The Friday Five: The Giant Hiding @ Apple, a Champion's Mindset, & More
Episode XII
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Today at a Glance:
Quote: Giannis on ego, pride, and humility.
Tweet: Rob Henderson on economic mobility in America.
Article: Gannon Breslin on the giant hiding at Apple.
Podcast: Robert Reffkin on playing the right games.
Bonus: The most insanely frustrating fraction.
One Quote:
“When you focus on the past, that's your ego. When I focus on the future, that's my pride. I try to focus on the moment. In the present. That's humility. That's being humble. That's a skill I'm trying to master.” - Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Giannis Framework: Past is Ego, Future is Pride, Present is Humility. Focus your energy accordingly.
One Tweet:
This data on American economic mobility was really interesting (though perhaps not surprising). If you start out in the top quintile of family income, it’s likely that you will finish in the top quintile. The top quintile also had the highest probability of remaining in the same quintile from start to finish.
A lot of structural forces at play here that require deep discussion…
One Article:
The History & Future of AirPods
I saw this chart last week and my brain melted.
If AirPods were a standalone company, they would be one of the biggest tech companies in the world (bigger than Spotify, Twitter, Shopify, and Snap combined!). Ok, so the chart was based on some pretty liberal data analysis, but the general point stands: there is a giant hiding at Apple.
Gannon Breslin dives into this in his great article. He also covers the history of AirPods, how they became so big, and where they are headed. Great, quick read!
One Podcast:
How I Built This: Robert Reffkin (Compass)
This was a fantastic interview, though not necessarily for the actual “how I built this” story. Reffkin had a winding path to achieve his success - he comes from a mixed race background, his father was a drug addict, and through his early adulthood he really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. His success through struggle was inspiring.
He mentions a very prescient piece of advice received from a mentor: Stop trying to make your weaknesses into strengths.
I love this idea. Focus on playing games where your strengths are amplified and your weaknesses are muted. Always endeavor to play the right games.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
One Bonus:
The most insanely frustrating fraction in the world. Look closely at the numbers: 0.001002003004…996997999. Fascinating, but so very frustrating. Come on 1/998001, just slip a damn 998 in there. No way anyone would have noticed…
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That does it for Episode XII of The Friday Five. Join the 27,000+ others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week! Until next time, stay curious, friends!
Honored to be featured! Great letter as always 👊
Very insightful letter.
I'm not totally clear on the fact about "Stop trying to make your weaknesses into strengths" you also agreed to it. My pov is yes its best to focus on what our strength is and grow it to what no one can beat it, but what about our weakness? I can focus on my strength; but if I totally ignore my weakness it will make me fragile in that area. So what should one do? Do I need to give some what of my energy in slightly making my weakness to not be weakness.