A Year Of Reading That Sparked Growth And New Ideas

I didn't read as much as in previous years (2023, 2022, 2021), but that's OK. My goal wasn't necessarily to read a lot but to apply what I read. I did that this year, which is a win.

I grouped the books into categories with mini-reviews. I hope you're inspired to read one of them.

Business Books

Only one real-estate-specific book?! That says a lot about where my focus area was this year.

Wealth Without Cash: Supercharge Your Real Estate Investing with Subject-to, Seller Financing, and Other Creative Deals

By Pace Morby

This book is a game-changer. It's about buying real estate in unconventional ways. Armed with the strategies from this book, I flipped two homes using creative financing (read about the first one). So, it's safe to say this book had the most significant financial impact on my life this year. Pace is a terrific teacher and lays out his time-tested strategies well. It's a little bit of a pitch to join his mentorship group, but that's OK because he still provides a wealth of information in the book.

The Coaching Manual: Your Step-by-Step Guide To Becoming A Great Coach

By Julie Starr

I started coaching other investors and decided to learn how to actually do it. I found this extremely helpful and detailed. I think The Coaching Habit is a better resource for people who coach informally, but this gives a great foundation if you want to get paid to coach.

I read her other book, The Mentoring Manual, last year, which is fine, but this one is significantly better. You can tell this is where she focuses her time and energy.

Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours

By Noah Kagan

I talked with some younger folks about starting a business, but I struggled to give actionable advice. Then, I heard Kagan on a podcast and liked how he approached exploring business ideas. His book is a fast-paced guide with clear steps for testing ideas quickly. I loved it and apply his validation step (get three paid commitments) whenever I try something new.

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

By Gino Wickman

If Million Dollar Weekend is about finding a good idea, Traction is about turning that good idea into an enduring organization to provide that idea. His Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) has six components:

• Vision: where are you going, and how will you get there?
• People: do you have the right people in the right seats?
• Data: what are your key metrics (besides financial ones)?
• Issues: are you solving the root cause of problems?
• Process: what are your core processes to ensure consistency?
• Traction: how are you holding everyone accountable?

I've started implementing this into my business and started using this as a framework when coaching others. It's a simple system, but that's a benefit because it's easy to remember and actually implement (unlike Scaling Up, which can be overwhelming). I highly recommend this one if you have an established business of any size.

This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans

By Seth Godin

Godin thinks differently than I do, so I enjoy reading his works. His writing style provides many loosely connected thoughts that together give a picture (a sense?) of his overall idea. For example, this book is 252 pages but has 298 chapters! So, it's not a how-to book. It's more like a here-are-some-thought-provoking-musings type of book. You'll probably enjoy this if you like his blog.

Harvard Business Review Magazine

I feel like I need to put my pinky out whenever I say I subscribe to HBR. Still, of all the magazine subscriptions I've tried, this is the only one where I consistently learn from an article or two. The articles aren't just business profiles, but they also include research and clear action steps. One of my favorite articles from last year is about building cultural values.

Christian Books

I knew I read fewer Christian books this year, but I didn't think it was this few. That'll probably change next year because each of these was amazing!

God and Money: How We Discovered True Riches at Harvard Business School

By John Cortines and Gregory Baumer

I love this book. Cortines and Baumer have a cool-headed and nuanced approach to Biblically thinking about our finances. I like that it's not just their thoughts on the topic - they start with what the Bible says and then share their findings from surveying other Christians about their financial decisions. Their key insight is that we shouldn't ask, "How much should we give to God?" But instead, ask, "How much should we keep?" It's subtle, but fundamentally changes how we think about ourselves as stewards of God's resources.

Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God

By Jamie Winship

This book is about discovering your identity in God. Too often, we define ourselves by our job, and that's too limiting. This was a quick read (176 pages) with simple, practical steps to work through. God revealed that my identity is a "caretaker." Being a real estate investor falls into that, but it's so much more than property and tenant management - it's a call to care for people. It's a subtle but meaningful difference to me.

The Master Plan of Evangelism

By Robert Coleman

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This quick read (162 pages) suggests that we follow Christ's example of evangelism, which he breaks down into eight observations. My high-level summary is this: Focus on a few people and live life with them. Invite them as much as possible - studying, eating, playing, serving, etc! You want to intentionally teach them about Jesus and God during your time together.

