... and that makes me really happy.
I haven't done any promotion since re-launching The Strategic Review. Nothin'. And yet, over the last 5 days, we added over 80 new subscribers just through word of mouth. Awesome.
Here's what people are saying --
***
Dear Sebastian,
the newsletter has been *awesome* so far and I have no doubts future ones will be as well.
I’m looking forward to the next one! Rock on! :_)
Best regards,
Jan
****
Hey Sebastian,
Great to hear from you again. I very much like the new TSR series - I think you're achieving a similar information density to the last round, while making it much more engaging. (To me, your storytelling is simultaneously the most engaging and often the most actionable part of your writing.)
Nathan
****
Enjoying the series so far. Best wishes in 2016!
Michael
****
Awesome dude, I hope you keep these up. They've been really great so far.
Anything I can do to help besides forwarding it around?
Zach
****
This was f***ing awesome Sebastian. I am SO happy TSR is back.
Ted
****
Love it. I'm now initiating a commitments folder.
****
Great post. I read Unleash the Warrior Within and it was a solid read. Have been reading the new one by two SEALs called Extreme Ownership which talks more about team level tactics.
Here's to a great 2016!
Jason
****
Hey Sebastian,
Digging the series so far - thanks for writing.
Collin
****
Very inspiring Sebastian.
I just created a spreadsheet and logged my day. Will try some food experiments in the coming weeks and see how it goes.
Looking forward to your next TSR email!
Armand
****
Dear Sebastian,
Just wanted to send a quick note to say THANK YOU! I've really enjoyed your books and your blog and now, am thrilled to be getting The Strategic Review. Thank you for doing what you're doing.
Sincerely,
Annie
****
This is pretty epic - I really love the stuff you write
Adam
****
Hi Sebastian,
Really enjoyed the TSR on upstream effects. A few quick notes:
- The best definition of health I've heard was "homeostatic capacity"- health is the ability to maintain homeostasis under stress. Interestingly, due to the connected nature of the body's systems, we can use this definition to construct a pretty good quantitative proxy for health. More:
http://opentheory.net/2014/09/notes-from-the-pa-longevity-prize/
Mike
****
We also got written up on The Friday Edition of Hodgen Law PC, an International Tax Firm --
A couple of weeks ago, an unexpected email hit my inbox. A newsletter, it said, would be starting up again after a two-year hiatus.Read this -- an excerpt from the first issue of this revived newsletter. It recounts one of Simo Hayha's kills as a WWII sniper in the Finnish Army. Simo Hayha exhales, his breath showing in the cold air. He shifts his posture, placing as much of his weight as he can against the hard tissue of his body. The small muscles twitch; bone does not twitch.He looks through the iron sights of his Model 28-30 rifle, closes his left eye, and then re-opens it for depth perception. The Soviet officer is perfectly in the rifle’s trajectory.
The marksmanship instructors always said that the best shot is the one that surprises you. You must pull the trigger so slowly it’s almost a surprise when the gun flares to life. Simo applies gently pressure, unnoticeably tensing the pad of index finger on the trigger, touching it as if he were carefully applying medicine to a young child’s gums, a child that had been crying from new teeth coming in.
The loud crack of the rifle flaring to life shocks Simo, he’s surprised and flinches, but the flinch doesn’t matter – the lead slug has had its gunpowder activated and has already left the rifled barrel.
The bullet’s trajectory is pinpoint-perfect. In milli-seconds, it will strike the invading officer in his breast, near his heart, severing flesh and tendon. The young Russian will crumple sideways into the snow, immediately enter shock, and be on the brink of death before his comrades reach him.
But, wait!
The bullet has not yet struck the Soviet; freeze this landscape in your mind. Simo Hayha is mid-flinch at the surprise of the rifle roaring to life; the young officer is milling about on the cold land, oblivious to the fact that his life is nearing conclusion; the bullet hangs in mid-air, its trajectory set; this scene has almost entirely played out, but not yet; it’s not over yet, we’re at a moment frozen in time.
Who could stop reading at that point?
Here is what I find compelling about the newsletter:
- It is extremely well written. This is not a one-off event. Read anything he has written and you will see the same care and intentionality.
- It contains simple suggestions that you can understand and actually, y'know, do. These things can you make your life better.
- The only way to read the newsletters (at the moment at least) is to sign up. You cannot go to the website and read prior episodes. This is intensely interesting to me as a marketing strategy -- that an author would deliberately make it harder for people to find him and his work.
Go to The Strategic Review and sign up. Highly recommended. The author is Sebastian Marshall.
(Compliment also back your way, Phil -- as one of those international Americans that needs to deal with this stuff, I find it very well-written... he covered the tax issues of foreign life insurance in the issue in that issue prior to that shout-out.)
****
"Full of good stuff."
****
Also around the internet...
James Clear with a nice piece and one of my key points on, "The Value of Time: How Much is Your Time Really Worth?" --
"Should you work another hour? – Wondering if you should work another hour? Here’s a good rule-of-thumb I learned from Sebastian Marshall: Consider each hour of your day. 9AM to 10AM, 10AM to 11AM, and so on. On average, do you make net positive or net negative decisions during that hour? For example, if you work late, does the hour between 9PM and 10PM lead to positive outcomes on average? Or does that hour include more mistakes than accomplishments? Does that hour include more procrastination than productivity? If it’s a net negative hour on average, then you should stop working. Working hard on a project is good until the next hour of work burns you out more than it produces something valuable."
James is a great guy and his site has great stuff. Net negative hours is key too -- just yesterday, I was mentally cooked mid-day and was about to grind away stupidly on the laptop, fail, and start surfing the net. I knew it was coming. So I went and lifted weights and took a 5 mile walk instead. Knowing when to give up from grinding and doing something else is key.
****
Also around the internet...
Ciara Pressler just launched Pregame Magazine, I'm writing a column for her:
Ask the Strategist: Three Rules To Follow If You’re Not Sure Which Project To Do Next
If you want to get your questions answered, shoot me a line at editor@thestrategicreview.net and I'm to take them.
****
I appreciate all the kind words and new subscribers!
If you don't have your copy of TSR yet, of course, you can subscribe for free at thestrategicreview.net
And have you told all your achievery friends about TSR yet? I dare say it's like water in the desert for people who to do big things in this world.
Thanks for all the love and support,
Sebastian