What Will Life Look Like in 2276? My Predictions for America’s 500th Birthday

To celebrate the US’s 250th birthday, I traveled to Boston with my brother. It was a fantastic place to celebrate the 4th of July given all the historical events leading up to the Declaration.

Given all of the looking back, I’ve also found myself thinking about what life will be like 250 years from now (in the year 2276). The difficult part is that we have things today that folks in 1776 couldn’t even imagine. I mean, we’re not even talking about AI, smartphones, the internet, or computers! They didn’t have electricity, the telegraph, cars, or an awareness of germs. So they couldn’t even imagine things like TV or the radio. Having 50 states wasn’t even on the horizon.

But hey, it’s fun to guess. So, here are my wild guesses.

Health

We’ll be beyond the tricorder featured in Star Trek. Not only will we be able to diagnose illness, but we’ll also create medicine uniquely tailored to each individual. There’s also a good chance that there will be new illnesses as people live longer because we understand and overcome today’s leading diseases. It’ll be a game of whack-a-mole with life expectancies slowly creeping up.

I personally want a passive way to do my strength and cardio workouts. Alas... RIP vibrating belt machine. In 250 years, I think we’ll have something that comes close to that goal.

Energy

This seems like a more urgent problem to solve. I can easily see small nuclear reactors inside each home — similar to solar panels today. Those will generate enough electricity to power everything that leaves the house. We’re still new at understanding nuclear power (mostly because of apprehension about building them), so over time our understanding will increase exponentially (similar to the CPU development trend). Is there something beyond nuclear? Probably, but just making it smaller, safer, or portable will be huge.

There will absolutely be battery breakthroughs that make our current storage solutions seem primative. I’m not talking about a 100X improvement, but a totally different way of storing & transmitting energy. This will allow devices and vehicles to either do crazy amounts more, or take totally radical form factors.

Communication

In 1776, information traveled at the speed of horse. When the telegraph was invented, information traveled ~500 miles in a single day. Today, we can instantly video call anyone around the world. Where do you go from there? I don’t think virtual reality (like in The Matrix) is it. Perhaps it’ll be calls where we feel like we’re actually there? Perhaps we’ll inhabit a robot — a cybernetic android? — with all 5 senses connected to us (like in Avatar)?

There are obvious downsides to that, and if social media is any indication, we’ll embrace it, and it’ll cause massive social problems.

Transporation

Flying cars seem inevitable, but it’s felt that way for a little over 100 years (the Wright brothers took flight in 1903, and the Model T was made in 1908). So... as inevitable as it still feels, it’ll have to wait for the energy improvements.

More interesting is long-distance travel. Traveling from Oregon to India takes 24 hours. In 1776, it would be at least a year, assuming you survived the journey... If I assume a straight line of improvement (a bad assumption since improvements were step changes). In 250 years, that same trip could only take 4 minutes! That seems impossible, but I bet 24 hours seemed impossible 250 years ago.

It’ll probably be less about humans traveling, given the improvements in communication, and more about shipping items. So constraints like g-force will be less of an issue. Would I want to live in a world where I ship my android across the globe in 4 minutes so I can “hike” Mt Everest? Something about that doesn’t feel right, but I bet it happens.

Call me a naysayer, but I don’t think we’ll have a meaningful presence on any other planets. It seems like such a huge effort with relatively small benefits. It sounds cool, but I think we’ll still be in the exploratory phase in 250 years.


Work & Wealth

I do NOT see a future like the Jetsons where work is as simple as pressing a button for a partial day. I also don’t see a post-scarcity future like Star Trek where people do their jobs out of noble virtue because material goods are essentially free and energy is abundant.

Instead, I think we’ll continue to experience scarcity and a widening wealth gap. Think about it: relative to 1776, our lives are unimaginably rich. We have indoor plumbing, washing machines, refrigerators, and penicillin — all of which we take for granted! Now I complain when I go somewhere, and my internet upload speed is “only” 5 GB. 20 years ago, nobody had a smartphone, but now we all pay for data plans (along with city water and electricity). Last year, I didn’t pay $20 a month for Claude, and now I do (and likely for the rest of my life to some AI provider).