This method is critical for new Christians. If all they get is Sunday morning and a weekly Bible study, it's not enough! And the sign that someone is ready to go out on their own is when they start leading (read: living life) others.

I think Coleman gears this book towards church leaders, but all Christians would benefit from reading it.

ESV Bible

This year's reading plan included a bunch of parallel sections. It's nice because each day, I get many parts of the Bible. For example, the last day of the year's reading will be this:

• Malachi 1-4
• Proverbs 31:25-31
• Psalms 150
• John 21:15-25
• Revelation 22

One thing God showed me this year was His approach to missions. God relentlessly makes himself known to his people. I want a similar mindset instead of compartmentalizing everything I do or simply waiting for opportunities.

Biography Audiobooks

This year, I dove into the world of biographies, and I'm glad I did. The lives of these remarkable individuals are not just fascinating but also offer valuable lessons. Their stories are a testament to the power of resilience, determination, and innovation, and we can learn much from their lives.

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

By Stacy Schiff

Narrated by Jason Culp

Samuel Adams is an interesting dude. He singularly focused on freeing himself from the British and justified any (written) means to reach his goal. As a prolific writer, he wanted to influence fellow colonists against Britain, not provide impartial reporting.

Strangely, it's comforting to know that the internet didn't ruin news; it's always been a struggle. If anything, the internet helped expose our biases. Though, I don't see anything changing anytime soon.

I also had a strange realization while listening to this book. If I lived around 1776, I probably would have been against Adams and advocated that we stay with Britain and obey their rules! It's a strange admittance because I like how things turned out. But I also prefer following the rules (because they're in my favor 90% of the time). I suppose it's good that decisions are often made by many people with varied backgrounds.

This is a good book to read for our 250-year celebration in 2026.

Breathe: A Life in Flow

By Rickson Gracie and Peter Maguire

Narrated by Fred Sanders

I practiced Gracie jiu-jitsu before having kids and thought learning about the family that started it would be fun. Rickson Gracie is an intense, proud person! I don't agree with many of his life choices (especially as a husband), but his jitsu focus is unreal! I would have relished getting dominated on the mat by him. I enjoyed the history, and anyone else who's practiced jiu-jitsu would appreciate it.

The Princess Diarist

By Carrie Fisher

Narrated by Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd

I feel like I'm late to the party on this, but I enjoyed hearing her stories from the set. Fisher is a fun writer who doesn't take herself too seriously. In this case, she kept a diary while filming. So, part of the book contains the original entries, and the other part is Fisher explaining what was happening (mostly in her thoughts, not just the events).

I like it when the author reads their own book because it feels like they're talking to you. If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll enjoy this.

The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts

By Loren Grush

Narrated by Inés del Castillo

I enjoyed this one because it also gives the history of NASA's shuttle program. And, not surprisingly, each of the six women is an absolute all-star who would have been incredible at anything they did. Reading about intelligent, capable people who fulfill their destiny is fun.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

By Phil Knight

Narrated by Norbert Leo Butz

This was by far my favorite biography. I think it's because Knight is so open about his mistakes and insecurities. He didn't even like the name Nike at first! It's such a crazy story of constantly being on the edge of failure but never giving up and finding paths forward.

My guess is that Knight is a smart person, but if he is, he downplays it and instead focuses on his hustle. I think that's also part of the attraction to his story ("you don't have to be a genius, just work hard"). It's really good, and anyone with a business will enjoy it.

Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

By Collin Hansen

Narrated by Collin Hansen

I mean this in the best way possible, but Keller's story was rather... boring. Keller was a great writer with a CS Lewis-esk way of explaining theological concepts that resonated with me. So, I was interested to learn more about his life.

One reason why it's boring (compared to, say, Phil Knight) is we don't get nearly as much of Keller's internal dialog and expectations. Pastors would probably find his story interesting because they can better intuit some of his internal thoughts. For example, deciding to lead a new church must be a complex, soul-searching, social-disrupting experience, but I can't relate.

Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living

Written & narrated by Nick Offerman

Before starting this book, I knew little about Offerman. I knew he was an actor in Parks & Recreation, a woodworker, and funny. Unfortunately,  I didn't enjoy his book.

