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- Open Sourcing My Content Diet
Open Sourcing My Content Diet
You are what you eat, and it works the same for your brain. Here is what I eat and why. š„
Bill Kerr
October 12, 2024
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HOUSEKEEPING šØ
Sunday night over here in sunny Melbourne. I just came back from seeing the movies. The nice ones with the recliners, oooft it was nice. Itās been a stressful few weeks so this weekend we kinda pampered ourselves a little.
We saw The Apprentice, the film about the rise of Donald J. Trump. Great film. And I can totally see why Trump would have wanted that banned. Jeremy Strong, who played Kendall Roy in Succession is such a phenomenal actor. he stole the show in every scene he was in. |  |
How would you rate your content diet? |
BUILDING IN PUBLIC š
Open Sourcing My Own Content Diet
The recommended American diet, as outlined by the USDA, emphasises fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy. And to limit sugars, sodium, and unhealthy fats. Focus on nutrient-dense foods like nuts and avocados, while drinking plenty of water. Moderation and variety are key.
The same thing can be said for your own content diet. Podcasts, articles, newsletters, and other thought-provoking, valuable information, good. Social media, YouTube rabbit-holes, and mindless scrolling, bad.
Seriously thoughāwhen sitting in on the final interview of candidates wanting to join my company, Athyna, one of the first questions I ask is; āTell me about your content diet?ā It tells me a lot about the person. If they canāt elaborate on their diet at all, thatās bad. If they mentioned that they enjoy Logan Paul videos, thatās worse.
This is why your own content diet should be taken seriously. Ideally, you are looking to improve, learning from good quality sources, all whilst taking in a nice mix of viewpoints so you donāt end up drinking your own bathwater.
When the learning started (again) for me
From childhood to teenager, I was an avid learner. Ancient Egypt was my jam. Project on engineering, I choose the pyramids. Presentation on religion, Iām talking the Sun God, Ra. But something happened around the age of 15. Learning became uncool. And I was certainly not in the business of being uncool at this particular juncture in life.
*Note: Shout out to all the late 80ās kids who were lucky enough to be able to see Stargate in 1994 between the ages of five and ten years old.
This carried on until ~27 years of age. I wasnāt yet a founder, and all I really cared about was, paradoxically; was partying and training. Oh, and real estate. That all changed thanks to a strange interaction with a gentlemen named Fred, who happened to be staying with me on my my Airbnb in 2015.
 The Fred. |  āAn absolute pressure.ā |
Iād just finished watching Interstellar on a Friday night, and as the credits are rolling Fred walks in. āHoly shit, what a movie Fred,ā I said with my jaw on the floor. āYes, incredible how grounded in reality it is too,ā he replied.
Haha, whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
āExcuse me Fred, but what part of that fucking movie I just saw are you saying was grounded in reality?ā Lucky for me, Fred had some serious cerebral horsepower and was able to detail, step by step; general relativity, time dilation, and even the mind-bending fact that Russian Cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, actually holds the world-record for time travel for me.
The world was alive with possibility again. Everything became fascinating, and learning became my favourite thing to do. Beneath you will find my (podcasting) content diet from the past though to today.
My content diet today
Never miss them
Prof G Show: Scott Galloway is my spirit animal. Great for big tech, startups, investing, media & comms, and some politics.
The All-In Podcast: Some of the smartest guys in the room when it comes to startups and technology, who also like to play the geopolitics card also. I donāt love the characters at times, but I love the content. And important (to me) they all seem to be genuinely great friends.
My First Million: Take everything I said in the last rec, and apply it to this show. Only difference is My First Milly is tech and startups focussed, and both of the hosts have actually had decent exits themselves.
Equity Mates Investing: Two young Australian guys who are diving into their investing journey together. This is a phenomenally easy listen, with good guests, that really lives up to the idea of the listener feeling like a fly on the wall to a great conversation between friends.
I mostly donāt miss them
Acquired: Some of the best long form deep dives into the greats of business. Very easy listening. I think the Nintendo episodes might be my faves.
How I Write: David Perell is a master podcast host, and the guests that he brings along are always incredible. I feel like I walk out of the experience a better writer each and every time.
Pivot: The aforementioned, Professor Scott Galloway, and renowned media journalist, Kara Swisher, take on media, big tech and more. This is my go-to for day to day technology news.
Newsletter Operator: The best blow-by-blow breakdown of whatās happening in the newsletter space and how you can win.
