Hello everyone,
The best strategies follow a rational, precise, and slow approach. They consider human pitfalls like emotional influences and cognitive biases. This is exactly what The 5 Acts aims to provide. Having said that, not every obstacle calls for a thorough and time-consuming approach. That should be reserved for the situations where exceptional risk or payoff are involved. However, in time-constrained situations, it is also unwise to forgo all reason and fall back on raw and error-laced intuition. Luckily, there is a better alternative.
Since newsletter #36 I have been discussing and creating the fast-track version of The 5 Acts. Over 100 hours have gone into research, reflection and making it. The simple solution I landed on is to condense the larger strategies down into short and easy to use rules. A rule is simply a statement that specifies what to do, or not to do. Acting from rules is essentially the same as “reasoning from mental models” or “avoiding cognitive biases”. It comes down to assessing the situation, finding what rules suit it, and then deciding upon the appropriate course of action. Yesterday I finally published the article detailing the model as well as a free Notion template that includes over 60 rules derived from The 5 Acts book:
Medium article on the Quick-Call tool
Notion template of the Quick-Call tool
It wasn't originally on the list of things to do, but I noticed that to complete the Quick Call article I needed a clear explanation of how the book is structured and what it provides. You can find read the Introduction alongside all other completed chapters here:
I recognize that the introduction is a bit dry and technical. That's why I'm also working on a prologue, which intends to inspire and highlight the value of using the 5 Acts more.
I just completed David Goggin's audiobook Never Finished. These stories about people with a relentless drive overcoming impossible obstacles really fire me up. Funnily, I recently noticed that reflecting/thinking about my purpose has less of an effect on my alertness than listening or reading about it. I'm not sure why this is.
🔗 Link to the audiobook on Audible
Even more impressive than the physical feats of David Goggins are those of Nirmal Purja. The mind-blowing documentary 14 Peaks a.k.a. Project Possible is probably my favorite of all time. I find it particularly inspiring that Nims is not only motivated by the personal challenge, but also by bringing attention and recognition to Nepal and the Nepalese people. I don't want to spoil the plot, I just urge you to check it out.
🔗 Link to the 14 Peaks documentary on Netflix
🔗 Link to the JRE podcast episode with Nims on Spotify
Unexpectedly, this is an even more useful follow up to the Shortform guide on learning. The chapters on memorization are one of the last to-do's of the 5 Acts book, and this guide really helped me out. It's not just a summary, but a complete analysis that brings together many of the best sources on the topic.
🔗 Link to a 1-page summary
🔗 Link to Shortform → The world’s best book guides. You’ll receive 5 days of unlimited and unrestricted access and an additional 20% discount on the annual subscription.
I recently started cold-showers again and the effects on my focus and energy have truly surprised me. So much so that I wanted to understand more of what's going on physiologically. I landed on this great and concise article by Andrew Huberman.
🔗 Link to the article
That’s a wrap
I’d love to hear what your thoughts are. You can leave a comment on Substack, send me a private message, or simply reply to this e-mail. See you next week!
, Edwin
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.