The primary reason is that we philosophically disagree on many things in life. And things he thinks are funny, I don't think are at all. Plus, he presented his beliefs as obvious truths (and to think differently makes you dumb... or worse), which was a turnoff.

Still, there's value in learning from someone I don't 100% agree with. I felt motivated to spend my evenings more intentionally - to make and do things, not just default to watching shows.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Written & narrated by J. D. Vance

I was interested in this one because

1. he's our new VP (and likely the Republican candidate in 2028),
2. we're almost the same age (he's a year younger), and
3. most importantly, he wrote it before getting into politics.

I didn't have any expectations going into it. I only heard him speak once or twice (I skipped the debate) and simply hoped for an interesting story.

If you didn't know, his childhood was rough! In some ways, it's inspiring to know that anyone - even someone from the hillbilly backcountry - can make it to the Whitehouse alongside a billionaire. But it's also sad that his story is so rare.

I appreciated his insights on how difficult it is to solve poverty (it's just as much about identity and culture as finances). It reminds me of the book Evicted, which comes to the same conclusion. Given his childhood, I wouldn't be surprised if Vance proposes legislation that seems counterintuitive, but might actually start improving some of the US's poverty issues. Maybe?

Self-Improvement Books (Mostly)

Surprise! I saved two of my favorites until the end.

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

By Matthew Dicks

What a great book! If you do any storytelling (and we all do), it's a must-read. Dicks is a fantastic storyteller, and the book is worth reading just to hear his off-beat stories. And it's super practical. Here are my reminders for any story I tell:

•  Focus my stories on moments of change & growth. Smaller moments are better because they're relatable.
• Begin stories with physical movement & a location. This isn't an essay.
• Add stakes: There has to be a problem or goal. And it's even better if the "real" goal changes due to that moment of growth!
• Share my (eventually to be proven wrong) predictions/thoughts before sharing what happened. Phil Knight regularly does this in Shoe Dog.
• For transitions, use "but" and "therefore" instead of "and" - it's more interesting.

I'm still working on this, but I'm getting better thanks to this book.

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection

By Charles Duhigg

I also love this book! It's on a shortlist of books I'll make my kids read (along with Storyworthy). I tend to quickly jump into problem-solving mode in conversations. Instead, Duhigg shares tools to recognize the type of conversations I'm having: decision-making, emotional, or social. One way to do that is to ask questions to see if the person wants to be helped, hugged, or heard.

And even if it's a decision-making conversation (to be helped), is the person looking for practical solutions (data & reasoning) or empathy (stories & compassion)? This is probably obvious for those with a high EQ, but it was eye-opening for me.

I'm getting better (still not great) at having emotional conversations because I have a mental checklist of questions to ask about feelings, beliefs, values, judgments, and experiences. I know how bad that sounds, but Jessi says that even though she knows I'm working through a checklist of questions, they're good questions! So, our conversations are better (and she appreciates the effort).

How to Be Interesting: In 10 Simple Steps

By Jessica Hagy

This was a quick read with easily digestible thoughts. As I'm getting more into podcasting and videos, one rule is to do epic things and share them. So, I was looking for ways to be more interesting. It was basic, but had some inspiring ideas.

DON'T DIE

By Zero (Bryan Johnson)

This is a weird book. It's an imaginary scenario in which different personalities/emotions discuss health and the future (like in Inside Out). Johnson sold Venmo to PayPal for millions and now focuses on longevity science and technology. This isn't a book of protocols but a philosophical musing. If you're interested in health topics, I'd start somewhere else. However, this could be an interesting read if you want to be inspired to learn more about health.

Superman & Action Comics

Like in previous years, I continue to read two comics about Superman. He's my favorite, and I'm PUMPED for the new Superman movie coming out next year.

How I'm Using AI In My Real Estate Business

Like many people, I'm playing around with different generative AI tools - investing time and money - to see how they can help my business. At the moment, it's helping around the edges, saving pockets of time, but it hasn't structurally changed how I do things yet. Here are some of the tools I'm using:

Otter.ai

Otter.ai promises that you don't have to take meeting notes. It generates transcripts, meeting summaries, and action items. I wanted to try it for two reasons. First, I wanted it for myself so I wouldn't have to take as many notes. Second, I wanted to offer it as an added value to the people I coach - they would have a record of our conversations for later reference.

