You can subscribe to get them in your inbox daily if you like.

My friend Dickie is starting the second cohort of Ship 30 for 30 in January, where you write a mini-essay each day for 30 days. I've written more in the past 30 days than I ever have, thanks to the program. You can sign up here (I'll be participating again).

Finally, this is the last newsletter before Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful holidays and get some time to relax and reflect, regardless of how you're celebrating.

I get immense joy from sharing each week and hearing replies from all of you, so thank you.

In this week’s newsletter:

Blog Post: Advice for Those Graduating College​

Book I’m Reading: The Revolt of the Public​

Article: The Day You Became A Better Writer​

Article: The Munger Operating System: How to Live a Life That Really Works​

Article: Career Decisions​

Photo of the week: Winter surfing

Have a wonderful week!

Graham

Blog Post: Advice for Those Graduating College​

Both my brothers graduate university this year, which has me thinking about what I've learned since graduating. This post explores a few of my top takeaways.

Book I’m Reading: The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri​

I just finished this, and it was the best book I’ve ever read for understanding the modern “information age” and how it affects our confidence in institutions and historic sources of authority.

It can be a bit dense to get through, but provides a solid mental model for understanding politics, the rise in conspiracy theories, and more.

I should have my book notes posted in a couple weeks.

Article: The Day You Became A Better Writer - Scott Adams​

A (very) short piece from Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, on how to write better.

Takes about 2 minutes to read, which makes it a great link to add to your writing resources, or open before you’re going to write something new.

Article: The Munger Operating System: How to Live a Life That Really Work - Farnam Street​

This article details some key takeaways from Charlie Munger’s commencement address at USC Law School in 2007. Charlie Munger is the billionaire partner of Warren Buffett, well-known for his “mental models” and use of them in investing.

Some of the key points:

To get what you want, deserve what you want. Trust, success, and admiration are earned.

Acquiring wisdom is a moral duty as well as a practical one.

Learn to fluency the big multidisciplinary ideas of the world and use them regularly.

Learn to think through problems backwards as well as forward. (otherwise known as inversion)

Be reliable. Unreliability can cancel out the other virtues.

Avoid intense ideologies. Always consider the other side as carefully as your own.

Get rid of self-serving bias, envy, resentment, and self-pity.

Work with and under people you admire, and avoid the inverse when at all possible.

You’ll be most successful where you’re most intensely interested.

Article: Career Decisions - Elad Gil​

Both of my brother’s are graduating university this year, so I’ve been thinking more about my path after university, and the advice I’d offer them.

This post about how to make career decisions is full of useful info. Some of it is more applicable to tech, but I think all the points have some broad validity regardless of field.

The main takeaways:

Factors to overweight: network, market & growth rate, optionality and brand

Factors that don’t matter as much: role, compensation

Photo of the week: Winter surfing

Saturday morning we went surfing, and it was the coldest session of the year by far (air 0C/32F, water 6C/43F). What a way to wake up though!

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It means so much that you let me be part of your inbox, and I love building a community of like-minded people with you.

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