Relentless
00:51:51 · Brian Armstrong
[00:51:51] S0: of that volatility before even being a public company. And, I mean, there was periods of, like, three years of crypto winter where I remember, like, 30... 25, 30% of the company quit, and it was just like, they think it's over. And I'd go I'd go to interviews with, like, journalists, and they'd be like, so now that crypto's over, what are you gonna do next? So, yeah, what is it about my personality? I mean, well, first of all, I think it's like anything. You know, if you get more reps on it, you start to... It doesn't affect you as much. Right? So it's it's kinda... Actually kinda funny. Like, the Bitcoin price just recently came down from about, like, 125 to, like, 60 or something. Now it started to go back up again. And part of me was like, man, that was like a pretty mild winter. Know, like, I think everybody kind of lost their mind for a bit, and we saw all the same tropes come out. But part of me was like three months. That that was it. Like, we get... You know, I've been through, like, three year crypto winters, like... And so... Anyway, I think that the winters are getting a lot more mild now, which is good. I... I'm a pretty... Like, emotionally, I'm a pretty steady person. Like, I don't think I feel high highs the way that some people do, but I also don't feel the depths of the lows. It's a more moderated sine wave or something. And, you know, I can kind of, like, develop a routine where every morning, it's like I just try to get after it, you know? And usually when I wake up in the morning, was like, I'm kind of tired and like, this thing sucks. And and, you know, I kind of have to, like, get my mind right in the beginning of the day. And I have, like, a routine for that where I'd, like, do some exercise and, like, you know, write down what I want to get done and sort of dust myself off and be like, alright. Let's get ready for
00:53:26 · Ty Morse, Brian Armstrong
[00:53:26] S1: Do you actively just say no phone for the first, like, thirty minutes or, like, after a workout or something like this? [00:53:32] S0: Well, I think it's better to... Like, what I try to do... I'll tell you what I try to do and then what actually happens in practice. What I try to do and happens probably 50% of the time is that I'm just listening to, I would call it like positive learning development stuff in the morning. So it's like podcasts, audiobooks, which I can usually ingest those like on a, you know, some multiplier, faster than reading, actually. Most people are better at reading than listening. I'm better at listening than reading. But I... So I start off the day trying to ingest something inspiring, like educational, and then, yeah, like, at a certain point, usually the day gets started, and you kind of jump into the flow of things. I also try to start the day really with the things that are the most important for me to get done and then dip into, like, the flow of whatever it is, like x or Slack or or something like that. That doesn't happen every day. Some days, it's like you wake up, and there's someone you have... The only time you can call them is, like, in the morning while you're working out, and I do, like, calls in the gym sometimes too. So [00:54:32] S1: That's interesting. I don't know if you used to hike a lot or still hike a lot, but what has been the role of hiking and, like, getting your mind right and thinking longer term and and these sorts of things?
00:54:32 · Ty Morse, Brian Armstrong
[00:54:32] S1: That's interesting. I don't know if you used to hike a lot or still hike a lot, but what has been the role of hiking and, like, getting your mind right and thinking longer term and and these sorts of things? [00:54:43] S0: Yeah. I I actually think just generally, like, movement of your body is good. Hiking has the benefit of it being in nature too. So there's good studies on this where it's just like nature and a little exercise is, like, very positive for all kinds of things, like, health wise, but even psychologically. I think there's actually some study I've read where, like, there was, like, people recovering in a hospital room, and they... One group of people, they, like, had a window to look at a tree or something, and then another group of people, they went on walks outside, and they even did, like, a control test where one group of people, they had to go outside in a wheelchair. So they weren't allowed to walk, but they were allowed to be in nature and come back. So they were kind of trying to tease it apart of basically like, is it the movement? Is it the nature? Do you have to just like see a tree or do you have to be amongst the trees? They even have Did feel the trees? Yeah. I think even one of them, they like had a paint, like a... It was just had like a picture on the wall of a tree. It wasn't even a real tree. And that even had a positive benefit. If people were recovering in a hospital room and they even had a picture of a tree, it actually helped.
00:54:43 · Brian Armstrong, Ty Morse
[00:54:43] S0: Yeah. I I actually think just generally, like, movement of your body is good. Hiking has the benefit of it being in nature too. So there's good studies on this where it's just like nature and a little exercise is, like, very positive for all kinds of things, like, health wise, but even psychologically. I think there's actually some study I've read where, like, there was, like, people recovering in a hospital room, and they... One group of people, they, like, had a window to look at a tree or something, and then another group of people, they went on walks outside, and they even did, like, a control test where one group of people, they had to go outside in a wheelchair. So they weren't allowed to walk, but they were allowed to be in nature and come back. So they were kind of trying to tease it apart of basically like, is it the movement? Is it the nature? Do you have to just like see a tree or do you have to be amongst the trees? They even have Did feel the trees? Yeah. I think even one of them, they like had a paint, like a... It was just had like a picture on the wall of a tree. It wasn't even a real tree. And that even had a positive benefit. If people were recovering in a hospital room and they even had a picture of a tree, it actually helped. [00:55:48] S1: Maybe the reason why people are so happy around Christmas time is because they have a tree in their house.
00:55:48 · Ty Morse, Brian Armstrong
[00:55:48] S1: Maybe the reason why people are so happy around Christmas time is because they have a tree in their house. [00:55:52] S0: Yeah. Anyway, I don't remember the exact study results, but the TLDR, I think was like all of them help. It's like movement helps, any kind of nature, even if it's apparently it's like a picture of nature, all these kinds of things help. So I think a lot about how we're really just like primitive organisms that are running this software that's like 200,000 years old. Like from an evolutionary point of view, our psychology has not changed that much. Like the same software that was us running around as these little tribes on the savannah is basically the same thing we have today, but we also have a neocortex that can like learn things in the modern world and whatnot. So you kind of have to take care of like the primitive parts of your mind and body at times. And so for me, that's just like, yeah, it's movement, it's exercise, It's getting in nature. Hiking is just like a a very nice way to, like, knock that out without a without a bunch of fuss about, like, you know, scuba diving. It's like... There's like a lot of gear you have to bring and everything. But if you just need to, like, consistently knock it out, that helps.
00:56:55 · Ty Morse
[00:56:55] S1: There's this idea of wartime CEO and peacetime CEO. And I feel like, especially in crypto, there's this nice oscillation of wartime peacetime, wartime peacetime. Yeah. Do you enjoy when everything is going well, or do you enjoy kind of when there's something that is like this absolute top priority where if you don't get it done like today or this week or this month, everything's fucked? Like, which part of the cycle do you enjoy the most?