Tom's Top 3: May 27, 2025

Is Creativity Optimization an Oxymoron?

Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s installment of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays, where I highlight three pieces of content (Podcasts/Shows/Songs/Articles/etc.) that I found interesting or noteworthy from the prior week.

If you find this newsletter worthwhile, please consider sharing with a friend. Your support really does make a difference, so I appreciate it in advance. 🙏

My sincere apologies for my absence last week. I was on the road all week, bouncing between Philly (friend’s law school graduation) and New York (Salesforce World Tour NYC) and the Outer Banks (friend’s wedding).

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

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1. [Podcast] Huberman Lab - Essentials: Maximize Productivity, Physical & Mental Health With Daily Tools

Don’t worry — this isn’t just any “day in the life” content you see influencers pedaling on the internet. This is backed by ~science~.

It’s a pretty quick listen, especially when you fast forward through what feels like 10 minutes of ads. But if you want the TLDR, I gotchu.

Huberman’s Ideal Day:

1. Write down wake up time to know when his temperature minimum was (2 hours prior)

   1. This will come back up later

2. Go for a walk outdoors

   1. Morning sunlight! (frequent Huberman listeners are probably sick of hearing about this)

3. Hydrate

   1. Water with half a teaspoon of sea salt (surprised he didn’t try to give another plug for LMNT #NoFreeAds)

4. Delay caffeine 90-100 min after wake up

   1. Let the adenosine subside to prevent a mid-afternoon crash

5. Fast until 11-12 (to reduce brain fog?)

   1. Lower carb during the day to limit blood being drawn from the brain to the gut

   2. 1000mg EPA a day for an antidepressant effect

   3. 5-30 min walk after eating to speed up metabolism

6. 90 minute work blocks

   1. Starting 4-6 hours after temperature minimum (told you it’d come back!)

      1. Trying to catch the steepest slope of the temperature rise, where you are most alert

   2. Phone off, low level white noise, eye position slightly upwards

7. Exercise after work bout

8. View sunlight in the afternoon for 10-30 min

   1. Lowers sensitivity of your retina to buffer against negative effects of bright light late at night

9. Dinner filled with starchy carbs to support sleep

10. Sleep preparation

    1. Hot baths, showers or sauna to reduce core body temperature

    2. Dark, cold room

    3. Supplement with Magnesium (Theonate or Bisglycinate), Apigenin, and/or Theanine

That’s it! (He exclaimed sarcastically)

Take what you will, leave the rest. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, but it’s definitely a lot.

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2. [Deck] Shaan Puri - How to Think Like Rick Rubin: a 20-min crash course in creativity

Shaan distills the creative process down to 4 components: Routine, Reduce, Restrict, and Remix.

He draws on the stories and quotes from some of the world’s greatest artists and entrepreneurs, including the likes of Disney, Jobs, and Seinfeld. The sums it all up with this simple slide:

Slide 64.

In the Remix section, Shaan suggests keeping a “swipe file,” where you collect things you like in a “creative piggy bank” to draw inspiration from later down the line (sort of what this newsletter is all about 😉).

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3. [Trailer] Lionsgate - Americana

I actually haven’t heard of this until seeing the trailer. Looks pretty good.

I’m a big fan of Paul Walter Hauser—I thought he was incredibly compelling in Black Bird and I loved his performance in The Luckiest Man in America.

With Sydney Sweeney and Halsey in the mix, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a more dedicated marketing push leading up to its August 22 release date.

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That wraps up this edition of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays. If you made it to this point, please drop a 1️⃣, 2️⃣, or 3️⃣ in the comments to let me know what you found most interesting/useful. And as always, please like and consider sharing with a friend who you think would enjoy! I’ll be back next week. ✌️