Meco Reads - Issue 21 🚀

The greatest articles of all-time 📜 Be a master networker ⛓️ Invert your thinking 🪧

Author

Sean from Meco
February 12, 2023

Hey friends!

Welcome to the 378 new readers! This is your fortnightly round up of links, learnings and newsletters from the web, curated by the team at Meco - your app for reading and discovering newsletters.

All of us at Meco were truly saddened by the news of earthquakes hitting the eastern provinces of Turkey and Syria earlier this week. Due to the freezing conditions and the massive devastation, aid is desperately needed. We know times are tough but if you can, please join us in supporting the people of Turkey and Syria - every donation, no matter how small, will make a huge difference to those affected. You can donate here.

-❤️ ❤️ ❤️-

We are trying something new this week! We've added a new section towards the end of the newsletter with an actionable tip to help you get more learnings, joy and value from your reading. Let us know if you like it! Let's get to the good stuff - this week we learn a clever way to become hyper connected, we uncover a nifty mental-model called inversion and we explore if artificial intelligence can help us understand animals... Let's go!

📖 5 Great Reads

All kinds of problems that look so difficult, if you turn them around, they are quickly solved.

Charlie Munger

Inversion is when you turn a situation or problem upside down and look at it from another perspective. James Clear expands on how to incorporate this effective critical thinking model into your daily life [Read more]

This isn’t an article per se but actually a collection of the best-of-the best articles. If you’ve ever felt the need to read more articles that have stood the test of time, get this bookmarked. Topics include: life & death, climate change, happiness, money, travel and many more [Read more]

The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.

Paul Graham

Paul Graham is most famous for being the founder of the startup incubator Y Combinator but also writes incredibly insightful essays on startups and life. This super short but high impact piece from Graham explains why discussing topics such as politics or religion often descends into arguments. [Read more]

We've all met someone who seems to know everyone. They never have an issue finding a new job or solving complex business problems thanks to their bustling network. Sean Johnson shares a simple but effective way to increase the strength of your network [Read more]

For years, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has been used to analyze and translate human languages… Now AI is being used to study animal communication, with researchers aiming to decipher animal languages in support of conservation and sustainability efforts 😲 [Read more]

🗞 4 Fab Newsletters for You

  • Dense Discovery is thoughtful weekly newsletter to help you feel inspired, be productive and think critically. Join for fresh discoveries at the intersection of design, technology, sustainability and culture. [Read more]

  • One Percent Better is a free newsletter for people interested in continuous self-improvement. You’ll discover the best ideas to reliably improve your health, well-being, and performance. Each issue is brief and actionable. [Read more]

  • Refind sends you 5 links from around the web that make you smarter, tailored to your interests. Loved by 100k+ curious minds. [Read more]

  • Doodhwala is 2-minute crypto news straight to your email and into your veins. [Read more]

🗞️ 1 Reading Tip

As you well-know reading newsletters isn’t all roses. Yes the content is often great, but it’s too easy to lose control of your email inbox and sometimes reading feels like a chore.

Here's a few hard and fast rules to help make newsletter reading more enjoyable:

  1. Unsubscribe liberally 🔪 If a newsletter hasn’t given you value in 3 weeks - cull it

  2. Subscribe cautiously 🦥 If you come across a new newsletter that doesn’t have you saying “f*ck yeah” then don’t subscribe

  3. Don’t try finish everything ✋ Read for fun and learning, not for a sense of completion

  4. Skimming is necessary 🔎 View your newsletters like pages in a magazine, it’s ok to flick past the things that don’t jump out

  5. Separate newsletters and inbox 📤 Your inbox wasn’t built for content and has a limit to how many newsletters you can read (try Meco wink wink)

  6. Tie reading to another embedded habit ☕ Try reading with your morning coffee

  7. Don't be harsh on yourself if you miss a few days 🤗

That's it! By making these few changes you'll be a newsletter reading machine 🧠

🤭 A Bit of Fun

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Much love, see you next time!

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