After reading Getting Things Done by David Allen again, I realized I don’t have a great “inbox” to capture all incoming information and thoughts. The inbox is a core piece of the GTD method. It’s the holding area where you place things until you have time to process and sort them properly. Sure, I have the inbox for my email, but I didn’t have a go-to inbox in a tool I used to manage my productivity.

I’ve been working on cleaning up my GTD system by creating a clean, short-term (to be completed within a year) project list and defining next actions for each project. That’s going pretty well and should be done shortly. But because I don’t have a solid inbox, my GTD system hasn’t been as effective as it could be.

So, this week, I created an inbox in Apple Notes, moved all unprocessed notes into it, and added all new notes to it. I must say, having a single place to drop all new thoughts and incoming information has been helpful. It’s taken some discipline to make sure I put everything there, but now that I have the hang of it, I feel more confident that everything important is being captured so I don’t have to try to remember everything.

Another thing I like about GTD is that processing and sorting are separate from capturing my thoughts and incoming information. I can quickly capture thoughts about an article, book, project, or podcast in a messy note and save the note in my inbox. When I process my inbox, I add more context to the note and save it in the appropriate folder or project so it’s where I need it when I need it.

I’m still early in the process of cleaning up my GTD system and creating new GTD habits, but I think this, along with Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain process, will boost my productivity in 2026.

For the last few years, I’ve been using X (formerly Twitter) as a research tool and a news source. I’ve learned a ton from the platform and connected with some great people, but I rarely post anything. What I did years ago was set up an integration to X. Every time I create a new blog post, it creates a post on X with a link to the post on my blog. It’s basically the lazy way of posting on X.

The integration is easy, but not very effective. X doesn’t love it when you link out to external sites. So, this year, I want to change how I share my thoughts on X. I’m going to convert my blog posts into native X posts. Not sure what this looks like or how I’ll do it, but I want to turn it into a habit by the end of the year.

I’ve been reading one book a week consistently for 96 weeks. It’s been a solo activity . . . so far. I read alone, think about what I read alone, and share my thoughts in a blog post. It’s a pretty self-contained process.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to join a book club. I’ve heard of book clubs but never considered joining one. After thinking about it, I decided to give it a shot—mainly because I’m curious to see how a book club operates and how it’s valuable to its members.

I didn’t have a book club on my bingo card for 2026, but this seems like something fun to try, with limited downside and large potential upside. I’m looking forward to my first meeting next month.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 96
• Total blog posts published: 637

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 1/4/26 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Reread Getting Things Done, a framework for boosting productivity while reducing stress
• Synthesized The Little Book of Market Wizards

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book
• Write a post sharing what I learned from synthesizing The Little Book of Market Wizards
• Write a post sharing what I learned from synthesizing The Art of Execution

Asks:

• No ask this week

Week three hundred one was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

What I struggled with:

• I’m still synthesizing the second book (The Little Book of Market Wizards) of my holiday challenge (see here). I thought I’d be done by now, but making this a daily habit hasn’t stuck yet. I want to find hacks that let me synthesize books more efficiently.

What I learned:

• I posted one synthesis of a book, and it resonated with people. I assume they appreciate getting the main points of the book in much less time than it would take to read it.
• When I synthesize a book, I create a digest in Google Docs and then write a post based on that doc. This week, I was trying to remember something from a book. Instead of grabbing the book, I used the digest and post to refresh my memory. Reviewing either or both is much more efficient than digging into the book itself. I’ll be doing more of this when I want to revisit material from books.

That’s what I learned and struggled with last week.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 95
• Total blog posts published: 630

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 12/28/25 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Read The Little Book of Market Wizards, a framework on the core psychology principles that elite public-market investors used to execute their investing strategies and generate outsize returns over long careers
• Synthesized The Art of Execution

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book
• Synthesize The Little Book of Market Wizards
• Write a post sharing what I learned from synthesizing The Art of Execution

Asks:

• No ask this week

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

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

What I struggled with:

• I synthesized a book this week—a painful process that took longer than expected. I hoped to write the blog post based on the synthesis by this weekend, but that hasn’t happened.

What I learned:

• Synthesizing a book requires a fair amount of rereading, even though I highlighted important parts during my initial read. The material sticks better the second time around, but the process still feels like it could be more efficient. Hopefully, with more reps, I’ll get better and develop some hacks too.

That’s what I learned and struggled with last week.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 94
• Total blog posts published: 623

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 12/21/25 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Read The Art of Execution, a framework on the psychological mistakes that undermine investment execution and lead to poor returns

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book
• Synthesize one book and share what I learned in a post

Asks:

• No ask this week

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

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

What I struggled with:

• I planned to start synthesizing another book during a long focus session, but it didn’t happen. I need to rethink how to make this a daily habit. Maybe shorter daily sessions would work.  

What I learned:

• Rereading books—the best ones—is as important as reading new books. I need to revisit some of the most valuable lessons and timeless wisdom periodically to remind me of what I already know. See more here.

That’s what I learned and struggled with last week.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 93
• Total blog posts published: 616

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 12/14/25 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Read The Fortune Builders, a biographical anthology of Chicago’s most successful entrepreneurial families
• Published a post about each book I synthesized during my Thanksgiving challenge (see here); you can see the posts here, here, and here

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book
• Synthesize one book and share what I learned in a post

Asks:

• No ask this week

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