Strands of Genius: AI > Search, The Outdoor Academy, Chili's vs McDs

Plus: how to get a hold of your inbox

Apr 29, 2025

:: THE UPDATE ::

Hello hello! Rosie here, flying solo, while Faris is on a walking holiday in France getting in some guy time. We parted ways on the 17th when he headed to the UK, and I went back to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. In true nomad fashion, I was back at our house for less than 24 hours before heading off to Asheville, NC. I returned home yesterday, and I’ll be here on my own until I meet him in France next Tuesday. (Do you talk to yourself when you’re at home?! Because I’m learning that I do and I don’t know what to think about it.)

Over the weekend, I got to visit The Outdoor Academy, a fully accredited boarding semester school in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina where I spent the fall semester of my sophomore year of high school. Established in 1995 and operated by the Eagle’s Nest Foundation, OA offers an immersive educational experience that combines rigorous academics with outdoor adventure and community living on 182 acres of digital and distraction free living.

OA’s curriculum is structured around four core pillars: Intellect, Craft, Environment, and Community. Students have honors-level classes as they would in their regular ‘sending’ schools, but at OA the learning environment is experiential, with classes often conducted outdoors—we might study poetry by a lake or follow our natural history teacher into the woods, identifying plants and animals. Each morning started with a silent hike and morning meditation. The days were filled not only with school but with activities like backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater paddling, and solo wilderness experiences, designed to build leadership skills, self-reliance, and environmental stewardship. We pressed apples and bailed hay, we chopped our own wood to keep our wood stove running when it was cold. There was ONE phone, with dedicated hours of use, and not a single mirror in sight.

I first heard about it when I was in middle school, and immediately knew it was something I wanted to do. My parents were open to the idea, but also wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. They said I’d have to have one backpacking trip under my belt before applying, and as my mom reminded me on the phone yesterday - I was painting my nails at the airport before taking off on my first Wilderness Ventures trip - a 3-week backpacking/sea kayaking trip in the summer between 8th and 9th grade. The backpacking was HARD, but it cemented my desire even further to spend more time in the woods.

Then, 9th grade brought drama on the home front: my house burnt down, to the ground. Then, my dad cheated on my mom, and it was only when I got back from the next summer’s backpacking trip that I learned they would be getting a divorce. It felt like my world was crumbling, except I seemed to find peace when I was outside. Either of those two events (the fire, the divorce) could have been the most life-changing events of my youth — but OA took the cake. I was there when planes crashed into the twin towers. Our teacher Ted said that while the Vietnam War defined his generation, this would define ours. And it likely did, collectively. But individually, the defining experience of my youth was my time at OA.

OA taught me that if school could be like summer camp, well… life could be *anything.* It sparked my desire to be a fringe-dwelling freedom seeker. To challenge conventions. To live in community. To be one with nature. And to read more Wendell Berry.

This past weekend was the 30th Reunion. Semester 60 was in session. I took my sister’s kids on the morning meditation hike and they insisted we follow protocol and stay silent. They paddled in the lake and climbed the rocks while I forged a hook with one of my old teachers who is now retired, but still operates the forge in his spare time. We sang songs and hugged and held hands, we roasted marshmallows and contra-danced. And my sister’s kids were wide-eyed asking: “Wait, was it like this when YOU were in school?” Yes. Yes it was.

:: MY #1 DECLUTTERING HACK ::

I’m not so anal that I need to be at “inbox zero”, but I used to hate how quickly my inbox would fill up. But back in 2017, I managed to wrangle control over my gmail inbox by creating a system that works without me lifting a finger. Well, to be fair, it requires a few typing fingers up front — but no technical knowledge or ongoing work required… Every two days, any email that has ‘unsubscribe’ anywhere in the email will automagically archive itself. It still exists in my archive, and I have two days to remove the tag if I want it to stay in my inbox. It’s amazing.

