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May 28, 2025
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Danielle Steel, Decomplication and Cultural Perceptions of Time
At a glance
This edition is brought to you by Athyna
Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.
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Today’s edition:
> Stories: Danielle Steel & Airbus
> High-performance: Decomplication
> Insights: Perfection
> Tactical: Cultural perceptions of time
> 1 Question: Whimsical touch
Cheers,
Alex
P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.
Stories of Excellence
Person: Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel is a literary powerhouse. She's written over 190 books, selling more than 800 million copies worldwide. Her work ethic is legendary. Steel has reportedly worked 20-22 hour days in the past, starting at 8:30 am and continuing late into the night. She's raised nine children while maintaining this grueling schedule. Steel's personal life has seen tragedy too. In 1997, she lost her son Nick to suicide, an experience she chronicled in "His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina". Despite challenges, Steel remains prolific. She juggles multiple projects simultaneously, writing every word herself. "I want to go on forever, just writing," she says.
Key Lessons from Danielle Steel:
On discipline: "There are no miracles. There is only discipline."
On passion: "I want to die face-first in my typewriter."
On persistence: "The more you shy away from the material, the worse it gets. You're better off pushing through and ending up with 30 dead pages you can correct later than just sitting there with nothing."
Company: Airbus
Airbus was born from a vision of European aerospace collaboration. In 1967, ministers from France, Germany, and the UK signed a memorandum to develop a large passenger aircraft. This led to the formation of Airbus Industrie in 1970, with Roger Béteille as technical director and Felix Kracht as production director. The company's first aircraft, the A300, took flight in 1972. Despite initial skepticism, Airbus secured its first order from Air France in 1974. By 1979, Airbus had captured 26% of the market. The company continued to innovate, introducing fly-by-wire technology with the A320 in 1988. In 2000, Airbus became a single integrated company, and by 2003, it surpassed Boeing in deliveries for the first time.
Key Lessons from Airbus:
On long-term thinking: They invested in future tech early. Airbus began developing the A380 in the 1990s, long before its 2007 launch.
On customer relationships: They worked closely with airlines. Airbus involved potential customers in the design process. Listen to your users. They might just shape your product for the better.
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Accelerants
High-performance tool
⎯
Decomplication (aka removing artificial complexity)
We’ve been led to believe that our everyday problems—weight loss, productivity, saving money—require complex solutions.
This is called ‘artificial complexity.’
Decomplication is the process of boiling problems down to their simplest form.
h/t @nateliason
Insights
Roger Federer on perfection:
"Perfection is impossible. In the 1526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. Now, I have a question for you.What percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%.
In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play. When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.
You teach yourself to think, okay, I double-faulted … it’s only a point. Okay, I came to the net, then I got passed again; it’s only a point. Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN’s top 10 playlist. That, too, is just a point.
And here’s why I’m telling you this. When you’re playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world, and it is. But when it’s behind you, It’s behind you. This mindset is really crucial because it frees you to fully commit to the next point and the next point after that, with intensity, clarity, and focus.
You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That is, to me, the sign of a champion. The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It’s because they lose again and again and have learned how to deal with it. You accept it. Cry it out if you need to and force a smile.”
—Roger Federer
Tactical reads
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> When understanding cultural perceptions of time
How Different Cultures Understand Time (Read it here)
> When comparing happiness and meaning in life
What is better – a happy life or a meaningful one? (Read it here)
1 question
How can I make situations more magical for those around me?
That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Have a wonderful rest of week, all.
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Alex Brogan
Find me on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
Offshore Talent: Where to find the best offshore talent. Powered by Athyna.
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