#SoG145 - 5 links that WILL make you smarter, #5onFriday, 120419
Five on Friday, v12Apr19 (#SoG145)
So, every Friday, I send a list of links that you can read over the weekend. Like my letters every day, each of these links is supposed to help you become better. Each of these links is vetted. Each of these links has been consumed by me and I sincerely believe that these can add IMMENSE value. Most days I try to extract the juice and condense the lessons and all that. Just that on Fridays I get a tad bored and leave the onus on you guys to extract whatever you can from these links. Fair?
Here are the links for the week.
1. Mukesh Ambani's attempt to take over Amazon!
Yeah, you read it right. I am not sure if that's the intention of MDA (as he is known in his office) but he is putting together a structure that will help him when that grand vision is unveiled. And you know, I can't wait to see that chart/plan. Fuck, if I had my way, I would love to be on his team and see him changing the landscape. But then, I want to row my own boat. You know...
Read on ET website.
2. Presence over Productivity
Honestly, I don't like this one. Really. And yet it's here. For a simple reason that I don't want to be the gatekeeper that stops you from consuming great things. In this piece, Maria takes inputs from a couple of authors and talks to us about how work and life intervene. I wish I could distil information like her. Do read and tell me what you think.
Link: https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/06/07/annie-dillard-the-writing-life-1/
Random trivia - someday I want to be able to be like Maria Popova.
3. Jeff Bezos Letter to Shareholders
I don't think an #SoG is ever complete without talking about Jeff. Or Steve. This one has the link to the annual shareholder's letter that just dropped. Each word is pure magic. He talks about what drives him and the company, how he loves to fail and the best bit for me? How to wander and how wandering has fueled innovation! And in case you did not notice, he ends all his letters by making us aware that its still Day 1.
Link: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/2018-letter-to-shareholders
4. What the hell is going on?
This is a SUPER TEXT that I am yet to read in entirety. I skimmed through it and the text is, for want of better words, mindblowing. In fact, if you were to read just one thing over the weekend, please make it this one. And once you've read it, explain it to me. PLEASE.
Link: https://www.perell.com/blog/what-the-hell-is-going-on
Random trivia - I am so inspired by David that I am going to clone his website and make mine on the lines of his!
5. Photo essay on US-Mexico
This is a super piece - travel, photography, ethnography, people, history, tradition and writing. This is in fact what makes us human. Forget all about crypto, cloud, CSK and thousand other things that we have sort of crammed in our heads. Read/see this piece. You will thank me. Really.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/lens/what-if-mexico-still-included-california-nevada-and-texas.html
That's it for the day!
Thank you for reading,
@saurabh
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Quotes of the day
"A $100 bill is on the ground. An economist walks past it. A friend asks, 'Don't you see the money lying there?' The economist says, 'I thought I must have imagined it. If $100 was really on the ground, someone already would've taken it.' Starting a company is picking up the $100." - Source