Hey family!
This week’s treasure features the power of a smile, the science of meditation, and a couple pieces on videos.
But first…
Welcome To My Podcast, World
This past week, I launched a podcast. Currently, there are five episodes available for download. New episodes will drop Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Here’s my commitment with the podcast: 100 episodes will get published.
So far, the reviews have been absolutely incredible. I’ve been overwhelmed with the support. You can check them out here.
If you haven’t listened yet, I’d love your feedback!
The Power of A Smile
This blew my mind:
Researchers at the University of Michigan flashed one of three images for less than one hundredth of a second in front of participants: a smiling face, an angry face, or a neutral face. The subjects then had to indicate whether they liked a randomly selected Chinese symbol (the participants didn’t speak Chinese). Most preferred symbol that immediately followed the smiling face.
(Source: The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli)
What does this mean?
1. The positivity of those around us is important and impacts us. Therefore your positivity influences others.
2. We are capable of being influenced in ways we do not even understand.
3. Smile more.
How Does Meditation Actually Work?
Meditation is really odd, if you think about it.
You sit down, focus on your breath (or nothingness), and then your brain actually changes?
That sounds fake.
This thread, from Tuesday Treasure reader Kunal, displays the science of the practice from the perspective of a skeptic.
Some key points that stood out:
- Why meditation increases empathy
- Why most people fail to build the habit (lack of instant gratification)
- 10 minutes for 10 days is better than 100 minutes once every 10 days
The entire thread is worth checking out.
The Most Watched Video In The History of the World
Video, as a medium of consumption, is relatively new. Never before has the world been able to consume video so effortlessly.
YouTube is the leading video provider on the Internet.
So that would make the most watched video on YouTube… the most watched video in the history of the world.
And would would that be?
Well, it’s the Despacito music video… which has 6.9 billion views.
Growth Hacking On Steroids
On the topic of videos…
Eric Decker (not the football player) is an up-and-coming YouTuber.
He started 2020 with 50 subscribers. Now he has 600,000 people following his work.
How?
He leveraged other celebrities and YouTube creators to create virality.
This one story in particular showed his guts:
Decker knew Logan Paul (a popular YouTuber) was trying to get rid of his extremely, extremely expensive couch. So he took out a $17,500 loan. And showed up to Paul’s house with the intention of making the money back with by going viral with his “Buying Logan Paul’s $17,500 Couch” video.
It was a bet on himself. And it paid off handsomely.
If you’d like to learn more into Eric’s thought process behind this idea, you can watch this video.
That’s all for this week.
As always, respond back with your favorite piece of treasure.
To your success,
Danny