Teaching what I've learned from the hood, the ring, and everything in between. Join 35k other readers to learn how to manage risk, build relationships, and confront reality.
The power of weak ties: Why you need new friends
Stoic Street-Smarts |
Before we get into today's newsletter, I want to let you know that I'm finalizing my next class, "Podguesting to Profits." In this class, I'll show you how to get booked on podcasts to grow your audience and increase your dollars—without hiring a PR firm or wasting time. Learn more here. Happy New Year!! Yes, I know a week has passed, but this is the first newsletter I've sent out of 2024 (unless you've been getting my emails to the cold subscribers), so I get to wish everyone a better year than the one before—even if you owned 2023. Things will be a *little* different here from now on. Nothing too crazy, but I think these changes will make the newsletter better. The newsletter will now contain five sections
Also of note, I'm going to make an audio version of each newsletter. I'm only publishing on YouTube right now, but I'll also have an RSS feed set up soon. Today's featured product is: "I’ve never imposed calorie caps, and I didn’t get here by trying to get here. I got here by noticing that there were pain-free changes I could make to my former “eat whatever delicious food tastes good” diet that allowed me to maintain the pleasure I derived from eating without suffering as many of the consequences to my physique. I noticed there were bad things I was putting in my body that weren’t actually bringing me much pleasure and that could be easily replaced or removed. Since making several minor alterations to my diet and training style, I’ve been losing fat every year without emotional suffering." Alex is making his E-book "Ten Easy Wins For Fat Loss" free to my audience. Download here. If the link still has the price, use promo code "FRIENDOFED." Listen to this newsletter below. Like, comment, or subscribe to my growing channel. It really helps! “When we look at the experimental data, weak ties are better, on average, for job mobility than strong ties,” says Sinan Aral, a management professor at MIT and co-author of a new paper detailing the study's results, which involved millions of LinkedIn users. The old saying is, "It's not what you know, but who." The idea is that personal connections are more responsible for professional success than merit or ability. This idea is certainly observable in cases of nepotism or cronyism, but those are so obvious that they don't teach us anything useful or that we didn't already know. We need something faster and more specific. Ideally, the solution won't feel like the traditional networking that so many people dread, almost as much as they hate the idea of selling. Fortunately, the Theory of Weak Ties is here to save the day, and baked into the solution is an easy method to increase your chances of finding work, clients, friends, and romance. Stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter distinguishes between the strength of interpersonal ties in his influential work "The Strength of Weak Ties." He refers to close, intimate relationships as strong ties, while more distant connections are labeled weak ties. Our strong ties are our close friendships and family bonds. These relationships provide emotional support, a sense of belonging, and the ability to mobilize aid in distress. Strong ties are built through shared life experiences over long periods, leading to trust and reciprocity. We interact frequently with these strong tie connections, relying on each other for both affection and assistance. On the other hand, weak ties represent our broader social network acquaintances. These include old classmates we rarely talk to, distant relatives we see only occasionally, or colleagues from an old job. The interactions are more limited and often situational. But most importantly, these weak ties bridge different social circles, giving access to non-redundant sources of information and opportunities for collaboration. They expose us to fresh ideas and diverse worldviews. While our inner circle of confidants provides intimacy, the outer layer of weaker ties gives flexibility. Through weak ties, we can tap into the resources, knowledge, and perspectives of a more comprehensive array of people. It is the combination of strong ties that bond and weak ties that bridge, which enables cooperation and innovation on a societal level. Our networks gain strength and vitality when weak ties between groups are woven together. Read the rest of the newsletter on my siteSocial media round-up
Some cool content for the week
Enjoy this email? Share with friends!Have friends who would love my newsletter too? Give them your unique referral link (below) and get rewarded when they subscribe. You have referred [RH TOTREF 2 GOES HERE] people so far Forwarded this email? Sign up here. Also keep up with me on Twitter and Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel and check out my blog at edlatimore.com. |
Stoic Street Smarts
Teaching what I've learned from the hood, the ring, and everything in between. Join 35k other readers to learn how to manage risk, build relationships, and confront reality.
Let's talk about the 3 main ways men destroy their lives. I grew up in the projects and spent my 20s partying and wasting my life. Other than my amateur boxing career, I didn't have much going for me, and I came dangerously close to falling victim to all of these—and I've seen many men who grew up around me, both friends and relatives, fall victim to at least one of these and quite a few, to all three. And look, unless you end up doing life in prison or you catch a sex charge with some kids,...
Many people associate pain with defeat, loss, and failure. Boxers, on the other hand, develop a different relationship with pain. There is nothing quite like the pain you experience during the hard work of pushing your body to its limits. The conditioning and preparation that goes into boxing are incredibly difficult, unpleasant, and painful. This, itself, isn’t surprising. Perhaps more surprising is how many athletes across all sports have a similar experience. Many competitive athletes...
It's amazing how things that happened to us as children can have lasting, unexpected effects on us in adulthood. At the extremes, we know about the impact of crazy childhood trauma on adult life outcomes. For example, you're 11x more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol if you have more than four adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs require an entire post, but they’re specific traumatic events a child experiences. Abuse of all types, neglect, witnessing domestic violence—stuff on that...