Matthew Petre

@zachpogrob Kobe heading out to train very early in the morning while all his teammates are just getting home from a night out partying in Vegas.

Favorite Kobe stories, quotes, videos, books, etc. ?

@ChrisWillx @naval Good example of this from Brian Eno via @TrungTPhan newsletter:

For the first time in human history, most of our problems are due to abundance, not scarcity. (h/t @naval) Too much stimulation, too much convenience, too much information, too many calories. And also too many options for how to spend our time. There are far more things which we can do, than time we have to do them in. And the allure of novelty means we’re pretty compelled to try and do as many of them as we can. This is a recipe for disaster. Rather than creating a varied and engaging buffet of life options, this erratic seduction by everything causes us to move incredibly fast in no particular direction. Which means you stay still in relation to what you truly care about. Let’s get less metaphorical for a moment… Think about where you want to be in 2 years’ time. What you want to do. Pick 1-2 things that you know would make your life better if you had achieved them or moved toward them. “1 or 2 things over 2 years??? That seems like a low AF bar to set.” Yes I know, bear with me for a second, just choose them. Got them? Good. Now, look at how you spent your time yesterday. How much of that day was spent doing things which directly move you toward that goal? Directly. Not vaguely scrolling social media picking up “content ideas”. Not taking a break from the grind to try something new. How many direct steps did you take toward achieving the most important things you want in life? Probably none. But you were busy all day right? How can you be busy all day and not have moved toward the MOST important thing you want in life? This is the curse of the modern era. We can become anything we want to be, but get distracted so much that we never get around to becoming it. I’m starting to believe that the ultimate productivity tool is just getting really REALLY clear on what you want and ruthlessly culling everything which doesn’t contribute to it. Most people who say they have a time management problem actually have a goal management problem. If you just worked on the vital few tasks which are a part of your path of highest contribution, you wouldn’t need a fancy To Do List System to hold your entire life together. Most overwhelming busyness comes from caring about what doesn’t matter, rather than working too inefficiently. Getting distracted by the many trivial options we have every day feels like work in the moment but looks like a waste in retrospect. Get clear on what you want, really crystal clear. Then identify what moves you toward it. And start to neuter everything else. I’m pretty sure this is the answer to almost all modern productivity maladies.

@ZachBDell @basepowerco @JLopas Just read @packyM ‘s essay on Base. Love what you guys are building. Let me know when your batteries are available in CT!

I am excited to publicly launch @basepowerco with my co-founder @JLopas and the rest of our team. We started Base to make power more affordable and reliable, by building the foundation for the energy transition - starting with distributed battery storage basepowercompany.com

@patrick_oshag Gym memberships

What should be securitized that isn’t ?

@zachpogrob Used to do this in college. Not 24 though. Called them “440s” cause the track was 40m longer. ~1 min rest between each —> dark place

If you want to enter The Dark Place, go do this track workout 24x400m (3 sets of 8) - 40 sec rest b/w rep - 2 min rest b/w set Calling this the 'Rings of Fire' workout 🔥 If you do it, tag me 🏴

@anuatluru readtrung.com/p/steve-jobs-r…

what makes you think that someone has “good taste”?