It's OK... I find that I don't have to keep as copious of notes - just the highlights - which is excellent. I like having it recorded, and searching for specific parts of the meeting is easy. The summaries are OK, but the action items are useless.

I also found it helpful for group meetings when someone can't make it. I can send them the meeting notes, which include the summary and transcript. One feature that seems cool, but I have yet to really try, is using the built-in chatbot to ask questions about the meeting. It's like a fancy search engine, which seems like it could be helpful.

Descript

The idea behind Descript is that you can edit a video or podcast (*cough* Furlo Capital Real Estate Podcast *cough*) as if it were a Word document. So, you add your raw video, it transcribes it, and then, as you edit the transcript, it edits the video.

The editing is cool, but I still prefer doing it in Final Cut Pro. I have a hunch that getting better at multi-track editing in Descript would be faster than FCP, but the learning curve is a little steep.

Where Descript has been SUPER helpful is on the text side. I'll edit a video and then import it to Descript. Once it's transcribed, I have it help me with a few items:

1. Output subtitles and a transcript. I used to use Rev for this.
2. For shorts, subtitles can be added to the video. I used to do this by hand, and it was miserable.
3. Write podcast and video descriptions. They're always written in 3rd person, and I haven't found a prompt that works to make it first-person (without ruining the overall description).
4. Identify chapter markers. This is borderline perfect, though it usually gives more than I want, but it's easy to remove them.
5. Suggest titles. I'll use these to make my own before analyzing it with a headline analyzer.

ChatGPT

There are some big chat-style generative AIs to play with: Anthrop\c's Claude, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot, to name a few. But something about the Wild West feel of OpenAI's ChatGPT attracts me. Sure, I want my AI to be careful and respectful, but I don't want it to be too cautious (I'm a "safety third" type of person).

The free version is OK, but if you're going to integrate it into your life/business, the Plus version is noticeably better. I'm finding it useful for three general tasks:

1. Summaries: I can feed it a document, like a transcript, and ask for the key points. I haven't had to do this yet, but I could probably upload a rental agreement and ask questions about it (though, in general, I prefer to read the actual text).
2. Idea generation: I've done the classic "Give me 10 fears that [target market, like data scientists] have about [doing something, like investing in real estate]," and it's excellent for that. I also like to give it a podcast transcript and a prompt like "What questions might someone have after listening/reading this?
3. Transposing: I'm still new at this, but I've been playing around with creating podcast images from text prompts.

Arc Search

This iPhone app is a new tool for me. Instead of searching and getting links, I can get multi-media summaries and answers. If I don't like the result, I can easily do an old-school search (Just think, someday, Google may call it Google Classic Search). I'm unsure if it's "better" or faster yet - because it takes time to learn a new workflow - but it's cool.

Where's the line of too much AI?

Part of this play is helping me discover the best uses. Sure, I can ask it to write this article. It would be bland (plus, I like writing because it helps me think), so it's not a real option. But someday, it'll be able to write in my voice after I give it an unorganized blob of ideas. Then what? Do I get credit for writing it?

I use Grammarly for editing, and that seems to be OK. I take credit for doing data analysis, even though I use tools like Excel and R and not slide rulers. If I were a web developer, I'd use GitHub Copilot to help write code. Is that OK? It's just a smarter version of autocomplete, right? Does anyone care as long as the output is high quality?

To me, the line seems fuzzy. As a business owner, I'm not super concerned about how it's done, as long as it's done well. Would I care if I had a theoretical employee who used these tools to do their work in half the time but still charged the full time? I'd care about having a lazy (dishonest?) employee, but I'm paying for results, not time spent. The issue is the person's character, not the tool's use. I pay MORE for contractors to go faster, so it's not always about saving money.

Again, does anyone care if I use a WYSIWYG editor like Squarespace on a website instead of hand-coding it? No. Does anyone care if I use a pivot table in Excel to make a chart? Nope, it's considered an advanced skill. Does it matter if I wrote a helpful article using chatGPT for the first draft with some light editing? Well... No?

