Monday Musings (6/10/19)

Hey everybody,

I have two updates for you.

1. Workshop: I’ll be hosting a workshop in New York City on July 1st. In it, I’ll share my process for creating as consistently as I do. The workshop will be fun, dynamic, and hands-on. You'll leave with a fresh approach for writing and a system for cultivating creativity on-demand. I hope you’ll join us.

2. Summer of Learning: I’ll also be teaching two courses this summer: Building a Second Brain and Write of Passage. We’re combing the courses into a bundle called The Summer of Learning. When my friends look at my writing and note-taking system, they always say the same thing: “You have a superpower.” Good news. There are no secrets. I’m going to share all my tactics with you. By the end of the summer, you will have the superpower too. You’ll be able to retain more of what you read, spark creative ideas on-demand, and accelerate your career by writing online. Expect more details next week.

The Go-For-It-Window

Technology advances faster than social norms. Large gaps between accelerating technologies and stagnating social norms create lucrative opportunities. But these opportunities are only available for a limited time. In that moment, people can capitalize on the difference between the real and perceived state of the world. I call this sliver of opportunity the “Go-For-It-Window.” 

You know you’ve found the Go-For-It Window when you’re simultaneously woke and confused; when you’re shocked your idea doesn’t already exist; when you know something nobody else does; and when it seems like others see the world in black and white, while you see the world with vibrant, technicolor glasses. 

Opportunity and popularity are inversely correlated. Sometimes, the paths that look safe are the riskiest, and vice versa. If you’re looking for an under-exploited opportunity, you’ll have to go against the herd. Thus, I frame the Go-For-It Window with a quote from investor Jim Grant: “Successful investing is about having people agree with you… later.”

As a general rule, people are blind to opportunities in the Go-For-It Window. But in retrospect, they seem blindingly obvious. To remove the blinders, you have to escape the myopia of social norms. As Alex Danco said in my interview with him: “Investors arbitrage the state of the world today — before they get started — with the state of the world after they’re done disrupting it.”

Good news. You