Good morning, friends!

Yesterday, my friend Terrell Johnson (the author of the excellent newsletter The Half Marathoner) brought to my attention that ultra-marathoner Courtney Dauwalter had won the 2022 Hard Rock 100.

iRunFar @iRunFar

Courtney Dauwalter (@SalomonSports) wins the 2022 Hardrock 100 in a clockwise and overall course record of 26:44:38. Diana Finkel previously had the CW record of 28:32 (2010) and overall record of 27:18:24 (2009). Our pre-race chat with Courtney: i-rn.fr/22HR100-Courtn… #HR100

July 16th 2022

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Needless to say, this race is a monster. It’s a 100.5-mile ultramarathon with 33,000 feet of climb at an average elevation of over 11,000 feet. As I read the news, I revisited the Profile Dossier I wrote on Dauwalter back in 2020.

There’s something unique about Dauwalter in that she’s one of the most decorated ultra-runners yet she’s extraordinarily humble about it all. Joe Rogan once said this about her: “When you talk to her, she seems so normal. You’re like, ‘Where’s your demon?’ Her demon’s a quiet demon. It’s there … it has to be.”

Dauwalter credits her success to being able to master the art of suffering. She has managed to stay calm even through bouts of severe nausea, a bleeding head injury, and temporary blindness. “I don’t think those types of pain and suffering are signs you should stop,” she says. “I mean, I troubleshoot and try to fix what’s causing it, but my solution is usually to just keep going.”

At some points, Dauwalter has been so sleep-deprived that she began experiencing bizarre hallucinations. During races, she says she’s seen flying eels, leopards in hammocks, a cello player, and dozens of cats covering the trail ahead. Despite the challenges she’s encountered over the years, Dauwalter believes people can endure far more than they think is currently possible.

Whether it’s a 100-mile race or this ultra-marathon we call life, we’ve all been through pain, suffering, and truly terrible moments. As I thought about this, I wanted to re-surface an article I published on the tactics people like Dauwalter use to build resilience.

I hope you find this valuable, and as always, I welcome any tips you yourself have found useful.

The Profile

7 Mentally Tough People on the Tactics They Use to Build Resilience

Lauren Johnson is a mental performance coach who most recently worked with the New York Yankees, where she helped develop strategies for athletes and sports professionals to help them cultivate mental resilience. In this conversation, Johnson and I deconstruct the strategies and tactics of seven mentally tough people and how they learned to perform under…

Read more

a year ago · 35 likes · 7 comments · Polina Pompliano

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THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, premium members received The Profile Dossier, a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Khaby Lame, TikTok’s biggest star. Become a premium member, and read it below.

The Profile

The Profile Dossier: Khaby Lame, TikTok’s Biggest Star

Khaby Lame is the king of TikTok. With 140 million followers, Khaby Lame is the most popular creator on the social media app. And here’s the kicker — he got to the top without ever saying a single word. That’s right. Millions of his followers likely have no idea what Lame’s voice sounds like because they haven’t heard him speak. He has called his silent r…

Read more

4 days ago · 6 likes · Polina Pompliano

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PROFILES.

— The children of YouTube [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The mountain climber who came back from the dead
— The woo-woo agents of real estate
— America’s lotto-winner whisperer
— The startup creating meat from thin air

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The children of YouTube: There are now hundreds of children whose everyday existence has been broadcast fodder since birth. “Family vlogging” took off when Idaho father Shay Butler began uploading videos of his children in 2008. This means the world’s oldest “Truman babies” are now hitting their teens. Unlike Truman, these children haven’t been misled, the people around them aren’t actors; they’re aware they’re on YouTube and that the world they live in isn’t a film set. But still, thousands of strangers have observed their every move. This profile features the “family vloggers” of this first heavily documented generation. (Rolling Stone)

“There were times when I was a lot younger that I didn’t want to be filmed but I couldn’t verbalise that.”

