first one in, last one out

r/depthhub, bought a new camera, consulting will go on...

Prado 🔑

Aug 10, 2025

hi 👋 Prado here

we are now 4011 interesting people reading these letters every week (or so)

i publish one essay & 10 interesting things that help readers become healthy, wealthy, and wise

essay of the week - First one in, last one out

one of my favourite mental models is to be first one in, last one out.

let me break it down into two categories:

why first one in?

being the first one in helps you choose your grounds. you can scan everything easily. this could in a conference, in a workspace, on a date, etc.
first one in means you can be the first to say hello to people. get to be the first to remember their names, and nobody remembers their 23rd conversation... but the first one. that one matters.
being early shows ownership. this person is ready to cook. shows reliability. shows long term alignment.
chivalry is not dead. be the first to open the door. always.

why last one out?

being the last one out helps you see the behind the scenes, the clear before and after.
people who end up staying late are the ones who can't sleep before they finish what they have in hand. pure obsession in play. sometimes it's just joy to watch to do their thing. you can find this often in athletes, founders, high agency folks. just pure obsession.
my dad was always up before me and went to sleep after i did.
being there till the end shows support and stability. you are not someone who came to a party for the cake, ate and left. you helped in cleaning up the mess too. helps in building great bonds. shows commitment. you were there when no one else was.
best conversations in my life happened after everyone left and we are just grabbing a cup of tea. just two people. best off-record conversations.

i lead a team of incredible storytellers at goatfish and this is one of the common mental models found amongst the team. i realised this after being surrounded by so many A players.

let me know what you think about this model 👇 happy to chat more.

10 interesting things from this week

1. why consulting is here to say in the world of AI (& beyond) (Blog)

2. Something from my Twitter👇

3. one of the best subreddits i found this week is r/depthhub

4. after i wrote about my notes on bouldering last week, my feeds everywhere started showing me bouldering videos. here’s one of the videos i watched

5. go watch "The Studio: Episode 2" called "The Oner"

it's like a masterpiece. whole thing is a oner about shooting a oner.

6. question of the week:- what’s something you do everyday is a big waste of time?

Leave a comment

(mine’s probably fortnite)

7. picture of the week:- cameras i own (the latest one is fujifilm x100 VI)

8. Current read: i skimmed through 100 pages of tools of titans this week and i can’t believe i did like 70 pages in one sitting. i haven’t done this in a long time.

i’m so back.

9. Meme of the week: i think this is a pretty funny one

10. quotes i read this week:

“routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition” - W.H. Auden
“a lot of people are so used to just seeing the outcome of work. they never see the side of the work you go through to produce the outcome” - Michael Jackson
“the quality of your questions determines the quality of your life” - tony robbins (i’ve been thinking about this lately)

Check out some of my previous newsletters: