This edition is brought to you by Indy AI

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:

Cheers,
Alex

P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.

Stories of Excellence

Person: Larry Gagosian

Larry Gagosian is a titan of the art world. He started small, selling posters on the streets of Los Angeles. Now he runs a global empire of 19 galleries. Gagosian's success comes from his keen eye, business acumen, and ability to cultivate relationships. His parties are legendary, mixing billionaires, artists, and celebrities. Gagosian's influence is so great that he's inverted the typical dealer-client dynamic. As one friend notes, "Larry's clients are trying to emulate him". At 74, he shows no signs of slowing down. He still signs new artists and stages exhibitions. His gallery reported annual sales of $925 million in 2012. Gagosian's impact on the art market is undeniable. Love him or hate him, he's reshaped how art is bought and sold.

Key Lessons from Larry Gagosian:

• On relationships: Gagosian carefully curates his guest lists, mixing "billionaires, artists, neighbors—mostly people I really know and am close to. Or want to be close to."

• On competition: "If you're not in a competitive business, you're probably in a shitty business." On focus: "What does it take to make a great anything? Passion, focus, hard work."

Read More.

Company: Clinique

Clinique was founded in 1968 by Estée Lauder, her daughter-in-law Evelyn Lauder, and dermatologist Dr. Norman Orentreich. The brand was born from a Vogue article that asked if great skin could be created. Evelyn, with her background in fashion, and Dr. Orentreich, with his medical expertise, developed a skincare system based on dermatological principles. Clinique launched as the first dermatologist-created, allergy-tested, fragrance-free cosmetics brand. Its iconic three-step skincare routine - cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize - revolutionized the industry. By 1971, Clinique had expanded internationally, and today it's available in over 150 countries, with annual sales exceeding $4 billion as of 2024.

Key Lessons from Clinique On innovation: Don't just follow trends. Create them. Clinique didn't just make another cosmetics line. They invented a whole new category: dermatologist-developed skincare. This wasn't just marketing. It was a fundamental shift in how people thought about skincare. On simplicity: Keep it simple. Stupid simple. Clinique's three-step system was revolutionary because it was easy to understand and follow. No 12-step Korean skincare routines here. Just cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize. Done.

Read More.

Take care of your most valuable asset: Time

Job boards are dead. Your network is alive.

You don’t need another job board.
You need a signal in the noise.

Indy AI, a new feature by Contra, helps independents find career-defining opportunities through the networks they’ve already built. It connects to LinkedIn and X, then quietly surfaces warm, high-fit opportunities hiding in your extended network, including from people you didn’t even know were hiring.

No cold outreach. No endless scrolling. No pitching into the void.

This is work that finds you. Real opportunities, backed by real people you already know.

It’s not hustle culture. It’s human signal.


And it’s how independents grow without burning out.

Let Indy AI do the searching, so you can focus on the work that actually matters.

Let work find you

Accelerants

High-performance tool

⎯

Luxury Beliefs

There’s increasingly less status attached to luxury goods, so cultural elites signal status with luxury beliefs.

These are ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich at very little cost while taking a toll on the lower class.

Insights

Tactical reads

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> When exploring the tension between striving for excellence and maintaining willpower
On the Conflict Between Excellence and Will - SEBASTIAN MARSHALL (Read it here)

> When considering how beliefs shape our actions
Belief as an Action (Read it here)

1 question

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.

Recommendation Zone

⎯

Hire remote employees with confidence

Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant for the first time. Since then, I’ve recommended many people do the same. It’s been one of the highest leverage things I’ve done, helping with everything marketing and customer support (for The Intelligence Age) and personal matters and email management.

Athyna is a service that quickly (<5 days!) finds remote employees across 150+ countries for you or your team. They cover roles from sales and marketing to creative and product, and have worked with companies like Facebook, Zoom, Uber, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon.

I’ve personally used Athyna and recommended them to my Brother, Will, who runs a fashion label, and several close friends running their own businesses. To date, they’ve all had very positive experiences.

If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.

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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.

Why Faster Than Normal? Our mission is to be a friend to the ambitious, a mentor to the becoming, and a partner to the bold. We achieve this by sharing the stories, ideas, and frameworks of the world's most prolific people and companies—and how you can apply them to build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.

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