Podcasts about notes principles

“We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts”. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset. In this pre-WWII collection of essays Ortega y Gasset critiques and predicts the rise and predominance of the "Mass-man" class and instigates us to be accountable of our destiny. “The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfill in his person those higher exigencies”. We cover a wide range of topics, including: The profile of a Mass-man, its differences with the Noble-man, and how to avoid being mediocre. Liberalism concepts today and in the past. When to listen to others opinions and when not. Behaviour within and between groups. About being responsible of our destiny and having the will to build our self future. Perceptions and regulation viewed by different sides and generations. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Revolt of the Masses!  You can also listen on Google Play Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, or in any other podcasting app by searching "Made You Think." If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on the Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson, to learn how modern technologies can help you be in control of your own future, as well as our episode on Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse, to improve your life with new perspectives. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Slack [22:45] Jordan Petersen Podcast [26:05] Violence and the Sacred: College as an incubator of Girardian terror – article by Dan Wang [33:51] Game of Thrones [34:37] The meaning of life in a world without work  – article by Yuval Noah Harari [37:59] Zeecash [44:22] Tylenol [45:20] Coinbase [46:24] Binance [46:37] Tron Whitepaper [48:35] A Crash Course In Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency [48:57] Blockfolio [48:57] Recap Time! Our Favorite Lessons from Episodes 1-20 [51:13] How to Think Like Elon Musk [56:23] Level 3 Thinking: A Unified Theory of Self-Improvement [56:35] Nat’s tweet on 4 levels of thinking [56:35] LifeHacker.com [59:15] Huffington Post [59:15] The Age of Unreason – The Economist (not The Atlantic) [1:02:27] Amazon [1:10:57] Books mentioned: Revolt of the Masses [0:00] The Sovereign Individual [1:11] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Finite and Infinite Games [1:16] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Mastery [3:35] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Antifragile [3:43] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Emergency [9:03] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley [23:21] Darwin's Dangerous Idea [23:25] The Selfish Gene [30:16] The Denial of Death [30:16] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Psychology of Human Misjudgments [30:16] (book episode) I Will Teach You To Be Rich [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) The 4-Hour Workweek [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) Principles [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Letters from a Stoic [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Influence [1:00:44] (book episode) People mentioned: Pepper the Poochon [0:26] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [1:55] (Antifragile episode) Karl Marx [8:11] Socialists of New York City [9:11] Jordan Peterson [9:36] Adolf Hitler [11:10] Milton Friedman [14:55] Hillary Clinton [15:14] Gary Johnson [15:28] Tim Ferriss [17:17] John D. Rockefeller [22:12] Elon Musk [25:27] (on this podcast) Charlie Munger [30:16] Dan Wang [33:51] Yuval Noah Harari [37:59] Barack Obama [53:47] Ashton Kutcher [1:01:00] Channing Tatum [1:01:13] Ray Dalio [1:03:16] (on this podcast) Winston Churchill [1:18:08] Show Topics 0:00 – “We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts.” 0:26 – Welcome to Pepper, the third show host! 0:59 – Intro to Revolt of the Masses (Spanish: La rebelión de las masas), a book written by José Ortega y Gasset. 1:05 – Similarities of Revolt of the Masses with The Sovereign Individual and Finite and Infinite Games. Mention of "Horizonal Thinking" in one of the essays. Introduction of terms used by Ortega, the Mass Man, one who thinks deserve things, vs the Elite/Noble Man, one who thinks about improving himself. 3:16 – Organization of the book in unordered essays instead of chapters. 3:50 – Why Ortega got many predictions right, but may have missed many others by publishing this book before WWII and the Cold War. For example, he didn't expect the US to become a super-power. "The US had the seeds to be great". 5:04 – Tangent. About the difficulty to translate from romance languages to English. Translators vs interpreters. Socially acceptable traits in some countries and not others. 7:06 – Details on the situation of Europe at the time of publishing the book. Europeans worry about spreading of Russian Communism. Socialism in China. 9:11 – Tangent. Socialists of NYC. Perceptions: Nazism vs Socialism as counter-culture; fraud and violence vs crimes of omission and neglect. "It wouldn't be that bad if other people were in charge" argument. Vegans about killing lionfishes example. Jainism (indian religion). 14:14 – Political views of Ortega. Liberalism concepts today and in the past, interpretations and misinterpretations. Free markets and protectionism example. 16:31 – Tangent. New tax to "punish" liberal states. Moving to Texas for tax purposes. Buying an apartment may be cheaper than paying taxes in NY. Zero income tax. San Francisco diaspora. 20:24 – Essay. Distinguishing the Mass man vs the "Select"/Aspirational man. "The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfil in his person those higher exigencies". Being elite as mindset vs being rich. Access to resources today compared to the past. 25:15 – Tangent. The rise of general quality of life in the last century was due to fossil fuel driven. Humans as the cancer of this planet. Broad philosophy vs personal action. 27:37 – Conformity. Groups of people against others. Fear of strangers. Nature preserve in Costa Rica for dogs. 31:55 – Essay. Masses have more than they ever had, and appreciate less and less. Upward mobility viewed by different people. "Poor people are lazy" argument. Girardian Terror concept. Selection bias and Game of Thrones. Conflicts within casts vs between casts, in India. 37:13 – "The sovereignty of the unqualified individual, of the generic human being as such, generically, has now passed from being a juridical idea or ideal to be a psychological state inherent in the average man. And note this, that when what was before an ideal becomes an ingredient of reality it inevitably ceases to be an ideal". Critique of the Mass person as a human that is not striving. The "Useless" Class. 38:34 – Tangent. Going back to the serves-and-lord state. 39:10 – The meaning of life in a world without work. Living in Virtual Reality, and Religion as VR. Artificial Intelligence and the need of Basic Universal Income. 