Hack Your Five
With some willpower and discipline, you can curate an online retinue that will have you dominating the boardroom in no time.
I've been doing it for almost two decades, spending an average of three hours daily consuming the wisdom of brilliant and accomplished people. And the results have been mind-blowing. It is about becoming a treasure trove of knowledge, making 30% average returns on my portfolio, and reversing 15 years of biological aging.
Let's dive in.
Jim Rohn's classic advice of surrounding yourself with positive influences is still relevant, but there is a critical twist.
"You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with," is a quote attributed to motivational speaker Jim Rohn. This implies a lesson on being mindful of your retinue and its subtle influence on your character and habits.
In the analog world, choosing the five people you spend the most time with is a big luxury. But in the digital world, it is more of a matter of willpower and discipline than a luxury. Because the world of digital content is at our fingertips, but digital content is engineered to hook attention, mold beliefs, and form addiction in ways beyond your choosing. That's why most people are surrounded by pretentious stuff on Instagram and TikTok, pseudo-thought leaders on Linkedin, faceless accounts on Twitter, and YouTubers parroting the day's song.
So, the digital world evolves Jim Rohn's quote to the effect of "You are the average of the five people you are listening to or following online."
For almost two decades, I have been harnessing the best of online content on an average of 3 hours every day, consuming hundreds of brilliant and successful people and replacing them when I start to finish their sentences and guess their answers to questions.
I have been simply enjoying this, and I wasn't aware of how big of an impact this makes until a series of events following my anti-aging success. According to a broad spectrum of biomarkers, including DNA methylation levels, I reversed 15 years from being 10 years older than my biological age to 5 years younger, which shocked most people who hadn't seen me within the year this change happened.
My recommendation is simple. Take control of your intellectual context. Utilize the best of the internet and media. Avoid the manipulative garbage content at all costs.
Suppose you stop wasting time and start listening to podcasts and audiobooks while traveling, driving, at the gym, and during daily chores. In that case, you can easily reach the 3 hours/day mark. By the way, people spend 2.5 hours every day on social media.
As I mentioned, I constantly recycle my digital entourage. Here is a short list of lesser-known sources of great inspiration.
Personal Development & Wellness
Finance & Economy
Brent Johnson, is the founder of Santiago Capital. He is renowned for his dollar milkshake theory.
Hugh Hendry, is a highly accomplished hedge fund manager and GFC veteran. He is renowned for his hip-hop style and being the most high-profile Scot in the hedge fund sector.
Jeff Sneider, founder of the Eurodollar University.
Mohammed El Erian is too famous for me ever to introduce.
Michael Howell is another veteran fund manager and renowned for gauging global liquidity. He wrote an amazing book titled “Capital Wars“. If you are interested in the world of finance, you must read this book.
Technology
Science
Dr. Michael Levin is a developmental and synthetic biologist at Tufts University. I tap into his work on self-organizing collectives.
Dr. Iain Mcgilchrist is a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher, and literary scholar. I tap into his work on the functioning of the brain hemispheres.
Thinkers
Nassem Taleb, one of the best non-linear thinkers alive
Stephen Wolfram, one of the best linear thinkers alive
Erik Hofmann, Head of Supply Chain Finance-Lab at the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland. I think he is the best of supply chain gurus.
Don Norman, the director of The Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known for his books on design.
Dr. Clotaire Rapaille is a psychologist for autistic children who turned into a marketing guru and is renowned for his theorizing the reptilian brain, cultural imprints, and cultural codes. He is the CEO and Founder of Archetype Discoveries Worldwide.
Ralph D. Stacey was an organizational theorist and Professor of Management at Hertfordshire Business School. He is the author of many great books, including The Chaos Frontier and Managing the Unknowable.
Lean
David Mann, is the author of Creating a Lean Culture, which is indispensable for ongoing success with Lean.
Christoph Roser is the author of “All About Pull Production” and a Professor at the University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe. This book made my life easier with its sharp explanations of what pull means.
Bob Emiliani is the author of many management books, and my favorite is his book titled Irrational Institutions. He is a Professor Emeritus at Central Connecticut State University.
Davie Thomson is the founder of Pilgrim Management Consultants. I love his comments on LinkedIn, especially when he calls out misleading and shallow lean content as “bullshido”.
Shahrukh Irani is the founder of Lean & Flexible. He is an expert on parsing lean into high-variety-low-volume contexts, as he calls “job shop lean”, which is a very challenging proposition.
© Saip Eren Yilmaz, 2023
