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Active Recall!

Podcasts, videos, and iPad art

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  • About
  • Podcast
  • Cards
  • 2019 Reading List
  • Do the simple thing first (whiteboards don’t scale and that’s okay)
  • An example disagreement (between very smart people)
  • Leash yourself (to turn values into actions)
  • Find the medium that you’ll be most consistent in
  • Plan right in the editor (how an editorial calendar is helping me be more consistent)
  • Create before you consume (and maybe stop consuming some things altogether)
  • October Book Stack Progress
  • Journaling toward stillness
  • Mission: take this turkey to the editor as fast as possible
  • Book Notes: “Indistractable” by Nir Eyal
  • Removing friction
  • Improving my solo episodes
  • Podcast Notes – “My First Million”: Don’t make lists
  • Video: Book note – Adam Savage’s “Every Tool’s a Hammer”
  • Back to basics (and writing in the editor)
  • 67 – “Finish” — PAO: Mr. Perfect cutting food in a kitchen with an invisible cloak on
  • Podcast Notes: Start winning, become passionate (Ramit Sethi)
  • 66: “Quitter”
  • Analog conversations and digital detoxes (Cal Newport on “Hurry Slowly”)
  • Podcast Notes: Thomas Frank on building up College Info Geek
  • The 5 Ms, explained with quotes from ‘Rounders’
  • Podcast Notes: John Skipper and the early days of ESPN.com
  • F04: Walk, Listen, Talk — “Digital Minimalism”
  • Podcast Notes: Jim Collins on rating your days (Tim Ferriss Show)
  • Podcast Notes: Hasan Minhaj (The Dave Chang Show)
  • Chris Paul: Team dinners (JJ Redick Podcast)
  • John Wooden walked a lot
  • Book Notes – “Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality” by Anthony de Mello
  • How to change the voice in your head: Seth Godin
  • Seth Godin: Write in public, change your brain
  • Be a demanding reader (and listener)
  • Joe Rogan: Podcasting as an art form
  • You don’t have a choice (Yes you do!)
  • Atomic Habits, Chrono Trigger, and making time your ally or enemy
  • 63: “Atomic Habits”
  • How to follow-through on projects (re-frame, remove reasons, and start moving)
  • Trace, freehand, and then draw from memory
  • Play pick-up basketball, sell your company to Amazon for $13 billion
  • Jason Fried: No one should listen to me about how to start a business
  • David Goggins: Things I don’t want to do
  • Weekly Deck — Issue 001
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    Working undercover or just tracking books: Keep it simple
  • Podcast note: How to beat writer’s block
  • Podcast note: How to tell better stories
  • Book Note: The Bullet Journal Method
  • Coffee, espresso, and bullets (The Bullet Journal Method x Hasan Minhaj)
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    Thrashing
  • How to End a Bad Habit (Book note for “Atomic Habits”)
  • Book Notes: “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin
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    Use nature’s eyes (or the Hubble telescope) to remember your insignificance
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    Atomic Habits: Initial Impressions
  • Podcast Notes: Chase Jarvis and Tim Ferriss
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    Newsletter 00X: Books finished, books in progress
  • Newsletter 000: If I had a newsletter
  • Weaving my finisher hat
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    Focus on two minutes (Podcast Notes: James Clear)
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    Write in the editor Vol. ?
  • Oh give me a hell yeah (a calm yeah works also)
  • Practice directing your attention
  • Kobe Bryant: Every day math
  • Read more books (until you need to read fewer books)
  • JJ Redick, Hasan Minhaj: Negative Motivation
  • Elon Musk on Joe Rogan’s podcast
  • What’s your hiding place? (Book notes for Jon Acuff’s Finish)
  • Book Note from “Creativity, Inc.”
  • Trying out a bullet point routine
  • Prioritize information with these 3 questions (Book note for “Visual Intelligence”)
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    Notes from “The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly”
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    Look at your summer after high school (and work those things back in)
  • IGTV C4D: Make something daily (and share it!)
  • iPad apps for presentations (and videos)
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    51: Grit revisited
  • Find Your Flow (Day 5): Pose-able figure
  • Find Your Flow (Day 4): Draw a Box pt. 2
  • Find Your Flow (Day 3): Draw a Box
  • Find Your Flow (Day 2): Omega Red pt. 2 (of 2)
  • Find Your Flow (Day 1): Omega Red pt. 1 (of I think 2)
  • Finding my flow (in 30 minutes each day)
  • Notes on “The Power of Starting Something Stupid”
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    A case against flow
  • Life Lessons from Watching Videos of Jim Lee Drawing
  • You’ve got 2 seconds, what advice would you give to a new graduate?
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    Write right in the editor (in this case it’s Evernote)
  • Describe Your Restaurant in a Single Sentence (Dave Chang and “Perennial Seller”)
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    Handle Your Distractions (Especially if the distraction is Mr. Fuji)
  • The best backpack for the gym (Spoiler: it’s the GORUCK GR1)
  • Be like LeBron (and take a walk)
  • It’s okay to be bored (and even worth practicing)
  • Get to the bottom of it (and then work up to your life’s purpose)
  • A non-master class on writing (based on Steph Curry’s MasterClass course on basketball)
  • It’s not them. It’s you. (Even if it’s actually them.)
