• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

Billy Oppenheimer

  • Blog
  • About
  • Newsletter

Newsletter

“Unfailingly interesting, delightful, and well-written.”

Every Sunday, at 6 PM (CT), I send out an email with SIX things I learned, thought were interesting, or found useful.

You can subscribe here:

    Or email me, and I’ll add you.

    Read previous issues of the SIX at 6 newsletter:

    2023

    Nov 26 | SIX at 6: Swiss Cheese, In The Heights, Wylie Dufresne, STORY, Owning Your Style, and The Fallow Periods

    Nov 19 | SIX at 6: Modified Emulation, Missing The Moon, Good Will Hunting, Studying Bobby Clarke, The Air Max, and The Work is the Win

    Nov 12 | SIX at 6: Referred Pain, Space Man From Pluto, Shaun White, Ender’s Game, Beaver Hats, and Pinched Nerves

    Nov 5 | SIX at 6: Talent Vs. Skill, Daily Terror, Greta Gerwig, Harrison Ford, Bob Dylan, and Negative Capability

    Oct 29 | SIX at 6: Mental Fitness, A Great Writer, When Things Go Bad, The American Hotel, Rearranging Furniture, and Shaking Your Head

    Oct 22 | SIX at 6: Getting Unstuck, Tom Brady, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mike Myers, Steve Martin, and Little Women

    Oct 15 | SIX at 6: Environmental Priming, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, The Pixar Table, Twyla Tharp, and Patterns of Events

    Oct 8 | SIX at 6: Anatomical Strengths & Weaknesses, David McCullough, Abraham Lincoln, Computer Animation, The West Coast Offense, and The Art Spirit

    Oct 1 | SIX at 6: The Core of Cognition, Judgment, Creativity, Understanding A New Technology, Problem Solving, and The Brain

    Sep 24 | SIX at 6: The Three Categories, The Philly Captain, A Fundamental Idea, Matt Damon, Hasan Minhaj, and The Win

    Sep 17 | SIX at 6: Mundane Excellence, Comfortable Torture, A Dividing Line, The Reality of Creativity, Peanuts, and Paul Graham

    Sep 10 | SIX at 6: Everyday Destiny, Forgetting To Panic, Mental Jiu-Jitsu, Puppetry, Second Opinions, and Crafting Your Narrative

    Sep 3 | SIX at 6: Lead Measures, Tom Brady, Jerry Seinfeld, The Cat in the Hat, John Steinbeck, and A Currency Like Gold

    Aug 27 | SIX at 6: The Fittest, Forrest Gump, Lionel Messi, Indiana Jones, Making The Gates, and Fitting To The Future

    Aug 20 | SIX at 6: The Idea Gap, Hamilton, Toy Story, William James, Discovering The Possibilities, and The Worst Thing You Can Ever Say

    Aug 13 | SIX at 6: Present Sensations, Dwyane Wade, Swimming Blind, Alex Honnold, Kitchen Confidential, and Generating Evidence

    Aug 6 | SIX at 6: Homeostasis, The Nature of Love, Novak Djokovic, Alexi Pappas, Andy Weir, and The Two Impostors

    Jul 30 | SIX at 6: Self-Assessment Biases, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks, An Insulting Lack of Confidence, Someone Else’s Belief, and A Good Word

    Jul 23 | SIX at 6: Tree Growth, The Art of Patience, John Mayer, Sony, Sylvester Stallone, and D.N.F.L

    Jul 16 | SIX at 6: A Minefield, Negative Capability, The Win, The Shoe Dog, The Dunce, and Saving Private Ryan

    Jul 9 | SIX at 6: A Dramatic Need, Taking Candy, Acting, Ollying, Directing, and Getting Your Musts

    Jul 2 | SIX at 6: Hip-Hop Clubs, The Movie Brats, Would You Laugh?, Bob Dylan, Avatar, and Paula Scher

    Jun 25 | SIX at 6: Disciple of Experience and Wisdom, Lava Cake, James Cameron, The Hero, The Library, and The Real Thing

    Jun 18 | SIX at 6: Ugly Babies, Jost and Che, How Bad Things Can Be, The Bus, De-Fucking The Script, and Randall Stutman

    Jun 11 | SIX at 6: Runnin’ Down A Dream, Rocky, Oozing Toxicity, What’s Missing, Waiting For Permission, and Mike Myers

    Jun 4 | SIX at 6: Where People Are, The Wrong Place, Where It Is, The Tape Recorder, The PLL, and Jay-Z

    May 28 | SIX at 6: Universe Immersion, The Normal Behavior, Wonderful Puppetry, The Carpenter, The Great One, and A Grand Unified Theory

    May 21 | SIX at 6: Match Quality, Anatomical Strengths, The Lesson of Buffett, Rick Rubin, Josh Waitzkin, and Jim Henson

