Welcome explorer

You’re in the Slipstream. A portal to the worlds greatest ideas. If you’re looking for the knowledge to upgrade your life, look no further.

After 6 years of deep immersion in self-improvement, entrepreneurship and health - one lesson stands out as the clearest one among them all:

The quality of your ideas determine the quality of your life!

HUMAN NATURE / PRODUCTIVITY

The lone wolf dies, the squad thrives

The competing strategies of collaboration vs competition is a battle as old as time. Both have the ability to improve the survival of an individual and species.

However it is collaboration that is a stabilizing force. It is peaceful. Competition on the other hand, is much more forceful and results in winners and losers.

As a result, it is collaboration that is the higher form of strategy, and a more stabilizing one.

One only has to look at the behaviour of social animals such as chimpanzees or wolves to understand how our own psychology and values have been shaped by our evolutionary past.

Survival is a harrowing game. As animals, one has to compete against other animals seeking food, shelter and mating partners. When one is asleep, one is vulnerable to attack. When one is sick, it marks the end.

This is why the principle of collaboration, of tribes, of wolfpacks and squads came about.

By watching each others backs, by searching for resources together, and by working together to stave of enemies and attackers, our survival can be enhanced, but so can our quality of life.

The pack brings benefits

That is, strong coordination decreases transaction costs, enabling greater productive capacities and financial opportunities as a group.

The pack provides major benefits, should you make the effort to coordinate:

1. Safety (from present dangers)

2. Security (future resources, what happens when I'm sick, future of my family, etc.)

3. Ability to aim for larger opportunities (hunt the mammoth)

4. Skills and knowledge acquisition (Iron sharpens iron, pack learning translates to all members)

5. Greater efficiency (Less time spent working to achieve same outcomes)

6. Increased meaning (Life has the added element of being useful to others)

Can you think of any more?

How is modernity different?

The modern lifestyle runs a bit counter to the idea of the pack.

We have become disaggregated from our larger social structures that facilitated paradigms of coordination that imbued the individual with a strong sense of identity, safety, meaning and purpose.

Now, we are lost, alone and anxious. Religion is a fading memory, relegated to superstition in an age of science. Families are seen as hindrances, psychological incubators that hold us back from our "true selves". Friendship, an ephemeral tool to achieving your goals.

In this always-on hustle culture, the tribe, the community, the company and the communities are all seen as hindrances and distractions from living "your best life".

Such false beliefs are the reason we have negative mental health.

We were never meant to live "just for ourselves". Our lives don't exist in isolation.

News flash, they never did!

Yet, all is not lost.

Amidst the collapse of civilization, the young heroes of tomorrow have found a way to survive and even thrive in this chaotic diaspora.

This is the (re-)birth of squads.

What are squads?

Simply, a group of people. But I mean more than just that. There is a tight-knit relationship between these people. They exist in a larger collective, with a shared purpose, beliefs and views on the world.

You could have squads formed around religion, your school, your swimming teammates, your family squad, and so on.

Each squad is defined by what brings them together, and how they view the world.

Is a squad a whatsapp group? Yes.

But it's more than that too.

Due to the rise of the digital age, modern technology allow squads to create a feeling of availability and prescence to each other that was not possible a few decades ago.

Because of this digital edge, squads can be global.

A squad consists of members who all value the squad as important and at times, greater than themselves. They work for the squad, to make the squad better and happier. More fun, more vibes.

Squads function best at small numbers, due to the network of tight relationships amongst all members. As more members join, the number of individual relationships that need to be built grow exponentially.

A squad of 4 people has 6 1-on-1 relationships in it. A squad of 10 people have 45 1-on-1 relationships. A squad of 50 has 1,225 individual 1-on1 relationships. If everybody had to have a 5 min coffee with each other, that’s about 102 hours consumed every week. Quite unmanageable.

A squad is like a community, but its tighter than that. A community will often be made up of multiple squads. The smallest building block of a community (apart from the individual) are squads.

The Spaces of Squads

"First we define our tools, then our tools define us"

Modern technology enables squads to interact in various ways, and for various functions.

If your squad is centered around the game Rocket League , you might be on Twitch or Discord as the main activity hub.

If your squad is about the memes while you'll hustle the daily corporate grind, a Whatsapp or Telegram group might be your thing.

As more software gets utilized, the squad takes on a digital presence across platforms, which enable the squad to interact and create value for each other in various ways.

Squad Production

The squad exists for itself. It often comes together for the generation of "vibes".

Culture, content, ideas and laughs.

The squad is your space and your people.

Most of the norms around squads are informal/ unspoken yet taken seriously. There is free flowing communication. As squads grow in size, they become more formal, more rigid, and need more effort towards coordinating events and ideas.

Squad Wealth

Squads are first and foremost cultures, not businesses. Financial maximization is not their primary objective—squads just want to keep the vibes going.

