You Get What You Give

Interesting Reads

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Short gems from Sam Altman. Some picks:

• Optimism, obsession, self-belief, raw horsepower and personal connections are how things get started.

• Fast iteration can make up for a lot; it’s usually ok to be wrong if you iterate quickly.

• Inspiration is perishable and life goes by fast. Inaction is a particularly insidious type of risk.

• Working with great people is one of the best parts of life.

The Economics Of The Ski Business
Epic price tags ($299 day passes) meeting record demand are just the tip of the iceberg as the once-chill, ski business shapeshifts and mega resorts are raking in the spills of new gold rush. With climate change looming, resorts need to leverage snow-making machines to create ideal ski conditions, with their future hinging on successfully manufacturing snow. A fascinating exploration of the financial machinery powering skiing's growth.

It’s Ok To Suck When Trying Something New
A friendly reminder that trying new challenges is an opportunity to learn, not a weakness, even if the results aren't perfect.

Learning

How To Say No Gracefully
Alex Brogan shares a useful framework on how to decide when to say no, then follows through with actual ways you can say “no” in a way that is thoughtful and graceful.

• Redirection: “I can't do it, but X might be interested”

• The Soft "No": “I can’t do it right now, but might be able to do it in a month”

• Deprioritize: “Yes. What should I deprioritize?”

How To Take Better Photos
An actionable guide on how you can take better photos that make people feel emotion by improving composition, practicing empathy and embracing storytelling. Some tips:

• Look for unusual angles or viewpoints

• Visualise and anticipate movement and action before it happens

• Use leading lines and incorporate lines and curves – such as those formed by a road, pathway or shadow – that point toward an area of interest

How To Keep Your Gmail Tidy
Quick email management tips to manage your inbox.

Resources & Tools

Product Hunt’s Product(s) of the Year - The list is out! ChatGPT-4 unsurprisingly comes in #1 this year. I highly recommend looking through the list, you might find a tool or two that help you be more productive, like Arc Max.

Bookmarked - Book recommendations from famous people like Bill Gates, Tim Ferriss and Sheryl Sandberg, cataloged in a single site. Another alternative is the Best Books of 2023 by Shepherd which is done by compiling the favorite reads of more than 1,500 authors.

Thsrs - The shorter thesaurus. Suggests shorter synonyms for your words, instantly improving the efficiency and impact of your writing. If you input the word "examine," the tool might suggest the shorter synonym "check."

aiPDF - Upload your PDF file to get insights, summaries and even chat with it.

Brain Snacks

The Boonly is a gift every Sunday for anyone craving a spark of wholesome curiosity, an antidote to "hustle culture", and the permission to rest, relax and enjoy your Sundays.

Setapp is a suite of productivity tools for Mac that helps you do your work better & faster. The right app, when you need it.

The Average Joe is a free daily newsletter where you can join 250k investors discovering new market trends and ideas.

P.S. To get your ideas in front of more than 6k subscribers, get in touch with me at [email protected]

Take A Brain Break

Jetpunk - Site that has trivia that you can entertain yourself with for hours. Our favorite: Countries of the World Quiz.

Completely Random Facts - I really enjoyed reading this r/AskReddit thread and learning new things, like the fact that Australia is wider than the moon & a group of zebras is called a dazzle.

Click The Colour & Not The Word - Challenging & fun little game where you try to click on the color and not the word.

Quotes