    May 14 | SIX at 6: Lagging Indicators, An Abnormal Brain, A Cinderella Story, A Second and 34 Years, Picasso, and Robert Greene

    May 7 | SIX at 6: Isomorphism, Film Industry and Synergy, The Unified Theory of Deliciousness, 12 Notes, Playing Like Charlie, and An Advance in Knowledge

    Apr 30 | SIX at 6: Autotelic, Hasan Minhaj, Rodney Mullen, Quentin Tarantino, Making It, and The Work is the Win

    Apr 23 | SIX at 6: The Most Powerful Person, Aaron Sorkin, The Pixar Law, The Vogler Memo, The Two or Three Stories, and True Character

    Apr 16 | SIX at 6: The Ultimate Skill, Visionaries, Why It Worked, The Rubik’s Cube, Pleasing Yourself, and Cutting The Bad Bits

    Apr 9 | SIX at 6: Slalom Skiing, Fighting The Future, Dr. Seuss, Jimi Hendrix, Christopher Nolan, and Dressing For The Weather

    Apr 2 | SIX at 6: Syncretism, Nirvana & Gap Band, Willy Wonka & Video Games, Saving Nike, Collecting More Dots, and Grazing in the Field of Culture

    Mar 26 | SIX at 6: Sewage, The Mumble Track, Get Back, Ouija Boarding, The Down-Up Theory, and Throwing The First Pitch

    Mar 19 | SIX at 6: Using Time As A Filter, The Beatles, Quick No Long Yes, The Chinese Farmer, Paula Scher, and Protection Against Wrongs

    Mar 12 | SIX at 6: Harmony Hall, The Feedback Loop, The Education of John Adams, Fixing The Broncos, Chess Prodigies, and Getting Terrain F*cked

    Mar 5 | SIX at 6: Art Eyes, The Benefit of Mr. Kite, The West Wing, Chop Suey!, Chopsticks, and Walking Past Ideas

    Feb 26 | SIX at 6: Engaged Detachment, Kobe’s Airballs, Who Cares?, Low Stakes, Mike Nichols, and Nervous Breakdowns

    Feb 19 | SIX at 6: Courtship Display, Dr. Seuss’ Empire, Casey Neistat’s Origin Story, Eli Witus, DRAM, and Becoming A Magnet For Opportunities

    Feb 12 | SIX at 6: Golden Joinery, Bruce The Shark, Tap Dancing, Harry Truman, Mr. I, and The Seinfeld Question

    Feb 5 | SIX at 6: The Secret Life of the Brain, R.E.S.T, The Unwatched Pot, The Can’t-Do-Anything Rule, Neil Gaiman, and A Dividing Line

    Jan 29 | SIX at 6: Introjection, The Vulcan Mind Meld, The Beatles, The Great One, Joel Embiid, and Neil Gaiman

    Jan 22 | SIX at 6: The Positive Manifold, The Silo Mindset, Pouring Concrete, The Sistine Chapel, The Neuroscience of Practice, and Joel Embiid’s G-Factor

    Jan 15 | SIX at 6: Conceptual Ancestors, Seinfeld’s Shrine, A Thousand Faces, The Air Sole, A Wonderful Technique, and Combining Your Influences

    Jan 8 | SIX at 6: Decomposition, Mammoth Tasks, Losing 140 Pounds, Steinbeck’s Stint, Bill Walsh, and Michael Jordan

    Jan 1 | Six at 6: The Termites, The Artists’ Colony, Charlie Brown, Thomas Edison, The Unique Thing, and The Secret

    2022

    Dec 25 | SIX at 6: Blindness, Sleeping In Foxholes, Jackie Robinson, The Chronic, Walk This Way, and Big Wave Surfing

    Dec 18 | SIX at 6: Attrition Warfare, Newton’s Peculiar Gift, Bus Stations, Steve Martin, The Dip, and Outliers

    Dec 11 | SIX at 6: Darkness, Brain Breaks, Incubation, Unplugging, The Science of Downtime, and Making The Wagon Move

    Dec 4 | SIX at 6: Gee-Whiz, The Brain, Raisins and Hydrogen Bombs, Leonardo da Vinci, Pencils, and The Capacity For Wonder

    Nov 27 | SIX at 6: Pixar Movies Suck, Kobe Bryant, The Grapes of Wrath, Anti-Comedy, Starting With Shit, and Daring To Suck

    Nov 20 | SIX at 6: Restriction, Aaron Burr, Narrowing Down, The Puppy Brain, Washing Machines, and The Most Miserable Humans

    Nov 13 | SIX at 6: The Sweet Spot, Being The Freak, Henry Ford, Hamilton, The Red Thread, and Irrational Ideas

