This week I reflected on my personal project around reading books and sharing what I’m learning via blog posts and audio podcasts. Creating a digest of each book I read has been the focus of the last few weeks. I’m currently reading older books that don’t have a Kindle or other electronic version available, so the digest must be created 100% by hand. The more I create these digests, the more I realize how foundational they are and how important it is to make them high quality. They serve as the foundation for my blog posts and podcasts. They also allow me to review concepts from a book quickly. Creating digests is something new for me, so it’s painful and slow now. But it should become easier as I get more reps.

Right now, I’m reading daily, working on a digest daily, and blogging daily about what I read. These feel like good habits that I can sustain. But I haven’t settled on a recording frequency. Daily doesn’t feel appropriate anymore. I want to focus on quality more, and it’s hard to do that and publish a recording every day.

Today, I decided to test a different approach for a few weeks. I’m a big fan of turning my goals into habits as much as possible, so I’ll try setting a goal and figuring out what frequency is needed to turn it into a habit. Instead of focusing on recording frequency, I’m focusing now on how often I publish a podcast series. For context, I publish a series of five episodes for each book I read. I’m starting by aiming to publish a series every other week, which means I’ll publish roughly two series per month. From there, I’ll test and figure out what recording and editing frequency make sense to make that happen. This will also allow me to improve the quality of the recordings intentionally.

So, to recap, this is what I’m aiming for over the next few weeks:

• Reading  – daily
• Digest creation – daily
• Publishing blog – daily
• Publishing audio podcast series – every two weeks

This feels like a good change. I’m curious to see how it plays out over the next few weeks.

When I began recording audio podcast episodes in April, the recordings were awful. I figured the more practice I got, the better the episodes would be, so I set a goal to record 100 episodes by the end of summer and then reevaluate. I’m at 92 episodes and will be at 100 soon.

The series I’m most proud of is the John H. Johnson series. I felt I’d made a breakthrough. I figured out my content format, and things started to click. I’m proud of the quality of that series, which isn’t the case for prior series. I recorded another series after Johnson’s and then took a break from recording to focus more on improving my process to create a digest of each biography I read.

I’m back recording this week. I listened to the John H. Johnson series for the first time in a few weeks. I wasn’t as impressed as I had been. The quality was better than that of prior series, but I picked up on many areas where I need to improve. I must improve my delivery, connect the dots for listeners, and do various other things. I’m still proud of this series, but it’s not the Mona Lisa I thought it was a few weeks ago.

What happened? Recording those first 92 episodes, I published one almost daily. This aggressive schedule put me deep into the weeds of creating recordings. I got lots of reps, which was needed and helpful. But it made it harder to see where I needed to improve and to gauge the quality of my recordings. Now that I’m not publishing every day, I can see things more clearly. The areas where I need to improve are more obvious.

This reminded me that when I’m aggressively doing something new, I must avoid getting caught up in hitting metrics or the minutia of execution. I need to take time to zoom out and consider the big picture.

For this project, stepping back and focusing on another part of it was helpful. I returned with a fresh perspective and could see the forest, not just the trees.

This week I’m doing more test runs before I record an episode, so the recording process is a bit slower. I hope the quality of the recordings will be higher. I’m also testing some other ideas to help me be more relaxed when I record.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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

Metrics (cumulative since 4/1/24):

• Total book digests created: 9 (+1)
• Total blog posts published: 126 (+7)
• Total audio recordings published: 92 (+0)
• Recent digest length: 8% of the book’s length (+4%)
• Recent recording length: no recordings this past week

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Created a digest for the second biography I read about Billy Wilkerson, founder and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and founder of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas
• Finished the digest for Ted Turner’s autobiography
• Had three additional feedback sessions

Content:

• No recordings this past week

What I’ll do next week:

• Read the biography of Roy Thomson, founder of what became Thomson Reuters
• Create a digest for one book
• Write and publish blog posts about one book: roughly seven posts
• Record audio podcast about two books: roughly ten recordings
• Publish audio podcast about one book: roughly five recordings
• Complete three feedback sessions

Asks:

• No asks this week

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

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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

What I struggled with:

• Last week I focused on honing my process of distilling a book down to a digest and testing a progressive summarization method. It’s painful to do this with books that don’t have an EPUB (i.e., e-book) file—it must be done by hand. I’m trying to find the right balance between capturing too little and too much in a digest. And trying to figure out a good length for a digest relative to a book’s length. And trying to figure out where it makes the most sense to add context and links to external sources in the digest without disrupting the flow of the story. Lots of work to do here. The quality of the digest affects the quality of what I can share with others.    
• Reading, creating a digest, and publishing blog posts for one book a week is doable. Adding on top of that recording, editing, and publishing a pod series the same week has been a struggle.

What I learned:

• I’ll start measuring the number of book digests I create and their length (relative to the book’s length). If I don’t measure this, the quality of these digests likely won’t improve.
• If an entrepreneur endorses a biography, that’s a good sign that the biography is high quality and worth reading.
• I must screen books continually. I must identify high-quality books I want to read while I’m still reading another one. Waiting until I finish a book to start screening for the next one has led to spending too much time on books that aren’t excellent.
• Biographies that include specific information about how entrepreneurs solved problems and specific financial information are more likely to include actionable insights that other entrepreneurs will find useful.
• Not creating or listening to my podcast episodes for a few weeks had an unexpected benefit. When I listened again after a break, I was able to pick out areas of improvement I’d missed before.

