My annual theme for 2022. An excuse to do the hard & healthy thing you already know you want to do.
I reviewed all my newsletter from 2021 and picked the best stuff for my final issue of the year
If a picture's worth a thousand words, a flag's worth a thousand photos
Wanna lose weight? Stop reading this sentence & do 10 pushups.
A goal is a selection of problems you’ve chosen to overcome in order to give meaning & purpose to your life.
Everyone who gets to heaven has to go through hell
Creating a yearly them is like making a memorable marketing slogan for your most important value.
We should praise and admire the people who build things.
A declaration of Optimism: What it means to be optimistic when the world is falling apart around you.
My personal theme for 2021, and why it has potentially bigger implications.
I was losing weight but then Covid hit & my gym closed. That left me with only 1 option...
In which Noah Kagan kicks my ass.
To be great you have to move forward in the face of uncertainty
The hardest part of any endeavor is discovering what you make in the first place.
If you know nothing about the history of PayPal and want a solid look at an early dot com success, this is a great place to start.
I go into detail on what happened in 2020, and look forward to the goals and questions ahead in 2021.
The one piece of advice that applies to everyone in the world
We are the luckiest people to ever live - and we owe it to others to make the most of it.
One of my new favorite people and products on the Internet
Sam Walton didn't start Walmart until he was 44. If you want to learn about "how to start Walmart" you gotta look at everything that came before it.
Joy is found in the action that produces all the things we tell ourselves we want.
We're taught in school how to do work, but not how to decide what to work on.
If you want a compelling life, an interesting life, a fulfilling life, it’s going to have problems. There will be pain.
Good people identify important problems. Great people solve them.
What I (genuinely) learned watching the movie Cats
Seeing problems as opportunities instead of obstacles unlocks the infinite game of life.
Even in the face of regulatory incompetence, the jealousy of the paper belt, and the false narrative of a “big tech” backlash, the valley goes on making new things that are loved and used by regular people all over the world.
America set out with an ambitious but very specific goal. And then we did it.
Earned rewards taste better than gifts
How I use Slack without hating my life
The Tesla you've worked for feels 100x more satisfying than the one that's gifted to you.
The most important question of your life
If you're miserable every Sunday night remember this – your work can be meaningful
Action today is better than your dreams of tomorrow.
"That infinite curiosity to want to be better, to figure things out.... you’re going, you’re competing, you’re not worried about the end result. You’re not worried about what people may say."
Mistakes mean you're taking action. And is action is how you learn.
One of the best things you can do is invest in yourself a little bit – consistently – every single day
Identity is at the bottom of almost every decision
Make rooting for your friends a personal superpower
Hard work and dedication are irrelevant to the final output.
If you're reading this you're likely already one of the luckiest people in the history of mankind.
Questions to jumpstart interesting conversations with your friends
Your idea isn't actually that valuable
The only thing stopping you from achieving all your hopes is dreams is recognizing that everything you want to be true, isn't.
Change yourself. Change everything.
Each sacrifice is its own reward
You do you
How to use narrative and story to elevate the mission of your company.
Insurance companies vs startups – guess where you're allowed to take more risks
My favorite Internet videos – nothing more, nothing less. Mostly inspiring, some funny.
The city of San Francisco can make me pay $3,000 for a 1 bedroom apartment but by God it will not make me eat a paper straw so I can drink my beverage.
Lessons from cultures other than your own
Seeing a bunch of famous people mentioned in the newspaper for the first time is... revealing.
Anyone and anything that’s going to get in my way: BE GONE.
Behavior change is identity change
The status quo vs the future
Ideas can be some of the biggest forms of leverage
An example from a Tiger Woods biography
Facts vs stories vs truth
In the prison yard of Russian business, your reputation is all that matters
A valuable venn diagram
Everyone has something to add to the human experiment
It's easy to find problems. Help see solutions.
What is your version of greatness?
Even the Wright Brothers had to endure dumb, irrelevant misery on the path to inventing the airplane.
How Lyndon Johnson got ahead
Why thinking small can hold you back
Looking for something to read? Read what books Stewart Brand, Bill Gates, David Bowie, and others recomend
Waiting can be fun
The best memos I've found on the Internet. If you have suggestions for the list please contact me
Your grand vision is less worthy than the 10% version that someone else has already built
Nutrition is like religion: everyone thinks their version is The Truth and everyone has their favorite success stories that they use as “proof.”
Don't be deceived by the emotional manipulators of the Internet.
Why now is the right moment
More doing, less thinking, ideas are currency.
I tweeted this question, here's a few of the replies