Tim Bergeron

Assembling a news feed of the followed; news you can trust and exponential wisdom |

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@RealBigTerry @BalanceBF We still get ctf games -- come play! https://t.co/VeGYn8Mcw3

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@lostitws @james_barton @RaminNasibov We still get ctf games -- come play! https://t.co/VeGYn8Mcw3

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@james_barton @lostitws @RaminNasibov We still get ctf games -- come play! https://t.co/VeGYn8Mcw3

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@ninerpride_sol @github We still get ctf games -- come play! https://t.co/VeGYn8Mcw3

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@UpaUp4UpaUp4 @ZoidCTF @jack_mathews We still get ctf games -- come play! https://t.co/VeGYn8Mcw3

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@simongarlick @DanielW_Kiwi We still get ctf games -- come play! https://t.co/VeGYn8Mcw3

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@ZoidCTF @jack_mathews Still get threewave ctf game on https://t.co/8qVSnzQ5Pd

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@NoQuarterSoft https://t.co/A0PimIuiym

[HOW THINGS WORK @HowThingsWork_]

A ball fired at exactly 50 mph in the opposite direction whilst travelling at 50 mph 🛻�

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

Self-confidence comes from doing what you think is uncomfortable, over and over again, and realizing it wasn't that bad in the first place.

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

The best way to learn is to teach.

[Bassem Youssef @Byoussef]

There is a whole story behind this video . Read it here . I promise you . It’s important .
#stop_the_war_on_gaza

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

If you wanna master something, teach it.

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

Days after a quarterfinals loss in the 2010 French Open, Novak Djokovic told his coach, Marián Vajda, that he had decided to quit playing tennis.

He was No. 3 in the world, a grand slam winner, and a favorite to win Wimbledon.

After Djokovic said he was quitting, Vajda asked,

“Why did you start playing this sport?”

Vajda immediately sensed what the problem was:

Djokovic was focusing too much on rankings, records, titles, and external expectations. As a result, Djokovic said, “I was mentally at one very messed up place.”

As Djokovic thought about Vajda’s question, he thought about how many of his earliest childhood memories include his “most beloved toy”—a mini tennis racket and a soft foam ball.

He started playing tennis, answering Vajda’s question, “because I just really loved holding that racket in my hand.”

“Do you still love holding a racket in your hand?” Vajda asked.

Djokovic thought about it for a few seconds, got excited, and said:

“I do. I still love holding a racket in my hand. Whether it’s a grand slam final on center court or just playing around on a public court, I like playing for the sake of playing.”

Vajda nodded, “Well that’s your source. That's what you need to tap into. Put aside rankings and what you want to achieve and what you think others are expecting of you.”

Vajda then suggested that Djokovic take a few weeks off.

Djokovic agreed that he would.

But when he woke up the next morning, Djokovic was dying to hit tennis balls. He went to the courts to play for the sake of playing. “And I never looked back ever since that moment.”

The following season, Djokovic enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in sports history. He won 43 straight matches. He won three Grand Slams, including his first Wimbledon title. And he finished the year as the number one player in the world.

“I started to play freely,” he says of that season. “I became the kid that I was when I started playing.”

Takeaway 1:

There's a word for being like the kid who does something for the sake of doing it:

Autotelic.

From the Greek "auto" (self) & "telos" (end)—an Autotelic is "someone or something that has a purpose in, and not apart from, itself."

As opposed to someone who focuses on rankings, records, titles, and external expectations—for an Autotelic...

”The work is the win,” as Ryan Holiday once told me.

Since you control the effort more than the outcome,

“Ultimately, you have to love doing it,” Ryan said. “You have to get to a place where doing the work is the win and everything else is extra.”

Takeaway 2:

When reading about Autotelics—people who describe their work as play, who simply seem to love what they do—a common mistake is to think that it’s all bliss all the time.

One of my favorite Autotelics is the legendary skateboarder Rodney Mullen, who is in his 50s and still skateboards every day.

“There are days,” Rodney said, “where you don’t want to go out. Or it hurts. Or you’re sore. Or you just suck—you're not making progress, and you feel defeated...But that's the nature of love—it's got hate in there, it's got pain in there. And that’s what draws you in, that's the magnetism.”

At one point during the recent Wimbledon final, Djokovic angrily smashed and shattered his racket. And after losing the match, he admitted that it will take him a while to get over the loss.

That’s the nature of love—it’s got hate in there, it’s got pain in there.

- - -

“I see people with talent, with all those things, but the one thing they don't have is just that love for doing it for the sake of it.” — Rodney Mullen

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Tim Bergeron @timmbergeron]

@TheSteveFrench @sdpope @JEKeep https://t.co/slWwH1tDJj, check https://t.co/oTSXpEqTSE

[Parker Gabriel @ParkerJGabriel]

LeBron on Nikola Jokic’s basketball intelligence: “Maybe it’s not talked about because people don’t understand it. But I do. He’s special.”

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

The tip is way too small but the nerd joke is pretty good.

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

The impact of creativity in prompting ChatGPT is limitless. It feels to be more of an art than a science.

Great "programmers" of the future will in part have to be artists. Perhaps they always were, but now the method and medium of creation has become much more accessible.

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

The Costco hot dog combo is a legendary meme.

But how does it still only cost $1.50? Introduced in 1985, the price of that combo should be ~$4.20 if adjusted for inflation.

Thankfully, the $216B warehouse retailer has done everything in its power to keep the price down.

And Costco sells A LOT of them: 130m+ hot dogs a year (more than all MLB teams combined).

Many believe the $1.50 combo is a “loss-leader” for Costco, but this is incorrect.

In a 2009 interview, Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal told the Seattle Times that Costco doesn’t “engage in loss leaders” and “the only time we sell below cost is when we’ve made a mistake and have to mark it down”.

However, the retailer does cap its margin at 14% and drives many products to near break-even.

Here’s how Costco has managed to keep the cost of the inconic hot dog combo at $1.50:

1️⃣It dropped leading hot dog suppliers like Hebrew National and Nathan’s because they wouldn’t lower prices

2️⃣In 2009, Costco built its own hot dog manufacturing plant in LA (and has a second one in Chicago)

3️⃣ It got better pricing on buns, ketchup and mustard

4️⃣ It removed onions and sauerkrauts as free condiments

5️⃣ It dropped Polish sausages

6️⃣ The pop that came with the combo was swapped from a can to refillable fountain soda

Costco’s effort to keep hot dog prices low is also the source material for the greatest quote in business history.

In 2018, the current Costco CEO Craig Jelinek was recounting a conversation he had with Sinegal, who he just replaced as CEO.

Jelinek told Sinegal he wanted to raise the price of the $1.50 hot dog and pop combo.

Sinegal shot back, “If you raise the [price of the] f**ing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.”

Costco has figured it out and, in September 2022, the company’s CFO Richard Galanti confirmed that the hot dog combo would remain at $1.50 despite rising inflation.

“There are some businesses that are doing well with margin like gas business on a smaller way -- in the travel business,” said Galanti. “Those things help us be more aggressive in other areas, or as you mentioned, hold the price on the hot dog and the soda a little longer, forever.”

Forever sounds about right.

[internet hall of fame @InternetH0F]

damn he’s good