Peter Thiel on Steve Jobs, life lessons, and how Elon learns so quickly

Welcome back to the Z Fellows newsletter! Every Monday we share 3 ideas - to help you build companies, ship products, and create your life's work.

1: Peter Thiel on the most important lesson to learn from Steve Jobs:

“The most important lesson to learn from Jobs has nothing to do with aesthetics. The greatest thing Jobs designed was his business. Apple imagined and executed definite multi-year plans to create new products and distribute them effectively.

Forget ‘minimum viable products’—ever since he started Apple in 1976, Jobs saw that you can change the world through careful planning, not by listening to focus group feedback or copying others’ successes.

Long-term planning is often undervalued by our indefinite short-term world.”

You can change the world through careful planning and definite multi-year plans.

As Chess grandmaster Jose Capablanca said, “In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else.”

Source: Zero to One

2: Non-Obvious Life Lessons For Young People

George Mack is one of my favorite writers and thinkers on X.

When he turned 29, he wrote a post on a few non-obvious life lessons he wished he had known sooner.

Here are 3 of my favorite lessons:

1) Get Better At Giving Gifts

If you have creative or entrepreneurial friends, you can get them close to tears on a tiny budget:

1. Google “Wayback machine”

2. Find their first website or creation

3. Get it framed

It will mean more to them than any expensive cliche gift.

2) How To Be More Creative

1. Collect the best questions you hear

2. Add them to a spinning wheel app

3. Spin the wheel before bed

4. Leave the question with your subconscious overnight

5. Brainstorm on the question first thing in the morning before any inputs

3) Become Your Own IRS

I could’ve been smarter and happier by creating my own taxes:

1. Education tax - A % of income towards education and tutors

2. Gifting tax - A % of income towards gifts for other people

Even if it’s $10 per month, it’s miles better than $0.

Source: Non-Obvious Life Lessons For Young People

3: Elon Musk on How He Learns So Quicky

How do you learn so much so fast? Lots of people read books and talk to other smart people, but you’ve taken it to a whole new level.

Musk: I do kinda feel like my head is full! My context switching penalty is high and my process isolation is not what it used to be.

Frankly, though, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying.

One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.

Source: Elon Musk Q&A on Reddit

Best of The Week

See you next Monday,

- Jay + The Z Fellows Team

New here?

Subscribe here to get our email every Monday.