Last year, I was creating a blog post series for each book I read. After reading a book, I had to go through all my notes and highlights to create a digest in the form of a Google doc that detailed, by chapter, all the important points in bullet format. The result was a summary of each book, by chapter. Most were between 5% and 10% of the book’s length, so for a 250-page book I’d have a Google doc of 12–25 pages. Creating a 12–25-page Google doc takes a ton of time.

I read a book a week, so I had to create these digests weekly. In addition, I was publishing a series of blog posts on each book and experimenting with podcasting by creating a series of episodes on each book. It all felt unsustainable, so I didn’t continue.

I’m reflecting on this today, and I realized a few things:

• Too many new things. Creating the podcast was a ton of effort. Creating the book digest was a ton of effort. Writing a blog post series was a ton of effort. Taking on all these new activities at once likely contributed to it feeling unsustainable. I was never able to find a “groove” for any of the three that felt like second nature. I was just trying to get through it all, but I never felt comfortable with any of it. In hindsight, I should have started with one, gotten that under my belt, and then moved to another.
• Synthesis enhanced my understanding. Creating those digests, which were the foundation for the blog post series, forced me to read analytically. Doing so led to a deeper understanding of what I was reading and helped me uncover more insights and achieve a level of retention I hadn’t experienced since college. When I stopped creating digests, I got less from the books I read. In retrospect, this step, which felt painful, was tremendously beneficial.
• AI can’t save me. I thought I could use AI to help me. My idea was that I could feed AI my highlights and notes from a book and it could create a digest for me. I now realize that this detracted from my understanding of what I read. Reviewing and synthesizing my highlights and notes to create a digest wasn’t fun, but it enhanced my understanding by forcing me to think more deeply about what I’d read. I had to identify the book’s key points, evaluate whether I believed them, and determine whether they supported the book’s main arguments or ideas. Outsourcing that to AI would get me a digest quicker, but I wouldn’t learn, understand, or retain as well—which is the whole point of reading these books to begin with.

I’m really glad I’m doing this Thanksgiving challenge now (see here). I think it’s the start of my figuring out how to sustainably synthesize and share what I learn from books. I’m not trying to check boxes; I’m trying to learn as much as possible from the books I read and share it openly so others can learn too. That’s something I’d strayed away from a bit, but I’m laser focused on it now.

Every holiday I like to give myself a challenge. In 2023, I read an 800-page book during the Thanksgiving break (see here). I’m definitely not doing that again, but I want to continue the tradition and challenge myself. I spent last weekend thinking about what the challenge should be.

Since spring 2024, I’ve been developing the habit of reading a book every week. That’s pretty ingrained now; it feels like second nature. What I haven’t mastered is consistently synthesizing what I learned from each book. I did a series of posts on some books (see here), but that habit wasn’t sustainable.

I now think that synthesizing doesn’t have to be creating a full digest of each book. It can be any of the following:

• Implementing a framework or idea by applying it to a problem (see example here)
• Describing the ideas that resonated with me and why I think they’re valuable (see example here)
• Summarizing a book

That isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the idea.

I want to make sure I’m learning from these books and that what I learn sticks. One of the best ways I’ve found to make this happen is to share what I’ve learned.

So, my challenge this Thanksgiving holiday is to synthesize what I learned from three books in separate posts. Hopefully, this will help with synthesis after I read and make it second nature.

Wish me luck!

As I added books that I read years ago to the library section of this site, I realized that I didn’t retain a lot of what I read. That makes sense, given that I read some of them seven years ago, in 2018. But I want to retain more of the important concepts and ideas in the books I read. I try to review my notes from books, but that hasn’t been effective because I haven’t been consistent and intentional about digging them up and reading them.

I’m starting to think that reviewing things I’ve learned by rereading them isn’t the best method. To read, I have to focus and not be doing anything else, which means carving out time to do it. That’s proven to be easier said than done.

