Justin Kan is the exceptionally talented Silicon Valley founder and investor that’s co-founded companies like Twitch, SocialCam, Exec, and Atrium (with over $1bn in exits). He is also a former partner of the famed accelerator Y Combinator and a personal investor in dozens more startups.  Today’s conversation covers everything from his near death experience that shaped his life to how to increase your baseline happiness (heads up: it has nothing to do with selling your company).  

Email James questions at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.

• Great leaders share these 3 traits:
  • They’re open to growing and learning
  • They help everyone around them succeed in their role
    
  • They make sure their team is working on great ideas/projects
• Advice for the workplace:
  • When beginning a new project, first answer the following questions:
    • What is the objective of the project?
    • What is the success criteria?
    • What are we trying to solve?
  • Create a post-mortem report for every project (ones that fail AND ones that succeed) – ask your team:
    • What went well?
      
    • What didn’t go well?
      
    • Given those things, what can we do better next time?
• Be careful about trusting your intuition – very often you have have a few biases you’re not immediately aware of
• Career advice:
  • Either go really deep into a single discipline that’s in demand or combine two different disciplines (i.e., become someone who’s really knowledgeable about finance and also really good at public speaking)
  • If you have a particular set of skills that the market really desires, you can demand a better salary or more benefits

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

#315: Gabriel Weinberg - Using Mental Models To Make Better Decisions

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

Gabriel Weinberg is the CEO & Founder of DuckDuckGo, the Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs.He co-authored Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth and co-wrote, Super Thinking. Gabriel holds a B.S. with honors from MIT in Physics and an M.S. from the MIT Technology and Policy Program. He has been profiled in The Washington Post and Fast Company, and is routinely quoted in leading print publications such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Weinberg is also a frequent TV commentator, appearing on CNN, CNBC, and CBS This Morning, among others.

Notes:

• Commonalities of leaders who have sustained excellence:
  • A desire and openness to grow as a person
  • People want to follow them -- They set up systems for others to succeed
  • They make sure the team is headed in the right direction
• The North Star -- Must always orient yourself towards whatever that is for you
  • Your personal mission statement
  • Maximize impact on the world -- Where do you want to go?  Define what that is for you
• DuckDuckGo is an internet privacy company -- Started in 2008 for private search (a competitor to Google).
  • Gabriel discussed how he was ahead of his time -- The secret is something you know about the world that others don't yet.  Search is the most personal thing on the internet.  Gabriel wanted to create an alternate (private) to Google.
• Mental Model -- A concept for general decision making.  A few hundred concepts that are useful for better decision making
• Become a 'chef' with your thinking -- 1st principles thinking.  Your intuition can be wrong.  Best practices can also be wrong.  You need to focus on being wrong less.
  • 1st Principles = Most intentional way of thinking:  Question assumptions.
• Every project has a scoping template:
  • What is the objective of the project?
  • What is success criteria?
  • What are you trying to solve?
  • Does everyone agree?
    • Discussion with team -- Operationalize 1st principles
• Why the pro/con list is not as helpful as the cost/benefit list:
  • Write down cost over time -- Rate everything vs that
    • Example: Where should we go on vacation?  Rate on a scale 1-10.  Combine cost and benefits.
• Do a post mortem after every project -- It forces critical thinking and analysis
  • What went well?
  • What didn't?
  • Given those things, how can we operationalize to do better?
• Why is it rare to do a "success autopsy?"
  • By default, an after action review will not happen.  It must be built into the process.  Our default setting is to move on to the next project.
• What was it like writing a book with his wife?  Lauren McCann is Gabriel's wife and co-author on Super Thinking
  • "We would walk together every morning and talk about the book."  It became the primary topic of conversation for a long time
• Charlie Munger multi-disciplinary approach:
  • At DuckDuckGo, this is their goal --> Grow people internally.  They work hard to help their team make better decisions
• Structure of DuckDuckGo:
  • 70 team members -- fully distributed all over the world
  • Immense delegation happens daily
• What does Gabriel look when hiring someone to the team?
  • Self starters -- The team is fully distributed.  They have a lot of autonomy and ownership.  People are empowered and must be willing to work without a boss watching them.
  • Question assumptions
  • Great communicator -- There is a lot of written communication when the team is all over the world.  Must be able to write well.
  • Experimental mindset
  • Validate direction -- Run experiments if you have a hunch and then analyze your findings
  • Build trust -- Very key.  There is heavy transparency at DuckDuckGo.  Must be trustworthy.
• How to find candidates who possess these qualities?
  • Do paid projects as part of the hiring process... Get a feel for them actually doing the job before you hire them full time.
• Culture:
  • "We have a 'thank you' culture"
    • "Most respectful interpretation" of every interaction.  Give people the benefit of the doubt.
    • Thoughtful and intentional
• Gabriel's upbringing: His dad was a doctor.  His mom was an artist.
• How to flex your market power?  Combine two particular sets of skills, go deep learning them (eg. be a great finance person  and public speaker.  Look for gaps in the market or within your company, and use your unique skills (like Liam Neeson in Taken) and attack the problem.  Most people just do what they're told.  Don't settle for that.
• Why shouldn't we trust our gut?
  • Availability bias - May not remember all the options
  • Confirmation bias - the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.
  • Use it as a hypothesis generator, then question it.  Don't fully commit until the necessary work is done.
  • "Thinking gray." --> Delay decisions until they absolutely must be made.
    • Jeff Bezos opens a door, but may come back through it.  "We'll do this now, but we may walk it back."
• How to build trust?
  • Vulnerability speeds up the process of building a trusting environment.
  • "Relationships move at the speed of vulnerability."
• Anders Ericsson -- Deliberate practice.
  • Work at the edge of your comfort zone.  Receive coaching in real time.
    • Hire an executive coach
    • Create a board of advisors
    • Day to day -- check your thinking and explain it (write, give speeches)
• Writing is the best form of thinking critically --> "It's the best way to clarify my thinking"
• Overall life advice:  What is your north star?  What areas do you want to pursue?  What are you current skills?
  • Find your highest leverage point, study those areas

