π I'll help you...learn faster, manage ideas better, & create inspired work more often.
β»οΈ Worked for: HBO, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, & UCLA.
π€Ώ Trained employees at: MIT, Team USA, Nike & Harvard.
βWhat if you could improve how you did your thinking? What effect would that have on everything else you do?
Share
The WOW Course, How To Zoom In Obsidian, and Rising From Burnout
Published 5 months agoΒ β’Β 5 min read
Hey friends,
β
You know that amazing Writing Original Works workshop we ran in May? Well, we are remaking it as a self-paced course. It launches July 26th.
I've been doing YouTube all wrong. For a while now, I've been hyper-focused on all the stuff that happens AFTER YouTube (our live workshops and cool products and stuff). That means, Iβve neglected everyone over there.
Thanks to Dan Barnett's email to me, my understanding on Yin & Yang has matured. To honor this understanding, I've added it to my note:
"Emerging" and "arises from" are the key words here.
That's the beauty of having your own place to make sense of things: you have a way to evolve your understanding.
β
Half of you use more than one vault
It's good to only have one, but when our use cases get more complex, we might need more than one.
β
β
Do you want 12-15 videos or 1-2 from me?
There is a slight preference for more videos versus less. We have at least 3 already filmed, and hopefully we continue this rhythm of one per week.
β
That said, I did just send you two private Loom videos. And with YouTube Shorts and maybe even Instagram (Dan wants us on there and would like you to follow us on IG for upcoming micro posts), who knows, maybe we'll actually get to 12-15 videos between Jul 11 and Aug 11. That would be wild.
Famous Thinkers
Who's on your Mount Rushmore of thinkers?
On my Mount Rushmore of thinkers I have consistently had Carl Sagan and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Those other two spots are revolving. Alan Watts had a spot in my mid-20's and still scores highly. Neil deGrasse Tyson has flirted with the top. So has James Burke, that maverick connector. And now, Carl Jung is vying for a spot. (I wish my list had more diversity; I need to work on that. Please point me to your favorite thinkers that you most admire.)
But when it comes to teaching philosophy, Michael Sugrue is simply in a league of his own (Rest in peace.) He's the only guy I'll watch on YouTube for an hour where it's just him talking to the camera. No fancy cuts or images. Just a guy making philosophy fascinating and accessible to us all. Here are notable videos I encourage you to bookmark if you are interested in having philosophy come alive for you:
β
βThe Presocratics and Republic 1: I must admit, because of something Carl Sagan said in the 1980's timeless classic TV series Cosmos, I've had a negative perception of Plato. But Michael Sugrue's love of Plato's work, especially Republic, which he called "the most important work of the Western tradition" and "the greatest example of putting ink on paper", has me challenging the story I'm telling myself.
βNietzsche: The way Sugrue makes the parallel between Nietzsche and Plato blew my mind. It's why he calls Nietzsche the most important philosopher of the 20th century. In a nutshell: Plato synthesized the Ionian scientific revolution and Nietzsche fully recognized and attempted (if unsuccessfully) to synthesize the impact of Darwinian evolution.
βDon Quixote: If (or when) you are interested in some of the best literature ever, Sugrue contextualizes so much of the work that it comes alive in even more spectacular ways.
Noteworthy Person
β
Noteworthy Person
Bob Doto Β»
A Zettelkasten person
I feel like Zettelkasten is needlessly confusing. It doesn't help that many of the ideas are being translated from German. That said, I really like talking with Bob Doto about PKM. He's good at de-mystifying this stuff. His article comparing Zettelkasten and LYT is suggested reading for those that care about understanding the different practices in PKM.
Notable Numbers
62
Years Ago
On this week in 1962, the first commercial communications satellite, Telstar 1, launched. This marked the dawn of a new age in electronic communication as it relayed the first TV pictures, phone calls, and more across the Atlantic. It's quite amazing to think of all the information at our fingertips today thanks to achievements such as this just a few decades ago.
800+
Works
The number of compositions Mozartβ produced, spanning nearly every classical music genre. It's truly awe-inspiring to think about someone being so prolific, even more so knowing he died at just 35 years old. It makes me appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of each piece that much more.
As always, thanks for the personal emails, they are appreciated and a joy to read.
β
Stay Connected,
Nick Milo Milodragovich
β
P.S...Oh, and if you're interested in buying the brand new self-paced course Writing Original Works a day early (on July 25th), at the best price, make sure to join the private WOW Waitlist.
β
To respond to this newsletter, just hit reply. I love getting replies, and read all of them, but I have sadly come to the conclusion I can't realistically reply to most. Trust me, I hate this. But, well, Life puts limits on all of us. Thank you for your understanding. (And if you received this email from a friend, and would like to subscribe, please go here.)
β
ποΈ Want to sponsor a newsletter (45,000+ subs)? Get in touch.
π I'll help you...learn faster, manage ideas better, & create inspired work more often.
β»οΈ Worked for: HBO, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, & UCLA.
π€Ώ Trained employees at: MIT, Team USA, Nike & Harvard.
βWhat if you could improve how you did your thinking? What effect would that have on everything else you do?
Hey friends, As most of you know, I recently went on a personal retreat. I spent the first two hours reviewing every aspect of my life. This epic life audit made a major impact on me, so much so that I want to equip you with the template to do your own. Get the Obsidian template and follow along on YouTube Β» Your hidden benefit for doing this exercise isn't your final score, it's the hidden emotions and deeper understandings that bubble up, because they will create clarity in where you are in...
Hey friends, Today, I'm around Butte, Montana celebrating the Fourth of July holiday with my extended family. During the festivities, Butte transforms into a kind of war-zone with Roman Candles and Artillery Shells blasting across streets and rooftops. However, all of that stopped at 10:31pm on July 3rd when the city's show began. It lasted for 20 minutes. Here's a clip in the middle of the action: While America is far from perfect, these communal, small-town vibes where everyone is a part of...
Hey friends, I've felt like a different person these last few weeks. I've worked less. I've forced myself to not do the usual routine. Instead of sitting at the desk, I'll sit on the floor. Instead of lifting heavier weights, I'll crawl on the ground. I'm exploring spirituality in a way I haven't for the past decade. I'm wondering about the role psychedelics play in spirituality. I literally bought a book called "The Way of the Shaman"! I'm wondering how to classify things like "mind" and...