Sahil Bloom shares a Friday Five issue covering an energy-auditing calendar method, a builder's mindset, negotiation reframes, and a daily stretching protocol.
Meaning
This Friday Five issue opens with a quote on having courage to act rather than spectate, then introduces "The Energy Calendar," a method of color-coding each day's events as energy-creating, neutral, or draining to learn what to amplify, delegate, or delete. Bloom profiles entrepreneur Val Katayev to draw out builder traits—a bias for action on curiosities, spotting non-obvious arbitrage, and a permissionless mindset. He closes with negotiation ideas from Barry Nalebuff's "Split the Pie" (focusing on "yes, if" and growing the pie) and a research-backed daily stretching routine he plans to adopt alongside cold plunges and breathing exercises.
The author, in their own words
One Quote:
It's easy to sling rocks from the sidelines. It's hard to stand in the arena.
The one in the arena need not worry about the opinions of the crowd.
One Framework:
The Energy Calendar
I spent most of my 20s having very little respect for my own time. I would accept every meeting request, take every call, and attend every function. There was a plus side to this—saying “yes” to a lot of things expands your luck surface area.
But in my 30s, it no longer makes sense. I began to realize I needed to push for efficiency, leverage, and focus. This would mean saying no more often. The problem? Identifying what to cut and what to prioritize in a schedule can be really challenging.
To solve this, I created something I call "The Energy Calendar":
At the end of every weekday, I go through and color-code my calendar from the day that just finished.
Green = Energy Creating
Yellow = Neutral
Red = Energy Draining
I don’t spend too much time thinking about which bucket each item fell into—I try to trust my gut.
An example day might look like this:
At the end of the week, I zoom out, look at my calendar, and ask a few questions:
What are the common energy creating activities? These should be prioritized and amplified.
What are the common neutral activities? These should be delegated.
What are the common energy draining activities? These should be delegated or deleted.
I’m looking for specifics and trends--to learn from the prior week and use that new information to inform decisions about my schedule in the weeks ahead.
The ultimate goal is to have an extremely high Green:Red Ratio.
After a few weeks of doing this, it becomes second nature to prioritize your time in this manner. You'll start naturally prioritizing the energy creating activities and avoiding the energy draining activities (where possible).
This simple trick has allowed me to spend more time in my flow state--more time leveraging my edge and playing games I am uniquely well-suited to win.
Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
One Tweet:
Val is an impressive entrepreneur. You've never heard of him, but he seems to like it that way. He's built a $10m+ profit engine on several occasions across a variety of industries--including becoming one of the largest Google ad buyers as a kid in his parent's basement...
There are no shortage of opportunities--just a shortage of people willing and able to capitalize on them.
A few tactical themes I've observed with successful builders:
"Hmmm, That's Interesting" Framework: Many of Val's business ideas began with his recognition of something that made him go "hmmm" about a new market or opportunity. Rather than register it as interesting and walk away (like most of us), Val developed a bias for action to always go deeper when this instinct hit.
Identify the Arbitrage: With every market, there is the obvious and the non-obvious. The obvious has the competition and lower profit margins. The non-obvious isn't sexy, but it's where all the profit is. These opportunities may be fleeting--arbitrage gets squeezed out quickly--but if you become adept at identifying and capitalizing on it, you can make a lot of profit along the way.
Zero Permission Mindset: Most people self-sabotage by saying "I don't know anything about [X], so can't operate there." Successful builders have realized that technology has created a more permissionless world. There are no gatekeepers holding you back from identifying and capitalizing on digital opportunities.
Great thread and worth a read!
One Article:
How to Negotiate Better and Get What You Want (Without Looking Like a Jerk)
This article is an interview with Yale School of Management professor Barry Nalebuff on the topic of his most recent book (Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate).
The central thesis is that each negotiation has "a pie" and that correctly identifying the nature and size of it is the most critical aspect of effective negotiation.
Two ideas I found particularly interesting:
Focus on "yes, if" rather than "no, unless" in negotiations. This simple reframe--towards things that they can do for you that will make it a yes--makes it a more positive experience and more likely to end in a mutually beneficial outcome.
Aim to make the pie bigger in a negotiation. This means asking for things that are cheap for the counter-party and valuable to you.
I will probably buy a copy of the book to go deeper on these topics.
One Podcast:
Huberman Lab: Improve Flexibility with Research-Supported Stretching Protocols
Most of us have chronic flexibility issues that will inevitably lead to injuries, inflammation, and impact our recovery time. This episode of the Huberman Lab podcast goes deep on how to fight back with stretching protocols.
If you aren't a bio-hacker or fitness nerd (i.e. you don't want to spend 2 hours listening to a podcast on stretching), a few actionable notes:
Select the body parts where you have the most chronic tightness. For most of us, that would include our hamstrings, hips, quads, and shoulders.
Choose 1 stretching exercise for each body part.
Every day, do a routine of 30 second holds of each stretching exercise. 30 seconds on, rest for 15 seconds--that's one set. Do 3 sets of each exercise.
I am going to implement a few new health and fitness protocols in July and will plan to document the journey. My three core habits to create:
Daily 5 minute cold plunge
Daily static stretching routine
Daily breathing exercises
Key Passages
"He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch." - Jean-Luc Godard
It's easy to sling rocks from the sidelines. It's hard to stand in the arena.
There are no shortage of opportunities--just a shortage of people willing and able to capitalize on them.
The ultimate goal is to have an extremely high Green:Red Ratio.
This simple trick has allowed me to spend more time in my flow state--more time leveraging my edge and playing games I am uniquely well-suited to win.