Ever hear new age gurus say everything is vibrations?

Turns out, there's some scientific basis to that.

THREAD: Sound, Waves, and Vibration: Sound fills our environment.

Our bodies create sound by disturbing the air every time we move.

A simple gesture like raising a hand compresses air, sending waves away at the speed of sound.

Any random acoustical disturbance with various frequencies can be considered sound.

Today, I turn 39.

Last year my birthday post hit 2.5 Million views. Let's try it again.

Here's 39 new lessons I'd tell my 18 year old self: Disclaimer: this is a post to my former self.

You don't need to agree with everything. That's the fun. If anything speaks to you, I'm glad.

Here's my list:

HEAT is one of the best movies ever filmed.

But most people don't realize it contains deep lessons about life.

A thread on the film's hidden lessons: The cost of obsession.

The movie tells the story of two tragic men:

Bank Robber McCauley — criminal mastermind trapped in a cycle of finding his next heist.

Lieutenant Hanna — veteran detective obsessed with catching criminals.

Neither can escape their destiny...

A couple months ago I led an investment in SpaceX.

I will make millions in the future and it took ~3 hrs worth of work and 9 emails.

Here's the story and 5 lessons on creating luck: Common wisdom is that extreme focus is a virtue.

But it can also lead to tunnel vision missing outlier opportunities.

What many mistake for luck is nothing more than noticing (and acting) on opportunity.

Purposeful distraction can lead to exponential outcomes, if you act.

Storytelling is a superpower.

Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Steven Spielberg. Christopher Nolan.

All know how to hack your brain through storytelling.

Here's a powerful framework anyone can use to do the same.

The Angel's Cocktail: Whether you write online, raise money from investors, or make presentations at work, you are always telling stories.

You can choose to remain someone who tells stories.

Or learn to how be a storyteller — a superpower.

Here's how the best storytellers hack into your brain...

How to retain anything you read.

The hidden power of marginalia: Reading books is one of the highest leverage skills.

Instead of relying on your life experiences to guide you, you can live vicariously through someone else.

Someone who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into writing a book.

Yet most of us fail at this basic skill.

Known as The Philosopher of Pessimism, Schopenhauer left behind an unpublished manuscript found only after his death.

The Art of Being Happy

10 rules to be happy (according to a pessimist): 1. Avoid Envy

Envy is a sinister feeling that not only robs us of our joie de vivre (joy of life), it blocks us from building our own life of happiness.

I meditate every single morning for at least 15 minutes.

I've been doing this since 2017.

But over the years, I've seen people overcomplicate the process.

Why is why I recommend the following 4 tips:

🧵👇 First — why meditate at all?

Meditation forces us to do something many of us are uncomfortable doing.

Being alone with our thoughts.

We distract ourselves all day instead of listening to our mind and our bodies.

I grew my account from 1,400 followers to 13,500+

In less than 3 months.

I didn't run paid ads
I didn't talk about Chat GPT
I didn't do freebie giveaways

And IDGAF about the algorithm.

Here's my 9 steps for predictable growth: 1. Have Something Interesting To Say

The market rewards interesting.

Interesting means:

- Entertaining
- Educational
- Inspiring

But most importantly, have a unique perspective.

The best way to do that?

Be unapologetically and authentically you.

Imagine sitting with Beethoven as he composed Symphony No. 5.

Or Shakespeare as he wrote Macbeth.

In 1955, that's exactly what a French filmmaker did — with Piccaso.

The incredible story of Le Mystère Picasso: First, why am I writing about Picasso?

Because I'm obsessed with creativity.

Where does it come from?
Why does it seem to come and go?
How do you nurture it?

If creation, of any kind, is important in your work, you'll enjoy this story.

Let's dive in...

In the Fall of 1982, the FBI arrested the Founder & CEO of a new automobile startup.

The charge — trafficking cocaine.

Here is the wild story of John DeLorean and a lesson on taming ambition: John DeLorean was the youngest-ever VP at General Motors.

A rising star, everyone believed John was on track to one day be President of GM.

But it came as no surprise when he announced his resignation to pursue his ultimate dream.

23 harsh truths I learned taking my daughter to Disney World: 1. The window to take your kids to Disney is small.

Between 2 and 5 they still believe in the magic. At 6-10 and they can ride all the rides. After that, they won't be interested anymore.

Today, I turn 38.

I've raised millions of dollars, married twice, had a kid, and recovered from devastating injury and depression.

Here's 38 lessons I'd tell my 18 year old self: First—I don't know everything but I've learned a few things. This is my list to myself. Your mileage may vary.

Here we go...

9 TED Talks in 9 Days that will inspire you to be a leader: Why we do what we do
by Tony Robbins (@tonyrobbins)

Time: 21:32

ted.com/talks/tony_rob…

It's not WHAT you know.

It's WHO you know.

9 tips to build powerful networks: "Your network is your net worth."
—Porter Gale

Powerful networks help you:

• Earn more (jobs, investments, resources)
• Learn more (privileged information)
• Connect more (get warm intros)

The only 9 tips you need...

+125,000 Americans have been laid off over the past 2 months.

Last week, Silicon Valley Bank almost shut down putting hundreds of thousands of workers at risk.

Lesson: stop relying on a single source of income.

Instead, here's 10 side hustle ideas to sleep peacefully at night: First—why do 65% of millionaires have three streams of income?

One word:
Redundancy

Just like in computer systems,

You NEVER want a single-point-of-failure.

Last week I led an investment in SpaceX.

I was paid ~$7k in fees and will make millions of $ in the future, using other peoples' money (OPM).

It took ~3 hrs worth of work and 9 emails.

Here's the story and 5 lessons on creating luck: Common wisdom is that extreme focus is a virtue.

But it can also lead to tunnel vision missing outlier opportunities.

What many mistake for luck is nothing more than noticing ,and acting, on opportunity.

Purposeful distraction can lead to exponential outcomes, if you act.

How to 10x your productivity this week.

9 rules to get sh*t done (backed by science): In 2 minutes you'll learn the only things you need to be, and stay, productive.

These tips are based on the works of David Allen, Cal Newport, and countless other productivity experts.

Distilled to their most salient truths.

Here we go:

A short story I read a long time ago forced me to rethink my priorities and goals in life.

The Fisherman & The Businessman.

Here are five lessons everyone needs to hear: It's not clear where the story first originated.

Maybe Mexico. Maybe Spain.

If you're not familiar with the tale, it goes like this...

I built 2 Y Combinator companies between 2015 and 2022.

I went from not knowing how to use Excel to closing multi-million dollar deals with complex financial models.

If you want to use Excel like the pros, start by learning these 7 formulas: Let's say we're building a real estate company.

We have some data.

We want to answer basic things like:

• What is the median price by county
• Which areas should we invest in
• What is the potential annual revenue
• What do potential returns look like

Silicon Valley Bank shut down on Friday.

By Tuesday several other banks could fail.

A beginner's guide to why SVB crashed, and what that could mean for you: Yesterday, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the nation's 16th largest bank shut down—unexpectedly.

Over 40,000 clients including startups, VC and private equity firms unable to access their funds. Totally locked out.

+$170 Billion in assets.