Brooooo I consumed so much this month I have no idea how to pick the best ones.

I won’t be talking about all of them, of course, but I will recommend based on “If you have only time for three recommendations in each category, what will I suggest?”

Reading

1/ High Agency

Some months ago, Geroge Mack wrote a viral Twitter thread on a concept called “High Agency.” In one line, High Agency means - this is my version - becoming someone the decision makers rely on for extremely complicated situations.

If you are head of cardiology and there is a surgery with only a 20% success rate, which doctor would you pick to sail the ship? Which doctor among a large pool is the most skilled and efficient to beat the odds?

He/She/whatever-pronouns-left is your high agency person.

George shows how most of us are low agency by default and how we can achieve high agency. He worked on the concept for seven months and turned it into an essay - takes 45 minutes to read.

2/ How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time

I read this essay every 45 days to make sure I am on the right track.

I don’t want to overexplain why you must read this essay, but I will tell you this: If you have career ambitions and are unhappy at your job, you might resign after reading this essay.

Podcasts

There are some categories in which I am actively consuming content. This keeps changing frequently based on what’s fueling my curiosity. But lately it is:

• Coffee: Majorly because I am experimenting with my brews daily and building Caffeineletter with Aravind.

• Health: To learn how I take good care of myself.

• AI: Man, I’m handling too many manual tasks right now. I began learning n8n to automate these tasks with some intelligence.

Don’t mind if I share more resources under these categories.

1/ WTF are Craft Beverages?

Beautiful episode. If you ever sat in a Chai Tapri with friends, calculated how much a chaiwala makes in a day/month, and said, “We’ll open a beverage shop one day,” this podcast is a framework to bring it to reality.

You’ll enjoy this even more if you love speciality coffee or are nerdy about how businesses work.

2/ Aravind Srinivas x Nikhil Kamath

At this point, I am religiously listening to everything Nikhil drops. Crazy conversationalist, always sticks to his mission of helping entrepreneurs, and never leaves knowledge at a surface level.

This episode doesn’t directly impact how you can use AI in your routine, but it’s a good place to catch up with what Perplexity is up to. Watch it soon - delay it two weeks, and it loses relevance.

3/ Indian Premier League

Acquired and WTF are the only two podcasts I listen to for their depth and nuances. For me, surface-level doesn’t cut it. I need as many details and nuances as possible. Otherwise, I can’t learn and use knowledge effectively in my work/life.

They recently dropped this 4h 28m banger on India’s history of cricket, how commercialization happened, how the IPL began and continued to become one of the biggest sports leagues in the world.

If you love the sport and are keen about the business side - this is for you.

YouTube

1/ The world is poorly designed. But copying nature helps.

I stumbled upon this concept called Biomimicry. It is about how innovators take inspiration from nature and replicate its form and processes into modern products.

For example, Japan’s bullet train was awfully noisy. To make the train quiet while not compromising on speed, engineers re-designed (mimicked) the front end of the train like a Kingfisher’s beak.

Biomimicry as a concept is fascinating and apparently there are books, research papers, and documentaries on this subject. Ngl, this might be my next rabbit hole.

For now, this video is a good starting point.

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Movies and TV shows

My favorite genre of content, lol - entertainment.

1/ Raising Impact

As someone who plays Cricket, I always thought Golf was boring because it is not intense. But Raising Impact changed that for me. The variables involved, the precision, and the skill needed are crazy.

It’s a short anime with 26 episodes. You will totally love it if you like Haikyuu or Blue Lock.

2/Adolescence

Fun Fact:

One of the finest works of this series is drawing complex, uncomfortable emotions on the screen. Especially episodes 3 and 4.

Some friends found the show disturbing. I didn’t. I am usually cold to most dark themes. Let me know how you felt watching the show. I am curious.

My friend and I discussed what influences kids and how you’d want to raise your kids after watching Adolescence. I highly recommend having this conversation with friends or partners.

List of what else I have watched

• TopGun Maverick: Watched TopGun in January and couldn’t help but rewatch Maverick this month.

• Suits LA: How can someone make a Suits spinoff this bad? I feel Pearson is a much better spinoff.

• Reacher S3: I mean it’s okay okay. Didn’t get the S1 and S2 vibes. The romance angle was horrible they should have just removed it.

• Court: Love watching this Telugu movie in the theater. It’s a courtroom drama about minor love and the POSCO act. No idea when it goes out on OTT.

• Steve Jobs: Didn’t know what to watch. Casually rewatched Steve Jobs.

• UP: I was expecting a full-on love story but surprisingly, it was love + adventure. Amazing. I should watch more animated movies.

• Return of the Dragon: Good one-time entertainer. Not missing out on anything if you don’t watch this movie.

Love,
Vikra.