Today is the last day of 2023. The place slowed down this year. People were much more optimistic than in 2022. For me personally, it was another good year. I definitely experienced ups and downs, but overall I learned and grew a ton. I’m thankful for the opportunity to experience another year, and I’m excited for what 2024 has in store.

This week I listened to a friend describe a proposal they’d been presented with. I recognized it as a classic “heads I win, tails you lose” scenario: the party on the other side from my friend would win regardless of the outcome. To be fair, these situations don’t always end badly: if the other party wins, you could win also. But if you lose, they still win.

I’m not a fan of this type of situation because of the misalignment of incentives. The other party is fine regardless of the outcome, so they usually have minimal incentive to push for an outcome that benefits you. This is different than a situation where your incentives are aligned and you win or lose together—in that case, the other party is much more likely to push for the outcome where you both win.

These situations are much more prevalent that people realize, but I do my best to identify and avoid being part of them.

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

• Second-guessing – This week I had a plan for how I wanted to execute a task. Something happened and I second-guessed myself and the task didn’t get executed. The lesson learned? Stick to the plan!
• Christmas – I had a great time with friends and family for Christmas.
• 2024 – Three days from the new year. I’m excited about what’s in store for 2024.

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

I’m glad I set a Christmas reading goal. Four or five months ago,  I bought a 500-page book that I’ve been putting off reading—partly because of the length and partly because I didn’t think understanding the book’s topic could have broad implications. I’ve been reading this book during the holiday, and I regret not reading it sooner. The topic is extremely interesting, the author does a great job of providing historical context, and the understanding I’ve gained so far has me thinking about various broad implications of the knowledge.

If I hadn’t set a reading goal, I likely wouldn’t have read this book for a few more months. I’m glad the goal motivated me to read it now.

As of today, It won’t be easy to hit my reading goal, but I’m still committed to the challenge. Wish me luck!

I had a good conversation with a founder friend recently. We discussed people who wait for opportunities to fall in their laps and people who find nonobvious opportunities and a way to be part of them. For a founder of an early-stage start-up, hiring the latter type is usually better.

During our exchange, my friend described the second group as people who show “purposeful progression in life.” I like that because it’s simple. Has someone identified an objective, and are they proactively taking action to move toward it, even if no clear path exists? If yes, they’re not just progressing, they’re progressing purposefully.

Are you progressing, progressing purposefully, regressing, or standing still?

I love the Christmas holiday. It’s a great opportunity to spend time with family and friends and eat amazing food. Historically, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is slow, business-wise, which I enjoy. It’s usually a week when I don’t have to worry about emails, calls, or any other fire drills. I’ve enjoyed spending this time reflecting on the past year and thinking about the future from a high level.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a happy holiday!

I read something interesting yesterday that stuck with me. It was a different way of thinking about wealth. It went something like this:

Someone with a lot of wealth can be assumed to have provided a lot of value to others in the past, which resulted in their wealth accumulation.

This author was speaking from a historical perspective, meaning they were looking at wealth accumulation over thousands of years, not just the last few decades.

I like this way of thinking about wealth, and I’m curious how many people think about it in these terms, given the monetary conditions of the last few decades. Not many, I suspect, but I want to test to confirm my intuition during the holidays with friends and family. I’m genuinely interested in hearing people’s thoughts on this.

With the year ending soon, today I spent some time reflecting on the last twelve months. If I had to sum up 2023, I’d characterize it as a year of learning.

At the beginning of the year, I knew I wanted to learn a complex, difficult topic as rapidly as possible, so I spent time fine-tuning my approach to learning. I then used those newly refreshed learning skills to learn as much as possible about my target topic from people who’ve mastered it. I reflected on their wisdom and looked for insights they and others weren’t aware of. Knowing something and applying it are two different things. I tend to know I’ve mastered something when I can apply it successfully. I applied what I learned from the masters, slightly modifying things based on my insights, in an iterative testing approach. Most tests were successful and showed I understood the concept well. Some failed, and I learned even more from them.

I feel good about what I learned this year. It may have a material impact on the rest of my life. I’m excited about 2024. I can’t wait to apply what I learned in 2023 and start the learning process again with a new topic!

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

• Project – This week I began collaborating on a project I’ve been considering for a few months. We’ve started some testing with ChatGPT and had some interesting results. It’s been fun and a great learning experience so far. I’m excited about the possibilities if we’re successful.  
• Christmas – I’m looking forward to spending quality time with family and friends . . . and eating some amazing Louisiana cooking!
• Countdown – There’s one calendar week left in 2023. Looking to make the most of it on the personal front.

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