The NEW Better Humans Letter

Formerly The AM5 Letter - New format, lots more content, experiments incoming, feedback welcomed

Nov 28, 2020

Dear Fellow Human,

I'm reintroducing myself to you and you to the new newsletter format.

I used to call this email the weekly AM5 (short for Ancestral Mind 5), but soon realized it didn't fit as my interests expanded.

I've been trying to figure out what I want to do with my content—and life—and I keep coming back to the idea of Building Better Humans.

I want to be better. I'm always trying to grow. Usually, when I'm thinking, writing, recording, or talking about anything, betterment is the core motivation.

Now, I generally don't like talking about myself. I prefer Ideas. But I do realize things can get confusing and muddy via this Internet thing, so here's a brief reminder of who I am and what I do:

Founder and CEO of Wild Foods Co - our mission is to bring Real Food education to the masses through obsessively sourced foods and supplements.
I host a podcast called The Ancestral Mind. We cover health, nutrition, ancestral living, happiness, mindset, and anything else helpful to being a better human.
I publish videos on health and nutrition on my main YouTube channel: Colin Stuckert
I publish a daily video on my second YouTube channel Escaping Fragility. Topics include anything and everything I'm thinking about, struggling with, and/or want to improve.
I post to Instagram daily: ColinStuckert
Here's a pic of the family: Allison, Darrow, and newcomer Rowen.

I'll be testing new ideas inside this newsletter until I can figure out how to create for you the most valuable, MUST OPEN email you've ever received.

I genuinely want to make something amazing. So please reply to any email you receive with feedback about what you want to see more of, less of, or just enough of. I really want the feedback so we can, together, build something great. There is no better reward for a writer than to know someone is reading his words. It really matters.

-Colin Stuckert
Join me on Parler - the free speech platform and let's help counter Big tech

Books

The current “recent” section in my Kindle library:

I'm excited about starting Ready Player Two. If you haven't read Ready Player One, please do so.

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is free online here. I have a physical copy and the Kindle and the free PDF. It's that good.

Quote

"THERE ARE at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play."-Finite and Infinite Games (p. 3)

I've been thinking about this concept of finite vs infinite games. It was a cool idea when I first read about it. Now, I feel it is integral for creating a life of purpose through your work. It's that powerful.

This idea came up recently as my YouTube scribers on my main channel started declining out of nowhere. Many of my videos that were attracting views and subs started dropping. I think maybe YouTube has shadowbanned me for some of the comments I've made relating to counter-narrative ideas that are currently being censored on YouTube. (Welcome to 1984.)

As it goes with any obstacle, I took this opportunity to think about my strategy for YouTube and how much time I want to invest in making videos.

So I asked myself, "Would I keep making videos if I had a billion dollars in the bank?"

Yes.

So I decided that making videos—short ones that require no editing—is an infinite game I want to play.

What's useful about this way of thinking is I can ignore the numbers and focus on the process. After all, there is no winning or losing since the goal of an infinite game is to keep playing.

An article supporting this idea is Goals are for Losers. Passion is BullS%&# by Scott Adam.

Podcasts This Week

#98 – Protein vs Carbs with Kevin Stock

My buddy Kevin is a smart guy. We chat about protein and carbs and how balancing the two is integral to weight loss/management.

Your Health is Your Responsibility (Be careful trusting experts)

This short solo show covers the importance of taking your health into your own hands. Not only will this keep you from being another failed medical statistic (there are millions of these, btw), but you'll save time and money and pain when you take responsibility for your health and get in touch with your natural body.

One Awesome Thing You Should Watch

My YouTube This Week

Censorship is The Greatest Threat To America Right Now

I've decided to tap out of current events. I will RARELY be covering anything going on in politics, pop culture, SJW crazy land, or anything promoted by the Mainstream Media. I recorded this video a couple of months ago. It will become more relevant as time goes on. If America doesn't remember what made her, she will fall.

Eating Steak Every Day: Why I Break My Fast With Steak

I show you my daily process of eating steak for breakfast.

Good Reads

The Top Idea in Your Mind by Paul Graham

I've never read something from Paul that I didn't feel better for having read afterward. (lol...what a terrible sentence)

The Day You Became A Better Writer

One of the most important things you'll read on writing.

A Game-changing Article

How To Think For Yourself by Paul Graham

This article explained my childhood, my early 20s, and now my 30s.

I'm naturally a rebel against anything conventional. Whatever combination of nature and nurture made me this way.

Though I don't believe you are set if you are conventional-minded. You can change, as Graham discusses in this article.

Here are some of my highlights. Read the whole thing.

There may even be a phenomenon like Dunning-Kruger at work, where the most conventional-minded people are confident that they're independent-minded, while the genuinely independent-minded worry they might not be independent-minded enough.

More generally your goal should be not to let anything into your head unexamined, and things don't always enter your head in the form of statements. Some of the most powerful influences are implicit. How do you even notice these? By standing back and watching how other people get their ideas.

The independent-minded thus have a horror of ideologies, which require one to accept a whole collection of beliefs at once, and to treat them as articles of faith. To an independent-minded person that would seem revolting, just as it would seem to someone fastidious about food to take a bite of a submarine sandwich filled with a large variety of ingredients of indeterminate age and provenance.

In my experience, independent-mindedness and curiosity predict one another perfectly. Everyone I know who's independent-minded is deeply curious, and everyone I know who's conventional-minded isn't. Except, curiously, children. All small children are curious. Perhaps the reason is that even the conventional-minded have to be curious in the beginning, in order to learn what the conventions are. Whereas the independent-minded are the gluttons of curiosity, who keep eating even after they're full.

Recommended Product

Kindle Paperwhite + Kindle phone app + Kindle Mac app

They all sync. You can download timeless wisdom in a few clicks. You can also find thousands of free books in the Kindle store.

If you want to be successful at anything in our modern world, you must read. The key to reading more is turning it into a habit. Read early, afternoon, late, while waiting in line, before bed, at the gym, on the train, flying, etc.

If you can get 30 minutes of book reading in a day, you'll read 25+ books a year.

Wild Foods Product Feature

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Free Resources and Courses

Who am I again?

I'm a CEO/founder, father, and content creator obsessed with big ideas for helping build better humans because better humans are the only chance we have at surviving whatever is next for our species.

My work: The Ancestral Mind podcast - Primary YouTube channel focused on health - 2nd YouTube covering all other topics: Escaping Fragility - Company, Wild Foods - Free articles and guides: Colin.coach.

Random facts about me: Martial arts as a kid. Bruce Lee was my childhood idol. Pro poker player after dropping out of college. Failed my sophomore year of high school because I missed 20 days. Top Age of Empires 2 player. I can't fathom people that don't want to improve or challenge the status quo. I don't like small talk; I don't go to events often. I don't drink alcohol. I live on 10 acres in Texas with chickens. Stoic. Life is short and no one will remember us, so we may as well live our truest selves rather than living in fear. Seek social approval and validation is a poison destroying millions of lives. I'll share more next week.

Better Human by Colin Stuckert

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