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: Judy Sheindlin & Panasonic
> High-performance: 9 critical thinking behaviours
> Insights: Break rules
> Tactical: Streamlining your home with technology
> 1 Question: Action plan
Cheers,
Alex
P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.
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Stories of Excellence
Person: Judy Sheindlin
Judith Susan Sheindlin, known professionally as Judge Judy, is a formidable figure in American television. Born in 1942 in Brooklyn, she blazed a trail as the only woman in her graduating class at New York Law School in 1965. Her career took off when she became a judge in New York's family court system in 1982. "I was tougher than nails," she recalls of her time on the bench. In 1996, Sheindlin launched her syndicated court show "Judge Judy," which ran for 25 seasons and made her a household name. Her no-nonsense approach and quick wit resonated with viewers. "They get to see wrongdoers publicly humiliated by a strong authority figure," explains author Brendan I. Koerner. Today, at 81, Sheindlin continues to arbitrate cases on her streaming show "Judy Justice," proving her enduring appeal and influence in the legal entertainment sphere.
Key Lessons from Judy Sheindlin:
On resilience: "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining." Sheindlin's catchphrase embodies her no-nonsense approach to life and law.
On critical thinking: "Only a fool tests the depth of the water by jumping in with both feet."
On character: "If you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory."
Company: Panasonic
Panasonic, originally named Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., was founded in 1918 by Konosuke Matsushita in Osaka, Japan. Matsushita, a former apprentice at the Osaka Electric Light Company, started the business with his wife and brother-in-law, initially manufacturing duplex lamp sockets. The company's first big break came in 1923 with the invention of the two-way socket. By 1927, Matsushita had expanded into bicycle lamps and radios. The company survived World War II and experienced rapid growth during Japan's post-war economic boom. In 2008, the company officially changed its name to Panasonic Corporation. As of 2025, Panasonic reported annual revenue of approximately $65 billion USD and employed over 240,000 people worldwide.
Key Lessons from Panasonic:
On employee welfare. Treat your workers like family. Panasonic was one of the first Japanese companies to provide housing, education, and healthcare for employees. This built loyalty and reduced turnover.
On innovation culture. Encourage bottom-up innovation. Panasonic's "Proposal System" allows any employee to submit ideas for new products or improvements. This taps into the collective intelligence of the entire workforce. As one Panasonic executive noted, "Innovation is not just for R&D. It's everyone's job."
Something New
You read the newsletter. Now search the library. Faster Than Normal has 350+ founder playbooks and 380+ company breakdowns — every one structured, searchable, and cited to the source.
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High-performance tool
⎯
9 Critical Thinking Behaviours
Insights
Neil Gaiman on 'pretending:'
"We’re in a transitional world right now, if you’re in any kind of artistic field, because the nature of distribution is changing, the models by which creators got their work out into the world, and got to keep a roof over their heads and buy sandwiches while they did that, are all changing. I’ve talked to people at the top of the food chain in publishing, in bookselling, in all those areas, and nobody knows what the landscape will look like two years from now, let alone a decade away. The distribution channels that people had built over the last century or so are in flux for print, for visual artists, for musicians, for creative people of all kinds.
Which is, on the one hand, intimidating, and on the other, immensely liberating. The rules, the assumptions, the now-we’re supposed to’s of how you get your work seen, and what you do then, are breaking down. The gatekeepers are leaving their gates. You can be as creative as you need to be to get your work seen. YouTube and the web (and whatever comes after YouTube and the web) can give you more people watching than television ever did. The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are.
So make up your own rules.
Someone asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult, in this case recording an audio book, and I suggested she pretend that she was someone who could do it. Not pretend to do it, but pretend she was someone who could. She put up a notice to this effect on the studio wall, and she said it helped.
So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.
And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art."
Tactical reads
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> When streamlining your home with technology
Home Automations — Julian Shapiro (Read it here)
> When tracking your time use precisely
Nick Crocker — Time Tracking (Read it here)
1 question
What can you do in the next 30 days to build momentum and finish the year on a high note?
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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