I’m starting to think that although reading is a good way to introduce a new idea or concept to my brain because I’m focused and able to fully absorb it, it isn’t the best method for later review. Audio might be better. I can listen and do things at the same time, and I can easily fit that kind of multitasking into my schedule. The audio doesn’t have to be super in-depth—just enough information to spark my recollection of a concept.

I’ve been thinking about this more. I’ll try to test it to see if my hypothesis holds up.

This week I heard multiple people compare the current AI revolution to the period when the internet was introduced in the ’90s. One was an accomplished entrepreneur I had a conversation with. Another, a seasoned VC investor who founded his firm in 1994 and has ridden the wave since, was on a podcast.

One of my takeaways from both conversations was that the internet introduced a new technology paradigm that reshaped society and led to a financial gold rush that lasted decades.

All of this got me thinking. I’m curious about how the cycles around new technologies work and how to identify what stage of a technology cycle you’re in. I have a rough idea, but not as detailed an understanding as I’d like. I’m going to look for some historical books on this topic to help fill my gaps.

I used to journal first thing in the morning. I gained a lot from the process and thoroughly enjoyed it. But my routine has since changed—the first thing I do in the morning now is read a book. I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate some form of journaling into my day, and this week I started testing something new: voice recordings.

When I take my daily walk, I’ve started recording what I’m thinking about and what lessons, if any, I learned that day. I didn’t have any expectations when I started doing this, but I’ve been surprised by how much I enjoy the process—specifically, being able to listen to my lessons as I walk. It’s also a daily feedback loop that allows me to listen to and critique how I communicate my thoughts.

It's low tech, which I like: just a phone, Voice Memos app, and EarPods. The one thing I do miss is being able to read my thoughts in a written journal format. I’m sure I can turn these recordings into clean docs with AI. I’ve chatted with a buddy who’s done this, and he gave me some useful tips and ideas on how to write the prompt to achieve this.

Looking forward to using AI to help with this. If it all works as I envision, I may have created my new digital journal.

The more I read biographies, the more I learn about different historical periods. The early 1900s are fascinating, especially the 1929 stock market crash and its economic and psychological impact on society. Another interesting time that I keep reading about is the late 1960s through the early 1980s.

That was when inflation skyrocketed to double digits, resulting in the federal funds rate reaching roughly 20%.

This period had a profound impact on entrepreneurs, investors, and society. I want to understand what led to its extremes and how entrepreneurs and investors navigated them. I’ve heard stories from my parents about 18% rates on mortgages in the early 1980s, but I want to go deeper.  

To learn more, I’ll read a few books about this period and reread books that contain context about it and how people navigated it. I’m also going to reread the letters Warren Buffett wrote to investors in his hedge fund (pre–Berkshire Hathaway), given that he announced he was closing his hedge fund in 1969, the start of this volatile period.

I’ll likely have to read some political and monetary history books—obviously not my usual entrepreneur biographies—because I think it’s important to gain context about the period.

I’m curious about the late 1960s through the early 1980s  and excited to learn about that time in history. My gut tells me it has valuable lessons to teach that could be useful to entrepreneurs and investors in the not-so-distant future.

This week, I caught up with a friend who’s an investor at a VC fund. We talked about what’s new and what we think about the state of entrepreneurship. But then the conversation turned to what we’ve learned lately. We shared not only what books we’ve read but also why they added value and what we learned.

The conversation struck a chord with me because sharing what we’ve learned through reading added depth to it. I felt like I walked away smarter and excited to read some of the books he mentioned. Hopefully, he felt the same.

I haven’t had many conversations like this, and I want to have more of them. Talking is different when two people who are avid about learning from reading share with each other. It’s hard to explain, but it’s different. I want to explore this to see if I can have more of these conversations and to gauge whether others are interested in having more of them. Maybe this could be the basis for a niche community?