41:15 – City states as the economic hubs of the future. Singapore and Hong Kong, San Francisco and New York. Importing beer in Hong Kong and in the US. Moving away from regulation because "nobody cares" and generational approaches to law. 45:41 – How regulation scares bitcoin price. About bitcoin wallets reporting to the IRS. How bitcoin relates to some many other topics: nation-states, business, currencies, politics, finance, politics, geography, cryptography, computer science, philosophy, etc. 51:45 – "The Mass-man is he whose life lacks projects and just drifts along. As a result, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous, he constructs nothing". Having the ability and motivation to improve thanks to today's technology. How today's responsibility falls on the individual. Parents wanting their kids to be better off. Sending kids to private school while criticizing public school. Minorities. 55:33 – Essay. Why the masses intervene in everything and why their intervention is solely by violence. Why people are wrong when they believe they can have an opinion now. Level 3 thinking. 58:30 – Tangent. Blog posts with Top X types titles. 1:00:07 – Celebrities endorsing political candidates and the liking fallacy. When to listen to others opinions. Steps to the Revolt. How people think they are entitled to be listened to. Syndicalism and Fascism. "Under the species of Syndicalism and Fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions. This is the new thing: the right not to be reasonable, the "reason of unreason"." 1:04:14 – How the majority does not eliminate the minority. When to respect others’ beliefs. The cake neglected to the gay couple example. Problems that may better be solved by the market. 1:09:15 – Essay. The age of the self-satisfied Dandy. On having rewards that we haven't necessarily gained. Anxiety from feeling entitled to move upward. 1:12:50 – Essay. The Barbarism of Specialization. Problems of overspecialization. Link with Antifragile. 1:14:06 – Essay. The Greatest Danger: The State. How the state could be used to make people conform. Support of regulation and support of police. 1:15:47 – Essay. Who Actually Commands. How governments rule with the compliance of the masses. Why elections should reflect the opinion of the masses, and why the gerrymandering is fragile. The problem with Democracy. About the quality of the legislative chambers. 1:20:29 – Closing thoughts. Be a vital person, be involved with the world, try to do projects, don't get sucked into the masses. 1:20:46 – People that makes this show happen: Kettle and Fire (their bone broth is good for dogs too!), Perfect Keto (reach ketosis effortless), Four Sygmatic Coffee (delicious mushroom coffee, pre-workout hot cocoa mixes). You can support us too, as most have done prepping for the NY snow storm through the Amazon affiliate link. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com “The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfill in his person those higher exigencies”.

Failures are just opportunities in disguise. In this episode of made you think, Neil and I revisit the previous books and topics discussed on the podcast. We delve into the most useful lessons that we’ve learned so far, and discuss how you, too, can apply these lessons in your own life. We also had some Irish Mushroom Coffee. We cover various topics from previous episodes, including: The most important lessons from the past twenty episodes Incorporating these lessons into your own life Breaking down the core concepts in each episode Becoming antifragile and resilient to failure Learning to focus solely on what's in your control Letting your intuition and unconscious mind guide you And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to check out all of our episodes here. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out a few of our most popular episodes: How to Think Like Elon Musk, A Crash Course In Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency, and Turning Chaos to Your Advantage: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.   Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more.   Mentioned in the show: Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee [0:40] All of Nat’s Notes [13:47] Programming for Marketers [19:43] Square Cash [37:20] Venmo [37:23] Paypal [37:37] Kevin Rose’s Podcast [38:24] Amy Schumer Gives You a Look Into Your Soul article [52:05] What The Health [52:30] Wall-E [55:08] Blast radius of bombs site [1:12:50] Doomsday Planning for Less Crazy Folk article [1:13:29] Made You Think’s amazon affiliate link [1:14:55] The Cook and the Chef [1:25:13] SpaceX [1:27:13] Dos Toros [1:33:39] Growth Machine [1:35:12] Unlimited Brewing [1:35:31] We Work Remotely [1:36:45] Tucker Max’s CEO hiring article [1:39:56] Tim Ferriss and Ray Dalio podcast episode [1:41:00] Xerox [1:50:58] Four Sigmatic’s Cordyceps Elixir [2:06:25] Perfect Keto’s Exogenous Ketones [2:07:22] Books mentioned: Antifragile [2:28] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Beer Bible [6:55] Letters from a Stoic [9:44] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Black Swan [13:25] (Nat’s Notes) Meditations [14:28] Mastery [15:40] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The 48 Laws of Power [18:53] (Nat’s Notes) The Art of Seduction [19:08] (Nat’s Notes) The 33 Strategies of War [19:11] The 50th Law [19:17] (Nat’s Notes) The Power of Myth [21:47] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Sovereign Individual [21:51] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) In Praise of Idleness [39:14] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Sapiens [40:16] (Nat’s Notes) Amusing Ourselves to Death [47:40] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Brave New World [54:52] Finite and Infinite Games [56:40] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Way of Zen [1:01:48] (book episode) (Neil’s Notes) (Nat’s Notes) Emergency [1:08:24] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Godel Escher Bach [1:17:45] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Goal [1:30:52] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Principles [1:37:28] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Hero With a Thousand Faces [1:40:34] The Inner Game of Tennis [1:43:22] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Psychology of Human Misjudgments [1:48:29] (book episode) Poor Charlie’s Almanack [1:48:42] Work Clean [1:56:07] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Denial of Death [1:58:17] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Influence [2:01:08] (book episode) People mentioned: Nassim Nicholas Taleb [2:28] Lucius Annaeus Seneca [9:44] Marcus Aurelius [14:28] Epictetus [14:45] Robert Greene [15:40] Ryan Holiday [17:20] Paul Graham [18:03] Justin Mares [19:43] Rapper T.I. [23:56] Kevin Rose [38:24] Bertrand Russell [39:14] Taylor Pearson [43:20] Adil Majid [43:20] Neil Postman [47:40] James P. Carse [56:40] Alan Watts [1:01:48] The Wright Brothers [1:05:11] Neil Strauss [1:08:24] Alex Jones [1:09:07] Douglas R. Hofstadter [1:17:45] Tim Urban [1:25:13] Ray Dalio [1:37:28] Tucker Max [1:39:55] Tim Ferriss [1:41:00] Timothy Gallwey [1:43:22] Daniel Kahneman [1:44:00] Charlie Munger [1:48:29] Dan Charnas [1:56:07] Tiago Forte [1:57:40] Sigmund Freud [1:58:21] Robert Cialdini [2:01:08] 0:00 - Some information on this episode, a bit on the unique beverage being drunk throughout the discussion, and a bit on how this episode is formatted. 