In each of these examples, I devised the idea and validated the final result. What if I hired someone to do all the work for me? Doesn't anyone really care as long as it's helpful? This is what businesses do, right? CEOs of mid-to-large companies can't do everything.

Perhaps the rub is that it's an implied expectation that humans do certain things (like write and edit videos), and somehow, we feel lied to when we find out a human didn't do it. Or, maybe it's because we're in the uncanny valley of AI quality. If that's the case, this will be less and less of an issue as society changes its expectations and the output improves. Does anyone else miss DVD special features? I do, but streaming is so convenient!

What's My Core Value?

A more helpful framework has been thinking about my core value. What do I bring to my business that's hard to replicate?

Let's use my podcast as an example. My core value is my experience, knowledge, and how I explain them. So, AI can help me think of topics, but I should be the one to choose the topic and talk about it. Then afterward, creating subtitles, descriptions, and chapter markers are all low-value tasks. So, I'm OK delegating those to AI (with my final approval).

I also think video editing is lower-value (for me), but AI isn't great at it yet, and my budget doesn't allow me to delegate it to someone every time. Basically, I'm OK with delegating everything (to humans or AI) around making the podcast, except for the on-screen part, because that's the highest value I bring.

Future Uses?

I do other lower-value tasks, and it's fun imagining a time when tools, AI or otherwise, can help with them.

1. Bookkeeping takes a while. I've started delegating that to a property manager. Hopefully, someday, she can use AI to help her go faster. For example, Quickbooks will suggest categories, and that'll get smarter over time.
2. I don't write a lot of commercial rental contracts, but I could see it helping with that. Or reading a contact and advising me on things to look out for.
3. So... email... I want an AI to analyze my previous emails to match my writing style for a one-click auto-responder. And not just a one-liner auto-responder, but a complete message. I've read about some pretty extreme solutions, but they're more hostile to senders than "solutions." (The best -and most expensive - option is hiring a virtual assistant to reply on your behalf.)
4. I have an odd plumbing problem. I can't find a suitable solution on Google or ChatGPT. I'd rather not pay a plumber, but it's increasingly looking like I don't have a choice.
5. Imagine this: I see a property listing. I call the seller to learn more and I take a tour. I want to feed the listing, the call transcript, and the tour photos into a system that analyzes the property. It'll output a P&L, repair estimates, and project KPIs into a spreadsheet. I can then take over from there. I think? We're flirting with my biggest value-add now.
6. Or, I give it a current property in my portfolio and its P&L over time. The tool looks at the market and can suggest sell/hold and rent rates. I haven't tried this yet, but I bet it can already help make rental listings (though, I have a template that's easy to use). Or, auto-general some good-looking reports?

All of these are still helping me to do what I'm already doing more efficiently. None of them fundamentally change how I'm already doing business. What would an AI-first real estate investor do?

I suppose I'd want a tool that analyzes every property in the US for me and generates offers I can submit. It would auto-generate rental contracts and do the follow-up on rent payments and notices. It would listen to every conversation and suggest the next steps.

Or, maybe I never directly interact with people! Instead of writing emails, I write/speak my thoughts, and it writes and sends them. I never directly analyze a property, but I write/speak/send the stats, and it analyzes it for me. If I'm working with a potential seller, I might tell the AI to keep following up until I get a yes or a no. The AI knows the analysis and my criteria and can automatically do a back-and-forth with the seller, searching for a mutually acceptable deal by tweaking the price and terms based on the seller's response.

Maybe? That seems far off, and at least for now, it's a part of my core value in my business. Perhaps a reasonable next step is to get better at telling the AI my raw, unstructured thoughts and letting it draft a response.

2024 Annual Letter - Life Is Good

I'm sitting on my living room couch while Jessi finishes Marie Kondo-ing our shelves (I'm not allowed to help put things away), my kids are loudly doodling on random paper together, and my dog is quietly snoring while sound asleep beside me.

Life is good.

Though... it's not exactly the best writing environment, but that's OK. :)

The Lord has blessed our family so much that sharing everything He is doing is impossible. So, in this annual letter, I'll highlight my business progress, some personal things, and our travels.

