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

• Financial history – I’ve been reading books on financial history lately. It’s been a great exercise in zooming out to see the big picture, understanding human behavior, and understanding some of the complexity of the financial system. I’m excited to keep learning in this area.
• Weekly learnings – I’m thinking about ways to share some of the things I learn each week. A friend suggested an idea that I like, and I’m going to solicit other people’s thoughts about it.
• Practical learning – This week was a reminder that the best way for me to learn is by doing—and that I learn the most when things don’t go as planned.

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

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.

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

• Exiting venture capital – I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of VCs I’m talking with who are considering doing something outside VC. Many are looking at the prospect of returns, the number of years required to realize them, and the challenging exit environment for IPOs and M&A.
• Complexity – This week was a reminder that explaining complex concepts simply is a way to give value to others and enhance your own learning at the same time.

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

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

• Curveballs – This week, I was thrown a few curveballs. It was a reminder that the unexpected can happen anytime. Flexibility and focus helped me navigate the week.
• Optimism – Entrepreneurs I’ve talked with are very optimistic about 2024. Most have plans to grow businesses or launch new ones. Entrepreneurial sentiment appears to be starting the year off strong.
• History – I learned some fascinating things from historical events and people in business this week. As I read, I was able to see how current times are mimicking history.

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

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

• Learning – My learning survey started out as a silly exercise, but it’s turning into something resembling customer discovery. I’m surprised how interested people are when I ask about their learning habits.
• Focus – I paid close attention to how often people’s attention is pulled in multiple directions every day. The ability to focus appears to be becoming less common. Those who have it and use it will have a leg up on life.
• Trends – Jeff Bezos started Amazon after learning that the internet was growing at an insane annual rate. I’ve been thinking about new trends that are growing rapidly but aren’t well understood.

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

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

• Idea – This week I listened to someone share an idea they used to build their business. The idea isn’t new, but the insights he shared about the idea were new to me and resonated. Something clicked in my head as I listened and got my wheels turning. I’ve been thinking about it the last few days, and I’m excited about digging into it more next week.  
• Reading tool – I played with this new tool. It’s going to be a lot more work than I originally thought to digitize the highlights in each book I read. Not the outcome I hoped for, but I think the value in doing this will far exceed the effort. Most people who read books rarely review their highlights. When they do, they usually have to go to each individual book to find the highlights. I think the value from aggregating highlights from various books, having them be searchable, and regularly reviewing them could be big.

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

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

• Teaching hack – An overlooked hack for cultivating outsize success is sharing knowledge during your journey. If you educate others, they will want to see you win, which ends up creating a tailwind and increasing your chances of being lucky.
• Reading tool – I do a fair amount of highlighting in the books I read. This week I’ve been playing with a tool that will digitize the highlights to make them easily accessible.
• Rough start – The first week of the new year was rough for me. This week was a material improvement but still not quite a “normal” week. Next week, I’m aiming to get back on track and be normal.

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

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

• Rough start – This year didn’t start off the way I’d planned. I encountered personal and professional setbacks, but I made the best of the hand I was dealt. Expecting week two to be better.

Week one hundred ninety-seven was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

I hope the new year is off to a great start for everyone!