2:20 - Book one, Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. How Nat and Neil have applied this book to their own lives and some discussion on a few lessons from the book. Becoming more antifragile and noticing the fragile. Second major lesson at 6:40 on the unnecessary information filter. “You want to look for opportunities where you have really high upside and really limited potential downside.” 9:45 - Book two, Letters from a Stoic by Seneca. How the book was written and some key takeaways from the book. Focusing on what’s in your control, forcing hardships on yourself, and a bit on the other stoic philosophers. 15:40 - Book three, Mastery by Robert Greene. A bit on the book being a must-read for college students, how the book is structured, Robert Greene’s other books, and how the book details important elements of mentor/mentee relationships. “If you want to get really good at something, Mastery is where you start.” 21:50 - Book four, The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. Discussion on the initiation rituals in the past, which were for boys to become men. Also, a bit on various systems which were passed down throughout time and their significance (e.g. praying for your sickness to go away, benefiting from the placebo effect). Discussion on praying for certain weather conditions back in the day, compared to manipulating it today and the fragility of that. 30:58 - Book five, The Sovereign Individual. Some information on the book, its predictions, a bit on cryptocurrency, and going off the grid. 39:14 - Book six, In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell. Some information on the book, discussion on working and productivity, and some thoughts on spending time on leisure. “You don’t always have to be working, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for not working.” 42:52 - Episode seven, the cryptocurrency crash course episode. What was discussed in the episode and a bit on cryptocurrency in general. 47:40 - Book eight, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Some information on the book and discussion on the negatives of the internet, media, and the news. Also, some discussion on the prevalence of false information in the media today. 56:40 - Book nine, Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse. The impact of this book on your perspective and work-life, describing finite vs infinite games, a bit on goals vs systems thinking, and discussing finite playing vs infinite playing. 1:01:48 - Book ten, The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. A bit on the book itself, discussion on meditation, some thoughts on knowledge that’s not defined by explicit rules, and doing things without having the need to explain why. 1:08:24 - Book eleven, Emergency by Neil Strauss. Discussing prepper communities, doomsday survival, and making sure that you’re prepared for bombings, shootings, and other tragic situations. Also, what to do in certain dangerous situations to improve your chances of survival. “Start better preparing for things that might actually happen.” 1:17:45 - Book twelve, Godel Escher Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Some discussion on the wide range of topics found throughout the book and on the intellectual depth of the book. Also, a bit on the accurate predictions the book made and its ideas which are still relevant 50 years later. 1:25:13 - Episode thirteen, the Cook and the Chef article by Tim Urban. Breaking down how Elon Musk thinks. Thinking based on first principles and changing your perspective to force a new way of thinking. “What assumptions can I challenge that I haven’t challenged yet.” 1:30:52 - Book fourteen, The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Some information on the book and how it’s broken down. Describing the theory of constraints and using this to improve your companies efficiency and for optimizing bottlenecks. Also, a bit of discussion on management and business in general. 1:37:28 - Book fifteen, Principles by Ray Dalio. How the book is formatted, breaking down each section, and a bit on some of the wisdom found in the book. Living by these principles and tracking the decisions that you make. “You can have almost anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.” “Failures are just opportunities in disguise.” 1:43:22 - Book sixteen, The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallaway. Discussion on the concept of self-one (conscious, ego-based mind) and self-two (unconscious, automatic behavior mind) found in the books. Letting your intuition and your unconscious guide you, and some techniques for allowing this to happen easier. 1:48:29 - Book seventeen, The Psychology of Human Misjudgments by Charlie Munger. What the book was about, the twenty-five psychological failures and cognitive biases that we all fall into, and making better decisions. 1:56:07 - Book eighteen, Work Clean by Dan Charnas. Some information on the book, how you can benefit from it, the relationship between cleanliness and organization with improved productivity, and starting things so that they’re easier to pick up later. 1:58:17 - Book nineteen, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. How the book is written, a bit of discussion on Freud, and a bit on our own mortality. 2:01:08 - Book twenty, Influence by Robert Cialdini. A bit on how the book is structured, who could benefit the most from reading it, and some information on each of the chapters. 2:03:05 - Wrap-up, information on Nat’s book notes, the podcast episode, sponsors, and some last thoughts. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com