Real Estate Syndications

I started the year pursuing a new-ish endeavor: syndicating multifamily real estate. I say "new-ish" because it's continuing what we've been doing for 14 years, but now people can passively invest alongside us. Pooling funds together for larger deals is a win-win business model: it allows us to grow and invest in larger properties (which often have better economics vs single-family rentals), and folks who may not have the time or expertise can contribute funds and enjoy real estate's benefits.

Pursuing syndications involves two primary activities:

1. Underwriting deals for syndication, and
2. Attracting new passive investors.
3. Oh yeah, and managing my existing portfolio.

A New 15-Bedroom Rental

In February, we bought a 15-bedroom co-living house. I wanted to syndicate it, but the financing didn't require it. Here's a video of it. It was also our first place to be managed by a property manager because hiring managers will allow our business to scale. We also transferred the storage facility to a property manager and plan to transition the rest of our portfolio in the next year or two.

I almost syndicated a property in Astoria, Oregon at the end of the year, but the deal fell through. I'll eventually do a whole write-up for my investors (join the club ), but here's the initial analysis video.

Going into 2024, I'll continue to underwrite deals and syndicate at least one. For intriguing deals, I'll create property analysis videos.

Attracting Investors

Speaking of videos, I started making them. My channel is small, but I've enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experience. My thinking is to make videos that people find educational (and entertaining) to build trust and credibility. Some of those people will choose to join my investor club email list, and some of those people will decide to invest in a future deal.

I'm new enough that I don't know my funnel ratios yet (It might be, for example, 10,000 views -> 10 email subscribers -> 1 investor). Research by Google in 2012 suggests that reliably building trust requires people engaging with me for 7 hours, across 11 touch points, in 4 locations (like YouTube, email, Instagram, webinars, podcasts, phone calls, etc.). So, I'm making it easier for people to spend 7 hours with me in many different places by creating content (I only have 26 videos that last 4.2 hours, so I have a ways to go).

Some of my most popular videos are property analyses, which is nice because they accomplish my two goals simultaneously: underwriting deals & attracting investors.

DJI Drone - My Favorite Purchase of 2023

Early in the year, I purchased a drone. I didn't have an exact use for it, but it seemed like 4-8 times every year, there would be a situation where having a drone would be great.

So, I bought one, and it's easily been my favorite purchase of the year.

Not only did I get pictures of each property, but I used it on multiple trips. What I like about it is that it lets me get otherwise-impossible photos. Though, I've noticed that videos are incredibly dull on their own. The videos work as b-roll, but when you're showing them to friends on your phone, it's boring. I also prefer looking at the photos on my big monitor because it lets me zoom in on all the little details. That is incredibly fun!

My primary use for videos has been for roof inspections. I can fly around to capture all the parts of the roof, and then view it on my large monitor at home while taking notes and annotated screenshots.

In Personal News...

I Turned 40

In some ways, it's just another candle on the cake, but in other ways, I feel older. For example, it takes longer to recover from a workout, and text is blurry first thing in the morning. But, along the way, the Lord has taught me a few things, so I wrote a post about 40 lessons and quotes I try to live by.

I Can Solve a Rubik's Cube

YouTube is fantastic for learning things. I found many videos showing the exact steps to solve a Rubik's cube. So, I learned it fairly quickly and practiced it for the rest of the year. My moment of heroism came while in India: we found a Rubik's cube on the side of the street in a random jungle village; I picked it up, solved it, and put it back. We went by that spot later, and it was gone. I like to think there's some kid whose mind was blown when they saw it.

This continues my quest to get semi-decent at mostly-useless skills to impress my kids, which also includes juggling and solving Sudoku puzzles. I think the next logical skill is to learn some card tricks.

My Favorite Books From Last Year

I don't think I'm an entrepreneur who thinks I'll succeed because I read a bunch of books. I believe that success comes from taking action and deliberate practice. Instead, my hobby, or favorite pastime, is reading. So, I read about topics I'm interested in: business, self-improvement, and faith. So last year, I read a bunch (here's my quick review of each one), and here are my favorites:

Deep Work by Cal Newport

High-quality work is a function of time spent with distraction-free focus on the work. Newport gives strategies for setting up your schedule and work environment to allow for significant blocks of distraction-free time. The advice is actionable and reasonable. I've implemented his idea and enjoy my times of deep focus.

