Hi everyone!

A huge welcome to the 100+ of you who have joined since the last issue. The BrainPint community is 1,273 and growing! I've been busy gearing up for my first Product Hunt launch in the past few days. I'm weak at design so if you know any good & affordable logo designers to recommend, let me know.

I often get asked how I come up with so many ideas. Here are some tips:
1. Find ways to solve your own problem(s). Is there a pain point you would pay money to solve? 
2. Read a lot & synthesize the information. 
3. Have conversations with others about the difficulties they are facing. What is something you can do in 5 minutes that might take others hours?

It's not too late to start building. This week's issue is about that. I'm also sharing about how to do great work, a collection of design tools & resources and common causes of bad decisions. Lets dive in.

With gratitude,
Janel

You are not late
"There has never been a better time to start something on the Internet." Many people have the mistaken belief that all the best products and ideas in the world have been taken. But guess what, you're not too late. There has never been more opportunities, more openings, lower barriers, higher benefit/risk ratios, & greater upside than now.  Get building.

Changes & Confidence
Confidence comes from being in the company of those you admire. Ask yourself today, "Whose confidence are you helping to build?  "Whose company are you keeping to bolster your own confidence?" People who fiercely believe in us encourage us to push on.

How to do great work
In the same vein, if you want to do great work, surround yourself with people who are making magic happen. By spending time around them, you can’t help but develop the same traits.

Common causes of bad decisions
Prevent yourself from making mistakes by understanding what leads you to make them. Some stand-outs:

• Being influenced by the actions of people who are playing a different game than you are
• Over-extrapolation of past successes leads to overconfidence, stubbornness, and a narrow view of future risks
• Tribal loyalty

How Discord (somewhat accidentally) invented the future of the internet
Discord has over 100 million monthly active users, and it's pivoting from being a tool for gamers to being a communication tool for everyone.

How to take notes while reading a book
1. Consider why you want to take notes
2. Capture key ideas without interrupting your reading flow
3. Import your ideas in your note-taking system

How a top venture capitalist uses Airtable to track and widen his network
Fascinating look into how Peter Boyd uses Airtable as a personal CRM to track & build relationships + how he uses lists to run his life. (If you're new to Airtable, here's my personal invite link that gives both of us $10!)

The science of hangovers
Understanding the science of hangovers in 500 words by diving into dehydration & toxins. Informative read by BrainPint reader Louis.

Figma Freebies - I've been trying to design things in Figma lately and these templates and UI kits have given me (someone who is clueless about design) a good starting point!

Check My Links - Chrome Extension that helps to scan for & identify broken links on webpages. (H/t to GrowthMarketer)

Instant.Page - Make your site’s pages load instantly by adding a single HTML snippet and improve your conversion rate noticeably. (H/t to Gene of Swipe.Page)

First 1000 - How do you get customers when you are just getting started on your side project? Learn from the stories of Doordash, Tinder, Stitch Fix and many more on the First 1000 newsletter.

Singapore Rising - A beautiful 5-minute that captures the incredible change of Singapore's cityscape. 8 years worth of shots went into creating this.

Restore Old Google Icons - The new Google icons are confusing. There's a fix though. This Chrome Extension switches them back to the old icons!

P.S. Happy to have been featured in For The Interested, Ghost's Publisher Weekly & Hello Meets this week!