Malaala Alex

Agriprenuer

[David Perell @david_perell]

What if you built a company to maximize deep work?

That's what Sam Corcos did. He hasn't regularly checked the news since 2013 and his business is worth $300 million.

12 lessons on writing from the founder and CEO of Levels:

1. The average tech worker can't go more than six minutes without checking Slack. No wonder people struggle to write.

2. Evergreen tip for getting people to actually read your work: add value to the internet.

3. Collaboration is overrated. Smart people thinking deeply about something for a long time, and recording the conclusions via writing, is underrated.

4. Sam did an experiment where he stopped reading the news for a month. He took the time he used to spend reading the news and started reading books instead — he finished eight books that month.

5. Writing solves disagreements. If you don’t pin down your thoughts on paper, you can “discuss” forever without ever reaching clarity. But the conversation becomes much more productive once the goals, methods, and main assumptions are written down.

6. Just about everybody could benefit from more intentional, deep, strategic thought. Writing is how you unlock this mode.

7. Remote work fails without a few great writers on the team. Internal company communication will spiral into a game of telephone without good communicators.

8. Specific feedback is better delivered via writing while general comments are best shared over Loom (because the recipient can feel your vibe.) Pick the right medium; the wrong one will botch your message.

9. A writing culture is protection against the tyranny of the loudest voice. It gives space for quieter people with insight to speak up.

10. You’ll never be able to reflect and write, unless you intentionally carve out the time. “Things” will always turn up. Create non-negotiable writing hours and protect them.

11. Sam does one Think Week every quarter where he disconnects from his work to write deep strategy memos.

12. You need to detach from the hive mind before creative ideas turn up (and it is often via writing that the flimsy premises of the hive mind become obvious.)

I've shared the full conversation with @SamCorcos below. This one's a little different from most How I Write episodes because we went so deep on a single topic: business writing.

If you'd rather listen on Apple or Spotify, check out the reply tweets.

[Robert Greene @RobertGreene]

When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity... you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

@HarbertMawejje @tusiimeemmanue2 @CABI_News @LyaziDenis @felixdoo @unyfa1 @arnoldkass89 It's also possible if the fruit surfaces have small holes, punctured fruit, black
lesions, soft spots, rotting, maggots and
discolouration+oozing.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

@HarbertMawejje @tusiimeemmanue2 @CABI_News @LyaziDenis @felixdoo @unyfa1 @arnoldkass89 Treatment involves the application of copper fungicide when flower buds appear, near the end of bloom time and again 3-4 weeks after fruiting.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

@HarbertMawejje @tusiimeemmanue2 @CABI_News @LyaziDenis @felixdoo @unyfa1 @arnoldkass89 Scab being fungus, its spread by the dispersal of spores produced at the early stages of infection and then spread through the movement of wind, rain, and tools or equipment, the pathogen can travel over long distances. Fungicides should be used to mitigate its spread

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

@HarbertMawejje @tusiimeemmanue2 @CABI_News @LyaziDenis @felixdoo @unyfa1 @arnoldkass89 It looks like avocado scab. In its latest version, spots enlarge
and coalesce to form large rough areas over the fruit surface. Cracking of these rough areas may allow secondary organisms to penetrate and rot the fruit.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

The law of diminishing returns means that even the most beneficial principle will become harmful if carried far enough.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

The worst thing about lying is wasting someone elses time.

Wasting someone else's time is one of the most heinous sins.

It's the one thing people can't get back.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

"Even a fool, when he holds his peace is counted wise: he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."

Proverbs 17:28

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

Youth, you’ll soon look back on your life with nothing to be proud of; no happiness, no legacy — just wasted potential.

It’s up to you. The clock is ticking and time is running out.

[Jamie McSloy @JamieMcSloy]

Let's have a thread on generational wealth.

Note before we start: I don't come from generational wealth at all.

Two sources; watching families who've built, and studying families who've kept generational wealth.

Let's go.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

If a rose smells better than a tomato, it does not mean it can make a better stew, Do not compare yourself to others. You've your strength, look at it and build it!

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

Ever heard of Parkinson’s Law?
For some weird reason:

X task will take the amount of time you alott to it.

Actually try this.

If you give yourself 3 hours to do something, it’ll usually take 3 hours.

Now take that same task and give yourself 30 mins... try this out.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

It's easier to judge than to understand, because understanding requires patience, empathy, intellect & restraint, whilst judging is easy & confers its practitioner a false sense of cleverness & moral superiority

Misunderstandings are as such the cause of much needless animosity.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

A community may possess all the gold in the world, but if it does not farm its crops it will starve.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self."

- Aristotle

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

The true minimum wage is unemployment.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

Wisdom is knowing when to end things.
Short-term defeat is better than long-term disaster.

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

"Appear unappealing to those who don’t appeal to you, for it is better to be undesired than to be desired by the undesirable."

[Malaala Alex @malaala_alex]

Worry is a misuse of time and intelligence.

Thicken your skin.