Francis

Reading, listening, watching. Sharing what I learn

[Francis @activerecall]

Notes from Rick Rubin's interview on Tim Ferriss's podcast
• Emergence
• Tao Te Ching & The Artist's Way
• Unraveling his own creative process
• The upside and downside of iterations

[Francis @activerecall]

@sriramk "The 60 minute time limit has expired. However... this match has been ordered to continue under sudden death rules." One of the worst moments of my childhood

[Francis @activerecall]

@TrungTPhan Go to ESPN. Click the video. Watch 2.7 seconds of the ad. Close tab. Search YouTube for the highlight. No luck. Try to find it on Reddit. Got it. Wait. Someone says this isn't the best dunk of all time, it's recency bias. "67 more replies" Click it. "More replies" Click. Lock in.

[Francis @activerecall]

@stratechery A fellow mourner of the discontinued Microsoft Sculpt keyboard

[Francis @activerecall]

@TrungTPhan Favorite random stat: WWE's YouTube channel is bigger than all the major US sports leagues *combined*

Add a few other leagues in there and it's still not even close

[Francis @activerecall]

@jackbutcher + 50 hours of NIA to ease the return-to-office commutes 🙏🏻

[Francis @activerecall]

Podcast episode 136: NBA x "Same as Ever"

Takeaways from @morganhousel's "Same as Ever", filtered through the eyes of a casual NBA fan

• Best Story Wins: MVP narratives

• Wild Numbers: Why watch games when you can watch highlights for an hour

• Calm Plants the Seeds for Crazy: Load balancing plants the seeds for the In-Season Tournament

• Does Not Compute: You miss 27 straight 3-pointers on hardwood, not on a spreadsheet

• Too Much, Too Soon, Too Fast: Cars, clothes, and the 2008 crash

https://t.co/LzpXVjDXR8

[Francis @activerecall]

@david_perell Similar example in programming: John Carmack reimplementing fundamentals when entering a new specialization (here he’s talking about switching his focus toward AI)

[Francis @activerecall]

@FitFounder December momentum is a nice reminder that "the holidays" are a few celebratory days total (vs. binging for 5 weeks straight)

[Francis @activerecall]

@TrungTPhan • AOL decides it's better if Ted Turner's wrestling side project isn't bleeding away $millions/yr

• WWF buys WCW for $4.3m

• Vince McMahon reigns supreme as unstoppable meme machine

[Francis @activerecall]

@ShaanVP "... that's sort of what I want to work on next."

[Francis @activerecall]

@kanekallaway Reminded me of 'Tribe of Mentors' and the repeated question about what they do if overwhelmed or unfocused

most common answers
• move your body (intense workout)
• calm your mind (meditate)
• or both (walk)

[Francis @activerecall]

@OzolinsJanis First box for me is "planning/prioritizing" (well, along with complaining)

[Francis @activerecall]

git log

[Patrick Mahomes II @PatrickMahomes]

Knew i was going to need that edit button on here one of these days 🤣

[Francis @activerecall]

Some notes from The Cultural Tutor's interview with David Perell

[David Perell @david_perell]

@culturaltutor In a world of people obsessed with optimizing their productivity routines, The Cultural Tutor is the most generative writer I know even though he's half-way nocturnal, barely works out, and smokes a pack of cigarettes per day.

He reveals his approach to writing in our interview.

[Francis @activerecall]

@ShaanVP someone's paid to mow the highway median
someone's paid to design employment law posters

(there's a business under everything)

[Francis @activerecall]

@stephsmithio Breadth of content on YT is hard to beat:

• Really deep on a single topic: Course lectures
• Medium depth across a lot of topics: Documentaries, video podcasts, other interviews
• Concise summaries: Shorter videos

[Francis @activerecall]

@heydannymiranda Are you still bringing 5 pounds of ground turkey and 5 pounds of rice?

[Francis @activerecall]

@TrungTPhan A different version of making the same film twice:

Bruce wanted John McClane to be more serious in Die Hard 2. They let him record serious takes of lines as long as he would do one lighthearted take.

Then they used all the lighter ones

(From "Last Action Heroes")

[Francis @activerecall]

Combining 2 things from @thesamparr solo episodes:
• He loves unconventional books
• He doesn't miss workouts

And he loves good, clear, sometimes old-timey writing.

So here's a passage about concentration from a 1960s book about fitness:

[Francis @activerecall]

"What format is going to work that allows you to not quit?"
- @kanekallaway

[Francis @activerecall]

Placing this the 'evergreen episodes' folder

Here are some book notes to pair with Bilal and Kallaway's conversation

• "Hidden Genius" by Polina Marinova Pompliano
• "Almanack of Naval Ravikant"
• "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport"

[Bilal Zaidi @bzaidi]

Had a 🔥 chat w/ @kanekallaway on creator lab:

– smashing 100mil+ video views

– growing 280k audience on Tiktok & Instagram

– going viral with vertical video

– writing & editing process

– live screen share of his adobe premiere setup & sample scripts

– comedy, storytelling & long-term vision

– quitting his job to go full-time creator

[Francis @activerecall]

Move from abstract to something real to judge

Kallaway: Make 25

Pick a topic and format and publish 25 things. If you're posting about every weekday, this will be 5-6 weeks.

The most important thing you'll know by the end of it: do you enjoy making that content?