· Mike Wystrach
The Advantage #02: Discipline without direction, choosing sides in the Cold War, and how to actually use AI
Welcome Note:
Thanks for tuning into the second episode of The Advantage. A short, weekly note where I share what I am working on, something worth watching, a lesson from history, and one practical edge you can try right away.
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What I am Working On: A Blog Post
I just finished writing a deep dive on how I set goals so that hard work doesn’t lead to burnout, but to progress. This isn't just theory; it is the specific framework I built to stop drifting and start designing the life I actually wanted. Here is an excerpt from the full 9-minute read
Discipline is useless without Direction.
Ten years ago, I woke up at 35 with a quiet, uncomfortable realization: I wasn’t where I thought I’d be.
I had just gone through a divorce. I had a business fail that came close to bankrupting me. I was busy, ambitious, and constantly moving. For years, I told myself I was disciplined. I worked long hours. I stayed busy. But busy is not progress, it’s camouflage. I wasn't being intentional about where I was going.
What stood out wasn’t failure. It was drift.
I hadn’t consciously designed my life. I had just been living it. And when you don’t choose a direction deliberately, you still end up somewhere. It just may not be where you intended to go.
That realization sent me down a path that I’ve been refining ever since. Over the last decade, I’ve built a simple but disciplined approach to goal setting that has completely changed how I operate. It’s not motivational. It’s not complicated. It’s directional, practical, and cumulative.
This is the process I use….
Worth Watching
Quick intro:
AI is here, so you’d better get great at it, or you’re going to be in trouble! This week’s watch is, Stanford's Practical Guide to 10x Your AI Productivity, a 24-minute video by Jeremy Utley, a Director at Stanford’s renowned d.school (Institute of Design). While everyone is busy talking about which AI tool to use, Jeremy focuses on how to use it to actually produce better work. This is a practical masterclass on shifting your mindset from "Googling" to "collaborating," and it is packed with tactics you can use immediately to 10x your output.
What I loved about it:
Most people treat AI like a vending machine; insert a prompt, get an answer. Utley's point is that you need to treat AI like a "super eager, caffeinated intern." It wants to help, but it needs coaching, context, and specific examples to be great. The shift from "user" to "manager" is the secret to unlocking the 10x productivity promise.
Here is my 20-second recap if you do not have the full 24 minutes, but I HIGHLY recommend this video!
Stop "Using," Start "Working With": If you treat AI like a search engine, you will get generic answers. You have to shift your mental model to treating it like a colleague. Don't just ask it for an answer; ask it to brainstorm, critique its own work, or roleplay a difficult conversation.
Context Engineering: The quality of the output is strictly determined by the quality of the context you provide. Don't just say "Write an email." Tell the AI who it is (a seasoned negotiator), who the audience is (a skeptical client), and what success looks like. If you don't set the stage, the AI will guess, and it will guess average.
The "Reverse Prompt": One of the best hacks Utley shares is to stop doing all the heavy lifting. Instead of racking your brain for the perfect prompt, tell the AI what you want to achieve and then ask: "What information do you need from me to do this perfectly?" Let it interview you.
Give It Examples (Few-Shot Prompting): AI mimics patterns. If you want it to write in your voice, do not just describe your voice; paste in three examples of emails you have actually written. Showing the AI "good" data is infinitely more powerful than trying to describe it.
Pro Move: You do not need to watch it. Put it on like a podcast and listen while you walk or drive.
Lesson From History: Choosing Sides in the Cold War
What Happened: In the early Cold War, choosing sides wasn’t about proof. It was about belief. The U.S. framed the conflict as freedom versus oppression. The Soviet Union framed it as equality versus exploitation. Countries didn’t have decades of data to compare outcomes. They aligned with the story that resonated with their values, their history, and how they wanted to see themselves. Only later did results begin to matter. Over time, capitalism didn’t just tell a better story, it delivered better outcomes. But at the beginning, people chose a belief, not a balance sheet.
Insight behind it: Framing matters most when the future is unclear. Early on, decisions are made with incomplete information, so people reach for narratives that feel right. That doesn’t mean reality is optional. Eventually, performance catches up. Systems that don’t work collapse under their own weight. But narrative determines who gets the chance to run long enough for results to show up. Belief opens the door. Execution decides who stays in the room.
Modern application: This is exactly how products work. Early customers don’t choose you because you’re definitively better. They choose you because your view of the problem matches how they see the world. Over time, the product has to earn that belief. Marketing sets the frame, but the product must ultimately win the argument. Founders who ignore narrative struggle to get started. Founders who ignore product don’t last. Great businesses get both right!
Why it works: YouTube is the closest thing we have to the Great Library of Alexandria in your pocket. If you aren’t getting massive value from it, you’re either using it wrong or the experience is broken by ads. The ads kill flow, attention, and curiosity.
Getting rid of them is easily worth the $13.99 a month. Spend more time on YouTube, train the algorithm intentionally, and it will fundamentally change how you consume media and information. With Premium, you can also download videos and keep listening with the screen off, which is especially great for music and podcasts. FYI: I am not making any money from this recommendation.
The data supports it:
There are roughly 5 billion videos on YouTube. By comparison, there are only 150 to 170 million unique book titles in existence. The depth and breadth of information available is effectively unlimited.
How I use it:
I’ve replaced about 90% of my TV time (outside of live sports and the occasional show) with YouTube. Some of that is long-form podcasts and videos I share here. Some of it is hobbies I already care about, like golf and flying. Some of it is hobbies I didn’t even know I’d be interested in, like classic car restoration. If you’re deliberate with likes and subscriptions, the algorithm gets surprisingly good.
Here is the link if you are interested.
Thanks for reading,
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