Hi friends!
This week is an experiment. I am going to share a list of what I’m pondering and exploring. Taking a page out of Tim Ferriss’s ultra-popular weekly email called “5-Bullet Friday.”Please feel free to forward this along to friends.
What I’m listening to
Naval Ravikant interview with Tim Ferriss. This is their first podcast they did together way back in 2015. It’s an oldie but a goodie. This pod introduced me to Naval and I have been following him closely ever since. He is simple and direct with a hint of poetic flair. Decide for yourself if he vibes with you too. You won’t regret it. I have listened, re-listened, and re-re-listened to this conversation over the years. My two favorite tidbits are:
If you want to be successful then surround yourself with people who are more successful than you are. But if you want to be happy surround yourself with people who are less successful than you are. (I talk about this in my post The Five Dudes Theory)
The older the problem the older the solution.
What I’m reading
Awareness by Anthony de Mello. This book was recommended to me by Tim Ferriss several years ago. I didn’t think too much of it at the time because I regularly buy books on a whim. But after it arrived in the mail I read it devoured it in a weekend. Much like the podcast mentioned above, I have read, re-read, re-re-read and even listened to the audiobook version (he has a great voice). It’s just that good. He was an uncompromising Jesuit priest who dropped absolute knowledge bombs. A powerful short story from the first page:
A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who’s that?” he asked.
“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we’re chickens.” So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.
Comedian I’m enjoying
Watching standup comedy is one of my true joys. I was introduced to this guy thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter. His name is Gary Gulman. I have been watching his YouTube clips nonstop. Here’s my favorite so far (5 mins).
Random thought
There is a special place in hell reserved for people who have cars that are louder than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
And that’s a wrap! Please give me feedback on Twitter. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @armankhodadoost so I can find it.
Have a terrific Tuesday, friends.
All the best to you and yours,
Arman