Medley 8: Internet hucksters, peak performers, and getting cold
Happy 4th of July!
(The original Brexit)
New Article : “Welcome to the Internet: Don’t Be a Huckster”
After I published my article against aggressive email capture, I realized that the interruptive tactics were a symptom of a bigger problem. Internet marketing, and internet business in general, has been shifting towards strategies that would typically characterize street vendors in major cities, to the ultimate detriment of consumers. Here’s what it looks like to be an “Internet huckster,” how we can all move away from those annoying behaviors, and why we should.
Podcast Interview : “Why A Guy With 200,000 Monthly Readers Killed His Lead Forms, Too”
Speaking of email capture, I went on the “Seeking Wisdom” podcast hosted by Drift to talk about aggressive Internet marketing, when it’s bad, and why we should try to be better about how we engage with our customers and readers. We had a lot of fun, and I’m planning on doing more podcast interviews like this in the future.
New Pivotal Book : If you’ve read Outliers, Talent Code, Deep Work, or any other book written in the last ~20 years on expert performance, they all cite research done by Anders Ericsson. Anders has finally written a book from his lifetime of research on what makes experts experts, and more importantly, how any of us can become one. It’s by far my favorite book now on expert performance, and if you only ever read one book on being the best in your field, it should be this one.
A few key notes that might surprise you:
- There’s no such thing as talent, prodigies, or even savants.
- Practice alone doesn’t make you better at something.
- The 10,000 hour rule is (mostly) bullshit.
- No one is born talented, except in physical domains like basketball.
- Age is barely a barrier, someone can become an expert whether they start at 10, 40, or 70.
You can get my full notes on the book here.
Interesting Research : This research paper by Raymond Cronise outlines how the modern obesity epidemic may be largely caused by eating too frequently and never being cold. The human body is meant to respond well to fasting and cold exposure, and most of us hardly get either. Maintaining a healthy weight may be as simple as intermittent fasting, and letting yourself be cold.
Have a great week!
Nat