@dickiebush Need more open air gyms

Currently spending the month living & working in Medellin, Colombia. I had high expectations, but this may be the best place I’ve ever visited. Here’s a full breakdown of my routine (work, fitness, nutrition, lifestyle, adventure, and dating): • 6 AM — Wake up naturally to the sounds of birds chirping as the sunrise • 6 AM to 8 AM — Watch the sunrise, light cardio, mobility — doing what I need to achieve a calm focused mental state • 8 AM — Walk to a coffee shop and complete 4-5 hours of deep focused work • Noon to 2 PM — Break my fast with 4 organic local eggs + fresh fruit, finish up any leftover admin work from the morning • 2 PM — Training at a gorgeous open-air gym without my phone or any kind of schedule • 4 PM — Post-workout meal + open block for calling friends, listening to podcasts, taking a nap, sitting in the sun, planning the next day, just recharging in some way • 6 PM — Watch the sunset, turn my phone off for the day, and relax as much as possible • 7 PM — Go to dinner with my girlfriend at one of the many world-class restaurants here in Medellin that cost 50% less and taste 50% better than anywhere in the US • 9 PM — Sit in the hot tub, watch the city from my terrace, get ready for bed • 10 PM — Fall asleep and get ready to do it all over again My favorite part about this routine? It’s exactly what I do on a regular, boring Tuesday. And I can confidently say this is the ideal day I dreamed about living a few years ago when I was stuck working on Wall Street. Some additional points on my routine when traveling: • The ideal alarm clock is waking up to the sounds of birds chirping. Full circadian rhythm alignment with the world • My first 90 minutes of the day have a single goal: achieve a calm & focused mental state. I find the state I wake up in a bit “random” no matter how well I’m taking care of myself, so this time allows me to reach my ideal state + take care of my body • My 4-5 hours of deep work are focused around writing, thinking, & strategizing without meetings. I stop when I’m tapped and keep going when I’m feeling it. No hard timelines around this as that leads to a dip in creativity • When I’m traveling, I default to async meetings to reduce the anxiety of having to be anywhere at a certain time of day • I don’t stick to these “times” in a strict way, but I stick to the order of things to allow for a lightweight structure • Having a gym you look forward to training in, right inside your building, is the ultimate fitness hack • Setting the constraint of having all of your work completed by ~1-2 PM will keep you from chasing shiny objects and focus on what matters • I leave time later in the afternoon to catch up with friends, but I never “schedule” these calls. Instead, I just call people I want to talk to. If they pick up, great. If not, I’ll call them another day. I love catching up with people but hate the anxiety of scheduling, so this is the ideal middle ground • Building my entire day around watching the sunrise and sunset is putting me in such a good state of circadian rhythm. Medellin has a 630 AM sunrise + sunset basically all year round which helps build that consistency The best part about this lifestyle is I can stick with it anywhere in the world, any time of year. One thing I’ve realized is “novelty” doesn’t come from changing the routine itself, but the places & environments in which you complete the routine. So I plan on spending more time traveling in the year ahead, specifically around Europe in the summer and Mexico & South America in the fall. If you have any recommendations for places to visit, hit reply and let me know. And if you have any questions on why I structure things this way, I’m happy to answer in the replies as well. Have a great week y’all ✊

@khemaridh Reminds me of this. “Love the Mission or Love the Game” workingtheorys.com/p/mission-or-g…

If you treat business as a game, what type of game player are you? Pure (Intrinsic Achievement) This player wants to win, purely for the win. They don’t need to be celebrated or honored. Gold (Extrinsic Achievement) This player wants the direct benefits of winning. It’s the olympian who wants the Gold medal. Vibes (Intrinsic Striving) Play for the sake of engagement and the joy of the built-in struggle. Agnostic to winning or losing. GAINZ (Extrinsic Striving) This category surprised me the most. It removes the primary outcome (winning the game) and substitutes it with the benefits of playing the game. For example, playing soccer to get fit or running a marathon to improve your mental health. Since you don’t run a marathon to “win the race,” you’re agnostic to the result.

@patrick_oshag Remaining and/or sustainable competitive edges in investing

If you could have a long, detailed report on an investing topic (not companies, but themes/trends) for which you haven’t seen any good research or materials what would you pick as the topic(s)?

@matt_vanswol + a gym

The first person who can figure out how to build a 1) daycare 2) remote co-working space 3) coffee shop into a single building with a subscription... will become a billionaire in 2024.

@FoundersPodcast I smile at obstacles. Adding that one to the file

“Tiger Woods was filling his mind with words that were intended to make him great. He wrote some of the messages from self-help cassettes on a sheet of paper that he taped to his bedroom wall: I believe in me I will own my own destiny I smile at obstacles I am first in my resolve I fulfill my resolutions powerfully My strength is great I stick to it, easily, naturally My will moves mountains I focus and give it my all My decisions are strong I do it with all my heart Tiger listened to those tapes so often that he wore them out."

@zachpogrob Savage

I can't stop when I fall in love with something. I have to be in the best in the world and won't accept anything less. I'm about 2-3 months into training seriously for marathons. I don't feel human anymore. I can run faster and push through more pain than I ever thought I could. I go for 12, 14, 16mi runs every weekend, and feel no soreness. It's a strange experience. I look forward to these more than anything. Each one is like a 'mini' marathon. An adventure. A 2hr+ war in NYC, alone, against pavement, fatigue, and sometimes pedestrians (I run into people often. Sorry people). Today's workout brought out the animal in me. 16 miles- 2mi warmup, 12mi of 1 hard, 1 moderate repeats, 2mi cooldown Paces of 6:28, 6:29, 6:00, 6:24, 6:00, 6:02 for those 6 hard miles. Insane splits for me. That last one was special. I was screaming at myself on the west side highway to run faster, to keep going, to push and stay at 6:00min pace. I must've looked insane. I was a passenger in body for that mile- watching something control me. That's why I love running. When you truly reach a new level- physically and mentally, it's an out of body experience like nothing else. You become someone new. And then, once you're done, all you want to do is get back to them. 🏴

@dickiebush open.spotify.com/episode/3X9rAD…

What is the single best podcast episode you listened to this year?

