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- 30: Notes To Self
30: Notes To Self
Ancient Rome F1, Finding The Right Ppl, Early Retirement, Moods = Muscles, Diamond History
Luke Clancy
March 08, 2024
Yo, it’s Luke!
Boutta board my first ever cruise. Planning to veg my way into peak male form.
Here is your weekly dose of 5 noteworthy ideas & things I learned about last week. Click on each link to dive further on that topic.
1. More Fun with AI
An F1 racer from ancient Rome.
Stumbled across this beautiful piece that offers a unique perspective on friends. My notes:
Don’t surround yourself with “smarter” people. The trick is to surround yourself with people who are free in ways you’re not.
They are people who are playing just a slightly different game than you are. That difference makes them reliable sources of unpredictability in your life. They expand your belief systems.
They may be more at ease socially (or more analytical), more carefree (or more focused), more emotionally aware (or more physically fit).
They differ in what they value, what they desire, what ‘winning’ looks like.
They change you, for the better.
That said, finding the right people is the challenge of a lifetime.
Your closest friends should make you feel free, but also safe. Safe like — you can say what’s on your mind. You can set a boundary. You can take this risk. You can change. I will still love you on the other end. That’s a good litmus test. Do they make you feel free and safe?
Realizing someone is beautiful in a way no one you've ever met is beautiful and because of that they've expanded your understanding of beauty forever.
Beauty in the most distilled sense has the power to crack open belief systems.
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
Do you think you can live off of ~$25k per year? Seriously. Could you? Could you find a way to live your best life, sustainably?
Maybe you spend around $900 a month on rent. $400 a month on food. Could you spend $950 a month on everything else?
Because if you can, you only need to make $75k post-tax each year to become completely financially independent within a decade.
Way less than I thought.
Maybe you want more. That’s cool. This is a fun calculator to play with to visualize your road to freedom.
For more on the topic, here’s another good piece.
4. A Short Idea For You To Ponder
Moods are like muscles. The more you do a certain mood (eg. playful, anxious etc.), the better you are at it.
This is a crazy story about how one company created the entire diamond ring industry:
For most of history, diamonds were not a particularly important gem. They were rare, but had little intrinsic value.
Then in 1870, large diamond mines were discovered in South Africa. So, British investors wanted to find a way to capitalize on this new production.
In 1888, a British guy led a push to merge the various South African mining companies into one company — De Beers. They could control diamond production and perpetuate the perception of scarcity and desirability. They also methodically took control over more of the entire diamond supply chain.
They could control supply. But, they needed demand.
In 1938, De Beers commissioned an NYC advertising agency to work on a diamond campaign.
They tried to (1) convince men that diamonds were a show of love—and that the size/quality was proportional to the love. And (2) convince women that engagement involved a diamond.
Movie stars were given diamonds to wear in public. Designers were paid to talk about the trend towards diamonds. Lectures were given at high schools on the topic of diamonds.
Then they came out with the “A Diamond Is Forever” slogan. The campaign took off.
Over the 40 years from 1939 to 1979, De Beers U.S. wholesale diamond sales skyrocketed from $23 million to $2.1 billion.
The rest is history.
TL;DR The concept of paying a lot of money for a diamond engagement ring was a giant psy op.
Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday! If you liked this edition, send it over to a friend who would like it too 🤝
Cheers,
PS: Have a topic you think I’d like learning about? Send it to me here.
PPS: Got questions you want me to answer? I made an anonymous form for that.