Saturday 7

Published: Sat, 11/21/20

Hey, good morning!

Here is your Saturday 7 roundup of this week's findings, fun, and f'ups...

👍 What "2 Rules of Thumb" I tend to follow:

I spent most of my week working on a macronutrient presentation. And while the topic of macronutrients can be complex — like 1g of protein can be vastly different than another gram of protein (i.e. 1g of animal protein vs 1g of plant protein) and the same goes for fat (i.e. saturated fat vs polyunsaturated fats) — there are 2 simple "Rules of Thumb" regarding carbohydrates that I've mostly adhered to for the last 2 decades:
- #1: If eating carbohydrates, don't combine with fat (just protein)
- #2: If eating carbohydrates, "backload" them in the day
There is a lot of nuance to these "2 Rules" which I'll hammer out in the presentation, but simply keeping these 2 things in mind can go a long way.

🦷 Who comes to mind: Dentistry + Music =

Nope. Not me. Lenny Kravitz. I was sent this interview where Lenny describes how he creates something out of nothing, whether it's a song or a toothpaste company — it's all about creativity.

"One guy who works with me had a really bad toothache and infection. Every day, I would see him pouring black pepper into the hole in his tooth and then he’d take a matchbook cover, fold it and stick it in there as sort of a cap to keep the black pepper in his tooth..."

➗ What is the hardest part:

Have you ever got 80% of the way through a project and then never finished? That last 20% is always the hardest. It's where "perfection" creeps in. But you can use a mathematical model to push through this 20% and overcome "paralysis by perfection."

🎶 What I'm learning from Taylor Swift:

In 2004 Taylor Swift signed with Big Machine Records. If she could go back in time, I think she would change a few things in that contract, as the saga for ownership of her 1st 6 albums continues.
- Lesson #1: Read contracts carefully. Know what you are signing. Consider the extreme upside and downside. Are you ok with what the contract dictates in these scenarios?
- Lesson #2: How to write lyrics like a master of the trade.
  - I wonder how many of these "tricks" are conscious decisions versus natural, poetic, story-telling talent? I'm going to incorporate as many of these as I can into Song #11 (I'm writing lyrics this week).

🧠 What concept I've been thinking about:

"One of my favorite strategies was to take strong candidates who applied for Masters and also offer them Ph.D admissions...At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people...simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind. It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous."

– Tyler Cowen, the high-return activity of raising others' aspirations

🚀 What no one is talking about (yet):

Last week I mentioned that I have been talking more about bitcoin because I think we are on the precipice before media jumps in (in a big way). Ironically, Bloomberg, one of the largest financial publications, wrote an article on how no one is talking about it, despite bitcoin hitting all time highs in many significant categories. I'm buckling up.