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

• Entrepreneurship – Some of the most successful companies are built by people who experience a problem firsthand and set out to solve it. Living the pain of the problem gives them unique insights and passion that increase their chances of success.
• Investing – Just because something is cheap, that doesn’t make it a good buy. Quality still matters more.
• Reddit – This IPO was completed yesterday. I’m curious to see how the stock performs in the next week or so. Its performance will likely have a significant impact on technology companies’ decisions about whether to pursue an IPO this year.

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

A few weeks back, I shared that I want to practice storytelling publicly. My storytelling is something I’ve always wanted to improve, but I’ve never taken consistent steps toward this goal. Since that post, I’ve been working on a project that I hope will move the needle.

Today I had some downtime to work on this project. I had to get some equipment to make this storytelling project work as I envisioned it. Today I set up some of it and tested it by recording samples, which were fictitious stories. I realized that I have a long way to go with my storytelling and just how hard it is. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Even though this storytelling goal will be a lot harder than I planned, I’m looking forward to the challenge and to improving my skills.

This month I challenged myself to start writing about my reading. My goal was to write down—after I finished reading a book—the main concepts and new insights I formed. I’ve completed three books and started a fourth since that post. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

• Waiting until I’ve finished a book to begin writing posts isn’t optimal. The books are usually in the range of 200–400 pages, and I read them in multiple sessions. Waiting until the end to write a post increases the likelihood that I’ll miss something valuable. That didn’t feel like the right rhythm. It felt more organic for me to reflect more frequently on a smaller amount of content. I naturally ended up doing this with the books on Ken Langone (here and here) and Bernie Marcus (here and here). I wrote more than one post on each book. Every 100 or so pages felt like a good reflection rhythm. I think I’ll replicate and refine this rhythm going forward.
• Some books I read are a historical recount of a period or business event. With this type of book, which is an author’s interpretation of what happened and why, I’m looking to understand what happened and whether similar things are occurring today. I read a book about the dot-com bubble and shared a post about a similarity I noticed between that period and today. Biographies and historical books are different. What I seek from each type of book is different. My expectations for my posts should reflect these differences.
• Now, I’m reading the autobiography of a well-known, seasoned entrepreneur. So far, no concepts have caught my attention, and it hasn’t sparked me to form any new insights. Hopefully, this will change by the time I finish the book. I failed to consider that some books I read may not provide much value to me and hadn’t thought about how I’d handle posts in this situation. I’ve decided that I want my posts to be positive and bring value to others. If I don’t get value from a book, I won’t write a post about it.
• I need to take notes and highlight important concepts as I read. Reviewing these is a key step in the process of reflecting and writing.

I’m enjoying the challenge so far. Looking forward to continuing next week and iterating as I learn more.

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

• Sharing ideas – I shared an idea with a few people over the last few weeks. The idea is unconventional. I figured it would be received with skepticism. The exact opposite happened. Several people have been thinking about the topic that my idea’s about for years; they just haven’t talked about it publicly. One person considered starting a company. Another did start a company, but it didn’t last. Instead of having to defend my idea, l heard about lessons learned and was pointed to helpful resources that I wasn’t aware of. Just a reminder that there’s more upside than downside in sharing ideas.
• Commerce gateway– I thought more about this. Commerce (i.e., retail) has been the historical gateway to entrepreneurship for many. This will likely continue. I’m noticing another trend with aspiring entrepreneurs, which could be an indication of another gateway starting to emerge. I'm seeing more people try entrepreneurship by renting things to others.  Could rentals be the new gateway?
• Four years of posts – This week marked my fourth year of doing daily posts. I’m proud of sticking with this for so long. I want to reflect a bit on the last year of posting and think about what the next year of posts will look like.

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

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

• Commerce gateway – I’m starting to see a pattern in the origin stories of wildly successful entrepreneurs of the last few centuries. Many of them got their start by selling products. They were essentially retailers. After they learned basic entrepreneurial lessons, they found painful problems and created solutions to them. Commerce is a gateway to entrepreneurship for many.
• Storytelling – I’ve kickstarted my progress on my goal of publicly practicing my storytelling in 2024. I still have a few more things I need to do, but I’m hoping to begin telling stories soon.  
• Reading insights – I tested sharing, in my posts, insights from a book I read. This was helpful. While I was reading, I took better notes on potentially insightful passages because I knew I’d be sharing those insights. The process of writing helped clarify my thinking. Overall, this enhanced my reading process.‍
• Reviewing highlights – Digitizing highlights from physical books has been a pain. The best software I’ve found so far isn’t great. I plan to test a few others, but the chances of finding a satisfactory solution to this problem aren’t looking good.

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

I’ve been thinking about how to best capture and retain the most important concepts in the books I read. I highlight and make notes as I read, and yesterday I decided to start reviewing those annotations regularly. I think that will be helpful, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Reviewing helps with retention of ideas, but it doesn’t ensure clarity around them or the main concepts in each book.

After almost four years of writing daily posts, I’ve learned that writing helps you clarify your thoughts—mainly because you must first think clearly before you can write clearly. The writing process also aids in uncovering nonobvious insights.

Today I decided I’m going to test a new habit. When I finish reading a book, I’m going to write down the main concepts I learned from it and any new insights I formed. My goal is to distill the most valuable wisdom or ideas and capture new ideas sparked by the book. I think this will be a fun challenge that will enhance the value I get from my reading, and it may also bring value to others and myself in the future.

Wish me luck!

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

• Learning –This week I spent time dissecting an investment that hasn’t performed well. I was frustrated and motivated to figure out where I went wrong in my thinking. This analysis combined with my reading helped me uncover an error in my thinking about certain types of investments. Going forward, I plan to do something slightly different that I think could make a material difference.
• Reading – When I read, I highlight passages and take notes about important concepts. However, I’ve rarely reviewed the notes or highlights. This week I reviewed old highlights and was surprised at how much I’d forgotten. I realized that some important things from my reading don’t stick because of how much and how regularly I’m reading. I want to change this so I can maximize what I get from my reading. I’m going to play with using some of my reading sessions to review notes.

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

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

• Delayed results – This week was a reminder that sometimes it takes longer than anticipated for a decision to be proven correct or incorrect. When the results are clear, accept and learn from them to improve future decisions.
• Home Depot – At the suggestion of a friend, I looked into Home Depot’s cofounders. One, Ken Langone, caught my attention. His role as VC investor and investment banker for Home Depot in the ’70s and for various companies after that intrigued me. I’m in the early stages of researching him, and I’m excited to learn more about him.
• Reading – I’ve read a few books this month that give historical context on specific topics. These are good books for me to read, as they help me zoom out and learn about a topic over a longer time period. I still get more value from books that detail someone’s journey, the knowledge they acquired on that journey, and how they applied it in pursuit of their goal.

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

I read a quote today from the German missionary Albert Schweitzer that caught my attention:

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red stoplight . The truly wise person is colorblind.

This got me thinking about my experience. I’ve learned to balance my thinking in any situation by considering the counter to my natural instincts. For example, if I’m super excited and see lots of upside, I try to think about the downside. Conversely, if I’m hesitant and see lots of risk, I try to think What could go right? and see the upside potential.

A friend, who’s also an investor, gave me some feedback on my blog. This doesn’t happen often, so I was excited to hear what he had to say. I view any kind of feedback as an opportunity to get better, which is important to me.

Sharing topics that I’m thinking about is helpful to him. But he gets more value from the posts where I go deeper—specifically, when I share personal examples of how I’m acting on what I’ve learned or lessons I’ve learned from past actions related to the topic.

This was timely feedback, as I’ve recently been thinking about knowledge vs. wisdom. I get more value from wisdom and have decided to focus on reading to acquire wisdom this year.

Similarly, according to the feedback from my friend, he gets more value from the posts where I share wisdom and unique insights. I appreciated hearing that. It motivated me. Going forward, I want to write more posts where I share more of what I’ve learned from my successes and failures and the actions I’m currently taking based on what I’ve learned.