By Colby Kultgen
A Video Literally Everyone Should Watch, The Best Question to Ask Someone, and How to Beat Anxiety
Read online / Read time: 3 minutes
Today at a Glance:
• A tool that cut my typing time in half
• A video everyone should watch
• A quote that’ll push you to take action
• A list of great questions to ask someone
• A chart to rethink how you spend time
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A tool that cut my typing time in half
I’ve tested out lots of voice dictation apps.
The vast majority of them left me frustrated with their constant errors and awkward formatting.
Flow is different.
It’s an AI-powered dictation tool that transcribes and formats your thoughts in real time, so you can just speak and let it do the heavy lifting.
I’m consistently amazed at how accurate and natural the output is.
Here's how it works:
- Hold a keyboard shortcut
- Speak
- Let Flow do the rest
No typos.
No weird formatting.
Just clean, natural text.
You can try it for free here.
A friend sent me this incredible video last week.
It’s the clearest explanation I’ve ever seen for why cooperation works in life, business, and relationships.
The video describes a famous concept called The Prisoner’s Dilemma:
A game where two people must choose whether to cooperate or defect (act in their own self-interest)—with the best overall outcome only possible if both choose to work together.
To test what strategies work best over time, scientists ran a computer simulation where different programs played the game over and over.
Some tried to trick others.
Some were brutally unforgiving.
Some just cooperated no matter what.
Here are 3 the big takeaways that stuck with me:
1. The 4 traits of winning strategies
The most successful programs all shared four qualities:
- Nice – They never defect first.
- Forgiving – They don’t hold grudges.
- Retaliatory – They push back when needed.
- Clear – Their behavior is easy to understand and predict.
This turns out to be a pretty solid operating system for real life:
Be kind, but don’t get walked on.
Forgive, but don’t forget.
Be consistent, so others know where you stand.
———
2. A small group of good players can change the system
Even in a population full of self-interested or hostile players, a small cluster of cooperative players can survive, spread, and eventually dominate.
It's a powerful metaphor for changing toxic work cultures, politics, or even social dynamics.
Change often starts small, with a few aligned individuals modeling better behavior.
———
3. Most of life isn’t zero-sum
We often default to zero-sum thinking.
Where one person’s gain must come at another’s expense.
But most of life doesn’t work that way.
In repeated interactions, like relationships, partnerships, or teams, long-term success comes from mutual benefit, not one-upmanship.
You don’t have to take from someone else to succeed. In fact, you’re often better off when everyone around you is doing well, too.
A quote on why action kills anxiety
Writer Charles Miller on getting in the arena:
Action kills anxiety. You only feel afraid of doing the thing when you’re not doing the thing. Once you’re doing it, you just focus on doing it. If you want to get fit, go to the gym. Right now. If you want to build a business, find one thing you can do and do it. Right now. If you want to expand your network, start sending cold DMs. Right now. If you want a romantic partner, join a group where you might meet someone. Right now. The more you procrastinate, the worse you’ll feel. Get in the arena. It’s ironically easier to be in it than anxiously watching and waiting on the sidelines.
This is so true.
The anticipation of doing something new or unknown is almost always worse than actually doing it.
Therefore, your best option is to just do the dang thing!
Consider this:
What’s one way you can “get in the arena” this week?
A list of great questions to ask someone
I feel like every time you see a list of "great questions to ask" it's always super boring and cliché like: "What's your biggest fear?"
That's why I love this list.
It's a unique mix of profound and completely silly questions, and I know I'll be stealing a few of them.
It also inspired me to put together a short list of my own:
- What's the smallest hill you'll die on?
- What’s a compliment you still remember years later?
- What’s the last thing you changed your mind about?
- What’s a random skill you’re weirdly competitive about?
- What do you wish people asked you about more often?
- What's your drunken karaoke song?
Your challenge this week:
Send me your favorite not-so-obvious question to ask someone.
Serious, silly—anything goes.
I'll reply to each one with a rating out of 10.
A chart about finding meaning in life
The older I get, the more I agree with this tweet.
Of course there’s a lot of nuance missing here. You don’t need to start a band or build a society to live a meaningful life.
But in general, creating things with people you like is one of the most fulfilling things we can do as humans.
If you enjoyed this issue, please:
- Reply telling me why
- Share it with someone else
Have a great week!
—Colby
