18 October 2021
This week's additions focus on mindset, founder stories, and leadership, with new digests from The Daily Stoic, Silicon Valley Girl, and Founders. Highlights include Almost every obstacle you face comes down to a choice you're making. Six years of YouTube funded a $130k family car purchase
Showing 12 digests for 18 October 2021.
Productivity & habits
Podcast
10 Stoic Choices You Can Make Today to Get Better
The Daily Stoic
October 24, 2021
Productivity & habits
9
Resilience & grit
9
Deep work & focus
8
Almost every obstacle you face comes down to a choice you're making.
Stop pre-suffering: anxiety punishes you without changing anything.
Seek deliberate discomfort — it builds the muscle to handle real adversity.
Founder interviews
YouTube
Buying a $130k Cadillac Escalade with YouTube income
Silicon Valley Girl
October 23, 2021
Founder interviews
10
Personal finance
6
Six years of YouTube funded a $130k family car purchase
2021 car shortage forced a Beverly Hills trip to avoid $35k markup
Safety runway and family comfort drive spending, not status
Resilience & grit
Podcast
Michael Jordan: obsession, practice, and the making of a dynasty
Founders
October 23, 2021
Resilience & grit
9
Case studies
7
Identity & self-belief
6
False confidence used as fuel before real skill closes the gap
Jordan's greatest competitive weapon was his ability to be coached
One athlete's obsessive practice built a $180M-per-year brand empire
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Overload, autonomy, discipline, and the path to a deep life
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
October 21, 2021
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
8
Intentional planning gives roughly 2x output — especially under overload.
Discipline lives at the macro level; at the micro level, habits must be engineered.
Frustration with shallow living is the signal that drives people toward a deep life.
Influencer & partnerships
YouTube
A practical guide to influencer marketing for growing businesses
Ahrefs
October 20, 2021
Influencer & partnerships
10
Social media
6
Follower count is a vanity metric — engagement rate and growth trend matter
Reverse-engineer competitors' YouTube sponsorships using Ahrefs Site Explorer
Influencers vet you too — brand value alignment affects long-term results
What a $100,000 business coach actually teaches you
Noah Kagan
October 20, 2021
Management
9
Delegation
7
Productivity & habits
6
Inaction is usually the worst decision you can make
Balance genuine recognition with pushes for excellence — neither alone works
Weekly CEO self-review compounds self-awareness into a real advantage
Founder interviews
Podcast
A masterclass in crowdsourcing with Luis von Ahn
Masters of Scale
October 19, 2021
Founder interviews
9
Iteration & feedback loops
7
Business models
6
Perfect mission alignment is the foundation—your crowd's motivations must match yours, not conflict with them.
Find Goldilocks problems: tasks too complex for computers, simple enough for humans to complete in 5-10 seconds.
Transparency and legal clarity about how you use crowdsourced effort prevent resentment and build lasting contributor commitment.
How to get honest leadership feedback from your team
Bill Gallagher
October 19, 2021
Management
9
Communication
7
Ask what your team thinks everyone thinks about you — not just them
360 reviews create noise; structured interviews surface real perception
Valid feedback doesn't have to be acted on — owning that choice matters
Resilience & grit
Podcast
Fault vs. responsibility, practice vs. performance, and founder energy management
Startups For the Rest of Us
October 19, 2021
Resilience & grit
9
Productivity & habits
7
Identity & self-belief
5
Bad things aren't your fault — but fixing them is always your responsibility.
Startup success is years of invisible practice, not a few visible moments.
Caffeine, carbs, and late alcohol quietly wreck founder focus and mood.
Standard Oil Part II: breakup, philanthropy, and Rockefeller's legacy
Acquired
October 18, 2021
Case studies
10
Bootstrapping
6
Business models
5
The antitrust breakup made Rockefeller personally richer than before it happened.
Rockefeller and Frederick Gates invented modern institutional philanthropy from scratch.
Facebook buying Instagram mirrors Standard Oil's Cleveland Massacre almost exactly.
Prospecting & outreach
YouTube
Eight underrated business books that solve specific founder problems
Noah Kagan
October 18, 2021
Prospecting & outreach
7
Hiring & recruitment
7
Business operating systems
6
Charge on value created, not hourly rates — it changes everything
The Dream 100 list beats any fancy marketing campaign
Morning pages and artist dates are practical tools to rebuild creativity
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Will remote work stick, and what does effective time use actually look like?
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
October 18, 2021
Productivity & habits
9
Deep work & focus
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Remote work only works after you replace the hyperactive hive mind.
Disciplined schedulers finish the same work in roughly half the time.
Pandemic startups are quietly seeding a remote-first phase shift.