More Resources:

• Read: Super Thinking 
• Follow Gabriel on Twitter: @yegg
• Be part of "Mindful Monday" -- Text LEARNERS to 44222
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

• Conscious leaders are self-aware enough to identify when they’re above or below the “black line”
  • When you’re above the line, you’re open, curious, trusting, and committed to learning
  • When you’re below the line, you’re defensive and attached to proving you’re right
• To increase your self-awareness:
  • Become more self-reflective – practice pausing, quieting the mind, and turning attention back on itself 
  • Create a feedback-rich environment where you’re constantly getting feedback
• After receiving feedback:
  • Do NOT ask yourself – “Isthis feedback true?”
  • DO ask – “Howis this feedback true?”
• “Underneath these incredibly driven and successful people is a scared little 5-year-old kid who is terrified”
  • For many type As, fear is a driving motivator 
  • Just know – “The antidote to fear is not courage, the antidote to fear is acceptance”
    • Until you can give love and acceptance to the scared 5-year-old inside of you, they won’t stop controlling your life
• Making clear agreements is important for allowing teams and relationships to thrive
  • Each agreement needs to answer the question – Who will do what by when?
  • In addition –Only make agreements that you have a whole body “yes” to
  • “All drama in relationships, personal and professional, is caused by unaligned commitments, or unclear/unkept agreements”
• Many people avoid conflicts in their intimate relationships not out of fear of hurting their partner, but more so because they don’t want to live with the consequences of dong so
• Live in creative consciousness, not victim consciousness
  • Victim consciousness = Living from the belief that life is happening to you (you’re at the effect of people, circumstances, conditions)
  • Creative consciousness = YOU are responsible for your emotions and experiences
• On Emotional Intelligence:
  • If you don’t feed the what you’re feeling with more thoughts, the energy (the feeling) will exit the body in <90 seconds
  • If you don’t allow the feeling to pass through you it calcifies and turns into a mood (i.e., anger turning into bitterness, resentment, and hatred)
• If you spot it, you got it
  • “If you were willing to eat the projection and internalize how the things you’re complaining about in relation to others are true about you, you’d increase your learning agility exponentially”
  • “If you really want to grow in self-awareness, eat your projections”

Jim Dethmer, founder of The Conscious Leadership Group shares practical advice about becoming more self-aware, ditching the victim mindset, and connecting more fully with the people in our lives. 

