Brandon Zhang Profile picture
Sep 25, 2020 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
This week I was able to interview @JamesClear on my podcast.

Love both Atomic Habits and the 3-2-1 Newsletter.

We talked:

- Mental Models
- The Equal Odds Rule
- Habit's Relationship with Identity

(Thread) 🧵 Image
1/ Habits and Identity

This is the fundamental reason habits matter.

We want to lose weight, make money and be productive but the real reason habits matter is they reshape your sense of self.

What you believe influences how you act.
2/ Casting Votes

Each small action you take to form a habit is like casting a vote for who you want as you future self.

One push-up, writing one sentence, meditating one minute.

In that moment, you are an athlete, a writer or a meditator.
3/ Environment Design

During quarantine, James has tried to be more intentional about reading.

Books everywhere, on desk, bedside table etc.

Only app on homescreen: Audible
4/ Margin Of Safety

Mental Model: Having a buffer against uncertainty.

Pratical: Filling up gas at half-empty, showing up early to meetings.

Life Decisions: Only purchase things you can buy twice comfortably.
5/ Margin of Safety Cont.

Hard work ethic and resilient mindset are Margins of Safety.

You are willing to try things and know that if you fail, you will be fine and know how to react to get up again.
6/ Equal Odds Rule

All scientific papers have similar chances to get popularly cited.

Research shows that matters are the number of papers that scientists publish.

Go out there and get more shots on goal.
7/ Audience Growth

Internet is vastly different from what it was 10 years ago.

Now content is siloed on different platforms.

Pick one and deliver quality.

Spent 20 minute on tweets where other spends 40 seconds.
For the full experience, listen to the episode here 😀

Listen to the episode here 👇

brandonzhang.com/podcast/james-…

Watch it on Youtube here (Be sure to like and subscribe!)👇

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More from @brandonthezhang

Jun 18, 2022
6 traps to avoid when you start to build on Twitter:
1. Be strict with your time

The more you invest on Twitter ≠ more time spent on Twitter without purpose.

Building on Twitter involves:

• Writing
• DMing
• Replying
• Researching

Only open Twitter with a goal in mind:

• Clearing my DMs
• Responding to 10 tweets
2. Overthinking simplicity.

Twitter is simple:

• Build 10+ true connections via comments / DMs
• Build a content schedule
• Start posting threads after you reach ~1000 followers
• Have fun

All the niche tips are small optimizations people make after getting started.
Read 9 tweets
Jun 13, 2022
After helping 15+ founders scale their audience to >100k, I've seen a fair share of big wins and even bigger mistakes.

Here are 8 takeaways for YOU to build a high-value audience.

Let's start with the most non-conventional tip:
1. Counter-content wins

People respond (like/retweet) to two types of content on Twitter (h/t @Julian) :

• Counter-intuitive: "I never realized the world worked that way."

• Counter-narrative: "That's not how I was told the world worked!"

Example:

2. Quantify everything

You need to stand out on the timeline. You have ~3 seconds to grab someone's attention.

The truth: People respond to results and statistics.

Topics:

• How we grew to X employees
• How we raised $ X

Example:

Read 12 tweets
Mar 15, 2022
If leveraged quickly, Twitter can lead to life-changing opportunities, jobs, mentors, and friendships.

It worked for me.

But 95% of people have no idea how to start.

Here's a thread of 13 unique tips to help you turn Twitter into your most valuable resource:
1. Protect your attention from the algorithm.

Twitter is geared to try and serve content they think you like, not content that will create a positive impact for you.

To protect your attention:

• Use Twitter Lists
• Block Trending Topics
• Regularly Mute Conversations
2. Build Twitter Lists

The Twitter timeline is scattered. One second you are learning about NFTs, the next the best coffee shop in NYC.

Lists create content silos that allow you to build deeper understanding of the topics you actually care about. (Video h/t @aaditsh)
Read 17 tweets
Mar 4, 2022
an update ⚡️

excited to join @MavenHQ (back by @a16z and @firstround) to help them onboard and enable creators to build sustainable, $1m+ cohort-based courses.

why I'm excited to join a company looking to revamp the online education landscape: Image
1. I'm a user.

In 5 months, I've used @MavenHQ to run my own CBC.

It's allowed me and @aaditsh to reach:

• 3 cohorts
• 170+ students
• ~$80k in revenue

But it's still early, I can't wait to work w/ the product team to provide feedback from a course instructor's view.
2. CBCs empowers creators/instructors

In the internet era, education will follow a power law, great instructors will reach great outcomes.

CBCs allow creators to most efficiently transfer their knowledge, build close connections with their audience and monetize. ImageImage
Read 11 tweets
Mar 2, 2022
I'm helping @theSamParr and @gaganbiyani run Ideation Bootcamp.

Its primary goal: To teach people to spot and research scalable and viable product ideas that can grow to $100 million.

We're live with our first session now and I'll be live-tweeting my learnings below:
1/ On Ikigai

Because of Hustle Con, @myfirstmilpod, Sam's network.

He's seen behind the scenes of hundreds of businesses.

You don't NEED to love what you do, but having a sense of purpose certainly helps.

It removes a lot of luck and pain.
2/ On Starting Small

The key is to start small.

A small but intense fire is the goal.

Vision is thinking about a big, motivating goal. The future.

Execution is the early days, which are minuscule and just a fraction of the vision.

Think about both. They guide one another.
Read 21 tweets
Feb 28, 2022
I've been behind the scenes in watching many Cohort-Based Courses (CBCs) grow to 7-figure businesses.

But contrary to what you've been told, launching them isn't complicated.

Here's a 7-step system to take your course from idea to first paying customer:
First, what the hell are CBCs?

CBCs are interactive, community-centric online courses where a group of students advance through the material together - @wes_kao

Whereas async online courses have ~3% completion rates, CBCs usually have >70% completion rates w/ high engagement.
Let's identify the potential that CBCs have:

@fortelabs reached $2.7M in revenue in 2021
@AliAbdaal reached $2.5M in revenue through four cohorts of the Part-Time Youtuber Academy in 2021
@MavenHQ empowered 30+ instructors to make >$10k, with many making $100k-$250k ImageImage
Read 18 tweets

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