Today, Explained: By the team that brought you Explained on Netflix, Today, Explained is a daily breakdown of whatās happening in the world today. Incredibly well produced and always interesting.
Unexplained: From the same team as above, but instead of daily news, this show takes you on a more offbeat path. How space works, do dogs feel loveāthat kinda stuff. An absolute cracker of a show.
Love them but every so often
Hardcore History: Simply the best history podcast ever created. The Painfortainment and Human Resources episodes are some of the most engaging things Iāve ever laid my ears on.
Planet Money: Money stuff made fun. A daily take on how economics works on a macro and/or micro scale.
Dwarkesh Podcast: This podcast is actually too intelligent for me at times. Maybe all the times. But itās also cool when someone on the train sees you listening to it and thinks you are smart as well. Tech, business, geopolitics, philopsophy.
Gone Medieval: History stuff made fun. It is what it sounds like, medieval history, which was quite an interesting period to say the least.
How To Take Over The World: A great breakdown of some of history greats, and how they did whatever it was that they did.
Huberman Lab: Only listen to it because Huberman looks like a 46 year old version of me. Other than that, Huberman is your go to guy for health, psychology and more.
Lennyās Podcast: Really, really, really great product, strategy, startup and tech conversations. I tend to jump into the more unique interviews like this one with Rory Sutherland from Ogilvy.
Secret Leaders: Dan Murray-Serter is an OG of business podcasting (and an investor into my company, Athyna), and his shows, alongside new co-host Chris, is still a real winner. A show about startups in the UK and globally.
Stuff You Should Know: Amazing podcast that has stood the test of time about interesting topics, told deeply and told well. I have seen this show live.
The Intelligence: Money stuff again by Planet Money. Daily insights about interesting parts of the financial system.
Lex Fridman Podcast: One of the great interviewers. I listen to a few a month at least with Lex. Science, AI, technology, politics, humanity.
Creator Science: One of my go-to listens for newsletter strategy. Itās also a good listen for general creator strategy; YouTube, podcasts etc.
A note on philosophical + political diversity
Some years ago, feels like a lifetime, I interviewed the famous futurist and founder of WIRED Magazine, Kevin Kelly, for the upcoming release of his 2016 book, The Inevitable. The Inevitable is a 2016 nonfiction book that forecasted the twelve technological forces that will shape the next thirty years. One of his forces was āfilteringā and was in large part in reference to being able to filter good information from bad.
And not only that, it was also his belief that the world was going to become one big echo chamber thanks to the rise of algorithms. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, heck, even your newsletter feed will, from now until God knows when, be feeding you more of what you already believe. This leads to not only an echo chamber where you and all of your pals sniff each, but it also provides you with a nice, big, juicy slice of confirmation bias when quality, neutral information does come your way.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why the US is more politically divided than it has been in decades. With divisions bordering on those experienced during the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War era, and even the US Civil War. Itās a real problem.
Source; Pew Research Center.
For that reason, I work actively to make sure I donāt just surround myself with crazy people on the liberal side of things, which is where I lean heavily politically. A great example of the pull between where I get my media is the clash between the All-In guys, and the likes of Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.
 Left. |  Right. |
Historically, a number of the All-In Podcast hosts have identified as left-leaning and liberal, but more recently the vibe of the show seems to be very conservative, led by David Sacks, whereas Kara and Scott, on their weekly show, Pivot, lean heavily left.
It can be confusing at times to hear Sacks talk about how the US economy has gone to shit one hour, followed by Scott calling the US the āGoldilocks Economyā the next. But overall, this is but an example of how I try to always make sure I am giving myself a look into both sides of the conversation.
Content from the past that I have sunset
Used to really love them
The Joe Rogan Experience: It breaks my heart to say, but I get quite put off by Rogan at times these days. I know he used to identify as a ābleeding heart liberalā but some of his ideas and some of his guests just frustrate me these days. Rogan has provided me with some of the deepest thinking and greatest learnings I have had as an adult, so itās strange to not still be a loyal fan. But it is what it is I guess.
Making Sense by Sam Harris: I love Sam Harris, but stopped listening when he started paywalling everything. He is too stubborn to just run ads and now, thanks to the friction of having to have a different system for listening to Sam, I no longer listen. I listened to Sam as he is genuinely one of the smartest philosophers in the world today.
StarTalk Radio: Great science show that I used to love until Neil Degrasse-Tyson was kinda rude to me when I went to see him once.
