Welcome to The Saturday Slack, a list on what what I’m pondering and exploring with a short summary for those too busy to dive in.
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Quotes of the Week
“We carry with us the wonders, we seek without us.” – Thomas Browne, Religio Medici
You can either study life or experience it.
“The question is not simply whether to live or die but what kind of life is worth living.” Paul Kalanithi
“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy Shit, what a ride!” – Kurt Vonnegut
“This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.” – Chuck Palahniuk
Books
When Breath Becomes Air | Paul Kalanithi
“And with that, the future I had imagined, the one just about to be realized, the culmination of decades of striving, evaporated.”
Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon in his last year of residency. Decades spent in pursuit of a dream to bring meaning to the intersection of science and philosophy. Then he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Within these pages, we see Paul face death with curiosity, fear, and, ultimately, strength. He delves into the abyss that is death to give the reader insight into what makes life meaningful. The question he seems to continually ask is not simply whether to live or die but what kind of life is worth living. The answer is individual, but directionally looks like action over inaction. Doing versus thinking. Experiencing versus studying.
Fight Club | Chuck Palahniuk
“This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.”
A keen observation on the cascading destruction that happens when a lack of meaning turns to apathy then to nihilism in a world without purpose. Said differently by Tyler Durden, the main character, “disaster is a natural part of my evolution..toward tragedy and dissolution.”
The greatest antidote is not unrealistic optimism, but rather grounding yourself in a meaning larger than yourself and working relentlessly with the hope of making a minor dent in the world. Also, loaded with pithy quotes. Classic.
Articles
The Mike Speiser Incubation Playbook | Kevin Kwok
If someone has been successful once, take notice. If someone has run the same playbook multiple times with billion dollar outcomes, study religiously. That is exactly what Mike Speiser has done at the helm of Sutter Hill. In this piece, you’ll learn how “Speiser…has [achieved] a roughly 20% hit rate of his companies achieving multi-billion dollar valuations.” TL;DR: He goes all-in on secular shifts and focuses on tackling technical risk vs distribution risk.
Believing In Yourself is Overrated. This is Better. | Ryan Holiday
Great people don’t have to believe in themselves. They don’t have to fake anything. They have evidence. They have done the work that warrants their confidence. Yes, faking it until you make it, may have got to where you are now, but what happens when something uncontrollable knocks you down? Will you have the steady, silent confidence that you will get back up stronger? Or is your confidence a house of cards that will slide away at the first sign of disaster.
Jonah Hill Is SuperGood | GQ
His 20s were wild: a parade of raunchy, era-defining comedies. Then Jonah Hill shifted gears, directing a deeply personal film and taking on the kinds of rich, complex roles he’s always wanted.’
Can You Change The Way You Feel About Money?| A Wealth of Common Sense
The ability to change the weight you place on success and money as you age is something I’ve been thinking about recently. No matter how much you make or what title you achieve, you are still left with the same mind, body and relationships. So focus on making those three areas strong, so no matter your social outcomes, you have confidence that your life won’t fall apart.
Cheers,
Ben
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