Those are my struggles and learnings from the week!

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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

Metrics (cumulative since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 92 (+0)
• Total blog posts published: 126 (+7)
• Average recording length: no recordings this past week

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Read a second biography about Billy Wilkerson, founder and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and founder of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas
• Had three additional feedback sessions

Content:

• No recordings this past week

What I’ll do next week:

• Distill and document one book
• Write and publish blog posts about one book: roughly seven posts
• Record audio podcast about two books: roughly ten recordings
• Publish audio podcast about one book: roughly five recordings
• Complete three feedback sessions

Asks:

• Listen to the series on John H. Johnson and provide feedback on how I can improve.

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

Last Week’s Struggles and Lessons (Week Ending 8/4/24)

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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 was sick last week and didn’t record anything. I was able to read a book and write blog posts about it, but I wasn’t physically able to record, which was frustrating. This week, I’m trying to get back into the recording groove, but it’s been hard.
• This week, a book I read wasn’t as valuable as I’d hoped, so I struggled to decide whether to record a podcast series about it. I’m trying to balance my goal of reading a book a week and sharing what I learned, my desire to get recording reps, and my intention of publishing only content that brings maximum value per minute of recording to listeners. It’s still early, so I’m leaning toward getting reps and making the series as valuable as possible.

What I learned:

• Autobiographies bring more value.
• The document I create after I’ve distilled a book is the product. Blogs and podcasts are different ways to distribute the product; they aren’t the product.
• A book’s quality has a material impact on my energy level as I read, distill, and share. Good books energize me and make the process significantly more enjoyable.  
• The open-loop technique is a great way to improve my storytelling.

Those are my struggles and learnings from the week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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

Metrics (cumulative since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 92 (+0)
• Total blog posts published: 119 (+7)
• Average recording: no recordings this past week

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Read the autobiography of Ted Turner, founder of CNN, TBS, and TNT
• Had three additional feedback sessions
• Compiled and sorted feedback from sessions completed the week of 7/15/24

Content:

• No recordings this past week

What I’ll do next week:

• Read one biography or autobiography
• Write seven blog posts and record seven audio posts
• Continue reading one of the books about storytelling that I purchased; this is a carryover from last week
• Complete three feedback sessions

Asks:

• Listen to the series on John H. Johnson and provide feedback on how I can improve.

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

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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 struggled to create the upcoming series on Felix Dennis. The problem was that the biography focused deeply on Dennis’s personal side and was surface level on his career as an entrepreneur. I had a hard time creating a series about his entrepreneurial journey that satisfied my curiosity and met my expectations.

What I learned:

• I’m getting comfortable with the quality of the content. Before, I wasn’t happy with the preceding week’s work, but I knew I was getting better. I’m still not satisfied with the quality, but it’s good enough that I’m comfortable sharing it outside my immediate circle.
• Reaching out to people individually to make them aware that a series was published had a material impact on the number of listens for the John H. Johnson series. This won’t scale, but I want to do this strategically going forward.
• Don't read books that don’t resonate with me after fifty pages. If the first fifty pages don’t discuss what I care about in someone’s journey, the rest of the book won’t either. I knew this already, but I didn’t follow it for the Felix Dennis biography.
• When I’m picking which book to read for the week, I should factor in the book’s quality or story. I’ve been weighing the length of the book too heavily. A shorter book takes me longer to read if I’m not into it.

Those are my struggles and learnings from the week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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

Metrics (cumulative since 4/1/24):

• Total audio recordings published: 92 (+7)
• Total blog posts published: 112 (+7)
• Average recording: roughly 12 minutes (-4) for a biography or autobiography

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Read the biography of Felix Dennis, founder of Maxim magazine
• Continued reading Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
• Had four additional feedback sessions
• Compiled and sorted feedback from sessions completed the week of 7/8/24

Content:

• Refined the intro to include the problem I’m helping entrepreneurs solve
• Tested making episodes shorter

What I’ll do next week:

• Read one biography or autobiography
• Write seven blog posts and record seven audio posts
• Continue reading one of the books about storytelling that I purchased; this is a carryover from last week
• Complete three feedback sessions

Asks:

• Listen to the series on John H. Johnson and provide feedback on how I can improve.

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

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!

Last Week’s Struggles and Lessons (Week Ending 7/21/24)

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them via blog posts and audio podcasts

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

What I struggled with:

• No major struggles  

What I learned:

• After reading a biography, I do a series on that entrepreneur in, typically, five parts. Recording and publishing daily meant each part was created in isolation, so the series didn’t flow as smoothly for the listener.
• Enhancing my blog posts with context and using them as outlines has made the recordings more concise.
• Listeners are indifferent to whether I publish audio podcast episodes daily or weekly.
• A Netflix-style drop—publishing an entire five-part series on a single day—garnered more listens for that series compared to previous series.

Those are my struggles and learnings from the week!

Prefer listening? Catch audio versions of these blog posts, with more context added, on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here!