The mountain climber who came back from the dead: Mitsutaka Uchikoshi was hiking down a mountain alone when he lost his footing, causing him to slip, knock his head and break his pelvis. Unable to move or call for help, he lay wounded on the side of the mountain. He passed out. He was found after 24 days. Uchikoshi was extremely hypothermic and cold to the touch. Many of his organs were failing. According to news reports at the time, Uchikoshi's doctors reasoned he had fallen into a state "similar to hibernation," just like a groundhog might. He shouldn’t have survived. This story attempts to explain one of the most extreme cases of superhuman survival. (CNet)

"This will surely impact regenerative medicine or transplantation medicine.”

The woo-woo agents of real estate: A new type of person has emerged in this moment of global uncertainty: The woo-woo agent of real estate. These are the brokers navigating a wildly unpredictable housing market not only with vast sets of data or detailed trend predictions but with a finger on the pulse of the universe itself. As the country faces unprecedented prices, bidding wars, and all-cash offers, they are attuned to ~energies~ as well as interest rates — evidence of both how desperate people have become for housing and the ways they are coping with the market’s madness. What a story.

“The energy they put out there is what helped them attract the house.”

America’s lotto-winner whisperer: Jay Kurland cultivated a nationally known practice advising Powerball and Mega Millions winners bewildered by their sudden riches. In 2018, he started representing the biggest solo lottery winner of all time, a woman who’d bought a $1.5 billion ticket at a convenience store in South Carolina. As Kurland racked up more and richer clients, he started looking for more innovative ways to multiply their money — until he lost them. Here’s how his scheme came crashing down. (Bloomberg; reply to this email if you can’t access this story)

“A lot of these winners are not sophisticated enough to see it, so you really have to rely on the professionals.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The startup creating meat from thin air: In the 1960s, NASA wanted to make food by capturing the carbon dioxide breathed out by the astronauts, concentrating it, and then feeding it to microbes in a fermentation vessel. That’s essentially what alternative meat startup Air Protein does. Using recycled carbon dioxide, the company made an equivalent to chicken and scallops. Beef and pork are on the way. That all sounds great, but what do these products actually taste like? (Neo Life)

“There’s still a lot of different oils and ingredients that don’t look like food and that’s holding the market back.”

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. If you would like to get full access to all of the recommendations, including today’s audio and video sections, sign up below.

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AUDIO TO HEAR.

Ryan Holiday on the timelessness of stoicism: From movie characters to entertaining Instagram accounts, Marcus Aurelius is one historical figure that's enjoyed the spotlight in recent years. However, once you cut through the noise that comes with his popularizing stoicism, you'll find that the private thoughts documented in Marcus' diary are still familiar and relevant 1,842 years after his death. "We should not be able to relate with his experience," says author Ryan Holiday. "Meditations was never meant to be published. In his writing without an audience, Marcus was unflinchingly honest with himself that he touched something universally human." (Link available to premium members.)

Jess Lee on building customer loyalty: From DTC to web3 and even B2B circles, the word ‘community’ has nearly lost its meaning. But what does it truly mean to build a community, and how can companies create one that’s more than a defunct Discord server? “The reason community's so relevant for business is that it's the ultimate growth engine,” says Sequoia Capital partner Jess Lee. “The best companies, in both consumer and enterprise, know that and really cultivate that obsessed, loyal group of community members.” (Link available to premium members.)

VIDEOS TO SEE.

Joe Rogan on handling criticism: As much as we'd like nothing but positive comments on our work, creators are all too aware of the possibility of destructive criticism—which can be a lot to handle. Joe Rogan who's no stranger to receiving critical remarks shares his tactics for dealing with internet vitriol. "You're not supposed to be taking in the opinion of the world," he says. "You're supposed to be taking in the opinion of small groups of people that you encounter so that you get an understanding of how you make them feel." (Link available to premium members.)

Laurie Santos on rewiring your brain for happiness: Laurie Santos created the most popular course in the 300-year history of Yale University and the most talked-about college course in America. It’s called PSYC 157: Psychology and the Good Life. In this talk, she goes over the things we can do to lead calmer and happier lives. (Link available to premium members.)

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