- Five to Thrive
- Posts
- #158 – Newsletters & Charisma
Good morning everyone,
Hope you’re having a great week!
Here are 5 things I found interesting over the past few days.
Let’s jump in.
read online on my website
read time 3 minutes
#158 – The Rundown:
Quote: The courage to do less.
Podcast: Mostly Wise #1.
Video: The science of charisma.
Hack: Subscribe to great newsletters.
X: From timber dropout to billionaire owner of Gucci.
Quote:
The Courage to Do Less
“Greatness takes guts.
And often, it’s the courage to eliminate the things you can do fairly well so you can have the capacity to do one thing exceptionally well.
Have the courage to take more off your plate.”
{h/t James Clear}
Podcast:
Mostly Wise #1 - Matt McCusker, Andrew Huberman & Tom Segura
Chris Williamson, Matt McCusker, Tom Segura, and Andrew Huberman.
This was an awesome conversation that, in my view, found the perfect balance between value and entertainment.
What science reveals about comedians, the billion-dollar ‘falling lawsuit’ industry in the US, the origins of the secret service, whether cannabis can trigger psychosis, why kids are becoming smarter, the crazy spending habits of Johnny Depp, whether sunscreen is actually bad for you, and some important context behind the Marshmallow Test.
Great to see Chris stepping outside of his comfort zone a little bit with this looser style of pod as well.
Well and truly here for it.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
[Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes]
P.S. I made a Spotify playlist with every podcast I’ve ever recommended. I hope they bring you as much value as they’ve brought me.
Video:
The Science of Charisma
An interesting clip taken from Jefferson Fisher’s conversation with Vanessa Van Edwards on the science of charisma and how to improve it.
I’ve written before about the 9 techniques used by the most charismatic people in the world, but I thought that this video did an excellent job at distilling the 2 traits that charismatic people actually embody:
Warmth & competence.
They cue warmth with trust, openness, friendliness, emotion.
They cue competence with credibility, efficiency, productivity.
And Vanessa places a particular emphasis on signalling these traits – if you’re not showcasing these qualities, people do not (and cannot) associate you with them.
[Duration: 18 minutes]
{h/t Linda G}
Hack:
Subscribe to Great Newsletters
By far one of the most common questions I get about Five to Thrive is some version of: “What are your sources of info to have enough content to fill a newsletter every week?”
Perfectly valid question and one which, upon reflection, is fairly reasonable given that after 157 editions and 5 ‘segments’ of content per newsletter, that’s ~785 distinct pieces of content over a 3-and-a-bit year period (give or take).
The truth is that most content I share in this newsletter comes from 1 of 3 sources:
1) Cool people I know that send me cool things;
2) A weekly trawl through my inbox of newsletters that I’m subscribed to; and
3) My social media feed(s).
To the cool people that send me cool things – thank you. You guys are legends and I am incredibly grateful.
But since each of you reading this already has your own cool people and social media algorithms, and given it’s been ~18 months since I last shared the newsletters I’m subscribed to, I thought it was time for an updated list – because it’s changed quite a bit.
I still consider it a genuine life hack to have incredibly valuable and insightful pieces of content hitting your inbox for free, each and every week.
So, in no particular order, here are the 19 newsletters that I’m currently subscribed to:
Letter of Intent (the business news you need to know in Australia, every weekday)
Mr Family Office (insights from inside the world of family offices, bi-weekly)
Point Blank (Australian business news viewed through a lawyer’s lens, every weekday)
Brain Food (Shane Parrish’s curated quotes and thoughts on work and life, weekly)
The Curiosity Chronicle (Sahil Bloom’s mental models that fuel ideas and reflection, 3–4x per week)
The Director’s Special (the news that matters in mining and commodities, every weekday)
MergerLoop (summary of all M&A deals lodged with the ACCC under Australia's new mandatory notification regime, weekly)
3-2-1 Thursday (James Clear’s newsletter (author of Atomic Habits) that includes 3 short ideas from James, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question to ponder, weekly)
Mozi Money Minute (business insights from Alex Hormozi in one minute, sporadic)
THiNK (mental models and frameworks that facilitate effective thinking, weekly)
Creators In Business (everything you need to know about building a business in the attention economy, weekly)
Young Money (Jack Raines' essays on all things behavioural finance, markets, work, and life, weekly)
Flat White (what’s happening behind the curtain in corporate Australia, weekly)
Life of Riley (Riley Harper, one of the coolest guys on the internet, on what he’s reading, driving, wearing, watching and pondering, sporadic)
3 Minute Monday (Chris Williamson’s mini essays, episode previews, interesting stats, insightful quotes, and life hacks, weekly)
Capital Founders OS (insights and news on what’s happening in the world of wealth creation, weekly)
Cape May Wealth (German investment adviser on alternative investments, asset allocation, family offices and more, weekly)
Trader Ferg (unique research and thoughts on trades, markets, and economies, weekly)
The Week in Charts (interesting charts and themes in financial markets, weekly)
There you have it – I hope they bring you as much value as they continue to bring me.
Curious to see what this list looks like in another 18 months…
Also, if there are any that you guys can recommend I subscribe to, please do!
***
Side note: Some of you may have noticed that I recently started to include “{h/t – Name/Link}” under most pieces of content in the newsletter.
This is a way for me to do 2 things:
1) Publicly credit my sources; and
2) Hopefully make it easier for anyone reading to delve deeper into certain topics/creators if interested.
P.S. “h/t” is short for “hat tip”
X:
From Timber Dropout to Billionaire Owner of Gucci
Meet François Pinault.
The man who went from dropping out of school at 16 in rural France to work as a timber trader to become the billionaire owner of Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen.
Incredible story.
{h/t Mr Family Office}
Thanks for reading! Grateful for your support.
Stay hungry, stay humble, stay curious. ⚡
In case you missed it, last week’s newsletter covered the story behind the UK's youngest billionaire, why it's important to be "directionally correct" & more.
If you enjoyed this edition, it would mean the world if you could forward it to a friend or send them my website.
This goes a long way to helping me reach more people :)
See you in the next one,
Dimi