  • Will you remember this a week from now? (How about a year from now?)
  • Prune your garden (even if you don’t have an actual garden)
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    Decide what you aren’t (even if you haven’t decided what you are)
  • Write right (in the editor)
  • Have a vision (even if it isn’t to save humanity)
  • Focus on What Won’t Change
  • Wear a uniform (But don’t tell anyone)
  • We are a nation obsessed (Chuck Klosterman IV)
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    34: How to build good habits and end bad habits
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    33: How to deal with setbacks (according to Mario and Ryu Hayabusa)
  • How do you build anything? One chunk at a time
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    35: And we are back
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    What’s inside those money bags?
  • The illusions of feelings
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    Covers for upcoming videos
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    32: How to practice (according to games)
  • Pivot to video (Newsletter issue 3)
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    31: Musashi and How to Stop Worrying
  • Day-tight Compartments
  • Resolutions (Newsletter issue 2)
  • How to find the best way to practice
  • 30: Resolutions, Subtle Art, Arcade Games
  • Learning about generalism
  • Some kettlebell notes
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    Review your beliefs (your future self will thank you!)
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    Kicking Things Off (Newsletter issue 1)
  • Posting some training notes
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    Know who you are
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    Tell good stories (even for nonfiction!)
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    Plug-ins, greasing the groove, and keeping it simple
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    Some lessons from buying a bunch of infoproducts
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    Pause the Cassette Now
  • 29: P-Rex and a return to The Magic Window
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    28: Tribe of Mentors
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    Book Notes: Four Seconds
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    Stories we believe in
  • Book Notes: Basketball and Other Things
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    Utility of fiction
  • Notes after making a video about two Mr. Harts
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    Book Notes: The Creative Habit
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    27: The Magic Window
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    I started reading “City of Thieves” by David Benioff
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    Talent vs. Hard Work (An animoji fox’s perspective)
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    Why you shouldn’t say you don’t care what other people think (Notes on things by Chuck Klosterman)
  • How to succeed as a writer (What I’ve learned by reading Bill Simmons)
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    26: Someday we will vlog like bosses
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    How to tell your friend they probably shouldn’t pursue their dream anymore (Podcast Notes for Stone Cold and Brendan Schaub)
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    25: Podcast recommendations, don’t leave your shopping cart in the parking lot
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    24: Edit Better
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    Book Notes: This Book Will Teach You How To Write Better
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    23: The Power of Moments
  • My Year of Running Safely
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    Brain bruises and the power of words
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    Sympathetic links between ideas
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    Whoa!
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    Are you picking the right goals? (And my quick foray into competitive Counter-Strike)
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    Outline: Creativity creates creativity
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    22: We Can’t Make This Up
  • None of these look like Kevin Hart
  • The power of the first day on the job
  • SHAKE IT UP
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    21: Not Caring What Other People Think is a Superpower
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    20: Barking up the Wrong THREE
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    19: Barking up the Wrong Tree, Again!
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    Daily creativity: First, through writing
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    Cardio Sucks book note: A little bit at a time
  • I just finished reading Ed Latimore’s book
  • Book reaction: The Forever War
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    Some questions for myself
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    How to post more (by writing less!)
  • 18: Primal Branding
  • 17: Better Than Before
  • 16: Made to Stick
  • 15: Talent is Overrated
  • 14: Shoe Dog
  • 13: The First 20 Hours
  • 12: The One Thing
  • Journal: The first 8 weeks of Active Recall
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    11: Designing your life
  • The Ugly First Draft
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    10: Wired to Eat
  • 09: Looking back, looking forward
  • Podcast notes: The power of gratitude with The 5-Minute Journal
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    Picking activities
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    08: More podcast recs for your head top
  • Creative Pages: Morning Creativity Routine version 2.0
  • How to live as an artist: 1000 fans, 10000 readers, but it all starts with ten
  • 07: When did you realize wrestling is fake?
  • Video: Book notes for “Barking up the Wrong Tree” by Eric Barker
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    Sketchbook: Working on a publishing schedule
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    Sketchbook: Planning different time scales and appropriate books
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    Sketchbook: Will Ferrell*
  • 06: Creative Confidence
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    Morning creativity routine: The Great Courses 
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    Sketchbook: my favorite apps
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    Sketchbook: morning routine
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    My morning creativity routine
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    AirPod first impressions
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    iPad Journal: A Notability time lapse 
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    iPad Journal: An intro
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    Starting this site a little too early
  • Steal like an artist, show your work, Bruce Wayne, and Batman: Austin Kleon & Chase Jarvis — Sketchnotes Video
  • 05: The Obstacle is the Way
  • Make it easy, sustainable, and consistent: Tim Ferriss and Chase Jarvis — Active Recall Sketched
  • Pull-ups for your brain, studying effectively, and skill before passion: Cal Newport and Pat Flynn — Active Recall Sketched
  • Have fun, help others, and meditate: Lessons from Drama and Lewis Howes — Active Recall Sketched
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    04: The Slight Edge
  • 03: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
  • 02: Grit
  • 01: Flow
  • Activities — Do you enjoy it? Does it go toward your goals?
Back to homepage • By Francis Cortez (@activerecall)