First, you’ll need to create an label - Mine’s called ‘autoarchive’

Go to your Gmail Settings
Click the Label tab
Hit the Create new label button
Name it autoarchive (or something else of your choosing — but if you choose something else, you’ll have to modify code. Don’t choose something else if you are not confident with basic code)

Then, use Gmail filters to apply the ‘autoarchive’ label

Mine applies to any email with ‘unsubscribe’ in it. You might target a smaller group of emails (Spotify notifications, Quora digests, LinkedIn recruiters, WordPress comments, etc)

Type ‘unsubscribe’ in the Gmail search bar
Click on the three sliders in the top right (‘Show search options’)
Click the Create filter
On the next screen, tick the Apply the label box, and select the autoarchive label
Before you finish, tick the box Also apply to matching conversations at the bottom of the form
Hit the Create filter button

From now on, all the emails received with ‘unsubscribe’ will be labelled with the ‘autoarchive’ label.

Use a Google Script to archive daily

Follow the next steps to create a Google Script of your own and use the piece of code shown below:

Go on script.google.com
Copy and paste this code from GitHub into your Google Script. (Note: if you used something other than ‘autoarchive’ you’ll need to go into the script and update mentions of autoarchive to something else)
Click File > Save
Name it gmailAutoarchive (it will be saved in the root folder of your Google Drive)
Go in the Run menu, then select gmailAutoarchive
Google Script will require access to your Gmail. Click Review Permissions.
Another window will appear asking for permission to view and manage your email. Click Allow.

Setup a daily trigger

Within your Google Script window:

Click on Edit > Current project’s triggers
Then add a new trigger with the following settings: Time-driven, Hour timer, Every 12 hours

This will check every 12 hours if there are new emails to archive. See screenshot below.

BAM! You’re on your way to a much cleaner inbox, thanks to a stranger on the internet (this guy, who set me up for success 9 years ago) :)

:: THE LINKS ::

GOODBYE CLICKS, HELLO AI

ChatGPT has replaced Google for pretty much all my search queries — from restaurants open on a Sunday to understanding the short term vacation rental permitting needs. (I feel like Google kinda sucks now, compared to what I can get from ChatGPT. Take the short term vacation rentals permitting, for example. With Google, I’d end up with a government website and a PDF. Without ever leaving ChatGPT, I had the AI read the PDF, ask me questions about our house, and come up with a checklist of the things we’d need to do, along with estimated costs.) Even within Google, the AI feature is changing human behavior. According to Bain, more than 60% of searches end without the user clicking on a single link. So what happens in a zero click world for brands? Well, it’s not just about SEO anymore — it’s about LMM readability… [Bain]

CHILI’S & MCDONALDS - A TALE OF TWO EARNINGS CALLS

It’s not great for restaurants all around, with a decline in total consumer visits. But while McDonalds is reporting negative traffic counts despite heavy media investment, Chili’s is looking at a 30% increase in sales. According to QSR magazine, “The price gap between QSR and Fast Casual shrank from 63 to 44 percent in four years, encouraging consumers to trade up.” Chili’s is also focusing on value in a different way - signature menu items and strong customer service. And it seems to be working… (QSR Magazine)

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE OUTDOOR ACADEMY

If you know any students who are 16 or younger, who want summer camp to be their full time life… please send them this link so they can learn more about The Outdoor Academy. And have them or their parents email me — There’s nothing I’d love more than to talk to potential students about the magic of The Outdoor Academy! While it’s for 10th and 11th graders, I think seeding the idea even earlier is a great idea. (Eagles Nest/OA)

:: I’M A WILD ONE ::

One of my favorite songs to sing at OA

This week, we’re writing to you from Chattanooga, TN. We’re especially thankful for:

walking holidays, The Alternative Clinic in Asheville, The Outdoor Academy, Davidson River Campsite, Buccees, all of the beautiful flowers in bloom, our backyard, the re-opening of our outdoor shower, Art120, Chattanooga’s We Make Festival, Where The Wild Things Art Party, art car creators, Hydragear mugs, iced cherry chai.

If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know. You can hit reply to this email if you’ve got anything to say, and we’ll endeavor to get back to you promptly!

rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)

Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Forward this email to them! We appreciate you spreading the word.

It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius