This is my two-hundred-twelfth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Writing challenge: I challenged myself to consistently share my takeaways from books I read. It took more experimenting than I’d planned for. This week, I found a good groove. I wrote five posts inspired by two books. I’m posting one takeaway after every hundred pages or so. That means I’ll share three takeaways from a three-hundred-page book. That rhythm feels about right.
• Audio blog – I made a decision: I’m going to make it possible to consume my posts via audio. I did some test recordings this week. Listening to them confirmed that this is an area I want to work on.
• eBay – I enjoyed reading about eBay’s first few years. That story is an example of the impact the twin tailwinds of product–market fit in a rapidly growing market can have on a company. I learned more about the founder. I admire his approach to building the company.

Week two hundred twelve was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my two-hundred-eleventh weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Personal knowledge management (PKM) – The books I read this week outlined some useful concepts. I modified and started testing some of them, and I’m getting significantly more value from Apple Notes and other apps I’ve used for years. I’ll test more changes next week.
• Readwise – As the number of physical books I’ve read has increased, it’s been challenging to retain and consistently review highlights. I found the Readwise app and started testing it this week, and I think I’ve figured out a system for using it and physical books efficiently. More testing to come.
• Productivity – After reading about PKM, I started thinking about my approach to getting work done. I haven’t made material changes in a long time, and I want to be more efficient. I’ll begin looking at productivity frameworks next week.  
• Audio blog – The more I learn about audio, the more intrigued I am with the format as a tool for sharing information. I’ve been exploring the idea of sharing my daily posts via audio in addition to written form. A friend told me about some good options for doing this. I’m going to think about this more.

Week two hundred eleven was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my two-hundred-tenth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Storytelling – This week I made good progress on my storytelling project. The thing I’m most excited about is my new practice habit. I began practicing my storytelling every day, recording those sessions, and reviewing them to identify areas for improvement. It’s been painful! I have a lot of work to do, but I’m excited about what could be if I can get really good at storytelling.
• Learning survey – In late January, I began casually surveying friends and family about learning habits. This week I started doing discovery with founders I don’t know. I had two meetings this week, which were helpful. I need to refine my questions a bit. I’ll repeat this next week.

Week two hundred ten was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my two-hundred-ninth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Superpower – I finished a good book about a dynasty family of investor entrepreneurs. The patriarch was adamant about writing weekly. It became an advantage for him and the two generations after him. His articulation of the value derived from that activity got me thinking about how it can be a superpower for entrepreneurs.
• Learning survey – I began casually surveying friends and family about learning habits in late January. Those conversations morphed into customer discovery but were still sporadic and among people close to me. This week, I tested having discovery meetings with entrepreneurs I don’t know (or don’t know well). The insights this week were valuable. I’m considering committing to doing a few discovery meetings one day a week for a few weeks with entrepreneurs and investors I don’t know.

Week two hundred nine was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my two-hundred-eighth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Entrepreneurship – Some of the most successful companies are built by people who experience a problem firsthand and set out to solve it. Living the pain of the problem gives them unique insights and passion that increase their chances of success.
• Investing – Just because something is cheap, that doesn’t make it a good buy. Quality still matters more.
• Reddit – This IPO was completed yesterday. I’m curious to see how the stock performs in the next week or so. Its performance will likely have a significant impact on technology companies’ decisions about whether to pursue an IPO this year.

Week two hundred eight was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

A few weeks back, I shared that I want to practice storytelling publicly. My storytelling is something I’ve always wanted to improve, but I’ve never taken consistent steps toward this goal. Since that post, I’ve been working on a project that I hope will move the needle.

Today I had some downtime to work on this project. I had to get some equipment to make this storytelling project work as I envisioned it. Today I set up some of it and tested it by recording samples, which were fictitious stories. I realized that I have a long way to go with my storytelling and just how hard it is. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Even though this storytelling goal will be a lot harder than I planned, I’m looking forward to the challenge and to improving my skills.

This month I challenged myself to start writing about my reading. My goal was to write down—after I finished reading a book—the main concepts and new insights I formed. I’ve completed three books and started a fourth since that post. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

• Waiting until I’ve finished a book to begin writing posts isn’t optimal. The books are usually in the range of 200–400 pages, and I read them in multiple sessions. Waiting until the end to write a post increases the likelihood that I’ll miss something valuable. That didn’t feel like the right rhythm. It felt more organic for me to reflect more frequently on a smaller amount of content. I naturally ended up doing this with the books on Ken Langone (here and here) and Bernie Marcus (here and here). I wrote more than one post on each book. Every 100 or so pages felt like a good reflection rhythm. I think I’ll replicate and refine this rhythm going forward.
• Some books I read are a historical recount of a period or business event. With this type of book, which is an author’s interpretation of what happened and why, I’m looking to understand what happened and whether similar things are occurring today. I read a book about the dot-com bubble and shared a post about a similarity I noticed between that period and today. Biographies and historical books are different. What I seek from each type of book is different. My expectations for my posts should reflect these differences.
• Now, I’m reading the autobiography of a well-known, seasoned entrepreneur. So far, no concepts have caught my attention, and it hasn’t sparked me to form any new insights. Hopefully, this will change by the time I finish the book. I failed to consider that some books I read may not provide much value to me and hadn’t thought about how I’d handle posts in this situation. I’ve decided that I want my posts to be positive and bring value to others. If I don’t get value from a book, I won’t write a post about it.
• I need to take notes and highlight important concepts as I read. Reviewing these is a key step in the process of reflecting and writing.

I’m enjoying the challenge so far. Looking forward to continuing next week and iterating as I learn more.

This is my two-hundred-seventh weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Sharing ideas – I shared an idea with a few people over the last few weeks. The idea is unconventional. I figured it would be received with skepticism. The exact opposite happened. Several people have been thinking about the topic that my idea’s about for years; they just haven’t talked about it publicly. One person considered starting a company. Another did start a company, but it didn’t last. Instead of having to defend my idea, l heard about lessons learned and was pointed to helpful resources that I wasn’t aware of. Just a reminder that there’s more upside than downside in sharing ideas.
• Commerce gateway– I thought more about this. Commerce (i.e., retail) has been the historical gateway to entrepreneurship for many. This will likely continue. I’m noticing another trend with aspiring entrepreneurs, which could be an indication of another gateway starting to emerge. I'm seeing more people try entrepreneurship by renting things to others.  Could rentals be the new gateway?
• Four years of posts – This week marked my fourth year of doing daily posts. I’m proud of sticking with this for so long. I want to reflect a bit on the last year of posting and think about what the next year of posts will look like.

Week two hundred seven was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my two-hundred-sixth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Commerce gateway – I’m starting to see a pattern in the origin stories of wildly successful entrepreneurs of the last few centuries. Many of them got their start by selling products. They were essentially retailers. After they learned basic entrepreneurial lessons, they found painful problems and created solutions to them. Commerce is a gateway to entrepreneurship for many.
• Storytelling – I’ve kickstarted my progress on my goal of publicly practicing my storytelling in 2024. I still have a few more things I need to do, but I’m hoping to begin telling stories soon.  
• Reading insights – I tested sharing, in my posts, insights from a book I read. This was helpful. While I was reading, I took better notes on potentially insightful passages because I knew I’d be sharing those insights. The process of writing helped clarify my thinking. Overall, this enhanced my reading process.‍
• Reviewing highlights – Digitizing highlights from physical books has been a pain. The best software I’ve found so far isn’t great. I plan to test a few others, but the chances of finding a satisfactory solution to this problem aren’t looking good.

Week two hundred six was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

I’ve been thinking about how to best capture and retain the most important concepts in the books I read. I highlight and make notes as I read, and yesterday I decided to start reviewing those annotations regularly. I think that will be helpful, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Reviewing helps with retention of ideas, but it doesn’t ensure clarity around them or the main concepts in each book.

After almost four years of writing daily posts, I’ve learned that writing helps you clarify your thoughts—mainly because you must first think clearly before you can write clearly. The writing process also aids in uncovering nonobvious insights.

Today I decided I’m going to test a new habit. When I finish reading a book, I’m going to write down the main concepts I learned from it and any new insights I formed. My goal is to distill the most valuable wisdom or ideas and capture new ideas sparked by the book. I think this will be a fun challenge that will enhance the value I get from my reading, and it may also bring value to others and myself in the future.

Wish me luck!