I was disappointed in myself for not consistently recording audio versions of my blog. Yesterday I figured out what was tripping me up and what changes were needed. Today I implemented those changes and recorded twelve audio posts. I’m happy to report that I’m all caught up!

Now, I’m focused on staying current and getting reps daily to improve the quality of the recordings and, eventually, my storytelling skills.

A few takeaways from today’s recording session:

• Mindset matters – Shifting my mindset to getting practice reps helped. I felt more relaxed, and the words flowed more smoothly.
• Mistakes – I didn’t sweat the small errors. I rerecorded when I made big mistakes (like coughing loudly mid-sentence). After listening to the small errors during playback, I decided they make the recordings more authentic. I’m not the only person who stumbles over words occasionally, so why take that out? We’ll see if my thinking evolves on this, but right now, I like the idea of being human (flaws and all) in these recordings and not a perfect robot.
• What I like – I now think about recording what I want to hear, not what I think other people want to hear. If I like the recordings, then others will like them too. If I don’t like them, then no one will.
• Talking to yourself – Talking to yourself is harder than I imagined, and listening to yourself talking to yourself is even harder. I have more respect for people who do this regularly at a high level. It’s simple but far from easy.
• Books – I’ve been reading at an accelerated clip lately. The posts sharing takeaways from books are my favorites. Reading and writing about what I learned from my reading is a powerful combination. I knew this already, but hearing these recordings reinforced it and motivated me to do more of this kind of post.

I’m energized about getting this habit formed. I think good things will come from it. I don’t know of anyone who blogs and records their blogs every day. I’m excited to see if I can accomplish something hard that others can’t or won’t do.

You can listen to audio versions of my blog posts on Apple here and Spotify here.

I didn’t record or publish a single audio version of my blog this week. The reasons don’t matter. I failed to do something I committed to doing, and it’s been nagging at me for two days. I expected the audio launch to be like the blog launch on March 9, 2020. I started writing daily and haven’t stopped since.

Today I reflected on what I need to change:

• Accountability – I launched the written blog as part of a 60-day challenge with my friend. The challenge was an accountability tactic and helped me form my writing habit. I need to add more accountability to this audio project. I’m going to tell more family and friends about it. I’ll ask those interested in following to consider subscribing via a podcasting app. I’ll also give those interested permission to ask me how it’s going.
• Rhythm – I’ve been trying to do two audio recordings every other day. That didn’t work because I never formed the habit. The gap between recording days hurt me. My personality is best suited to zero days off until the habit is formed. I wrote for 60 days to form that habit. Now I need to record for 30–60 days straight to form the audio habit.
• Format – I tested reading my blog posts verbatim and summarizing them in a more conversational format. The conversational format sounded better, and I tried to do more of that. It was a mistake. I’m new to recording, so I ended up doing multiple takes for a single post, which was frustrating and time-consuming. I need to start simple and read the posts verbatim. Slowly I can make each daily post a little better than the day before until it’s more conversational—or whatever format I settle on. I need to focus on getting the most recording reps possible, not making each recording perfect. If I do this, over time, the quality will improve. It will be painful to listen to all my mistakes every day in the meantime.
• Editing – After a few recordings, I edited them to make them sound better. That was another mistake. It wasn’t a good use of my energy and time because it didn’t align with my goal. My goal is reps and continual progression. I’m not going to edit a recording until this habit is fully formed. I’ll publish each post as is or rerecord the whole thing if I don’t like it.

It's important to me to form a daily audio blog habit. It’s a stepping-stone to a bigger audio project I want to do. I know what I need to change going forward to increase my chances of getting this habit entrenched and making the bigger audio project a reality. Wish me luck!

You can listen to audio versions of my blog posts on Apple here and Spotify here.

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

• Routine – This week, I was forced to change my morning routine. I thought the change served me well. But today, I reflected on my week and realized that it felt good because it was different. However, it played a significant role in my output decreasing. Next week, I’m going back to my normal morning routine. This week was a reminder to think hard before changing a routine that’s working well.
• Audio blog – I made no recordings this week. I’m disappointed in myself for letting this slip so much. I can’t let it happen going forward. I’ll work on catching up and making this a daily habit.
• Gaps – I had the chance to be part of a fireside chat. The audience was small business owners. These entrepreneurs are smart and work hard. The experience was a reminder that early-stage entrepreneurs in traditional businesses have large gaps around strategies for obtaining growth capital, as well as other areas.

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

You can listen to audio versions of my blog posts on Apple here and Spotify here.

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

• Struggle – This week, I heard from a few people in response to my post about Sheila Johnson’s struggles. Entrepreneurs enjoy hearing about the struggles of other entrepreneurs—not because they wish bad things on others, but because during struggle is when entrepreneurs learn and acquire wisdom that they apply to become successful. Entrepreneurs enjoy hearing about that entire process because it helps give them a better idea of what to do in similar situations.
• Audio blog – I’m still not where I want to be with consistently recording and publishing audio versions of my blog posts. This week I realized a few things that could help me improve this. Planning on testing them next week.  

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

You can listen to audio versions of my blog posts on Apple here and Spotify here.

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

• Audio blog – I launched an audio version of my blog last week on Apple and Spotify (see here and here). Hearing my own voice feels weird. But listening to these recordings is a great feedback loop. I can critique myself and make changes (or try to) rapidly. I still need to get in the habit of recording and posting. It feels unnatural now, and I’m not in a rhythm. Hopefully, it will be second nature by the end of the month.
• Written vs. audio – A written piece that communicates an idea clearly to a reader doesn’t communicate that same idea as clearly to someone who’s listening to a recording of it.
• Concision – Listening to my recordings highlights something I already knew: I’m not as concise as I’d like to be. I think I’ll improve over time if I work at it.
• John Malone – I enjoyed the book about John Malone. It was interesting to see how a non-founder built a massive company and how important the cable industry is to our ability to access the internet. Malone’s specialty is financial engineering, and it was also interesting to learn more about how he used that skillset to increase shareholder value.

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

I’ve been thinking about sharing my daily posts in an audio format in addition to the written format. My self-imposed deadline was to get it done by Friday, April 26. I met that deadline and launched via Spotify. Apple Podcasts and Spotify are the two largest distribution platforms for podcasts, so I want to be on both.

Today, I finished setting up everything with Apple. My posts can now be heard on Apple Podcasts. I need to tidy things up a bit, but I’m live!

Feel free to check out my blog on Apple Podcasts.

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

• Audio blog – I launched an audio version of my blog this week. I still need to fine-tune things and expand to other platforms, such as Apple Podcast, but the first box is checked. I’m excited about what I’ll gain from this experience. It feels like the next evolution of my learning in public. You can check out the audio blog’s Spotify page here.
• Entrepreneurial groups – I spent time learning about groups like EO, YPO, Vistage, and Tiger 21 that are attractive to entrepreneurs. While doing so, I also learned about their business models. I was shocked at how much revenue these organizations generate. If revenue is a proxy for value, they’re bringing tremendous value to founders.
• Distilling – I’m still not where I want to be in distilling and documenting what I’m learning from the books I’m reading. I want to focus on this more next week.

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

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!