Dr Karl Podcast: What I just said but times 1000. I interviewed Karl a number of years ago and he was the rudest guy Iāve ever met. The first interview was supposed to be on my birthday. We flew up to Sydney especially for it and he no showed us, with no contact whatsoever, then followed a day or two later offering to send me a signed copy of his book. The second, and eventual recording, was even worse.
Literal worst.
The Infinite Monkey Cage: Another great science show, but I just donāt have time for it in my rotation anymore. Business has eaten up all my science listening time which is kinda lame.
Tangentially Speaking: When I used to be obsessed with psychedelics and the like, I loved Chris and his show. I think Iāve somewhat just moved on from that period. I still think of this as a good show with interesting viewpoints, if still a little woo-woo at times.
How I Built This: Great show by Guy Raz about how businesses got off the ground, but fell out of the rotation a while back.
Equity: Great show, but I stopped listening when long-term host Alex Wilhelm left the show. Startups, tech, venture capital focussed.
Listened for a while here and there
Aubrey Marcus Podcast: This is real bro-science. Aubrey is a nice guy that seems to want to do good but I canāt take him and his crew seriously these days.
Marketing School: Decent show, but out of the rotation. I find the hosts super basic and frustrating although they are both successful.
VC20: I tried listening to this, and admittedly, itās still in my feed, but I find the host incredibly basic with his questions. I know itās very successful, but itās not for me.
In a league of itās own
The Ricky Gervais Show: Ahh, where do I even begin with The Ricky Gervais Show. I would honestly say, from the bottom of my heart, that this has been my favourite show in my life. I donāt listen to the shows anymore, and you actually canāt find them for long stretches of time, but for the last 15 years, for around 50% of the time I have listened to this show in my ears while I doze off to sleep. I can genuinely recite entire episodes as if itās my favourite childhood music track. Love.
So big they made a cartoon.
My favourite conversation in history
My favourite conversation in history was between Sam Harris and William MacAskill on episode 44 of the Making Sense podcast, formerly know as Waking Up.
Reading from Samās website; āWilliam MacAskill is an Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. He is one of the primary voices in a philanthropic movement known as āeffective altruismā and the co-founder of three non-profits based on effective altruist principles: Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and the Centre for Effective Altruism.ā
In sum; Sam and Oxford philosopher, William, spoke about effective altruism, moral illusions, existential risk, and other bigger than big picture topics.
William MacAskill.
The most evocative idea was borrowed from Peter Singer, who wrote Famine, Affluence and Morality. āHe argues that, because people in extreme poverty are so poor and we can do so much to help them, we have a moral duty to give as much as we can in order to prevent their early death and suffering, just as, if we saw a child drowning in a shallow pond, youād happily run in to save that child ā even if it meant ruining your very nice suit,ā William would go on to say. Itās these questions that really shine a lot on morality that made this episode such a good listen for me.
Summary
"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,ā is a quote often attributed to the motivational speaker and author Jim Rohn. This is how I think about my brain. If I do my job well, and feed my brain with good, nourishing information I will thrive. And if I donāt, I might one day turn into a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy pusher. Choose your content wisely my friends, your future self will thank you.
Bonus: Extra reading
In todayās extra reading section, I am going to give you links to the five newsletters I love the most, just for a little look at the written side of my content diet.
And that's it! You can follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn and also donāt forget to check out Athyna while youāre at it.
HIRING ZONE š
Today we are highlighting AI talent available through, Athyna. If you are looking for the best bespoke tech talent, these stars are ready to work with youātoday! Reach out here if we can make an introduction to these talents and get $1,000 discount on behalf of us.
BRAIN FOOD š§
This week I came across an article by Brian Armstrong detailing the Coinbase's decision-making framework. This framework is tailored for making complex decisions efficiently, from hiring to strategic acquisitions. It's laid out in a clear, three-step process thatās easy to follow.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK š£
I built a process at Morning Brew & storyarb to create a powerful engine for organic growth.
- At the Brew, we scaled to 1,000,000 newsletter subscribers within 4 years, the majority of which we acquired organically.
- At storyarb, we got to $150k in monthly revenue within 12ā¦ x.com/i/web/status/1ā¦
ā Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)
3:13 PM ā¢ Jun 29, 2024
South Park creators gave the greatest lesson on storytelling ever
ā Historic Vids (@historyinmemes)
12:20 AM ā¢ Aug 25, 2024
Business is hard.
If you need some motivation though - remember that someone once passed on Steph Curry because he ārelies too heavily on his outside shotā.
Keep building.ā Bill Kerr (@bill_kerrrrr)
1:06 PM ā¢ Jul 25, 2024
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