---

For comprehensive show notes on this episode, including a full edited transcript, go to https://fs.blog/podcast/

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• Sleep trackers (like the Oura Ring) are accurate when it comes to determining total time awake vs. time in non-REM sleep vs. time in REM sleep
  • They’re not so accurate when it comes to disguising between light non-REM sleep vs. deep non-REM sleep
• Avoid eating simple carbs too close to bedtime as they tend to raise your core body temperature
  • (In order to fall asleep, you need to drop your core body temperature by 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit)
• For optimal sleep, avoid exercising within two hours of going to bed
• Adequate sleep increases your motivation to exercise, your peak muscle strength, your ability to respire and expel carbon dioxide, your time to physical exhaustion, and your ability to sweat
• Sleep deprivation causes an increase in the hunger hormone (ghrelin) and a suppression of the satiety hormone (leptin)

• Matthew’s TED Talk, and his favorite public speakers [7:45];  
• How good are the current sleep trackers like Oura, Fitbit, etc.? [10:45];
• Is it bad to eat food too close to bedtime? [15:30];
• How does exercise impact sleep? [17:30];
• How is appetite affected by our sleep quality? [21:30];
• Anxiety, cortisol, and weight gain: An awful feedback loop of sleep deprivation [23:30];
• How to optimize your wind down routine: lights, temperature, & relaxation [26:10];
• How alcohol disrupts sleep (and contributes to Alzheimer’s disease) [46:00];
• Sleep’s impact on sex hormones, and romantic relationships [50:00];
• Performance, accuracy, and minimizing the damage of shift work [55:30];
• Bed partners: How to sleep in separate beds and retain a good relationship [59:30];
• Can we use sound machines and electrical stimulation to improve sleep? [1:02:40];
• Will we ever be able to “supercharge” our sleep stages using technology? [1:08:30];
• Why sleep is the best insurance policy for lifespan and healthspan [1:11:45];
• Melatonin: How (and how not) to use it for sleep improvement [1:19:00];
• The dangers of sleeping pills, useful alternatives, and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia [1:28:30];
• Can CBD and THC be used for sleep? [1:43:30];
• Why haven’t we been able to develop a really effective sleeping aid? [1:50:40];
• Can you get too much sleep? [1:55:50];
• What to do (and not do) immediately following a terrible night of sleep? [2:09:15];
• Why a consistent wake up time is king [2:14:30];
• Does poor sleep speed up the aging process? [2:16:00];
• Can different people be more (or less) resilient to sleep deprivation? [2:22:50];
• Finding your optimal sleep schedule and determining your sleep chronotype [2:27:45];
• Defining sleep efficiency and how to improve it [2:33:25];
• Correcting insomnia: A counterintuitive approach [2:35:45];
• How can parents improve the sleep of their kids? [2:41:30]; and
• More.

Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com
Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

• “Follow your passion” is bad advice
  • A passionate career starts by exploring your interests and trying lots of things
    • The longer you’ve been working a job, the better you get at it, and in turn – the more likely you are to describe it as your “calling”
• “Be so good they can’t ignore you. If you do that, lots of other good things will come.”
• Find the person who’s living your idealized life and then go work for them for free in exchange for knowledge and connections
• “So few people are actually training their ability to concentrate that if you’re one of the few to do so, you have a huge competitive advantage”
• On Solitude
  • “Solitude is freedom from input from other minds. It has nothing to do with physical isolation.”
  • “Solitude is crucial. You have to have this on a regular basis in your life if you’re going to flourish and thrive as a human being.”
  • “For the first time in human history, we created a technology that makes it possible to banish every last moment of solitude from your life”
  • To cultivate more solitude in your life, just do more things without your phone
• On the Social Media Addiction Epidemic 
  • “Around the point when the major social media platforms were preparing for their IPOs, they completely re-engineered the social media experience. So instead of it being about posting and reading your friends posts, it became about this steady incoming stream of social approval indicators – likes and retweets and photo tags and comments. And so now you had a reason to keep going back to the phone because every time you did, there might be another reward there, another indication of social approval.”
• Smartphones
  • Smartphone use in adolescence is leading to the prevalence of anxiety disorders
  • “In the future, we’ll probably look back at giving a thirteen-year-old social media the same way that we look back today at giving a thirteen-year-old a pack of cigarettes”
• Digital Minimalism
  • “Digital minimalism just takes minimalism, which has been around forever… It’s an ancient idea and it applies to all sorts of different parts of the human experience and the idea says you should focus on the things that are really, really valuable to the exclusion of other things that are much less valuable”
    • Take inventory of the tech you use and apply this concept

