Why Your Morning Coffee Isn't Working(unless you are Marc Andreessen)
Most energy drinks just dump caffeine in your system to block adenosine. You feel alert for a bit, then your cortisol spikes and you crash. Not ideal.
Better move: pair caffeine with L-theanine. It promotes alpha-wave activity, which means you get the boost without feeling like you're vibrating. Matcha does this naturally: slower uptake, fewer jitters, steadier focus throughout the day.
Here's what actually helps:
Citicoline keeps your attention sharp
Bacopa helps with memory (takes a few weeks to kick in)
Lion's mane supports nerve growth (still early research, but promising)
Rhodiola and cordyceps help you handle stress without frying your nervous system
Add some turmeric and vitamin C to deal with oxidative stress. B-vitamins keep your cells running...
The best ready-made formulation I've found which achieves this and more is Magic Mind, it packs all of this into one shot (matcha, L-theanine, nootropics, adaptogens, the complete package). It's designed for mental performance without the crash or the pill fatigue.
What do entrepreneurs and philosophers have in common? They both question the nature of reality and search for truths that can reshape the world. In fact, some of today's most notable entrepreneurs come from a philosophy background, including Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and the guest featured on these Premium Podcast Notes, Michael Gibson. From his study of Aristotle, he explains how to evaluate human greatness, why there's no better feeling than pulling off the heist with your friends, why Aristotle was the OG Giga Chad, and how SaaS (Startups as a Self) can bring out your true potential
If you’ve ever wondered why some days you want people around and other days you just want to hide, Huberman gets into all of that in this episode. He talks about how the brain is basically wired to need a certain amount of social time and how that messes with us… loneliness, pulling back, reaching out, all of it. He also breaks down how things like oxytocin and dopamine shape us from when we’re little and play into whether we lean introvert or extrovert. And he gives some easy, real-life ideas on how simply doing things together can actually make our relationships feel closer
Antonio Bianco explains how our bodies actually make and use thyroid hormones, why a lot of lab test results don’t match how people feel, and why it’s not as simple as just checking a TSH box. If you’ve ever wondered why thyroid treatment is so confusing or why some folks still feel lousy even when their numbers look normal, you’ll get plenty out of this
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“There is something so wonderful about a group of friends working towards some once-thought-impossible goal and pulling it off. It’s one of the greatest things in life… I think that’s why we like heist movies so much. They’re pursuing a bad end, but there’s something so beautiful about a group of friends bringing out the best in each other to accomplish something.” – Michael Gibson
This resembles Aristotle’s virtuous friendship, where relationships are grounded in mutual respect, unbreakable trust, and a common goal
XXXX Is a Huge Tool for Building Strong Social Bonds
To Build or Deepen Any Relationship: try focusing on both feeling what others feel (emotional empathy) and actually making an effort to understand how they...
Emotional empathy is about syncing your body with someone else, through stories, music, or doing stuff together
Interesting fact: Japan eats a lot of iodine (from seaweed) and has way more...
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Technology vs. Genetic Engineering Misconception: Embryo selection ≠ gene editing; no genome manipulation occurs
Reveals natural genetic variation within existing embryos; enables informed choice of which to implant
About 70% of Americans support disease screening; only 40% support intelligence screening, which reflects Western taboo around mental trait selection, despite similar genetic understanding as physical traits
Doctors are comfortable with monogenic disorders but hesitant about polygenic/neurorisk conditions, despite both being probabilistic
The Emergence of Ethical Paradoxes: “Wrongful life” lawsuits likely (child claims shouldn’t have been born due to preventable condition)
Identity question: Is reducing breast cancer risk by 46% actually replacing a person with a different individual?
Can one be pro-choice yet anti-embryo-selection? Pro-cancer-awareness yet anti-screening?
Regulatory Philosophy: Social norms > government regulation for trait boundaries (e.g., selecting against dark triad traits acceptable; selecting for them questionable)
Decentralization is preferred: individual adoption vs. centralized mandate
The “Blank slate” worldview is challenged by genetic technology reality
“I’m on a personal mission to stop presentations and meetings from starting with people just giving their credentials, telling the titles of what they’re saying. Get us hooked. I tell people it’s like an action movie. How does every action movie you’ve ever seen start? With action.” – Matt Abrahams
The Only Way You Get Better at Communication Is Through 3 Things: repetition, reflection, and feedback
You have to practice because nobody has ever thought their way to better communication
You have to reflect because doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results, is insanity, and that’s how many people communicate
You also have to have trusted others who can give you honest feedback
Record Yourself Speaking and Watch It 3 Times: once with sound only, once with video only, and once with both. You’ll notice things you missed before
To Avoid Blanking Out:
Avoid memorizing because memorizing invites blanking out. Have a clear structure, a road map, but you don’t know every word you’re going to say
Rationalize the fear. Ask yourself what the likelihood is that you’ll blank out in this upcoming communication. Most people say maybe 20%. Those are good odds
Ask yourself if it were to happen, what’s the worst thing that would happen? It would be incredibly embarrassing, awkward, and might have some short-term implications. But who in their life hasn’t been embarrassed, been in situations that are awkward?
If the Worst Happens and You Do Blank Out: Retrace your steps. Repeat what you just said. Most of us can remember what we just said, and that gets us back on track
If that doesn’t work, distract your audience by asking a question
When this happens to Matt, he says, “I want to pause for a moment and have you think about how what we’ve just discussed can be applied to your life.”
How to Ask for a Raise?
When you ask matters a lot: look at your boss’s schedule before you ask for a raise. Are you having the fifth meeting in a row before you go in? Maybe it’s better to go tomorrow when you’re early because context matters
When positioning yourself for a raise, approach it from their perspective and think about how you can position it so that you are demonstrating your value from their perspective