Good morning, friends!

On Wednesday, I published my weekly Profile Dossier, and I chose to feature the comedian Jerry Seinfeld. I wasn’t too familiar with Seinfeld beyond his comedy specials, but I listened to his interview with Tim Ferriss, and it piqued my curiosity.

I worked on this Dossier back in March, and you can see a detailed account on what it takes to put together a Dossier below. (I’ve unlocked this Dossier for everyone, but if you’re interested in receiving more of these deep dives, consider becoming a premium member here.)

Polina @polina_marinova

Readers often ask me: "What does your writing process look like for one of your Profile Dossiers?" The Profile Dossier is a comprehensive deep dive on a person that I publish every Wednesday. Here's a detailed account of my process👇

March 28th 2022

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My Dossier on Seinfeld was wide-ranging, but the one insight that stayed with me long after I wrote it was around how Seinfeld thinks about will versus love. When Howard Stern asked him whether he willed his way to success, here’s how he responded:

“I’m going to adjust your perspective a little bit. That was no will. What you were using, what Michael Jordan uses and what I use, is not will. It’s love. When you love something, it’s a bottomless pool of energy. That’s where the energy comes from.

“But you have to love it sincerely. Not because you’re going to make money from it, be famous, or get whatever you want to get. When you do it because you love it, then you can find yourself moving up and getting really good at something you wanted to be really good at. Will is like not eating dessert or something that’s just forcing yourself. You can’t force yourself to be what you have made yourself into. You can love it. Love is endless. Will is finite.”

In this Dossier, you’ll learn about Seinfeld’s discipline of being funny, why he believes systems promote creativity, and how good writing starts by training the mind.

Read the Full Dossier Here

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PODCAST 🎙: I recently chatted with Jay Clouse on his podcast “Creative Elements” about the economics behind a paid newsletter, the most effective growth strategies, why the secret to a great profile is found in the details, and so much more. Check it out here.

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✨ A WORD FROM OUR PARTNER ✨: David Perell coined the term “personal monopoly,” referring to the unique intersection of your set of skills, experiences, and ideas. Perell has become the go-to guy for writing online, and has helped thousands of students create their own personal monopolies. He’s created a free guide to help you uncover your strengths, clearly communicate your value, and start building your reputation online with a free lesson from his Write of Passage course. You can access it here.

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PROFILES.

— The man who threw away 8,000 bitcoin [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The teacher who built America’s greatest math team
— The most popular audiobook narrator
— The Disney World for bodybuilders
— The startup peddling political ideologies

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The man who threw away 8,000 bitcoin: James Howells had two identical laptop hard drives squirreled away in a drawer in 2013. One was blank; he says the other contained 8,000 bitcoins — now worth about $181 million, even after the recent crypto crash. Nine years later, he's determined to get back his stash, which he mined in 2009. Howells is hoping local authorities will let him stage a high-tech treasure hunt for the buried bitcoins. His problem is that he can't get into the dump. Now, armed with $11 million in venture funding, he’s ready to search up to 110,000 tons of garbage. (Business Insider, reply to this email if you can’t access this article)

"It would be just a fantastic success story to help him get it back and prove everyone wrong really.”

The teacher who built America’s greatest math team: The Buchholz High School math team is a dynasty built by one teacher with a strategy for identifying talent, maximizing potential, and optimizing the American system of education. The man behind it is a teacher named Will Frazer. The big difference between a traditional honors class and Frazer’s class is the way students learn to approach tricky problems. He believes that pattern recognition is a more useful skill—in math, and in life—than cloning questions his students might have seen on their homework the night before. Here’s how Frazer created a dynasty. (The Wall Street Journal; this is a complimentary link, but reply to this article if you still can’t access the story)

“A club is a social organization. A team comes together to win.”

The most popular audiobook narrator: Julia Whelan, 38, is the soothing, assured female voice behind Gillian Flynn’s thriller “Gone Girl,” Tara Westover’s memoir “Educated” and more than 400 (!) other audiobooks, as well as the narrated versions of many articles for New York, The New Yorker and other magazines. “Narrating a book really is a performance,” she said, “and it can be harder to do than acting, because I can’t use my eyes or a facial expressions to convey something to the audience.” Take a look at what it takes to become the most in-demand audiobook narrator. (The New York Times)

“I have an absolute voice crush on her.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The Disney World for bodybuilders: The Summer Shredding Classic, an annual bodybuilding competition, was started by Christian Guzman, a 29-year-old international fitness superstar. His empire includes a clothing line and a line of low-calorie, high-caffeine beverages. His newest endeavor is his riskiest and most expensive yet: Alphaland, a 30,000-square-foot fitness center plopped down in an office park in Guzman’s hometown. It has three gyms, a restaurant, a VIP lounge, a retail space, a soccer field, and two basketball courts. He’s calling it “Disneyland for bodybuilders,” and he hopes that people will come to Missouri City to vlog their workouts the way they make pilgrimages to take a selfie with Mickey Mouse. (Texas Monthly)

“Tanning is not required, but it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.”

The startup peddling political ideologies: What do a Real Housewife, an Olympic athlete, and a doula have in common? They’re all being paid by an ad-tech startup called “Urban Legend” as influencers—peddling not products but ideologies. Meet the influencer lobbyists all over your Instagram account. (WIRED)

“You’re getting paid to manipulate your followers. Somebody with 3,000 followers is now, essentially, a lobbyist.”

✨ 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.

AUDIO TO HEAR.

Luis von Ahn on expediting your career: There’s all sorts of advice on how to fast-track your career: “Don’t work at the same company for more than 3 years; Only interview at startups when you’re starting out” and so on. You’ll find that most of this is fluff, but one that isn’t is this tip from Duolingo co-founder Luis von Ahn “If you actually want to get a job, I would say the most important thing is to find a way to become useful,” he says. “Finding ways to become useful and crucial for the company will get you more perks and promotions than having this attitude of ‘What are you going to do for me?’” (Link available to premium members.)

Leah Solivan on the power of ambition: When Leah Solivan ran out of dog food for her hungry 100-pound dog, she wondered: Can’t there be a better way for me to get him food immediately without having to go to the store? That was the question that gave her the idea for TaskRabbit, a startup that allows you to hire “taskers” to perform everyday tasks. Solivan left her corporate, cushy job at IBM to pursue this idea. “There was an incident on my team where one of the other engineers called me ambitious,” says Solivan. “He said it like it was a problem. I was super confused because his tone didn’t make sense to me. That was part of what made me realize IBM wasn’t the long-term fit for me because I was ambitious and had a fire in my belly.” (Link available to premium members.)

VIDEOS TO SEE.

Jay-Z on surrendering control: This rare interview with Jay Z is a must-watch. He explains the foundational principles of acceptance and relinquishing control in business and in life. "Things don't happen to you, they happen for you," says the billionaire rapper. "You can't control the future. You can only control what you can control." (Link available to premium members.)

Edith Hall on Aristotelian happiness: From his arguments on politics to his contribution to the performing arts, Aristotle is one philosopher that needs no introduction. However, his thoughts on the ever-elusive subject of happiness aren’t as widely known. “Arisotle thought happiness wasn’t a state; it’s a process,” explains Edith Hall, an Aristotelian scholar. “You can think of it as not being not a noun, but a verb. You do happiness, in and out, every day. It’s your attitude to life.” (Link available to premium members.)

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