Best-selling author Cal Newport literally wrote the book on how to “Get so good they can’t ignore you.” Instead of looking inwards and trying to find your one true passion, he advises lowering the bar and finding a few decent interests. Then, raise the bar for skill acquisition and mastery. Anyone feeling “stuck” in life will find his approach challenging and refreshing. So tune into this episode of Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, and listen to Cal Newport discuss why you should not necessarily follow your passion, why you should disconnect from social media, and why sacrifice promotes the good life.

This episode is brought to you by: 
BrandCrowd: Get started for FREE by visiting https://BrandCrowd.com/maker
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SHOW NOTES:

[2:42] Cal explains why you should not follow your passion.

[4:52] Cal shows what actually matters: impact, mastery, and connection.

[6:08] Cal and Tom discuss becoming so good they can’t ignore you.

[8:07] Cal explains the role of initial interest in job satisfaction.

[9:39] Cal and Tom discuss apprenticeship and the importance of knowledge and connections.

[13:13] Cal illustrates using disciplined practice to get impossibly good.

[15:18] Cal explains the difference between mere repetition and disciplined practice

[17:39] Cal talks about deep work and how to get good at it.

[19:35] Cal describes sustained thinking by showing how unnatural reading is.

[21:41] Cal defines Solitude Deprivation Syndrome

[23:40] Cal discusses the consequences of social media addiction.

[25:32] Cal advises doing something without your phone on a regular basis. 

[26:26] Cal talks about technology detox and digital minimalism.

[28:11] Cal explains how focus is disrupted by even brief attention shifts.

[29:50] Cal illustrates how best to get into a state of flow.

[32:46] Cal describes productive meditation.

[33:55] Cal jumps into a discussion of what’s so terribly wrong with social media

[35:02] Cal explains why we know social media is causing the problem.

[37:15] Cal compares social media to cigarettes.

[38:34] Cal considers the good life, fulfillment, and human flourishing.

[40:56] Cal explains why service and sacrifice are so important.

[42:15] Cal discusses a world without email.

[44:25] Cal describes what a world without email would actually look like.

[48:10] Cal shares the impact he wants to have on the world.

QUOTES:

[7:54]  Put your head down and go into apprentice mode. I’m going to master something that is unambiguously valuable.

[12:02] Everything that’s worthwhile is really hard, and it’s often really specific

[37:38] We’ll probably look back at giving a 13 year-old social media the same way we look at giving a 13 year-old a pack of cigarettes. 

[45:47] Business is not about convenience. It’s about value production.

FOLLOW:

CalNewport.com

BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

[2:27] So good they can’t ignore you https://amzn.to/2KDqmqm

[2:28] Digital minimalism https://amzn.to/2N7an3g

• The single most black and white thing you can do to reduce your risk of cancer is to incorporate regular prolonged fasts
• If you’re healthy, regular fasts are one of one of the best things you can do for your body
• Before you think about jumping on the intermittent fasting bandwagon, first consider all the nutrients you’re missing out on from the foods you do consume (protein, fiber, micronutrients, fiber, vegetables)
  • Add these foods into your diet before starting to skip meals
• Do NOT look at fasting as an easy way to lose weight
• The best way to fast is to lead into it with a low-carbohydrate/ketogenic type diet that’s relatively low-calorie
• When breaking a fast, eat easily digestible foods in small portions (otherwise you’re in for a horrible stomach ache and diarrhea)
• If you’re relatively healthy, long fasts seem to not have any negative effects

In this episode, Sal, Adam and Justin talk about fasting, what it is, how it has become mainstream, the benefits of fasting, the downsides of fasting and in particular how fasting may, in fact, be contributing to accumulating excess body fat.

