Keeping Up With The Best 🥈 [Weekend Wrap 98]

Hey Reader,

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of talking about million dollar newsletters at the Nashville Podcaster meetup. You can read the articles that (most) of the presentation was about at TheMillionDollarNewsletter.com or scroll through the threads below.

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But first, shout-out to ConvertKit for sponsoring the newsletter this month (again!). Their creator network is an absolute game-changer for bringing new subscribers to the WRAP — referred by 33 other newsletter creators for over 1,000 new subscribers! There are hundreds, soon to be thousands, of newsletters on the network.

To make it easier, try ConvertKit’s new match tool and discover and share other creators to connect with and recommend. Don’t go it alone, grow your list with ConvertKit’s creator network.

💡 One Big Idea: Keeping Up With The Best

My favorite show right now is The Bear on FX/Hulu. The characters, the look, the grittiness, the over and over again nature of things falling apart keeps me hooked. The show centers around a talented young chef taking over the family restaurant.

The Bear makes me think of a lot of things, but in this case it’s the difficulty of doing something you love and feel strongly about, even when it’s hard. Today, I want to share a scene from season 2, episode 4, Honeydew.

Many ambitious, productive people want to be the best. Even if they don’t say it explicitly, there’s an internal drive and competition with their peers and (for me) people on the internet.

In this scene of The Bear, Luca (played by Will Poulter, on the right) talks about how he was the best… until he started working with this other chef. This other chef was much better than Luca. But instead of fighting it, putting more pressure on himself, creating competition and stress with the other chef… he accepted it. He changed his entire mindset just to keep up with the guy.

In doing that, Luca became better than he ever thought he could be. Maybe not better than the other chef. But clearly a better chef than what he was capable of, if they had never started working together.

This mindset is a tricky balance. To stay motivated even when you know someone else is better than you. To accept that and become the you can be, allowing the better person to pull you ahead to your own greatness.

👀 One Video to Watch: Parasocial Relationships in Podcasts

Besides encouraging you to watch The Bear, I really liked this interview of Tim Ferriss on the Colin and Samir show. I specifically linked to a section where they’re discussing parasocial relationships in long-form content.

Here’s the gist: many of us have heard the concept “you’re the average of the people you spend the most time with” — but what if the people you spend the most time with… you don’t actually know? This is what often happens with podcasters, especially in long-form.

I never really thought of my podcast habit in this way. I’m in a one-way relationship with a few show hosts that I spend an hour (or more) with each week. It really made me rethink how I engage with shows and the time I spend with them.

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🧵 One Thread I Read: 7 Summer Dad Hacks

ICYMI, I went viral on a thread about my “golden hour mornings” with Ben. Another great Twitter Dad I’ve been connecting with is Jon Finkel, an author who also has a regular rotation of fun and helpful Dad content. We’re halfway through summer, but my guess is you’ll use these tips throughout the year.

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Have a great weekend,

Matt Ragland

p.s. if you have a (literal) minute to share feedback, click here.