@dickiebush What’s your take on alpha brain?

36-hour fast + double espresso + alpha brain + tongkat ali The original limitless pill iykyk

Nothing beats the euphoria of the morning after a 24-hour fast. Brain firing on all cylinders. A body free of bloat & inflammation. Personal satisfaction of breaking societal norms. Leads me to a few lessons & realizations 1. It’s wild how much of our day revolves around meals. What to eat, where to eat, when to eat, and the time it actually takes to eat. I still notice this despite me doing a fairly good job meal prepping, eating the same things, intermittent fasting, etc. I get 3x more done on a day of fasting than a normal day with the ~4-6 extra hours it unlocks. 2. The average American goes their entire life without fasting for a day.  Kind of wild to think about. Every single day for their entire life, food goes in. This was certainly not true for our primal ancestors and I struggle to think we were meant to operate this way. I still remember waking up the morning after my first fast and thinking the entire nutritional system was a scam. Constantly told we had to eat breakfast, eat 3 square meals per day, etc. Merely a marketing ploy. 3. 36 hours every couple weeks is the sweet spot. I’ve done fasts up to 5 days in length. That was way too long and left me feeling horrible. 36 hours is my favorite, just one full day, one night, and then breaking it with lunch the next day. I’ll go two nights if it’s been a while since my last one. However, when I do them regularly, my body doesn’t need as much time to get the “gunk” out and one day is plenty. 4. Coffee, sparkling water, and flavorless electrolyte supplements put fasting on easy mode.  This is my go-to stack when I’m fasting. I’m not hardcore enough to go water-only because then fasting becomes miserable. I sip coffee, San Pellegrino with lime, and some salt/potassium/magnesium tablets and the day ends up flying by. 5. Stack a day of fasting with time in nature / the ocean / without your phone for a full physiological and psychological reset.  This is what I did yesterday. Spent almost zero time on my phone, rode my bike to the beach, swam in the ocean, soaked in pure vitamin D, it was incredible. Went to bed at 8 PM and woke up today at 6 for a full 10-hour reset. Feel like I could run through a brick wall as I write this from my balcony this morning. Hit me with any questions on this topic, I’m definitely not an expert but I’ve built these into my life on a consistent basis and reap heavy rewards every time. Happy Monday y’all ✊

@bogumil_nyc Great episode! You mentioned a quote from Rick Rubin’s book about seeing things in your own unique way. I think the quote is: “Look for what you notice but no one else sees” -Rick Rubin One of my favorite lines

New Episode of Talking Billions with Sean DeLaney, the author of the Masterpiece in Progress: A Daily Guide to a Life Well Crafted — it’s a wonderful wide-ranging conversation from curiosity and authenticity to infinite games, the upper limit problem and more. Sean generously shares his wisdom and experience. Thank you @SeanDeLaney23 🙏🏻☺️ Special mentions in the episode: @tomowenmorgan & @WilliamGreen72 🤗

@dickiebush Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story (Arnold Schwarzenegger biography)

What is the single best book you've read in 2023?

@chrishlad Book—Arnold’s biography Total Recall Podcast—George Mack on Modern Wisdom “If you're in a 3rd world prison cell and had to call someone to get you out, who would you call?”

@TheDadAesthetic And if you’re already in good shape, this is pretty much all you need to keep it that way.

No reason every man can't at least do the following: - Full-body lift 3x/week (M/W/F) - Zone 2 (Tue/Thurs) - Calculate/eat at maintenance (eventually adjust according to goals) - 10k steps 7 days/week This is bare minimum to look half-way decent

@markmanson Source: @dickiebush newsletter (highly recommend)

The older I get, the more I realize that success at most things isn't about finding the one trick or secret nobody knows about. It's consistently doing the boring, mundane things everyone knows about but is too unfocused/undisciplined to do. Get good at boring.