James For You by Sam Allberry

I love the "Bible For You" series because they go deeper than a sermon, but aren't as forensic as a commentary. The book of James is a sweet companion to the Sermon on the Mount. But James moves quickly, and it can feel scattered. Allberry explains how all the thoughts tie together and tackles passages that seem, on the surface, to contradict Paul's teaching. It's terrific.

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

This isn't a book on habits, ambition, or hard work. It's about unlocking... your potential. You do that by cultivating skills that maximize learning and setting up support systems to overcome roadblocks. The advice in the book is refreshing and highly actionable.

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

I was surprised by how different the book is from the movie. The book explores the differences between "machine logic" and "human logic" through a collection of short stories. In the book, robots act so similarly to humans that humans treat them as... human, which is OK 98% of the time.

But sometimes, robots do something seemingly illogical. And they call a robot psychologist to help determine the robot's logic. It's a bit of a mystery novel in that regard.

The movie, I think (?), takes place many years after the events in the book and explores what it looks like if robots are fully accepted by society (they aren't allowed on Earth in the book), but their machine logic is still slightly off, leading to... problems.

Honorable mention goes to:

• Best In Class by Kyle Mitchell and Gary Lipsky - How to manage a property manager and the asset.
• Show Your Work! by Justin Kleon - Ideas for sharing creative work publicly.
• $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi - How to structure offers people want to buy.
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - The original story, which is genuinely remarkable.

We Bought an Above-Ground Pool

The kids kept asking to go swimming, and after pricing a pool pass, we decided to get a small pool for our backyard. We wanted it big enough that they could swim around, but not so big that we feared them drowning. It was a huge success and the kids' favorite activity in the summer. Plus, it attracted a few kids in the neighborhood.

One of my favorite things was to run (as best I could in water) around the side and create a whirlpool for the kids to float in. And, the kids are much more confident in water, which is fantastic.

Lots of Travel

Real Estate Conference in Louisville, Kentucky

I started the year by attending a conference on raising capital for buying real estate. The speakers were great, and I made some excellent connections. I regularly referenced my notes throughout the year, so it was time and money well spent.

Sledding In The Snow

I saw a report that snow levels were crazy high at my grandmother's cabin, so we took an impromptu trip (~10-hour drive) to the snow. The snow was still taller than the kids, and they loved it. I also got to take some fantastic drone photos.

San Francisco For My Dad's 70th

My dad turned 70, and we celebrated in The City. It's always great seeing family. Plus, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge!

India Motorcycle Trip

In July, Jessi and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary by riding motorcycles through the Himalayas in Northern India. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I wrote about it and shared lots of photos here.

Yurt Camping (Without a Yurt)

In August, we went camping. I THOUGHT I had reserved a site with a yurt, but once we arrived, it became clear we didn't (we researched multiple campgrounds, and I got them mixed up). So... it was 8:30pm, and not only did we NOT have a tent, but we didn't have sleeping pads either. Here's a funny video of everyone's reaction the next morning.

West India Trip

In October, we headed back to India with some friends. We visited other friends who live there and hiked in the Himalayas. And we got to see Everest! The entire range is magnificent, and Everest blends in with the rest of them. So Everest isn't independently imposing, but it's still impressive. We also went through the jungles on which The Jungle Book is based and saw some fantastic jungle animals.

Looking to 2024

In many ways, 2024 seems like a natural continuation of 2023.

For example, my two business focuses are the same. I'll continue the same activities, though potentially doing more of them. And there's an 85% chance that Jessi and I start a real estate-focused podcast together.

We'll keep traveling, but we're not planning anything international. So far, we only have two plans: Elinor and I are going to a wedding in Louisiana and camping in California with my family. We want to visit Jessi's family, and I'd like to take the family on a backpacking trip, but they're not official plans yet.

Jessi will continue working at our church, and I'll continue serving at Love INC, the kids' school, and our church.

Part of the reason why 2024 feels like a continuation is that we both genuinely feel that we're living in God's will. It's not always easy, but it's good. So we'll keep on going! Thank you to all our friends for their support and the fun times in 2023.