The Innovators Issue No. 1

Published in

The Innovators

6 min readJul 3, 2017

This is the online issue of The Innovators. To get each issue delivered to your inbox sign up for the newsletter here or at the bottom of this post.

Here’s to the crazy ones

Welcome to the first issue of The Innovators — a bi-monthly dose of innovation, inspiration and the occasional weird and insightful tidbit, found as I attempt to bug fix life.

After a few delays, I will be launching The Innovators Podcast this month, at which point you can expect added inspiration from my guests such as Nic Haralambous, Chris Rawlinson, Aisha R Pandor, Gary Te Roller, Styli Charalambous and Tim Noakes, among many others yet to be announced.

This project is designed to evolve and your feedback is loved and appreciated — please reply to this email, comment or connect with me on any of the social networks with your suggestions or ideas.

It’s already been a wild ride and I’m looking forward to sharing The Innovators with you all.

Tom Kennedy // Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

8Bits

8 points for rapid intake

1. Read — I’ve just finished reading Dark Matter by Blake Crouch — It’s a science-fiction thriller about the “multi-verse” and the many paths we take in life. I gave it 3.5/5. I’m about to get stuck into John Sanei’s new book — What’s your Moonshot which I’ve heard many good things about. You can see a full list of books I’ve read or have been recommended over at Goodreads

2. Bookmarked — Farnam Street Blog — Some really great in depth reads — like this piece on second-order thinking — it’s worth a bookmark for sure and the newsletter is also great. Thanks to @ChrisRawlinson for the recommendation during his recent interview for podcast.

3. Signed Up — Barking up the Wrong Tree — Eric Barker uses findings in the science of human behavior to improve our performance at work and home. So far I’ve been finding it to be really insightful. Sign up here [Click]

4. Installed — I’ve just installed Taskful — it offers a really simple way for you to keep track of tasks. The UI is really simple and fresh. I’m not sure it’s going to knock Bear off my dock but it’s worth giving it a try — maybe it’s what you’re looking for.

5. Watched — It has to be Tim Ferris this week. His new TED Talk looks at why you should define your fears instead of your goals. Tim says this is the most powerful exercise he does. It’s a great watch. Check it out here

6. Hacked — I’ve been testing the free tier of an “AI” email assistant called Amy by the clever folk at X.ai. So far she’s scheduled 5 meetings for me and we didn’t have a single hiccup. It’s also been a great conversation starter with those contacts.

7. Listened — I’ve recently started listening to the Joe Rogan Experience quite a bit and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. This episode with Steve-O was something a little different and had me laughing quite a bit. There’s also an interesting part about South Africa towards the end. Give it a listen and take a look at his other episodes — Guy Richie, Sebastian Junger and Jordan Peterson have all been great so far. Listen here

8. Followed — I stumbled across Max Lugavere while looking into the recent coconut oil controversy with the American Heart Association. Max is a self described researcher and content creator focused on evidenced-based principles of healthy aging, cognitive performance, and neurodegenerative disease prevention. You can find his Facebook page here

What are you up to?

Let me know what you’ve been consuming, testing or trying out so I can give it a whirl and possibly add it to one of the upcoming newsletters. You can connect with me via the social links below or by emailing tom@theinnovators.co.za. Please don’t send me SPAM though.

Future Now

A quick look into the future // Augmented Reality

Future Now // Augmented Reality

A look into the future

medium.com

*The full article above is included in the email version of the newsletter.

Try this

Life hacks I’m attempting at the moment.

Ever heard of The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything? I hadn’t until I read this post. It’s essentially 4 simple steps to learn anything, fast:

Choose a Concept
Imagine teaching it to a Toddler
Identify Gaps and Go Back to The Source Material
Review and Simplify

I’ve been adopting this technique for some of the upcoming posts on the site and I’ve found it pretty amazing.

So if you’re curious about the best way to learn new subjects and identify gaps in our existing knowledge? I recommend you read this in full and find out more. [Click] and then this [Click]

Longer Reads

Some longer but very interesting tidbits from the week gone by

In Focus // July

Blockchain

Each month a topic I’m personally unpacking will be in focus. This month it’s the technology taking the world by storm, Blockchain. Get started with the links below.

Blockchain the New technology of Trust — An amazing piece by Goldman Sachs. View this link on a mobile device, it’s an amazing experience.
What is Blockchain Technology? [CoinDesk] — Great starting point with loads of links that will let you delve deeper into the technology and ecosystem. Great starting point!
What is Blockchain Technology? [BlockGeeks] — Another great starting point with some great examples of the potential technologies that could be disrupted.
Blockchain, What You Need to Know from Harvard Business Review Podcast — Karim Lakhani, Harvard Business School Professor unpacks what you need to know about Blockchain.

News // Local

Local Innovators making waves

Ryan Sandes won the original 100 mile trail race, The Western States Endurance Run in a time of 16 hours, 19 minutes and 39 seconds. Incredible achievement!

Wayde Van Niekerk smashed a world record that had stood for 17 years. He ran the 300 metres in 30.81 seconds, eclipsing Michael Johnson’s previous best of 30.85 seconds.

Biochemistry graduate Lungelo Mandyoli had a stutter since childhood‚ but that hasn’t prevented him from achieving a smooth academic career trajectory‚ which has earned him a prestigious international scholarship. Read on

Have you seen or heard stories like the above? Please send them in so I can highlight them in upcoming issues!

Guest News

News from upcoming guests on The Innovators

Dan Mace went and set a new record by winning his third Young Director Award in two years at Cannes Lions 2017, a South African record. You can catch him on The Innovators soon. Read more

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Have a wonderful week