If you read this newsletter, you know that I’m obsessed with interesting ideas.

Here are 5 ideas I can’t stop thinking about this month…

(P.S. This may become a regular monthly segment if people are interested!)

1. The ability to go dark is a life cheat code.

About a week ago, I ran Hell on the Hill, a backyard race hosted by entrepreneurs Jesse Itzler and Sara Blakely. The format of the race is 100 laps on the ridiculously steep hill in their backyard. It’s only about 8 miles, but with ~5,000 feet of elevation gain, the race earns its name.

It had about 100 participants this year (with a waitlist of 8,000+).

It was my first time running the race—or anything like it—and I had no idea what to expect, but being wired the way I am, I decided I was going to go out hard and really push myself.

About 40 laps into the race, the negative internal narrative started creeping in. There’s no way you can keep this up. You’re going to blow yourself out. You’re going to get hurt. You made a rookie mistake.

But just as I started getting caught up in it, something changed. The race hosts announced that the next 20 minutes would be run in silence to honor those we’ve lost who couldn’t be there. The DJ stopped all the music. The participants stopped talking.

Suddenly, the only thing I could hear was the sound of my feet hitting the ground and my breath filling and emptying my lungs.

I went dark. I was in complete flow. I found a rhythm. Before I knew it, I was in my final 10 laps. I finished in 2 hours 12 minutes, good for 3rd place overall.

The lesson here has nothing to do with running, and everything to do with life:

Every meaningful pursuit has a long valley in the middle. The excitement of the beginning has worn off and the anticipation of the end is nowhere to be found. The ability to go dark during that valley is a major life cheat code.

Disappear. Turn inward. Don’t explain yourself. Embrace the silent struggle.

The people who can do that will find a way to win.

2. Always identify the point of highest leverage.

I recently read a story about a turning point in Jerry Seinfeld’s career:

In 1976, a comedian’s performance on The Tonight Show was a make or break moment for their career. Seinfeld watched a number of his peers perform well in their first show, before slowly fading in their second and third shows. The reason was obvious: They had used their best material for the first show and had run out of A+ material as the shows wore on.

Seinfeld realized comedy was a writing game. It was the point of highest leverage. The one thing that makes everything else easier.

If he had a constant drip of new, high quality material, he’d be able to sustain his performances and improve his longevity. He built his storied career on the back of that simple realization.

We can all learn from this story: In any endeavor, we should seek to identify the point of highest leverage. The one thing that makes everything else flow.

Once you identify it, focus on it—and methodically eliminate everything else.

3. AI is driving a rise of Chauffeur Knowledge

I’ve been thinking a lot about the use of artificial intelligence and its impact on human intelligence.

In a broad sense, I think of most personal AI use cases as being about outsourcing something to the AI. You previously had to use your brain for that thing, but now you can press a button and have the AI do that thing for you.

But it’s important to remember: What you outsource will atrophy.

Hire a personal chef, you’ll probably lose some of your cooking skills. Hire a money manager, you’ll probably be less in tune with your finances. Hire an analyst, you’ll probably become less proficient with analysis.

That’s mostly ok when it’s about outsourcing specific things that are lower leverage (to the prior point, this enables you to focus on the point of highest leverage).

But what about when the outsourcing slowly extends into more generalized thinking?

There’s a funny story about physicist Max Planck and his chauffeur that offers an insight here:

After winning his Nobel Prize, Max Planck went on a tour, giving lectures at universities and institutions around the country. His chauffeur, after having heard Planck practice and deliver the talk so many times, had the entire thing memorized.

He jokingly asked Planck if he could deliver it at the final lecture. Surprisingly, the physicist agreed.

The chauffeur put on a jacket and tie and proceeded to deliver a perfect lecture, word for word, just as Max Planck would have done. But at the end of the talk, a simple follow-up question from the audience stumped him.

Quick on his feet, the chauffeur replied, "That question is so easy, I’ll let my chauffeur answer it," and pointed to Planck, who was wearing the chauffeur hat in the back of the crowd.

While the story is likely dramatized, it brings to life an important lesson:

There are two types of knowledge:

1. Real Knowledge
2. Chauffeur Knowledge

Real Knowledge has depth. It is flexible and dynamic. It can be leveraged in different ways, because the topic is truly understood, not just memorized. It is only acquired through hours and hours of working on a specific craft.

Chauffeur Knowledge is the opposite. It's the amount of knowledge required to sound smart at a cocktail party or pass an easy exam, but it fails when put under any degree of scrutiny.

There’s a big difference between truly knowing something and just sounding smart talking about it.

My concern with AI is that as we outsource more and more of our general thinking to the models, all Real Knowledge will atrophy—we will become defined by Chauffeur Knowledge.

A lot of problems in the world are the result of people with Chauffeur Knowledge masquerading as people with Real Knowledge.

I think AI is going to meaningfully accelerate that trend…

4. 90% of success is just avoiding unforced errors.

When life slows down, I’ve noticed that I have a tendency to start feeling pulled towards new and complex things. Unfortunately, that tendency often leads me to make silly mistakes. I take on things I shouldn’t have. I get involved in new projects that aren’t the main thing. I go after short-term wins.

I have a new mantra that helps me fight back:

No unforced errors.

In the 1999 tennis book, Extraordinary Tennis for the Ordinary Tennis Player, author Simon Ramo broke down the difference between amateur and professional tennis:

• Amateur tennis is a Loser's Game: Most points are lost on unforced errors. You win by avoiding errors.
• Professional tennis is a Winner's Game: Most points are won on great shots. You win by hitting excellent shots.

Here's an important truth: Most games in life are Loser's Games. You don't get paid for hitting complex, magnificent shots. You get paid for consistently avoiding unforced errors.

For being reliable. For figuring it out. For showing up and doing what you say you're going to do.

So, whenever I find myself being pulled towards new and complex things, I repeat my mantra:

No unforced errors.

In most games in life, the sum of consistent, ordinary performances adds up to something extraordinary.

5. It’s probably still early.

The graveyard is full of people who wished they had taken action on that thing they wanted to do. “It’s too late” has killed more dreams than a lack of talent or intelligence ever will.

This is underrated life advice:

It’s never too late.

You can wake up one day and choose to see things differently. You can change. You can completely reinvent your life. Too late is an internal fantasy, not an external reality.

Every time you think it’s too late, it’s probably still early.

P.S. I'm thinking about a deep dive on The Myth of Too Late and my guide to reinvention at any age. If you'd be interested in reading that piece, reply YES to this email.

I hope you found a few of these as interesting as I did. I’d bet several will stick with you long after you finish reading.

Wrestle with them. Apply your own lens. Share them with someone you love.

And as always, stay curious, friends!