I recently listened to an interview clip with Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI and ChatGPT, in which he talks about his ideas on thinking more clearly. Given the success he’s had as a start-up founder, president and partner at Y Combinator, VC investor, and CEO of OpenAI, I was curious to hear his opinions. Here are a few takeaways:

• Altman, a big fan of spiral notebooks, takes tons of notes. He’s particular about the type of notebook he uses. The notebook is a way for him to capture things, and ripping pages out allows him to easily compare and think about what he’s captured. He creates piles of crumpled notebook pages as part of his process and goes through a notebook every two to three weeks.
• Writing is important to Altman because it’s a tool that helps him think more clearly. It’s important for people to learn to write so they can learn to think more clearly.
• Altman is better at generating ideas when he’s sitting alone and writing than when he’s conversing with others.
• Anytime he gets 11 minutes or more free, often in the back of a car, he writes and thinks.
• Figuring out the balance between being with people, getting ideas, and having time alone to think and write is important. His thoughts on this reminded me of the framework I read about in A Technique for Producing Ideas.
• His weekends, with long, quiet blocks of time to think and write, are important to him.

Altman’s process is surprisingly simple and low tech: a good pen (he recommends his favorites), a spiral notebook, and time to think and write.

Given OpenAI’s dominance in the AI market, it stood out to me that he believes writing is still critical as a thinking tool and he writes regularly using pen and paper, not ChatGPT.

The interview clip with Altman is short. If you’re interested in listening to or watching it, go here.

Yesterday, I shared the best strategy I’ve learned to build an audience (see here). It’s timeless and builds credibility. It’s the strategy Warren Buffett and Paul Graham use. The strategy is this: share what you learn with others. Said differently, if you learn or figure something out, don’t hoard that wisdom. Share it with the world.

The strategy is simple enough, but it’s not easy. Lots of people share what they learn, but most of them haven’t accrued the credibility that Buffett and Graham have. What gives?

Executing this audience-building strategy and achieving the outsize results that Buffett and Graham are underlain by some critical fundamentals. Many people skimp on them, and their efforts don’t pay off as well as they could. Here are some that I’ve noticed Buffett, Graham, and others have embraced that made all the difference:

• Prioritize learning – This is the key element that most miss. Heck, I missed it when I first started this blog. Everyone has a reservoir of wisdom they’ve accumulated from living and working that they can share. You can start by sharing your reservoir, but it will drain if you’re not refilling it by learning faster than you’re sharing. When it’s empty, you no longer have anything of value to share with your audience, you lose their attention, and your audience shrinks. To keep adding value to your audience by sharing what you learn, you must learn at an accelerated pace. This means you can’t be haphazard about learning; you have to make it a priority. You must seek out resources around topics you’re interested in and consume them regularly. It’s no coincidence that people who’ve built audiences by sharing what they learn are also avid daily readers. Buffet reads 500 pages a day (see here).
• Writing – You don’t have to think clearly to speak “well,” but you do have to think clearly to write “well.” Writing down what you’ve learned forces you to think clearly and understand a topic deeply. It also forces you to figure out the best way to communicate it to others. Once you’ve written it down in a way that others can understand, you’ve cemented your understanding of the topic in your brain and made it easier for you to speak “well” about the topic with extreme confidence. Someone who speaks well will be liked, but someone who writes well (and by extension speaks well) is always held in much higher regard.
• Consistency – The point of building an audience is to get people’s attention. Once you get their attention, your job isn’t done. You must keep their attention going forward. The best way to keep their attention is to have them coming back for more. If they know you’ll share thoughts on a regular schedule, you’re more likely to keep their attention. The best audience builders who share their learnings pick a schedule and stick to it. Warrant Buffett only releases an annual letter, but people know when to expect it, and they eagerly anticipate it. He keeps their attention and maintains their interest by consistently dropping that letter once a year in the same month. Pick a frequency, communicate it, and stick to it to keep your audience’s attention.
• Perseverance – Building an audience around sharing in writing what you learn isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. It takes time for people to find what you’ve shared. So, don’t expect results or praise to come quickly. Howard Marks is a billionaire distressed-debt investor who is the founder of Oaktree Capital. He writes two or so long-form “memos” every year that explain investing concepts and current market conditions. He started writing these memos and sending them to his clients in 1990. He wrote them into a void for a decade. A decade! It wasn’t until 2000 that anyone acknowledged receiving or reading his memos. His 2000 memo went the equivalent of viral in the investing world. See more here and here. Now, his memos are eagerly anticipated, widely read, and praised by the smartest minds in the world. I read or listen to each memo the week it drops.

