30 August 2021
This week's additions focus on mindset, strategy, and leadership, with new digests from The Daily Stoic, Silicon Valley Girl, and Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life. Highlights include Why having fixed rules beats deciding everything anew each day Rent alone runs $3,100–$7,500/month depending on location
Showing 15 digests for 30 August 2021.
Resilience & grit
Podcast
50 short rules for life from the Stoics
The Daily Stoic
September 5, 2021
Resilience & grit
9
Productivity & habits
8
Mental health & wellbeing
6
Why having fixed rules beats deciding everything anew each day
Focus on what you control — everything else gets zero energy
Ego, complaints, and comparison silently erode performance
The real cost of living in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley Girl
September 4, 2021
Personal finance
9
Niche selection
5
Rent alone runs $3,100–$7,500/month depending on location
You pay for the school district and neighbourhood, not the walls
Self-employed founders absorb health, life insurance, and CPA costs themselves
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Building lasting habits through small, identity-shifting actions
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
September 3, 2021
Productivity & habits
9
Identity & self-belief
7
Scale any habit to two minutes — master showing up first
Habits reshape your identity, not just your outcomes
1% daily improvements compound into life-changing results
Productivity & habits
YouTube
Keyboard shortcuts and productivity tricks for Gmail, Zoom, Slack, and Chrome
Noah Kagan
September 2, 2021
Productivity & habits
9
Automation & tools
6
One shortcut reopens accidentally closed browser tabs instantly.
Text replacement turns repetitive phrases into two-keystroke triggers.
Slack, Gmail, and Chrome each have a shortcut to jump straight to search.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
A tour of Cal Newport's working spaces and productivity philosophy
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
September 2, 2021
Deep work & focus
8
Productivity & habits
7
Different workspaces for different work: study for writing, studio for recording, HQ for collaboration.
Match your environment to task type and protect high-energy cognitive time for deep work.
Slow productivity mindset: measure output in years, not weeks, especially when energy is constrained.
Warren Buffett's principles for business, management, and risk
Founders
September 2, 2021
Business models
9
Management
7
Cash flow management
5
Choosing the right business matters more than how hard you row
Leverage multiplied by a single zero always equals zero
Avoid dumb decisions consistently; brilliance is not required
Identity & self-belief
YouTube
When to break up with your business — and how to redesign the relationship
Bill Gallagher
September 1, 2021
Identity & self-belief
9
Management
6
Your business should serve you — not consume you.
Hitting your goal can kill motivation if you never recalibrate.
Identity tied to your company is a trap even money can't unlock.
Wyndham Hotels: How a franchise model dominates economy lodging
Business Breakdowns
September 1, 2021
Business models
9
Unit economics
8
Case studies
5
Franchise royalty stream held 80% margins even through COVID
Economy hotels break even at 30% occupancy — luxury needs 50%+
89M loyalty members make Wyndham cheaper to join than going independent
Satya Nadella on refounding Microsoft: culture, mission, and growth mindset
Masters of Scale
August 31, 2021
Culture building
9
Vision & mission
7
Resilience & grit
5
Why any insider — not just a new CEO — can refounder a company
Killing stack ranking: the concrete move that reset Microsoft's culture
Earning the right to operate means symmetry between profit and planet
Conflict resolution
YouTube
Role-playing difficult conversations before you have them
Bill Gallagher
August 31, 2021
Conflict resolution
9
Resilience & grit
6
Rehearsing worst-case scenarios removes the fear trigger before it matters.
Reversing roles reveals how someone less attached would handle it.
Expecting yes in the final run sharpens your logic and delivery.
Identity & self-belief
Podcast
Separating correlation from causation in business and personal success
Startups For the Rest of Us
August 31, 2021
Identity & self-belief
7
Long-term planning
6
Motivation
6
Success comes from hard work, skill, and luck—not mimicking others' habits or quirks.
Focus on one primary business to avoid context-switching traps across multiple ventures.
Small wins and momentum—not perfectionism—break through motivation and shipping paralysis.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Kevin Rose: from Digg and Web 2.0 to crypto and NFTs
Acquired
August 30, 2021
Founder interviews
9
Fundraising & VC
6
True believers always outperform investors who chase paradigm-shift trends.
Digg's real founding story — Wikipedia has it completely wrong.
How to tell a legitimate crypto project from a pump-and-dump.
Productivity & habits
YouTube
Three home work zones that reduce friction and improve focus
Noah Kagan
August 30, 2021
Productivity & habits
9
Deep work & focus
7
A near-empty desk measurably improves attention and focus
One voice command powers an entire home YouTube studio
Assigning each zone a single purpose makes starting work automatic
What discipline is and how to build it through a compelling vision
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
August 30, 2021
Goal setting
9
Deep work & focus
7
Identity & self-belief
6
Discipline is acting toward what you value, not what feels good now.
A vision compelling enough to feel in your bones is the only reliable foundation.
The deep life is not intense intellectual work — it's intentional living in any form.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: engineer, visionary, and the cost of total commitment
Founders
August 30, 2021
Origin stories
9
Resilience & grit
8
Identity & self-belief
6
Brunel built unprecedented railways and ships by rejecting all precedent and starting from first principles
Years of failure and crushing self-doubt — hidden behind iron public confidence — preceded every major success
James Dyson credits Brunel's refusal to quit as the model that saved his own billion-dollar company