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Hey friends,
I wanted to do something nice for all of my readers - so I reached out to the people who created some of my favorite products & begged them to offer a discount – just for you – for the holidays.
Many of them were quite gracious and excited to do so!
You can see the full list here with all the discount codes.
Some of my favorite products ever are there, including Readwise, the Wearable Challenge, and Flighty. Most of these discounts you won’t get anywhere else.
I don’t get a kickback or anything - I just wanted to do something fun for readers for the holidays!
Have a great week!
Jambys (product)
My thanks to Jambys for sponsoring this week’s newsletter.
Jambys is a new company that makes really soft loungewear (and was founded by a reader of the newsletter). They make their clothes out of the same MicroModal fabric as fancy underwear, but made a little thicker and plush. The products end up feeling pretty unique — super soft, but still breathable and lightweight.
I’m writing this in a top & a bottom as we speak and they are extremely comfortable. My wife loves hers too.
(If you’re not into comfy loungewear then at least check out their site - the branding and copy is second to none.)
They've also got a code for readers to go check it out: MCKENDRICK20.
You are not ‘behind’ (article)
The most optimistic people I know seem to be able to constantly forget their past. Their personal failures, problems they’ve created, etc. They can constantly believe the future will be awesome.
This can feel very unnatural but it’s a crucial skill if you want to do great things IMO. All that matters is what you can take action on right now. “Focus on what you can control.”
One of my favorite parts of the book To Pixar and Beyond (written by the original CFO of Pixar) is when he sits down to talk to Steve Jobs about how bad the original contract was with Disney. I’ll spare you the details, but it was really really bad for Pixar.
The CFO says: “As we sat there talking, I realized Steve had no interest in looking back. He didn’t defend the contract. He didn’t justify it. He listened carefully to everything I had to say about it, taking it all in. That was pretty much it.”
You are forgiven of every personal failing until this precise moment. On to the future!
To listen, be curious (article)
The ultimate life hack for interacting with other humans - get deeply curious.
As you get curious about another person’s thing, or life, or just their average day, you will automatically ask questions that will help you understand their world better.
This will make them like you more, it will make you more interesting, and it will teach you something about the world.
The best conversationalists know how to ask amazing questions - and this is basically all they’re doing.
Easy != Simple (video)
Talk by the creator of Clojure on the difference between simple and easy. We confused them constantly. Easy tends to be what we already know, and therefore is faster and more accessible.
But that doesn’t mean it automatically leads to simplicity.
All I could think about while watching this was how easyI Ruby on Rails is. 😬
How to be an expert in a changing world (article)
Admit predicting the future is almost impossible and be super sensitive to the winds of change.
And hang out with the types of people who have new ideas.
To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just re-do it, re-do it, re-do it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them.
I'm not sure what percentage of success in life can be attributed to your willingness to...
(1) play long-term games
(2) look foolish in the short-term
(3) have uncomfortable conversations
...but it has to be substantial.
Twitter image guide thread (tweetstorm)
Getting your image to crop correctly on Twitter is a PITA - this helped me a ton.
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See you next week!
Trevor
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