Friday's Five 🖐🏼 #161
Happy Friday's Five,
Hello from Berlin! This was a home office week with a blend of client and admin work. I'm happy! :)
What I'm reading
I've wanted to read 'The Shortest History of Germany' by James Hawes for a long time and it happened to lay around at the hotel I stayed at last week. It's a fast read–I read it in an afternoon and evening. It remains on the surface due to its brevity yet it offers a good overall view of Germany's history and in parts was a good refresher. The Guardian has a review.
What I'm listening to
'The Knowledge Project' with Shane Parish is one of my favorite interview podcasts. I enjoyed his conversation with Derek Sivers who is an entrepreneur and writer. They speak about a series of mental models that Derek uses. One example that stuck with me is the model how he balances ideas and execution or what the difference is between being self-employed and being a business owner. Check it out.
What I'm watching
Astute readers will know that 'The West Wing' is my favorite tv show ever. Written by Aaron Sorkin, I've been following his work ever since. 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' is his most recent film starring an ensemble cast including Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and many others. The film follows the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Find it on Netflix or watch this trailer.
What I'm thinking about
There have been four instances in my life where a seemingly random encounter led to a massively altered life path. Where when you look back, not meeting that person would probably mean a different life. For me, these encounters happened in 1998, 2006, 2009, and 2017 and I am still very close with all four people. I call them my Pivotal People. Do you know yours?
What else?!
When's the last time you saw a product video that got you really excited? For me it was this week and it's this video by a company called Descript that created a collaborative editor for audio and video. Their product sounds great and their video is super well done. Watch it here.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
David
P.S.: If you've enjoyed this, your friends might too — thanks for sharing: tinyletter.com/davidnoel
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