    Nov 6 | SIX at 6: Medieval Swords, Matthew McConaughey, Mr. Beast, The Chicago Bulls, Neglecting Things, and Sending Reinforcements

    Oct 30 | SIX at 6: Chemical Precipitation, David Foster Wallace, Walt Disney, Rick Rubin, Hasan Minhaj, and Ed Sheeran

    Oct 23 | SIX at 6: Wildfires, Ice Ages, Drops in the Bucket, Compound Growth, The Nobel-Prize Effect, and The Art of War

    Oct 16 | SIX at 6: Icebergs, In The Heights, Astronauts Not In Space, Miracle and Wonder, Being on the Bottom, and Fred Rogers

    Oct 9 | SIX at 6: The Titchener Circles, Hurt Village, Stephen Sondheim’s Laugh, Tom Guinzburg’s Note, Lorne Michaels’ Audience, and Longfellow’s Poem

    Oct 2 | SIX at 6: The Hierarchy of Attention, Reviewing The Tape, Authenticating Paintings, Mastery, The Paradox of Defects, and Seeing Through Illusions

    Sep 25 | SIX at 6: 1 + 1 = 3, Pulp Fiction, Revolutionizing An Industry, Functional Decomposition, Functional Recomposition, and The History You Don’t Know

    Sep 18 | SIX at 6: The Mere-Exposure Effect, B.J. Novak, Rules For Prolific Writing, Winning A Grammy, William James, and Learning Who We Are

    Sep 11 | SIX at 6: The Gestaltists, Raw Material, Stand-Up Comedy, 50 Cent, 12 Notes, and Looking At The World

    Sep 4 | SIX at 6: The Least Action, Leonardo da Vinci, Rigor and Relevance, Generating Ideas, Synthetic Startups, and Four-Minute Miles

    Aug 28 | SIX at 6: If I Killed Someone, Disney’s Philosophy, Owning Your Style, Distinctiveness, Strange Tastes, and Your Signature

    Aug 21 | SIX at 6: Products of Environment, Losing 250 Pounds, Rafael Nadal, Trying To Play Like Jerry, Habituating Postponing, and The Pygmalion Effect

    Aug 14 | SIX at 6: Bad Advice Sounds Good, Expecting Nothing, Avoiding Prestige, Doing Tedious Work, Reading Slowly, and Piling Up Rejections

    Aug 7 | SIX at 6: Career Vectors, Hasan Minhaj, Trajectory, The Top Idea In Your Mind, The Michelangelo Phenomenon, and Money’s Greatest Intrinsic Value

    Jul 31 | SIX at 6: The Prohibition Theory, Gateway Habits, Morning Pages, Rearranging Furniture, Butter, and John Muir

    Jul 24 | SIX at 6: Taking the Bullshit, A Kidnapping, Rule Breakers, Swans, Coaching Trees, and An Infinitely Repeatable Process

    Jul 17 | SIX at 6: The Manifesto, Atomic Units, Reduce To Produce, Bushnell’s Law, Writing Simply, and The Guy Before Lincoln

    Jul 10 | SIX at 6: Reciprocal Inhibition, Tip of the Tongue, Nostrils, Treating The Body Rigorously, Mitigating Strengths, and 99 Problems

    Jul 3 | SIX at 6: Creative Incentives, Quantity vs. Quality, Aiming at Success, Moby Dick, Rodney Mullen, and Controlling The Effort

    Jun 26 | SIX at 6: The Cunctator, A Mother’s Instinct, Fiddling With Fewer Nobs, A Break From Worrying, The Cubs, and Sloppy Meditation

    Jun 19 | SIX at 6: Negative Capability, Lincoln’s Policy, Antifragility, Will Ferrell, Bets, and Maintaining Attitude

    Jun 12 | SIX at 6: Revisiting, Einstein’s Talentlessness, Dumb Obsession, Wants Vs. Musts, Mindy Kaling, and Taking Pains

    Jun 5 | SIX at 6: Getting Bored, No-Go Circuits, The Lion Vs. The Cow, The Most Dangerous Form of Procrastination, Moving Slower, and Stopping Points

    May 29 | SIX at 6: Saying Sorry, Facts Becoming Truths, The Red Pill, Jack Harlow’s Branch, The Messy Middle, and John Steinbeck

    May 22 | SIX at 6: The Rules, Consistency, The Personal Is Universal, Looking at the Parts, Myths, and the Four-Minute Mile

    May 15 | SIX at 6: Butterflies, How To Be Exotic, Filling The Universe, Making An Inventory, Creative Maladjustment, and Seeing Everything as Fuel

    May 8 | SIX at 6: What To Aim For, The Edge of the Frame, Sunk Costs, The Library In Your Head, Observing The Obvious, and David Mamet

    May 1 | SIX at 6: The Highest Quality, The Great Excuse, The Center of Your Attention, Not Caring, Caring, and Playing Like Charlie Parker

