015 | Take 5: Follow these guys.
One Thought 🧠
Hello friends, third and final instalment of the Take 5 series.
This week let’s talk about five great guys I’ve been following recently. It’s no secret that we have access to great information at our fingertips, we can just google it. But sometimes, you just want to find high-quality, thoughtful content, and that’s where these folks intersect.
You can also check out my previous posts in this series:
- Take 5: Listen to these. (read here)
- Take 5: Read these books. (read here)
- Take 5: Follow these guys. (this week)
Without further kerfuffle, let’s get straight into it — I’m also interested in hearing about interesting people you’ve been following, drop me a reply!
1. Paul Graham
He’s famously known as the Co-Founder of Y Combinator, the startup accelerator behind Stripe, Airbnb, Coinbase, Dropbox and Twitch to name a few. But he writes some phenomenal essays on various topics - two of my favourites include The Top of My Todo List and The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius. I would personally recommend you follow him on Twitter for a regular drip of inspirational content and insider insights on building great things. If you have time also take a deep dive into his essays and you’ll come away with many great lessons.
2. Naval
He only opens his mouth to speak sense. His twitter feed is a goldmine for all things personal wealth and happiness. Famously known for his investments in numerous IPO-reaching startups (Initial Public Offering — aka companies that go public), with over 70+ total exits. He’s also the founder of AngelList. If you’re that person who’s really into startups and possible investing (currently or in the future), then check him out. His interview with Joe Rogan is also arguably the second-best JR interview of all time, obviously after Elon Musk's first appearance.
3. Tim Ferriss
Need I say more? You probably already know this dude from The 4-Hour Work Week, Tools of Titan, or the Tim Ferriss Show. He’s your go-to self-improvement guru. If you haven’t read his books, I personally wouldn’t recommend them (I’m sure his sales figures will take a hit after this, sorry Tim). They’re quite long and already extremely well documented and summarised online - find yourself a long-ish summary. But recently, I’ve been really enjoying Tim’s YouTube videos. They are often short (less than 10-minutes) providing a wealth of useful insights and actionable life advice in an easily digestible format. This video’s particularly great on the importance of self-reflection.
4. Julian Shapiro
This guy will convince you there is nothing more you should be doing than writing and at that, writing well. I’ve been really trying to go through his (very) long guide on how to write well. They are like little handbooks for professional/personal development - he’s also written impressive handbooks on growth marketing and building muscle (I’m personally going to need this one after exams). What I enjoy the most is the attention to design and readability - he’s a big inspiration to my own work. A bit of an underdog when compared to the other four guys I’ve mentioned, but his content is nothing short of very impressive.
5. Angela Duckworth
You’ve probably heard about her book - Grit. She’s a Harvard, Oxford, and Pennsylvania educated professor of Psychology. That’s fair play. Like many, I first discovered her fascinating work through her book (which interestingly was mentioned in one of my medical school lectures). But later I discovered her online tool named ‘Grit Scale’ to calculate your own grit - try it here. Mainly, I am mentioning her for her interesting research work on the varying connections between grit and self-control, how these serve as good indicators of individual achievement, and finally why it is important to work on these factors.
—
A few new people I’m trying to follow at the moment include David Perrell, Nat Eliason, and Marie Forleo. But I’d like to hear from you — who do you follow and why? Let me know by hitting reply or find me on my socials!
Also, notice how they all have personal websites? Like a little online portal into their life? That may or may not be the topic of an upcoming newsletter.
That’s all for this week - be safe, be happy!
This Week’s Quote 🎯
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein
Resurfaced using Goodreads.
This Week’s Recommendation 🚀
📰 Article - Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.
Yes, that same guy’s book you’ve been meaning to read since forever (Atomic Habits). I came across this excerpt from Atomic Habits on James Clear’s website on why we should focus less on goal setting and more on building systems. It’s certainly one of the bigger take-home messages from the book, so if you haven’t already read the book, check out this article.
About Me
I’m Yath and I am a student doctor at UCL.
If you enjoyed this, I’d love to hear from you and for you to share this!