20 December 2021
This week's additions focus on mindset, strategy, and founder stories, with new digests from The Daily Stoic, Deep Questions with Cal Newport, and Acquired. Highlights include Why starting absurdly small beats ambitious resolutions every time Get the real requirements from an insider before you start anything new
Showing 9 digests for 20 December 2021.
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Eleven stoic practices for building better habits
The Daily Stoic
December 26, 2021
Productivity & habits
10
Identity & self-belief
6
Resilience & grit
5
Why starting absurdly small beats ambitious resolutions every time
Identity shapes behaviour — decide who you are before picking habits
Stumbles are guaranteed; what compounds is coming back anyway
Deep work & focus
Podcast
How Cal Newport got his first book deal at 21
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
December 23, 2021
Deep work & focus
8
Productivity & habits
6
Get the real requirements from an insider before you start anything new
Deep life means radical alignment with values, not incremental self-improvement
Serving platform algorithms crowds out the craft that actually builds a career
Founder interviews
Podcast
How Michael Ovitz built CAA and reshaped Hollywood
Acquired
December 21, 2021
Founder interviews
10
Business models
7
Pitching investors
5
Packaging complete film bundles gave talent unprecedented power over studios and earnings
Jurassic Park deal: Ovitz negotiated 50% participation for creatives versus studio ownership model
CAA's team-based approach and relentless communication system scaled representation to 45 of 50 top directors
How Barack Obama built the right team to seize his moment
Masters of Scale
December 21, 2021
Case studies
10
Delegation
8
Vision & mission
7
Why being two years early beats being first at the peak
Flat teams and capped salaries outran better-funded rivals
Listening to community stories — not policy — won every race
Enterprise sales triggers, replacing yourself, and B2B SaaS fundamentals
Startups For the Rest of Us
December 21, 2021
B2B sales
8
Pricing strategy
7
Business models
6
Enterprise pricing should start at ~20x your public rate
Solo-operated $2M ARR is harder to sell than a staffed $1.5M business
Finding a growth channel takes far longer than most founders expect
The "silver bullet" sentence: the secret to a powerful story
Bill Gallagher
December 20, 2021
One sentence can deliver an epiphany better than any story structure.
The unexpected moment forces adaptation — adaptation produces the lesson.
Great TED Talks and viral passages share this single-sentence secret sauce.
Outsourcing & delegation
Podcast
Building a low-overhead business by designing for time freedom
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
December 20, 2021
Outsourcing & delegation
8
Business models
7
Productivity & habits
6
Success itself breaks your systems — more roles means more friction
Decoupling time from money unlocks earning more while working less
Align, Design, Assign: the three-step framework for reclaiming capacity
Founder interviews
Podcast
Ed Thorp: how a mathematician mastered blackjack, Wall Street, and life
Founders
December 20, 2021
Founder interviews
10
Identity & self-belief
6
Kelly Criterion: bet sizing that guarantees you never go broke
Thorp quit a billion-dollar fund to reclaim his time deliberately
Six employees, $470M managed — lean beats headcount every time
Productivity & habits
Podcast
A weekly tech Sabbath ritual to reclaim rest from your devices
How I Work
December 20, 2021
Productivity & habits
8
Work-life balance
7
Automation & tools
6
Shutting off all devices for 24 hours each week reduces compulsive checking.
Ritual and a friend's accountability make the tech Sabbath actually stick.
Motion.io merges task lists and calendar into one dopamine-friendly workflow.