• How fasting has become the new “diet”. (2:35)
• The evolution of fasting + the different types of ‘fasts’. (4:39)
• The benefits of going without food. (11:10)
• Why fasting may be making you fat. (31:55)
• Mind Pump Recommends: Who is fasting FOR? How LONG should the fast be? (50:11)
• The RIGHT way to do a fast. (54:09)

People Mentioned

• Valter Longo - Wikipedia
• Hodgetwins Official Instagram (@officialhodgetwins)  Instagram

Related Links/Products Mentioned

• June Promotion: MAPS Strong ½ off!! **Code “STRONG50” at checkout**
• Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system
• The Warburg Effect: How Does it Benefit Cancer Cells?
• Fasting and Caloric Restriction in Cancer Prevention and Treatment.
• To fast, or not to fast before chemotherapy, that is the question
• Intermittent Fasting Made Easy @Hodgetwins
• Is Fasting Effective? - Mind Pump
• Intermittent Fasting Guide | MAPS Fitness Products - Mind Pump
• How to Use Fasting to Build Muscle, Lose Fat and Improve Health - MPTv
• Mind Pump Free Resources

• You won’t lose weight without depleting your glycogen levels and the best way to do that is by exercising and restricting carbs
• If you get the art right, the business side of things takes care of itself
• “As humans, we can really handle much more than we think”
• Music unites us all
• Work isn’t something to be avoid, it’s something to be embraced (but don’t forget to have fun along the way)

In this episode, Rick Rubin, legendary music producer and co-founder of Def Jam Records and American Recordings, discusses his early foray into music production which started as a hobby as a teenager and ultimately turned into a Grammy award-winning career that produced revolutionary changes in the music industry. Rick has worked with the likes of the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Johnny Cash, just to name a small fraction. Rick talks about the pain and suffering that sometimes drives music and the cycle of drug addiction and how he has been able to help artists through those struggles to make space for their creative genius. We also get into Rick’s own personal health journey including his battle with depression, his struggle with obesity, and ultimately his extraordinary transformation. Finally, Rick shares a really significant health scare which required emergency heart surgery, and how that experience has impacted him.

We discuss:

• Early career, and the birth of hip hop [7:15];
• Early success of Def Jam Recordings, and working with LL Cool J [13:15];
• Revolutionary changes in music: LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, and Run DMC [19:30];
• Partnership with Columbia Records, and leaving Def Jam [26:45];
• The success of Licensed to Ill: how it took off, and how it changed things [36:00];
• American Recordings: Rick’s transition to rock and roll [39:15];
• Working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the poetic nature of music [45:45];
• Rick’s favorite music that he did NOT produce [53:00];
• Prevalence of drug use and emotional pain in musicians: Rick’s experience with helping artists through their struggles [57:20];
• NYC vs. LA hip hop [1:05:30];
• Rick’s battle with depression [1:10:00];
• Coping with the death of artists that Rick worked with [1:22:00];
• Working with Johnny Cash [1:26:45];
• Working with Rage Against the Machine [1:34:30];
• The digital age of music: Have we lost something? [1:37:45];
• Rick’s health journey and battle with obesity [1:42:45];
• Radical weight loss: How Rick was finally able to shed the weight [2:00:15];
• Total transformation: Exercise and training with Laird Hamilton [2:11:00];
• Emergency surgery: Rick’s frightening heart condition [2:25:30];
• Methylene blue and exogenous ketones: Are they neuroprotective? [2:46:15];
• The most profound thing Rick learned about himself from his heart condition and major surgery? [2:52:30];
• What life lessons does Rick wish to impart on his son? [2:57:30]; and
• More.

Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com
Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.