When squads choose to become economic engines, they can generate immeasurable creative content. Podcasts, newsletters, Youtube channels and e-Commerce empires all sprang from the fertile ground of the squad.

Individuals may have limited access to compounding returns, but groups have greater flexibility to move along the risk-reward curve. Many opportunities are better when you come in with size.

Contributions to the squad are positive sum. And in return for their contribution, members have access to an expanded set of opportunities, claims on future economic flows and guarantees backed by the group. By risking together, a scrappy group can gain access to multiplicative yields—the path to SQUAD WEALTH.

Squads value creative expression, but celebrate the group rather than individual authorship. For the squad, the autonomous is always collective.

Big Squad Energy

Squaddom is about new ways of being together, learning, and making meaning in an increasingly complex world. Squads are groups fueled by vibes, memes, and values, but they are not mindless swarms.

Rather squads are proto-institutions that engage the world on their own terms.

Squads = autonomy + community + equity

Squads are to individuals what molecules are to atoms.

We are more stable when we are in a squad.

As such, we should all be paying closer attention to how we treat the squads we are already a part of.

Specifically, if we want to achieve a certain goal, we should ask ourselves the following:

Journal question: How can I leverage the power of the squads to increase my chance of success and have more fun along the way?

Action step: Share this with your squad to start a more productive discussion

Read time: 12 mins

HEALTH/ PRODUCTIVITY

How to actually achieve your goals (from a Billionaire)

In Slipstream #34 I mentioned how productive Warren Buffet has been in his life, as measured by the amount of money he has earned, a large amount of which has been donated). His net worth is a gigantic amount of $117 Billion, and still counting!

This is a man who knows how to get things done, and how to achieve big goals.

The article highlights his now famous conversation with his pilot, first discussing why he has not moved on from his role after 10 years and then going on to explain to him how he can achieve bigger goals in his life.

His problem, as is most of ours, is that of Focus.

A key insight is that there is a difference between a task and a goal. A task is easily achievable, goals are broad and long-term.

Most people get caught up in many mundane tasks that serve (too many) various goals. Because of the overall lack of focus, you do not generate enough momentum on any one of the goals you may have, and thus vacillate hopefully from task to task hoping you would eventually reach a goal.

Buffet's method is simple yet highly effective.

1. List all your big goals you would like to achieve. Make it 25 or more.

2. Circle the goals you truly desire / highest importance (max 5)

3. This is now your Must-Do list

   1. Most (if not all) tasks should lead to achieving something on this list

4. The remaining 20 form the "Avoid list"

   1. This is what will distract you from achieving the Top 5 goals you have selected.

   2. When you are about to do something here, rather ask yourself if you can do a Top 5 task instead

The main insight I gleaned was the Avoid list. Its quite simple. It's not the things you don't want to do that keep you from achieving your goals. Its the things you want almost as badly as the goals that will trip you up.

Action item: Try this technique out and tell me if you had any success. What's a bottom-20 goal that's blocked you from achieving your top-5 goal?

Read time: 7 mins

Here’s what I’ve been looking into this past week:

1. The Psychology of Self Esteem - YouTube

2. #68 Structured Water With Dr. Gerald Pollack - YouTube

3. Stalking The Wild Pendulum: Introduction (Itzhak Bentov) - YouTube

4. My 2 Favorite Ways to Start a Side Business | Justin Welsh

5. How to Breathe Correctly for Optimal Health, Mood, Learning &

6. Has fiber been overhyped?? - YouTube

7. Notion Task Database for Comprehensive Linked System - YouTube

8. Squad Wealth

9. Faceless YouTube Channels: Million-Dollar Channels, Generative AI, Growth Strategies - Trends.vc

10. Meeting Cofounders: 27 places to find them

11. Four Fits For $100M+ Growth — Brian Balfour

12. “The mirror principle” is why I became a millionaire at 22…this is how - YouTube

13. How to Lose Love Handles Forever (No Bullsh*t Guide) - YouTube

14. Building a Second Brain | Tiago Forte - by Bernardt Vogel

15. Detox Heavy Metals in Less Than 30 Seconds a Day: Dr. Sherri Tenpenny Explains

And just like that, another week has gone by. We’re fast approaching the end of the year, but I’m still ramping up. What about you?

Enjoyed reading this but not a subscriber? Subscribing gets you priority access to the best ideas, tools and offers I can find. No spam, only value.

Btw, if you dream about leaving corporate and starting your own business, I’ve been there. I know the mental limitations holding you back. If you’d like help to make the transition or just get clearer on the entrepreneurship path, drop me an email or book a 15-min free consult with me here. 

And lastly, if you’ve got anything interesting to share and think I’d enjoy it, just reply to this email or DM me on Twitter, or any other platform for that matter.

Till the next time,

Keep producing those squad vibes

- Karmsheel