To sum up, building an audience by sharing what you’re learning is simple but not easy. To execute the strategy effectively and achieve outsize results, you must accelerate your learning (about things you’re interested in), write down what you’ve learned, be consistent with your sharing, and commit to sharing for a long period, regardless of feedback.

If you embrace these fundamentals, sharing what you learn can help build an audience in a timeless manner that enhances your credibility in the minds of your audience and engenders immense loyalty.

If you don’t believe me, look at the sharing journeys of Warren Buffett, Howard Marks, Paul Graham, and others.

I’ve noticed more people building audiences (think followers on X, LinkedIn, Reddit, etc.) and then creating solutions to problems they learn about from audience feedback. When the solution is built, they then have ready-made distribution. They point their audience to the solution they built. It’s a reverse-marketing approach (build an audience, then a product) that I’ve seen be highly effective for some people, so I studied it.

I’ve learned about lots of ways to go about building these audiences. Some are timeless; others, a flash in the pan. Some are questionable and erode trust; others build credibility and trust. The ones that interest me are timeless and build credibility. They’ve worked historically and will continue to work in the future. You build long-term trust with the audience by adding value to them.

So, what’s the best strategy I’ve found that meets these criteria? It’s simple, actually: Share what you learn. I’ve noticed that people who take the time to share their wisdom build loyal audiences who respect them highly. No selling or upsells. Just free game anyone can consume. This strategy is tried and true. So, who are some people who’ve used this strategy to build audiences?

• Paul Graham – The founder of Y Combinator is also a prolific blogger. Graham has an essay section on his blog that people rave about. These essays are long-form distillations of Graham’s understanding of topics. They are often quoted widely by founders and investors. Some were written many years ago, but the wisdom in them is timeless and still shared and written about. Like this one from 2004 about making wealth or this one from 2006 about doing what you love. Timeless wisdom led to timeless content that attracted a huge international audience on the internet.  
• Warren Buffett – The Oracle of Omaha is often regarded as one of the best investors ever, but if you think about it, he’s really operating a mix of a hedge fund and a private equity (PE) firm in a single firm. Lots of people have generated amazing returns by founding hedge funds and PE firms. But most people don’t think as highly of them as they do of Buffet. Why is Buffett different? Buffett isn’t just an investor; he’s also a teacher. He puts a tremendous amount of time and energy into sharing what he’s learned with others. For decades, he’s written an annual letter (spending months to do it) that he distributes widely (see letters back to 1977 here). Also for decades, he’s held an annual meeting at which people can ask him anything. He’s written countless articles in various publications sharing his thoughts, investing principles, and (in his early days) stock picks. He’s given so many CNBC interviews that CNBC created an archive and dedicated a portion of its website to it (see here). By sharing what he knows, he’s built a loyal base of disciples (an audience) who hold him in high regard. Many people followed his value-investing principles (which he borrowed from people like Ben Graham and Philip Fisher) and became rich, thus cementing his credibility.

These are just two examples; many others have had outsize success with this approach.

This sounds like a simple strategy, and it is. But after digging more, I’ve learned that although it’s simple, it’s not easy. There’s a critical component of the strategy that’s necessary to make it work, and it, too, is simple but far from easy to execute.

This post is already pretty long, so I’ll share that critical part in tomorrow’s post.