The best of them know that their peak performance never comes when they’re thinking about it. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat cover The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. Before you say “I don’t play tennis,” it’s not really about tennis. It teaches you how to better learn and teach by getting your conscious mind out of the driver seat, and letting your true ability present itself. If you enjoyed either The Way of Zen or Finite and Infinite Games, you’ll like this book as it describes many similar ideas. We cover a wide range of topics, including:    Improving your sense of calm during stressful situations. The nature of the subconscious and conscious minds. Getting into the flow-state and letting the subconscious express itself. How to better trust the subconscious mind. Why you should take time off to play more often. Learning things easier by observation and imitation. Why you should sometimes let things happen, rather than make them happen. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of The Inner Game of Tennis and to check out Nat’s Notes on the book! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to listen to our episode on The Way of Zen by Alan Watts, to learn about Zen Buddhism and improving your life with it, and our episode on Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse, to learn how to push past your own self-limiting beliefs and to rethink everything. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more.   Mentioned in the show: Lifehacker [3:20] University of Wisconsin [4:44] Buzzfeed [6:08] The Inner Game of Everything article [6:17] USC [6:30] The Components of Optimal Sexuality paper [8:13] Video of person climbing through drive-through window [13:03] Tai-Chi Push Hands [20:13] Nat Chat [28:24] Nat Chat episode with Thomas Frank [28:24] Nat Chat episode with Neil [32:18] Unlimited Brewing [33:19] Nat Chat episode with Charlie Hoehn [35:39] Game of Thrones [37:35] Starcraft [38:00] Discord [41:01] Reportive [47:56] RocketReach [47:57] The Five Levels to Expertise article [48:53] Deep House Relax playlist [1:02:35] Spotify [1:02:37] Listenonrepeat.com [1:03:07] Instapaper [1:04:28] Medium [1:04:35] Youtube Red [1:04:39] Adblocker [1:04:59] The effect of lipids on alcohol metabolism [1:07:46] Dota [1:19:36] Hearthstone [1:19:36] Books mentioned: The Inner Game of Tennis (Nat’s Notes) Godel Escher Bach [0:46] (Nat’s Notes) (Made You Think episode) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance [1:34] The Way of Zen [2:42]  (Nat’s Notes) (Neil’s Notes) (Made You Think episode) Rise of Superman [3:30] Finite and Infinite Games [3:45] (Nat’s Notes) (Made You Think episode) Switch [12:24] Winning Ugly [17:40] The Art of Learning [19:03] (Nat’s Notes) Thinking Fast and Slow [22:53] Antifragile [26:14] (Nat’s Notes) (Antifragile episode) Principles [29:41] (Nat’s Notes) (Principles episode) Mastery [30:03] (Nat’s Notes) (Mastery episode) Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind [30:50] (Nat’s Notes) Play It Away [34:03] The Score Takes Care of Itself [1:23:22] (Nat’s Notes) People mentioned: Timothy Gallwey Elon Musk [0:53] (How to Think Like Elon Musk episode) Pete Carroll [1:55] Steven Kotler [3:30] Phil Jackson [5:38] Al Gore [6:34] Nicole Kidman [7:45] Juliette Binoche [7:47] Derek Sivers [9:40] Plato [11:47] Chip and Dan Heath [12:24] Warren Buffett [14:59] Brad Gilbert [17:41] Boris Becker [18:01] Josh Waitzkin [19:03] Daniel Kahneman [22:47] Alan Watts [23:24] (Way of Zen episode) Thomas Frank [28:29] D.T. Suzuki [30:40] Shunryu Suzuki [30:52] Charlie Hoehn [34:02] Dreyfus Brothers [48:54] Ray Dalio [57:53] (Principles episode) Nassim Nicholas Taleb [1:08:20] (Antifragile episode) Conor McGregor [1:21:27] 0:00 - Introductory quote, a bit of background on the book, and some discussion on the flow state. “Trying to get into flow is paradoxical.” 3:44 - Some similar books to this one, examples of this book in popular culture, and a bit on the paradoxical nature of trying things that should happen more naturally. 8:38 - A common complaint found in most sports and how this applies to many different areas of life. Also, the issue of how our actions often do not match up with our thoughts. “It’s not that I don’t know what to do, it’s that I don’t do what I know.” 10:45 - (Tangent #1) - Thoughts on consciousness and being in control. The conscious mind, instinct, and the subconscious. “The mind is a three-part system and like a chariot. You’ve got two horses pulling the chariot which are desire and passion. The driver is reason.” 15:45 - Some more discussion on the mental dialogue that goes on and the correlation between “out of your mind”, “being in the zone”, and being in the flow-state. Also, a bit on agitating other players to get them out of the flow-state. 19:42 - Using high-intensity interval training and trying to calm down as fast as possible afterward, to transfer that into calming down much faster in stressful situations. 22:15 - The discovery of the two-selves (self-one: the conscious mind and self-two: the instinctual mind) and the differences between them. Also, a bit on trusting the instinctual mind more and a bit on the struggle between the two selves. 24:53 - Actions performed by the subconscious versus the conscious, and some discussion on the nature of learning various things. 26:55 - A bit more on trusting the subconscious mind, some positive examples of the subconscious mind, and an example of how consciously trying to do things can sacrifice natural fluidity. 30:33 - How to quiet your conscious mind so that you can get more into the subconscious state of being. Letting your subconscious express itself more. Also, a bit on the benefits of taking time to play and naturally explore things that you’re interested in. “Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when he is not calculating and thinking.” 36:24 - More on taking time out of your day to play, and why television is not a good idea for play. Also, a bit on video games in general, games taking you out of the conscious and bringing you into the subconscious, and some of Nat and Neil’s experiences with gaming. 41:08 - A bit more of letting go of the conscious and letting go of judgments, as well. Trusting the subconscious and letting things happen, rather than making them happen. 43:08 - Discussion on learning by imitation and some thoughts on the importance of observing someone do something, since they may not be able to teach you everything through description. Also, a bit on why apprenticeships are so effective. 48:50 - The five levels of expertise and why you need different methods of learning at different levels. 51:05 - Changing your habits and changing your perspective from wanting to have control of everything to a more relaxed perspective where you trust the subconscious. Also, a bit on how things seem weird when you consciously focus on them, and how complex reading and communication seems. 55:34 - Thoughts on repeating things over and over before they become innate knowledge. Some discussion on simple processes emerging into something greater and the problem with programming these processes or innate knowledge. 1:00:36 - Trusting the subconscious and the difficulty with that. Some thoughts on what may help you trust the subconscious and get into the flow-state. 1:04:12 - Avoiding all ads and the negative impact of advertising on your subconscious mind. A bit on Tylenol and ibuprofen, hangovers, and the placebo effect. 1:09:17 - The recent backlash against wisdom teeth surgery, how only a third of people getting the surgery actually need it, and the negative health consequences. Also, how teeth back in the primitive times were perfect with no issues and how modern-day grain-based diets have negatively impacted our teeth and jaw formations. 1:12:50 - Discussion on allowing yourself to focus and some tips for getting out of the conscious and into the subconscious. A few examples of common transfers of conscious to the subconscious here, as well. 1:16:56 - The next section on the meaning of competition and some discussion on finding the balance between easy and difficult challenges, to maintain focus without getting bored or frustrated. A bit more on games, the competitive aspect of them, and antagonizing others for an advantage. 1:21:38 - The last section on taking the inner game off of the court. Responding appropriately to situations and maintaining an inner-balance. “The people who will best survive the current generation are those who can keep their heads while all are about to lose theirs.” 1:24:02 - Wrap-up, some closing thoughts, and some information on the bonuses included with a newsletter subscription. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com

If you’re spending less than an hour a day on whatever’s most important to you, that’s something you can pretty easily take up to ninety or a hundred and twenty minutes and get more than fifty to a hundred percent more on results. In this episode of Nat Chat, I’m joined by Sebastian Marshall. Sebastian and I delved into a lot about productivity, life and habit tracking, and developing really good systems for achieving your highest output. He’s been writing on his blog for eight years and runs a company now called Ultra Working, where he helps individuals and companies get the most out of their day-to-day systems. Sebastian’s a great person to learn from for those wanting to optimize their systems for high output and productivity, and to become more disciplined with their habits. We do get a bit in the weeds about time tracking in the beginning, so if that’s not as interesting to you feel free to skip ahead. There’s a TON here and we share a lot of interests, so we dove deep on the finer points of productivity. We covered a ton, including: The huge advantages of tracking your life, habits, and work Hacking your productivity and achieving more in less time Developing high-output systems and outlining templates for those systems Getting started with pursuing projects that you’re interested in How Sebastian and I began hacking productivity and more Minimizing boredom and benefiting from failure And much more. Please enjoy, and reach out to Sebastian on Twitter! If you enjoyed this episode and our discussion on productivity and time management, be sure to check out my episode with Chris Sparks, where we discuss tons of great productivity advice and more. Also, if you want to hear more about using failure to grow, check out my episode with Matthew Barby, where we discuss this and more. Find Sebastian online: Blog Ultra Working Twitter Mentioned in the show: Ultra Working [1:34] Rescue Time [2:46] Lights Spreadsheet [4:59] Sebastian’s resources [9:17], [25:46], and [59:24] The Strategic Review [18:10] Getting Stuff Done Like a Boss [29:50] Things app for Mac [30:19] Growth Machine [45:02] Posttraumatic growth [56:15] Key Decision Analysis [59:51] Ivan Mazour’s website [1:02:02] M/M/1 Queuing Theory [1:02:35] Ambition Life Calendar [1:05:25] Give Get Win [1:09:28] Books mentioned: Gateless [20:58] Sebastian’s books [29:20] The Power of Habit [39:29] (Nat’s Notes) The Willpower Instinct [39:30] (Nat’s Notes) Principles [56:35] (Nat’s Notes) People mentioned: Peter Drucker [20:23] “What gets measured, gets managed.” Kai Zau [20:58] Tiago Forte [29:49] Justin Mares [44:15] (Nat Chat episode with Justin) Tasha Meys [50:23] (Nat Chat episode with Tasha) Charlie Hoehn [51:28] (Nat Chat episode with Charlie) Toyotomi Hideyoshi [53:18] Ray Dalio [56:35] Ivan Mazour [59:29] 1:15 - Introduction to Sebastian and some major problems today with people not tracking their time properly or investing their time as wisely as they should.4:21 - What Sebastian’s current tracking system looks like after seven years of refining it, how to follow it on your own, and some advice for others looking to successfully adhere to their own system. 13:09 - Why this tracking system works very well and some discussion on why you may feel like you’re doing well, but if you take a closer look, you’re not. A bit on your emotions fooling you. 17:33 - Sebastian on what he tracks, how he tracks it, and what everyone else should be doing if they’re starting to track things. (You don’t have to track everything) “For a lot of juice out of life, pick the one or two activities that are really the most important to you and just track those.” 20:30 - Some of the things that led to Sebastian and Kaizo starting Ultra Working. Also, a bit on what Ultra Working does and what their goals are. 22:50 - How the program developed, some results that the company has had with people, and some more on what they do at Ultra Working. 25:26 - The work cycle system, how you can benefit from it, and a bit on both how and why it works. 29:35 - Nat’s personal system for getting things done and the ranking aspect of it. Also, a bit on how Sebastian ranks his system and some discussion on the importance of pre-estimating how long things are going to take. 34:44 - Thoughts on overestimating how much you actually work, scheduling more in less time, and the negative impact of bragging about working hard if there’s not much to show for it. “Don’t tell me how hard you’ve worked, tell me what you’ve got to show for it.” 38:22 - How Nat got into productivity hacking and how accelerating productivity has helped him in various ways. 42:01 - Nat on minimizing boredom and some tactics everyone can use for minimizing boredom. 46:47 - Discussion on the pleasure of succeeding, taking control of things, and making progress on things. Also, how someone can get into the habit of being analytical and productive, and finding that first thing that gets you on the track towards that. “You need some big thing to happen, probably a bad thing, to motivate you to action.” 52:12 - How finding mastery in one thing, transfers well to mastering other things and a bit on the benefits of hitting rock bottom as a way to become better (post-traumatic growth). 56:34 - Tracking the things that you do wrong, asking yourself what you could have done differently, being open to failure, and learning from these failures. 59:18 - Another method that you can try for improving your decision making, especially with difficult decisions. 1:03:25 - Sebastian’s current long-term goals and projects. Also, some of Ultra Working’s recent projects. 1:07:22 - Some discussion on how useful being proficient with math can be and working more with numbers. Also, some closing thoughts and where you can reach out to Sebastian at. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://nateliason.com/podcast “Most people are very subjectively analyzing how their life is going, and with most people, their emotions are lying to them.” “Failure’s more demoralizing to people than success is pleasing and exciting.”

The goal is essentially to increase net-profit while increasing return on investment and increasing cash flow. Today we’re discussing The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. It is a business novel that Eliyahu used to introduce the “Theory of Constraints”, a sort of meta-theory for business (and life, really) that you can use to advance the output of just about any system. It is very much a “zero-to-one” book, where you’ll see the world differently after reading. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Improving all of your systems with the Theory of Constraints Discovering bottlenecks in various systems and effectively optimizing them Identifying your goal and making positive progress towards it Becoming a better manager or employee by using the Theory of Constraints Improving your time-management skills, productivity, and workflow Useful mental hacks for waking up easier and for making habits stick And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of The Goal and to check out Nat’s Notes on the book! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our other episode on How to Think Like Elon Musk, to emulate Musk’s way of thinking for extreme advantages, and our episode on Antifragile, to learn how to profit from chaos.   Mentioned in the show: The Theory of Constraints [1:13] AlphaLab [5:31] Sumo [7:35] Zirtual [12:13] Unlimited Brewing Company [13:21] Growth Machine [18:26] Joe Rogan Podcast [28:20] Nat’s article on how to start a podcast [39:37] Deep House Relax on Spotify [40:28] (Nat and Neil’s favorite playlist for deep work) Last of the Mohicans’ soundtrack [40:39] Halo soundtrack [40:45] Matrix soundtrack [40:51] Tron soundtrack [40:52] The Magician on Soundcloud [43:05] OWSLA and Skrillex mix [43:24] Praxis on Medium [45:45] Medium [45:45] Getting Stuff Done Like a Boss course [46:34] Building a Second Brain course [46:45] The Forcing Function [47:00] Nat Chat podcast [47:02] Nat Chat episode with Chris Sparks [47:02] Tiago Forte’s main courses [47:09] Neil’s post on viewing books similar to VC [48:00] Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee [1:02:18] Athletic Greens [1:02:28] Game of Thrones [1:05:48] Stranger Things [1:05:49] Buffer [1:07:57] Made You Think episode on Thinking Like Elon Musk [1:09:18] Tesla [1:09:18] Boosted Board [1:11:28] How to Legally Own People article [1:13:26] Books mentioned: The Goal (Nat’s Notes) Antifragile [4:29] (Made You Think episode) (Nat’s Notes) Work Clean [50:22] (episode coming 12-19 or 12-26) (Nat’s Notes) Principles [52:17] (episode coming 12-5) (Nat’s Notes) Emergency [1:19:43] (Made You Think episode) (Nat’s Notes) People mentioned: Eliyahu M. Goldratt Zak Slayback [4:04] Joe Rogan [28:20] Daft Punk [40:55] Rapper Nas [41:55] Lil Wayne [41:58] Future [42:02] Ivan Pavlov [43:22] Adil Majid [43:29] Tiago Forte [45:32] Chris Sparks [46:59] Elon Musk [1:09:18] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [1:13:26] 0:00 - Introductory quote, a bit of background on the book and the author, and how you can use this book to help you out in both business and in life. 7:24 - Some examples from the book applied to the real-world and some flaws in various business systems. 10:36 - What the actual goal is for various systems, some details on the goal’s infrastructure, and why these three metrics are important. “The goal is essentially to increase net-profit while increasing return on investment and increasing cash flow.” 19:40 - The next part on the daily goal metrics (throughput, inventory, and operational expense) and some details on those. 21:10 - How to use these metrics if you’re not a manager or a CEO and are without a big-picture perspective. Also, some discussion on these metrics, applying them to members of a system, and some real-world examples. 28:44 - Figuring out all of these metrics and operations and then applying them in day-to-day situations. The beginning of how the main character in the story does this. 30:47 - The bottleneck issue from the book and applying it to real-world scenarios, the funny story of discovering and solving the bottleneck from the book, and some discussion on it. (Tangent #1 at 31:29) 35:05 - The order for optimizing around a bottleneck properly. Also, some examples of optimizing various bottlenecks and improving your time management skills. Nat and Neil’s favorite music for working, as well. 41:00 - (Tangent #2) The issue with typing the words to a song or podcast instead of the words meant for your writing and some more thoughts of various music types for various types of work. 43:49 - The Theory of Constraints coming into play in the book and some information on Tiago Forte and his courses on improving systems, creative output, and productivity. 47:48 - Books and small investments improving your ROI ($10-$20 books possibly giving you insights that make you $1000+, save you time, or offer valuable enjoyment) and some thoughts on doing your quality insurance before you buy books. 50:22 - Discussion on the book Work Clean and some ideas from it for improving your peace of mind, organizational ability, and productivity. 52:29 - The idea of losing an hour on the bottleneck which is not just being lost to the bottleneck, but to the whole system. Also, being a better manager by analyzing not only possible bottlenecks with others, but for your own bottlenecks, as well. 57:04 - Examining your life for possible scenarios that create bottlenecks for you (drinking and eating unhealthy afterward, etc) and fixing those scenarios. Also, some useful mental hacks for waking up easier at 1:00:36 and 1:01:38. 1:02:10 - Waking up and daisy-chaining your habits immediately afterward. Some explanation and examples of doing this. 1:03:55 - Applying the Theory of Constraints to creative work and making sure you apply the theory towards positive things instead of negative things. 1:09:37 - The steps for identifying the constraints within a system and then beginning to fix them. Some issues on having someone on salary versus hourly, compensating people for their work, and having slack in a system discussed here, as well. 1:16:23 - Some last thoughts and some pieces of advice for others on goals and systems. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com What is the bottleneck and how do I optimize around the bottleneck right now? To even identify what the bottleneck is, you really need to clearly identify the goal.

We all have these things in our life that we accept as a first principle while having no scientific basis or reason for believing in that thing. Today we do a deep dive of the world’s raddest man: Elon Musk. We’re exploring the wildly popular Elon Musk series by “Wait but Why,” focusing on the last article titled “The Cook and the Chef: Elon Musk’s Secret Sauce” which explores just how Musk might be able to do all the things he can do. And most importantly, we discuss how any of us can use these tools to enhance our own thinking and work. How any of us can be more chef than cook. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Emulating Musk’s way of thinking for extreme advantages Musk’s businesses and how he began them How Musk thinks compared to the way most people think Challenging your existing beliefs and redefining your perspective A strategy for designing your reality and pursuing your goals How the way that you think is much more influential than your natural-born talents Shedding dogma-based thinking and instead, thinking based off of first principles Turning fear into excitement And much more. Please enjoy and be sure to check out the article!   Mentioned in the show: Hyperloop One [15:20] Boring Company [15:20] Neurolink [15:21] OpenAI [15:38] Square [16:28] Elon Musk’s cameo in Iron Man 2 [17:23] Diagram for designing your reality and pursuing your goals [26:34] The history of SpaceX article [29:27] Unlimited Brewing Company [30:53] Zara Clothing [32:17] Shark Tank [35:24] Crispr [41:57] Zip2 [45:08] Paypal [45:24] eBay [45:29] Elon Musk and Peter Thiel’s early days [46:40] Peter Thiel blood transfusions from children article [47:45] PayPal Mafia [48:28] The 49ers [49:34] Made You Think episode on The Sovereign Individual [51:37] Bitcoin [51:50] Made You Think episode on Cryptocurrency [52:03] Uranium on Amazon [55:57] AC Propulsion [56:38] Ad Astra [56:55] Nat Chat podcast [57:28] Calvin and Hobbes comic strips [1:00:30] Crony Beliefs by Kevin Simler [1:02:42] Melting Asphalt [1:02:51] Jordan Peterson’s Biblical Series podcast [1:06:02] Made You Think episode on The Way of Zen [1:18:18] Tyranny article [1:18:26] Made You Think episode on Emergency [1:20:25] Two Somali immigrants rape case in Canada [1:22:07] Good Beer Hunting podcast [1:29:37] Magic Hat [1:29:42] Estee Lauder [1:37:35] Growth Machine [1:42:53] Made You Think episode on Finite and Infinite Games [1:44:15] Uber [1:49:11] Airbnb [1:49:12] Tim Ferriss Podcast [2:03:25] Killing the Lion: Turning Anxiety into Excitement article [2:04:55] Made You Think episode on Amusing Ourselves to Death [2:12:58] Made You Think episode on Letters from a Stoic [2:13:05] Grand Theft Auto [2:13:28] Bookinabox [2:15:37] Books mentioned: Steve Jobs’ Biography [14:52] Tropic of Cancer [24:22] The Goal [25:53] (Nat’s Notes) (episode coming 11-28) The 50th Law [38:10] (Nat’s Notes) Principles [39:13] (Nat’s Notes) (episode coming 12-5) The Score Takes Care of Itself [49:40] (Nat’s Notes) The Sovereign Individual [51:37] (Nat’s Notes) (MYT episode) Surely You’re Joking [1:07:45] (Nat's Notes) The Way of Zen [1:18:18] (Nat’s Notes) (Neil’s Notes) (MYT episode) Emergency [1:20:25] (Nat’s Notes) (MYT episode) The E-Myth Revisited [1:41:58] (Nat’s Notes) Finite and Infinite Games [1:44:15] (Nat’s Notes) (MYT episode) Pragmatic Thinking and Learning [1:47:45] (Nat’s Notes) The Red Book [1:50:33] The Cook and the Chef on Amazon [2:15:40] People mentioned: Elon Musk Jim Cramer [3:09] Tim Urban [3:38] Albert Einstein [9:03] Peter Thiel [12:10] Jeff Bezos [13:18] Steve Jobs [14:50] Walter Isaacson [14:52] Jack Dorsey [16:27] Henry Ford [18:50] Genghis Khan [18:50] Marie Curie [18:50] John Lennon [18:50] Ayn Rand [18:50] Louis C.K. [18:50] Henry Miller [24:24] Eliyahu M. Goldratt [25:54] Ray Dalio [39:13] Galileo [44:25] Reid Hoffman [48:59] Max Levchin [49:03] Bill Walsh [49:37] Kevin Simler [1:02:44] Dr. Jordan Peterson [1:06:02] Richard Feynman [1:07:40] Tim Ferriss [1:17:22] Justin Mares [1:17:45] Sam Harris [1:32:24] The Dreyfus Brothers [1:47:47] Carl Jung [1:50:33] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [2:00:02] (Antifragile MYT episode) Seneca [2:02:39] (Letters from a Stoic MYT episode) Robert Greene [2:02:42] (Mastery MYT episode) 0:00 - Perspective challenging, introductory quote and an outline of what the discussion will be about. Also, some information on giveaways, upcoming episodes, the mailing list, and the podcast notes. 3:31 - How the Wait but Why article is outlined and some talk about challenging your existing beliefs. Some examples of challenging your beliefs, as well. 9:40 - The first section on us being constrained by existing beliefs and then, some examples of how Elon Musk thinks. 11:48 - The possible benefits of being on the Asperger or autistic spectrum in regards to life and business. Also, some thoughts on Elon’s companies, his deadlines, and the huge scale of the things that he does. 15:50 - Some discussion on how Musk may allocate and divvy up his time, and the many different projects that he has going on. 18:06 - The software versus hardware idea, how a different way of thinking is more powerful than your natural-born intelligence or talents. 20:08 - How where you’re born can have very little impact on your success, and some examples of very successful people born or raised in poor situations. 26:12 - Discussion on the strategy for designing your reality and pursuing your goals from the article (diagram here). Also, some examples of various companies operating using this system and being successful. 34:21 - How Elon uses this thinking strategy, continually adjusts it, and tests everything. 36:56 - Learning to not become attached to any of the goals and be willing to let it go if something better comes in. Also, being honest with yourself and be willing to invalidate things, instead of validating them. Some examples of doing this and lying to yourself. 40:50 - The story of Musk when he was in college, and how he thought “What would most affect the future of humanity?”. Also, how he focused mostly on expanding the list of things that were possible, instead of focusing on his wants at the time. Musk’s thoughts on engineering being preferable to science, as well. 45:06 - Elon’s first companies and how he was able to fund his next companies. 47:28 - (Tangent #1) The possible health benefits of blood transfusions from younger people. Also, some discussion on various trees of people who are either all successful or not. 50:46 - The history of PayPal, some of its original goals, and some of the feats that the company has accomplished. Also, what came next for Elon after PayPal. 58:12 - The comparison between most people’s way of thinking compared to Musk’s and the importance of always asking “Why?”. 1:02:23 - Some discussion on The Great Depression mindset and how it may be negatively affecting most of us, as well as our future generations. Rooting out these negative beliefs that are passed onto us by our peers, environments, parents, and more. 1:07:37 - The problem with learning things based on dogma, rather than on first principles. Making your way of learning and thinking more antifragile. Also, some examples of these things based on dogma. 1:13:30 - Thoughts on tribalism in political parties, life, social circles, and religion. Some discussion on blind versus conscious tribalism and universal based income, as well. 1:20:59 - Testing people on how tribal they are and challenging their core beliefs. Also, some more talk on tribalism and various issues in the world like rights, cultural differences, health care, and laws. 1:29:22 - Some examples of us not using first principles in our judgment, and some thoughts on various events that completely change your perspective on something. 1:36:20 - Some core heuristics from the Cook and the Chef article for improving your thinking and life. Also, thoughts on growing a business and how you can be the Chef instead of the Cook. “The Chef creates, while the Cook, in some form or another, copies.” 1:45:39 - The necessary need to become the cook and develop intuition before you become the chef. Also, how Musk is the chef and how this all relates to his way of thinking. 1:54:39 - How the ability to become a Chef is infinitely greater now than it was a hundred years ago. How easy it is to try things risk-free currently and the large number of things that we can now try. 1:56:58 - Explaining the three types of cooks and then, the chef. Where most people lie in regards to these four types and recognizing these types, as well. 2:02:45 - Obtaining an accurate view of reality and the benefits of an extreme honesty policy within a company. 2:04:16 - Two mental tricks to overcoming public speaking anxiety and some details on these tricks. Also, how the chef doesn’t give into rational fear and turns fear into excitement, and how the chef doesn’t get tied up in their own identity. 2:10:39 - How a misplaced identity and getting caught up in your history can affect what you allow into your want pool and your view of reality. Thinking things are a lot riskier than they are and the selection bias within stories. 2:13:21 - The final part regarding us essentially playing Grand Theft Life. Us taking much more risks and going after the largest opportunities if our life was inside of a simulation, similar to Grand Theft Auto. 2:15:18 - Wrap-up, some closing thoughts on the article, some bits on the future of the podcast, where to contact us, and information on what our newsletter offers. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com The more I learn about Musk and other people who seem to have superhuman powers—whether it be Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Genghis Khan, Marie Curie, John Lennon, Ayn Rand, or Louis C.K.—the more I’m convinced that it’s their software, not their natural-born intelligence or talents, that makes them so rare and so effective. - Tim Urban