Salman Ansari on integration, self-reflection and the polymath playbook

On this episode of Out of the Clouds, Anne interviews generalist (or jack of all trades) Salman Ansari, also known as the Quick Brown Fox (@DareToRant). The talented writer enjoys wearing many different hats — he is a startup founder, a CTO, a web & iOS engineer, a teacher, an illustrator and DJ, among other things. 

The two of them start off by talking about Salman’s early career, how he ended up leaving Canada to relocate to California to become a startup co-founder, and the importance of meaningful relationships when making bold career moves. 

Salman explains how a couple of courses, and the popular success among his friends of his blog in college, called Dare to Rant, set him up to start writing online. Salman shares that he discovered that writing essays helped him synthesise the knowledge he was acquiring. 

Anne then leads him to talk about one particular piece, ‘The Polymath Playbook’, which went viral after being tweeted by Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify. Salman reflects on how his  personal story (which he almost deleted) had resonated with his readers more than the mental models he’d written about.

The two of them geek out about why stories are so fundamental to us as humans, what it means for our inner and outer communication and how to best package ideas so they are easier for readers to consume. 

Salman is currently working on a book of fables, which he is illustrating as well, so he spends a bit of time telling Anne how that project came about and the importance of having a community who gets to ask ‘what happens next’ supporting us when things are getting hard. On that note, he also discusses how to figure out when procrastination is at play or whether we just need to continue to work on a piece. 

A few years ago, Salman suffered a burnout and he shares how he created a space for himself with meditation.Then they discuss at length how mindfulness combined with journaling and walking were complementary resources that, in his words, made it impossible for him to gaslight himself, thereby enabling him to make the hard choice to walk away from a job he no longer loved doing. 

A wide-ranging, inspiring and profound interview, happy listening! 

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You can find Salman at https://salman.io/

On twitter @ https://twitter.com/daretorant

On Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/salmanscribbles/

On Youtube @https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRy_uuWSw_z0g_xav4ZUA0Q/videos?view=0&sort=p

Salman's blog is https://salman.io/blog/

and you can read the Polymath Playbook here https://salman.io/blog/polymath-playbook/

David Perell - https://perell.com/

Write of Passage course - https://writeofpassage.school/

Seth Godin's blog - https://seths.blog/

Writing in Community, the Akimbo course - https://akimbo.com/writingincommunity

Will Storr's book, The Science of Storytelling - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43183121-the-science-of-storytelling

Robert McKee's book, Story - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48654.Story?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=PjTpcJtnyL&rank=1

Amishi Jha's book, Peak Mind - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55200359-peak-mind?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=P738uo7wz4&rank=1

The Little Prince, book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157993.The_Little_Prince?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=wgzPcETJAK&rank=1

Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic - https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/books/big-magic/

The talk by Elizabeth Gilbert Anne and Salman talk about - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSsMjI1OcgM

The course 'Psychology for Writers'

Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim  Pang - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29502354-rest

Andy's notes - https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes

The Spotify playlist of Out of the Clouds's guests answering: what song best represents you - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Viqm1uiiHtM5Y0FwTCtFR?si=1d27a0529d65454a

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***

If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe for more, and consider writing a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, we really appreciate your support and feedback. And thank you  so much for listening! 

For all notes and transcripts, please visit Out Of The Clouds on Simplecast - https://out-of-the-clouds.simplecast.com/  

Sign up for Anne's email newsletter for more from Out of the Clouds at https://annevmuhlethaler.com. 

Follow Anne and Out of the Clouds: 

IG: @_outoftheclouds or  @annvi  

Or on Threads @annvi

On Youtube @OutoftheClouds

For more, you can read and subscribe to Anne's Substack, the Mettā View, her weekly dose of insights on coaching, brand development, the future of work, and storytelling, with a hint of mindfulness.