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Time to Leave the Casino

I’ve been stuck in the casino for the last 20 months.

At the start of Covid, I pulled my money out of index funds in an attempt to beat Mr. Market. In my pursuit of outperformance, I traded everything: options, leveraged shorts, growth stocks, & crypto.

In my latest article, I discuss the full impact of these efforts on my life and why it's time for me to leave the casino.

You can read it here: https://calvinrosser.com/leaving-the-casino/

40 Unconventional Pieces of Advice

I poked around Google to see what comes up when you search "best life advice." Sadly, most of the articles were fluffy listicles with generic advice.

In an attempt to make up for this algorithmic failure, I compiled 40 of the most helpful lessons I've learned in my short time on Earth.

The lessons are short, sweet, and actionable.

​https://calvinrosser.com/40-pieces-of-advice/​

If you give the article a read and find something interesting, action the advice. The reality is that no matter how helpful or "wise" something is, it means nothing if you don't exhibit the principles in your actions.

Digital Communication Literacy

With the world becoming more global and remote-first, it's more important than ever to learn how to communicate well in the digital world.

The problem is that most people try to translate what works in an office environment to the digital ecosystem of Slack, Zoom, and Asana.

But what works in the digital world is different than what works in the physical world. The biggest difference is that digital communication has fewer cues (e.g. body language) to help you understand other people.

This leads people to misunderstand the intention and tone behind a colleague's message. This problem is even worse if you've never met your colleague or if that person comes from a country with different cultural norms than you're accustomed to.

While meeting in person with someone and sharing a meal is a great way to build trust and overcome some of these barriers, that's not always possible.

So if you want to up your digital communications game, here are some of the tactics I've found most helpful:

• Send a Loom video instead of a big wall of text.

• Use emojis to soften messages.

• Assume positive intent.

• Get on a quick call if a chat is heated.

• Ask people to clarify.

These tactics may seem simple, but they work. And if you can improve your digital interactions with colleagues by 25% with a few changes, it's well worth the effort.

What I'm Reading

​Conscious Loving by Gay & Kathlyn Hendricks. This book came out in 1992 and is more relevant than ever. It dives deep into how you can create committed, loving relationships with people in your life. It's pretty dense, but it's packed with transformative ideas that will help you improve your relationships with the people you care most about.

​On the Shortness of Life by Seneca:

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”

I'm reading Seneca's book for the second time. It's a collection of philosophical ramblings from a Stoic philosopher about what's actually important in life. If you're feeling anxious or stressed, it's a book that will help ground you by reminding you of just how brief our time is.

In Case You Missed It

The Sh*t You Don't Learn in School Podcast crossed 15,000 downloads in the last 30 days, which puts me and Steph on track for our goal of 50,000 listens/month by the end of the year.

In case you're new to the podcast, I put together a page on my site with some of the best episodes and info about what people have been enjoying about the pod so far: https://calvinrosser.com/learn.

If you're a listener, feel free to reply to this email let me know if you have any topics you'd like us to cover.

You can also help out by referring the podcast to a friend or leaving a review here.

— Cal

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1. Doing Time Right: Everyone wants to get more done in less time. This course will show you exactly how to do that with the eliminate, automate, delegate, and iterate framework.

2. Foundations Looking for good books to read? Check out Foundations, a growing digital notebook with notes & lessons from 100+ timeless books.

3. Listen to the Podcast: Feel like school didn't prepare you for adulthood? The Sh*t You Don't Learn in School podcast exists to help make up for this societal failure.