Warren Buffett once said, “Interest rates power everything in the economic universe, and they have some effect on the decisions we make.” I decided I wanted to learn more about interest, so I bought a few books.

This week I finished reading The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest by Edward Chancellor. Chancellor’s main points are that interest is necessary to allocate capital to its best uses and valuing assets would be impossible without interest. He provides historical content on interest, going back to Babylonian times. I enjoyed how Chancellor detailed the interest-rate environments of various time periods and the impact they had on society and the economy at the time.

I’m glad I read the book. I highlighted many sections I want to revisit someday.

I’m continuing with my learning survey. It’s turned into more of a customer discovery exercise than a survey. This week I had a call with an entrepreneur who’s also an investor. One thing he shared stuck with me:

“My learning is curiosity led but application driven.”

In other words, he’s looking to learn something to a level of competence sufficient to apply it. I like his wording—it’s a succinct and accurate description of how I and the entrepreneurs I’ve surveyed approach learning.

While researching a business, I learned that it generates significant revenue from ads. Digging deeper, I found out that it’s charging 10x more than I’d envisioned for ads. The coveted (and most expensive) ad slots are sold out for the next six months. I don’t have any inside information, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this business is generating eight figures in annual revenue from ads.

I don’t know a lot about ad-based business models, and this project has me curious. I want to learn more and will dive deeper into this space.

Yesterday I shared my thoughts on wisdom vs. knowledge. I have a daily habit of acquiring knowledge, which I enjoy. I’ve noticed a pattern as I’ve been reading more long-form content, mainly books. Some books add considerably more value than others. I’ve been thinking about why this is the case for the last few months.

The most helpful books I read last year have a common trait. They were about how people took action toward a stated goal. The books explained their thought processes as they learned by trial and error, detailing their learnings and how what they learned changed their behavior during their journey. These books were about how people acquired and applied knowledge. They were books that contained the wisdom others had accumulated (often over decades).  

This year I want to refine my reading a bit. I enjoy learning about new concepts and ideas, but I want to focus more of my time on reading books that contain wisdom, not just knowledge.

As an early-stage founder, I was part of an entrepreneurial group that taught new founders about key business functions. Each quarter we went deep into a specific business function: marketing, finances, HR, marketing, etc. At the end of each of those sessions, I better understood functions that didn’t come naturally to me (e.g., marketing). I felt educated. But I still had a problem: What do I do with this new knowledge? How do I use it in my business? I’d learned what I needed to do, but I still had no idea how to do it.

This experience highlighted the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Knowledge is acquired by learning new information or being made aware of something. Learning about marketing is an example of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge acquisition doesn’t always equate to adding value. There’s another step.

Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge in a manner that aligns with the outcome you desire. Wisdom means changed behavior and improved decision-making—knowing what to do and when to do it. Wisdom is acquired from experience (yours or someone else’s). Growing your company through marketing execution is the result of wisdom.

Through trial and error and talking with other successful entrepreneurs (who shared their experiences), I learned how to apply the concepts I learned in those sessions to grow my business. My problem was solved.

This experience showed me that knowledge is important. You can’t apply something if you aren’t aware of it, which is why continuous learning is so important. But wisdom is what I value most because applying knowledge well is how I achieve the outcomes I desire.

Today a friend texted me about a company I follow and sent a screenshot of a news headline. He wanted me to be aware that the company may be going through hard times. I read the headline and laughed.

The headline included company financial figures that were wrong. I know they were wrong because I’ve read the reports issued by the company. The writer clearly didn’t understand the company and had confused the details. I pointed this out to my friend and shared the correct financial figures, which show the company’s doing fine.

This exchange was a reminder of the value of getting first-source data. When you rely on other people’s interpretations, you run the risk of basing your conclusions and actions on incorrect interpretations.

I’ve been learning about business models in different industries for a few years. SEC filings of publicly traded companies have been great for companies I’ve wanted to take a dive deep into, but I wanted an additional resource. One that would help with discovery of companies and industries I’m less familiar with. One that could help me efficiently learn about new business models at a high level.

This week I found the Business Breakdowns podcast and have enjoyed listening to several episodes. It breaks down public and private companies, which I really like, and covers a broad range of industries. Some of the companies profiled I would have never thought to research, or wouldn’t have been able to because they’re private. The episodes I’ve listened to have been helpful and have gotten me thinking more about various ways of charging for the value you provide to customers.

If you’re interested in learning how different companies generate revenue and think about their business, consider giving the podcast a listen.

Mark Twain is known for saying:

“History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

I was chatting with a friend about this quote, and he added something that stuck with me:

“The reason history rhymes is because human nature doesn’t change. People don’t change, but circumstances do.”

That’s why knowing history is important, he said.

I’m no history buff, but I do enjoy reading historical accounts of major business events and the journeys of people who achieved outsize success. I consistently read the latter and randomly read the former. This year, I want to be more intentional about identifying important events in business and monetary policy history and reading long-form content to better understand them and decisions related to them. Hopefully this will help me see patterns in human behavior that will help me understand and navigate similar future events.

I was chatting with a friend about this quote, and he added something that stuck with me: “The reason history rhymes is because human nature doesn’t change. People don’t change, but circumstances do.”

That’s why knowing history is important, he said.

I’m no history buff, but I do enjoy reading historical accounts of major business events and the journeys of people who achieved outsize success. I consistently read the latter and randomly read the former. This year, I want to be more intentional about identifying important events in business and monetary policy history and reading long-form content to better understand them and decisions related to them. Hopefully this will help me see patterns in human behavior that will help me understand and navigate similar future events.

Today I listened to a podcast on which the guest talked about her research on focus. The gist was that it’s getting hard for people to focus for more than one minute (yes, one minute!) while we’re working because of all the distractions we’re inundated with. That one-minute figure was based on a study she’d done over a few years. I knew focus was a problem, but the one-minute stat was surprising.

My college had a Center for Academic Success. Sadly, most students never used it. Honestly, I don’t think many people even knew it existed. Serendipitously, I met the center’s director my first semester, and she impressed me. I told her about my heavy course load that semester, and she urged me to visit her center. When I took her up on her offer, I learned study techniques that proved invaluable. A lot of it was about habits that help you focus. I’ve always been able to focus on things I’m interested in, but the things I learned at that center turbocharged my ability and taught me how to focus on things that are less interesting to me (which a lot of early college classes were).

My ability to focus has played a big part in the wins I’ve had in life. Learning techniques for focusing and practicing them took my natural abilities and habits to the next level. As I think about the one-minute attention statistic, I’m concerned about people’s diminishing ability to focus. If you’re aiming for outsize success, focus is something to consider learning about (just as you would any other critical topic) and practicing so you can develop or enhance your ability to focus. Being able to focus won’t guarantee you outsize success, but not being able to all but guarantees you won’t achieve success.

My learning survey is ongoing and I’ve learned some interesting things. One of them I shared in a post a few days ago. Today I had a good chat with a VC investor. I’ve known him for a few years and think highly of him, so I was curious about his learning habits. The best investors and entrepreneurs are frequently trying to figure things out that others haven’t, so they tend to make learning a priority.

Our conversation was helpful, and he mentioned one big thing in several different ways: he wants to learn more but doesn’t feel like he has enough time.

I hadn’t thought about this, but it makes sense. Investors are busy people with jam-packed calendars. Squeezing in time to find material that contains the knowledge you want and then consuming it is difficult.

Now I’m wondering if feeling like time limits the ability to satisfy a desire to learn is common.