    Apr 24 | SIX at 6: The Reading Brain, DNA, The ‘90 Bulls, Chefs and Cooks, Striving For Perfection, and Reid Hoffman

    Apr 17 | SIX at 6: Most Stories Wins, Efficient Labor, Not Following Passion, Macro-Contentedness, Floor Tiles, and Cracking Culture Codes

    Apr 10 | SIX at 6: Steve Martin, Woodpeckers, The Helsinki Bus Station, The Third Peak, Andrew Carnegie, and The Value In Taking Away

    Apr 3 | SIX at 6: Wayne Gretzky, Nirvana, Casey Neistat, A Paleolithic Theory of Procrastination, Going Deep, and Filling Work With Time

    Mar 27 | SIX at 6: 3 Rules From Frank, Spending Energy, Napoleon’s Cupboard, Attention Residue, Ender’s Game, and Being Thought Stupid

    Mar 20 | SIX at 6: Being Bad, Fly-Fishing, Deep Breathing Club, The Small Choices, Nonreligious Prayer, and Deadlines

    Mar 13 | SIX at 6: Parallel Processing, Adapting to the Moon, Never Getting to Space, What Art Is, Tolerating Boredom, and Lorne Michaels

    Mar 6 | SIX at 6: Word Economy, The Appetite For Action, Being Stuck, Churchill On Whistling, A Theory Borne Out By Sushi, and Re-Cognizing

    Feb 27 | SIX at 6: The Happiest Person Anybody Knows, Bruce Springsteen, Second Opinions, Jerry Seinfeld, Swamps, and My Friend Buddha

    Feb 20 | SIX at 6: How Emotions Are Made, Preventing Panic, Trusting The Preparation, The Miraculousness of the Pencil, Getting Past The Stranger, and A Theory of Intelligence

    Feb 13 | SIX at 6: Getting to Boring, Asking the Right Questions, Creating A Sense of Awe, Note-taking, Tricking Your Brain, and Shaun White

    Feb 6 | SIX at 6: Skin Thickness, Rick Rubin, Act Before You Think, Mouth Taping, Getting Lucky With The Weather, and Why It’s Better To Travel Than To Arrive

    Jan 30 | SIX at 6: A Grand Unified Theory, Starting with Shit, Bruce Springsteen, The Common Denominator of Success, Seth Godin, and Passion

    Jan 23 | SIX at 6: A Ghost Town Fire, The Theory of Deliciousness, Revering Great Art, This American Life, Controlling Your Thoughts, and Steph Curry

    Jan 16 | SIX at 6: Wading Through Sewage, Week(s) Off, Sticking With The Banjo, Paul Simon, Vitamin C, and The Money Shot

    Jan 9 | SIX at 6: What You Pay Attention To, Willful Will, Creativity, Ice Ages, Preparation, and Antonio Brown

    Jan 2 | SIX at 6: Jerry Seinfeld, Leaving Work Behind, Dumb and Dumber, Trash, The Idea-Generating Magic of Doing Nothing, and Not Trying To Succeed

    2021

    Dec 26 | SIX at 6: (In)Ability, a Leadership Goal, Nondoing, Matt Damon, George Carlin, and a Big Key to a Lack of Anxiety

    Dec 19 | SIX at 6: Unique Limitations, Oil Spills, Amnesia, Blaming the Weather, Solitude, and A Car Ride with Robert Greene

    Dec 12 | SIX at 6: Pacing, Spike Lee, Mirrored Reciprocation, Coolness Under Pressure, Paul McCartney, and Falling In Love With Boredom

    Dec 5 | SIX at 6: Novak Djokovic, Wind, Incubation, René Redzepi, Psychology in a Statement, and Hope

    Nov 28 | SIX at 6: Viktor Frankl, Beaver Hats, Constraints, Kobe, Motorcycle Maintenance, and Mud

    Nov 21 | SIX at 6: Rodney Mullen, King Solomon, Mathematicians, Enthusiasm vs Quality, Daydreaming, and Hemingway

    Nov 14 | SIX at 6: Trees, Nails, Clint Eastwood, Missing It, Bumbling and Failing, and Filling Up

    Nov 7 | SIX at 6: Pinnacles, John Mayer, Toenails, Short Knives vs. Jack Knives, The Good-Mood Hack, and Being Pronoid

    Oct 31 | SIX at 6: Tarantino, NASA, Bus Ticket Collectors, Butter, John Mayer In Process, and Doing The Daily Stint

    Primary Sidebar

    About

    Billy Oppenheimer is a writer and research assistant based in Austin, TX.

    Learn more…→

    Secondary Sidebar

    Sunday Newsletter:

    Copyright © 2023 · Billy Oppenheimer

    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
     

    Loading Comments...