@patrick_oshag Reminds me of something @jeremygiffon said: “what are the behaviours you could bet dollars on yourself not doing and still be sure to lose?” twitter.com/jeremygiffon/s…

Some of my favorite questions to ask yourself to triangulate on what might be your life’s work: 1) Where do you feel great resistance or fear? Steven Pressfield wrote: “Fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do…Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance…So if you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do…“I do have a rule that I have learned and that I believe and that is that the stronger the resistance that you feel towards something, the more important it is that you do that thing is. [Puts a bottle of water in front of him] If this is our dream—our novel or our startup or whatever it is—and we set it out in the sunshine…immediately a shadow is gonna fall from this thing. Resistance is the shadow. So the shadow is exactly proportionate to the dream. If it’s a big dream, there’s gonna be a big shadow. IN other words, the more resistance you feel to something, the more certain you can be that there's a big dream there and that you've gotta do it.” Campbell wrote “the cave you feel to enter holds the treasure you seek” 2) What that you do looks hard to others but feels easy to you? @paulg wrote “If something that seems like work to other people doesn't seem like work to you, that's something you're well suited for…The stranger your tastes seem to other people, the stronger evidence they probably are of what you should do. When I was in college I used to write papers for my friends. It was quite interesting to write a paper for a class I wasn't taking. Plus they were always so relieved. It seemed curious that the same task could be painful to one person and pleasant to another, but I didn't realize at the time what this imbalance implied, because I wasn't looking for it. I didn't realize how hard it can be to decide what you should work on, and that you sometimes have to figure it out from subtle clues, like a detective solving a case in a mystery novel. So I bet it would help a lot of people to ask themselves about this explicitly. What seems like work to other people that doesn't seem like work to you?” 3) What would you keep doing no matter how much money you had? Or even better, what couldn’t you get paid $1B to stop doing? @FoundersPodcast always brings up this question. You’ll know you are onto something if I couldn’t pay you to stop doing it. A corollary: @m2jr asked @pmarca , “what’s your advice to people who want to build something great?” Marc said, “The first piece of advice is, ‘don’t do it.’ The reason that’s the first piece of advice is that if you can be talked out of it, you definitely shouldn’t do it. If you listen to advice #1, you shouldn’t do it. If you ignore advice #1, you might have the personality type to be a founder.” 4) what’s the weirdest thing you spend a lot of time on? Or, what’s a passion you’d be embarrassed to admit publicly? Weird is good. Normal is competitive. The stranger your thing, the more low status, the more unusual…the less competition you’ll face, the more you’ll learn, the more fun you’ll have, and the more you’ll be able to contribute.

My definition of “Life’s Work:” “A lifelong quest to build something for others that expresses who you are” 3 parts to the definition, all important… “A LIFELONG QUEST” reflects the reality that work isn’t about a series of accomplishments, which ultimately ring hollow. Asimov wrote “past glories are poor feeding” Those doing their life’s work agree with Kevin Kelly’s brilliant maxim: “the reward for good work is more work,” and want to spend as much time “working” as they can in this short life. Everything worth doing is worth doing for its own sake. “TO BUILD SOMETHING FOR OTHERS” is a reminder that work is about service— making others’ lives better. The poet David Whyte wrote “the authentic watermark running through the background of a life’s work is an arrival at generosity.” Steve Jobs believed this was a central idea, too: “Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call ‘life’ was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” The most important line I’ve ever read is from the Upanishads: “Those who realize that all life is one are at home everywhere and see themselves in all beings…who shares food with the hungry protects me; Who shares not with them is consumed by me. I am this world and I consume this world. They who understand this understand life.” The giving is the getting. “THAT EXPRESSES WHO YOU ARE” reminds us that it’s not sustainable to be something you aren’t. The best work comes from people expressing themselves in a way that embraces what makes them different. “Apple was Steve Jobs with 10,000 lives” Joseph Campbell, who studied the human story more than anyone, believed this was the key question to ask: “what is it we are questing for? It is fulfillment of that which is potential in each of us. Questing for it is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world…” Rumi wrote: “take off your mask, your face is glorious” There’s nothing like someone immersed in a field they love, no matter what the field. *** David Whyte again: “Ambition [for “goals” or “accomplishments”] takes willpower and constant applications of energy to stay on a perceived bearing; but a serious vocational calling [a great reframing of life’s work!] demands a constant attention to the unknown gravitational field that surrounds us and from which we recharge ourselves, as if breathing from the atmosphere of possibility itself.” I love this image of the field from which we recharge ourselves…everyone's field is different, but it is in discovering our field, or more accurately, being honest with ourselves about the nature of our individual field, that we can begin a lifelong quest. Whyte continues, “A life’s work is not a series of stepping-stones, onto which we calmly place our feet, but more like an ocean crossing where there is no path, only a heading, a direction, in conversation with the elements.” Jobs also said: “One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there. And you never meet the people. You never shake their hands. You never hear their story or tell yours. But somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something’s transmitted there. And it’s a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation.” Life’s work: a lifelong quest to build something for others that expresses who you are. I sincerely hope that everyone reading this finds their life’s work, and thrives doing it.