“A new experimental study out of Penn State, however, directly links more social media use to worse emotional states, and less use to better.” This newsletter does not count as social media (says me)! |learn more
Writer and masters student in cognitive science Alexey Guzey writes: “I ask a lot of people about their life plans. At least half of them tell me that they have no idea where to move…
“Superhuman founder and CEO Rahul Vohra walks us through the framework his startup used to make product/market fit more actionable, detailing the survey and four-step process that were key to measuring and optimizing it.” | learn more
“Sometimes we make decisions based on how they will look to others rather than whether or not they will produce the best outcomes. This article looks at why we tend to do that, and what…
Carlos Espinal of Seedcamp shares some thoughts on the phases of these relationships, which apply to both investment firms and startups. | learn more
Academic departments are trending toward conformity. “According to arguably the best-designed survey of American faculty beliefs since the early 1970s, which was carried out in the mid-00s, only 3.6% of humanities faculty members and only…
“When the McRib is available, the S&P 500 has an average daily return about 7 basis points (0.07%) higher than on days when it is not available. To put that into perspective, when annualized, that difference…
Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company, tackles this question in the Harvard Business Review. | learn more
The science behind Sans Forgetica, which incorporates a learning principle called ‘desirable difficulty.’ | learn more
If you struggle with talking to strangers, maybe this can help! “Kio Stark has always talked to strangers. She shares 5 ways to spark a meaningful interaction with someone you’ve never met before.” | learn more
This is Farnam Street’s tip-of-the-iceberg article about decision making. A guide to “…how we can intelligently prepare to improve our thinking, avoid stupidity, and make better, smarter, decisions.” | learn more
“When 50,000 of Mark Rober’s 3 million YouTube subscribers participated in a basic coding challenge, the data all pointed to what Rober has dubbed the Super Mario Effect. The YouTube star and former NASA engineer…
I really like Naval Ravikant, and I like Taleb’s ideas (maybe not his personality 😀). The talk is a nice digest of Taleb’s writing, interspersed with Naval chiming in. |learn more
You may already know, but cannot be reminded too often, that your brain’s priority is not truth, but rather narrative consistency. | learn more
This series of short videos by a16z partner Peter Levine is aimed at teaching sales basics to technical founders. | learn more
“Kelly Coffey, CEO of JPMorgan Chase’s US Private Bank, shared advice on the topic.” | learn more
This is about “construction guru C.C. Myers.” What a guy! “In 2007, for example, when a stretch of Interstate 80 collapsed in Oakland, a competing firm came in with a bid of $6.4 million. C.C.’s…
“As humans, we make decisions emotionally, and justify them rationally. And nothing helps us do both quite like the anecdote. It gives us the push we need to make the decision we want, and enough…
Alex Iskold, serial founder and Techstars NYC managing director for the past 5 years, shares his experience and learnings throughout the years of stressful startup life. | learn more
New research shows that ants intuitively understand the proverb ‘too many cooks in the kitchen.’ | learn more
Farnam Street goes into detail on the difference between the two, and why they both matter. I can’t say you’ll learn anything particularly new from this read, but I did enjoy the prompt to think…
Here’s a short article about the topic of friendship, full of academic journal references. | learn more
From the mind of Farnam Street’s Shane Parrish: “No topic provokes more unsolicited advice than parenting. The problem is, no matter how good the advice, it might not work for your child or your particular…
I mentioned this deck a few weeks ago when linking to a video by Netflix former Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord. I decided to dig it up and take another run through it. Now that I have,…
Farnam Street once again teaches us how to learn. I don’t like the name of this, but I do like the concept. “Double loop learning is about data-backed experimentation, not aimless tinkering. If a new…