Building (your name) Inc. 🏢

Laying the right foundations for your empire.

#82

Short post to counter yesterday’s long one. Found this on Twitter and it’s courtesy @lennysan. Like Reid Hoffman says in The Startup of You, “It is your job to train and invest in yourself.”

These are five tactics to get you started on that journey. And to be honest, these are pretty easy to follow; they are literally 5 in number and pretty straight forward. I can assure you that if you picked just one out of the 5 and focused obsessively on it, you’d see a difference in your life by this time next year. I’m 82 days into writing (almost) every day and I can already see a difference in the way I think and process information around the PE industry. Pick one and take a shot at it.

1. Read, with a goal

2. Read, without a goal

3. Write

4. Meditate

5. Learn new skills that you are pulled towards

1/ Read, with a goal: Determine 2-3 skills you most want to develop (strategy? execution? leadership?), pick a set of books and articles that speak to these skills, and work through them.

2/ Read, without a goal: Not all things need to be goal-oriented. Make time to read stuff you’re super excited about even if it’s only tangentially related.

3/ Write: One of the main reasons I’ve started writing is because it helps me learn. Consider doing some writing, reflecting both on what you’ve learned over the past few months/years, and on any reading that you’re doing.

4/ Meditate: Imagine having more control over your reactions, your moods, and your focus. Imagine gaining increasing insights into how your (and everyones) mind works. That's what meditation offers (and delivers). 

5/ Learn new skills that pull you: What have you been yearning to do or learn but have been unable to because you’ve been too busy or lacked energy? Maybe it’s learning to design, or learning to code, or getting better with data. Do that. Do the thing that you are pulled towards.

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Article List— What I’m reading (10 articles a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 3360 articles a year).

Electric scooters are a terrible business, says Bolt boss: What were you doing when you were 25? 🙃 Not building B$ companies. 

Nike Pulling Its Products From Amazon in E-Commerce Pivot: No surprise there. Same story with Birkenstock fakes popping up all over on Amazon. 

Disney+ Is Finally Here: You subscribing? 

The 4 Minute History of Disney: I wish (but I’m in Ghana.) 

Former Burkinabe President to tell all about Sankara and Compaoré: This story makes me so sad. Sankara and Compaoré were very good friends till the latter took his friend down. 

Helios Towers faces challenges from debt and slow growth: Crazy IPO, and good to know price has stayed steady. Network infrastructure definitely needs to grow across the continent.

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Podcast— What I’m listening to (1 podcast episode a day= 365 podcast episodes a year) — Broadening my experiences through others’ stories. 

American Innovations: Google’s Quantum Breakthrough

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Book— 1 Chapter a day  x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 chapters. Most books have 10-12 chapters, so 1 year = 28 to 33 books. And my book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚

Venture Deals teaching a lot. I may just end up being smarter than my lawyer. 

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📱📱Quote of the day 

“Crisis is often how great innovation begins. When the going gets tough, don’t give up on new growth.” 

Remember: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”