What I Read This Week - 3.31.24
Weekly finds from across the internet.
Happy Easter, everyone!
A bit delayed publishing today after returning from Spring Training in Arizona late last night. Camp is officially a wrap, and couldn’t be more excited to get the MiLB season rolling. On the home front, the big club kicked off in Arlington with two great wins over the Cubs to celebrate an opening weekend filled with championship memories. Here’s to many more Ws, at all levels of the system.
That said, we aren’t skipping a beat on Weekly Reads. So let’s get to it. This week, finds on:
The new ‘Cheat Motion’ play that took the NFL by storm in 2023, and what it tells us about innovation in sport
A roadmap to optimizing your light viewing for optimal circadian health and sleep quality
Two pillars for high quality relationships
And more!
As always, enjoy and please feel free to share any feedback! Have a fantastic end to your weekend and wishing the best in the week ahead.
- CG
Sports/High Performance
How One Motion Play Swept Through the NFL in 2023 - The Athletic (~11 min)
An excellent breakdown of a new offensive package dubbed ‘Cheat Motion’ by NFL personnel. Introduced in 2023 by Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins, the play wreaked havoc on defenses by leveraging pre-snap motion to get speedy receivers momentum into their routes. I found this piece especially interesting as I think the emergence of the ‘Cheat’ concept speaks to a broader truth about evolution in the world of sport.
At the highest levels, sport is a tension between opposing forces. A tug of war between the past and the future, between what has always worked and what possibly could. As a result, the new often struggles to shake free from the old. As a result, new does not always mean novel. Instead, it more frequently means repurposed - a slightly different take on an old idea. The same dog, just with different tricks.
If you look closely, that is exactly what ‘Cheat’ is. At its core, it is still just pre-snap motion. But add a little sprinkle of direction and timing, and you create a new recipe from the same base ingredients.
The point: we often mistake creativity for 100% novelty, when in fact it is more frequently the result of iteration around what we already know to work. Small tweaks, big results. Sport is no different.
Health/Fitness
Effects of Light Viewing - Dr. Andrew Huberman (~7 min)
Huberman is one of my go-to resources when it comes to health related protocols, especially in regards to all things sleep. Here he provides a great breakdown of the importance of sunlight in regulating our sleep patterns, down to the chemical level.
The tl;dr: sunlight in the morning (to set your circadian clock), sunlight midday (for increases in mood and testosterone), minimal lights at night (especially blue light).
Storytelling
How to Write a Book People Can’t Stop Recommending - Eric Jorgenson (~4 min)
A good read from Eric Jorgenson (CEO of self-publishing book company Scribe Media) on how to write a book that people will want to share with others. While the piece is tailored to aspiring authors, I see broader applications to anyone attempting to communicate a message, or tell a story.
Three key aspects to shoot for:
Make your message finishable.
Make your message unique, excellent, or both.
Make your message memorable.
The more boxes you check, the stickier your message will be. And the more transmittable it will become.
The Future (AI, Tech, etc.)
L2s & Value Creation for Ethereum - DC Investor (~1 min)
It is officially Base season in crypto-land, as Coinbase’s Ethereum L2 continues hitting record volumes by the day. Found this to be a great breakdown of the interplay between Layer 1 Ethereum and the Layer 2s built on top of it. A cyclical effect exists, which goes as follows:
L1 Ethereum provides security for L2s
L2s build efficient protocols on top of L1 ETH and settle massive amounts of value
Value flows back to ETH the asset, as L2s choose ETH as their native settlement currency
Great example of what Jim Collins’s Flywheel Effect looks like when applied to crypto.
Macro/Crypto Summer - Raoul Pal (~2 min)
I’ve shared Raoul’s work in prior newsletters, as I think his evaluation of crypto within the framework of the macro business cycle is highly insightful. His main thesis, which he dubs ‘The Everything Code’, is that crypto does not act as an infation hedge, macro-inverted asset like many suggest. Instead, it follows along with the ups and downs of the business cycle in a cyclical nature, transitioning through seasons from Spring to Winter on a semi-predictable cadence.
Where are we now? According to Raoul, we are about to enter the full swing of macro/crypto summer. Hang on for the ride, and in the meantime - don’t f**k this up.
Personal Growth
Expectations & Support: The Foundations of Health Relationships - Sahil Bloom (~5 min)
A dynamo piece by Sahil that struck a chord. In it, he lays out a framework for how to think about strong relationships: a 2 pillar balance of high expectations and high support. When we combine both, we get a perfect blend of the challenge that growth necessitates and the resources to deal with the failure that will come along the way.
Hit home with me especially as I reflect on my own path through life. I’m fortunate to have been blessed with a great set of parents and friends to provide those two pillars for me. So thanks to each of you reading this that has played a part - especially you, Mom and Dad and Brooklyn!
You Will Get Replaced Without These Seven Traits - Dan Koe (~8 min)
Everywhere you look today you will find commentary on how the AI era will alter the course of human work. Pessimism abounds, with people quick to offer doomsday takes yet slow to provide solutions to ‘future proof’ yourself.
Dan does so here through the frame of what he calls the ‘Irreplaceable Individual’ - a person able to create a talent stack of seven key traits:
Self-Experimentation
Self-Reflection
Self-Development
Self-Reliance
Self-Education
Self-Sufficiency
Self-Mastery
As he writes: “If you want to become irreplaceable, you are required to become valuable.” It’s refreshing to see someone offer a walkable path for what it looks like in practice.
Mental Models/Principles
Curiosity Attractors - Anne-Laure Le Cunff (~5 min)
I’ve long been interested in the concept of curiosity, viewing it as a window through which we get a look at our deeper selves. Anne-Laure Le Cunff gives a nuanced take of the things that catch our attention, breaking curiosity into three categories:
Epistemic Curiosity - Revolves around a desire to resolve gaps in our understanding by learning about the world.
Empathic Curiosity - Relates to our interests in connecting with others around us.
Diverse Curiosity - The ‘rabbit hole’ form of curiosity, in which we explore something for the sake of novelty.
Often times, these three types will intersect, forming what Anne-Laure calls ‘curiosity attractors’. By tuning into the things that pull on each of these threads, we can reveal hidden truths about ourselves as we navigate the journeys of self-discovery and creativity.