If you’ve recently joined, welcome! 1-2-1 is a weekly letter that follows this format:
1 thought from me (normally a short essay)
2 posts or articles from others (normally interesting links that are worth reading)
1 twitter thread that’s worth skimming through
This week’s letter at a glance:
How to sharpen the mind
How stock splits happen and why
Tom Brady’s training schedule and diet plan
Why Facebook should launch it’s own eComm solution
Sharpen The Mind
Intellectually stimulating conversations spark new ideas and enables creativity.
I get tremendous joy being around people that I’m learning from. They push me to think through edge cases, navigate complex situations; above all, they always operate with “second order effects” in mind.
Second order effects = every action has a consequence, and each consequence has another consequence. In a world of people playing checkers, they play chess.
Two common denominators I’ve noticed in people that have high intellectual horsepower:
They read a lot. Their reading-to-entertainment ratio is 5:1 minimum. On the highest end of the spectrum, it’s 10:1.
They have intellectual sparring partners.
If you logged their time on a scale, they’re spending 5 hours reading/learning to 1 hour of entertainment.
Reading comes in many forms: books, articles, essays, blogs, Twitter threads, etc. In other words, they invest majority of their time learning and growing. Eventually their “entertainment” becomes learning.
Perhaps most importantly, having a lens of “sharpening the mind,” you look at every opportunity to learn. Whether you’re watching Succession and observe how Logan Roy is reacting to certain situations, you’re learning from him.
Or seeing Tom Brady and his longevity in the NFL, you start to dig deep into his training programs and nutrition strategies… you’re learning from him.
Or even going out to dinner with some friends and seeing how a manager at a restaurant welcomes her guests; you’re seeing how she handles client experience.
Everything becomes an opportunity to learn.
Second is having intellectual sparring partners. We all have friends that we enjoy spending time with. Intellectual sparring partners are different. They’re people in your life that enable you to think deeply about things, identify bigger and better opportunities, unapologetically push back when needed.
When you’re negotiating a debt structure with your lender, you text them. When you’re starting a new business, you talk to them. When capital markets are volatile, you trade notes with them on strategies. List goes on. They push you and expect you to push them.
They operate like peer mentors, but they’re your equals. A good intellectual sparring partner makes you better and they expect to become better through you.
Whether you’re looking to have a step-function jump in your career or grow your business or just improve in certain areas of life, do the things above. Read a lot and surround yourself with others that inspire you, motivate you.
It will sharpen your mind.
2 Posts From Others
Stock Splits And Why They Happen
Alphabet (Google’s parent company) recently announced that it’s doing a 20-1 stock split. If you’re curious why stock splits happen, here’s an excellent post and visual:
5 min read
Tom Brady Training Schedule
Brady announced his retirement a few days ago. He’s the greatest NFL player of all time and one of the greatest athletes of our generation. Below is a link to his training schedule and his diet plan. The discipline to follow this routine will showcase why Brady’s long and successful career was inevitable.
7 min read
Twitter Thread On $Meta
Meta (Facebook’s parent company) saw the largest drop in market cap in one-day after their earnings call last week. $200B+ wiped out from its value. Citing concerns around Apple’s privacy issues and potential competition from TikTok.
FB has a few challenges right now. One of them is keeping advertisers happy and spending on their platform.
Apple’s privacy changes has hurt Facebook, but it’s been more detrimental for small businesses; in particular companies that have relied on FB data to measure marketing performance and success.
I recently wrote a short thread on why FB should launch it’s own native e-commerce solution.