So yes, we’re wealthier, but in addition to being bad at comparing to the previous generations, we spread our wealth across an ever-growing number of things. Our appetite for more (and better) never ceases. So, it feels like resources are still scarce.

That feeling won’t go away in 250 years.

But at the same time, we’ll make life easier for people who don’t want to work. It’s mostly the right thing to do, but I have a hunch we’ll take it too far. I’m also almost 100% certain we’ll have some sort of universal basic income, housing, and healthcare. That will enable this group to simply hang out (and entertain themselves). Will they take fancy trips and get the latest medical advancements? Probably not, but they’ll be OK with that. Unfortunately, it’ll disincentivize people who could contribute to society. But I already feel that way about social media.

Another group will want to continue competing and striving for more (while claiming a righteous high ground...). They’ll continue working long hours, increasing their productivity through automation and technology. You’ll see more and more small business owners with zero to 5 employees, with a few amassing unimaginable wealth, because they’ll be the ones driving the changes mentioned above.

This seems like a human nature trap that we won’t escape in 250 years.

Government

I still think the US will be around in 250 years. I know this current political climate feels contentious, but that started during Washington’s second term. You could almost replace any reference to Jackson with Trump, and it would be hard to tell the difference. We’ve always been a country with intense differing political beliefs.

Part of what made the Civil War happen was that fundamentally differing beliefs on slavery were clustered in two regions (the North and South). So, it was physically possible to separate. As far as I know, there aren’t any differing political beliefs (worth splitting away from) that are regional.

Having said that, I think our founding fathers would be SHOCKED by how much power is with the executive branch vs. Congress. And I think we’ll be similarly shocked looking ahead 250 years with how much it’s changed. It’s a kind of death-by-a-thousand-cuts, slowly-boiling-pot situation. Increasingly, we’ll see Living Constitutionalism winning out over Originalism.

Final Predictions

I feel like I painted a rosy picture, but that’s because life today is SO much better than it was 250 years ago. I mean, virtually unlimited clean drinking water is pretty hard to beat! I'm reading about the Wright Brothers at the moment, and their dad is constantly harping on them to watch out for contaminated water.

I'll finish with a favorite quote from George Box: "All models are wrong but some are useful." I know I'm wrong on my guess, but hopefully some of these ideas are actually being pursued.

Some Days I Feel Like a Phony

A few days ago, I was working on the listing for our new vacation rental. The photos look great, the descriptions are written, and the unit is ready. And yet, running a short-term rental is new for me. I know there will be bumps in the road, and I find myself worrying that people will realize I don't fully know what I'm doing.

I’m not certain this is the correct term for how I feel, but I sometimes (often?) struggle with what’s called Imposter Syndrome. It’s when you feel unqualified to be doing something (a “phony”), and you fear that people are going to figure out you’re not qualified to be doing that thing.

Apparently, there are several forms of imposter syndrome (I just learned this while double-checking my definition was correct):

1. The Perfectionist: Sets crazy high goals and feels like a failure even if they meet 99% of them.

2. The Natural Genius: Feels like a fraud if they have to work to master a skill. It should come... naturally, right?

3. The Solist: Feels that asking for help is a sign of weakness. So, they must do everything themselves to prove their own worth.

4. The Expert: Constantly seeks more certifications/training, feeling they’ll never know “enough” to be truly qualified.

5. The Superhero: Pushes themselves to excel in every role (worker, parent, spouse) to cover up perceived insecurities.

Jessi (my wife) and I often fall into the first type: perfectionists. Actually, one of the things I appreciate about Jessi is that she sees the flaws. Not because she's negative, but because she genuinely wants things to be better. When I ask her for feedback, I know I’ll get her brutally honest thoughts and a clear map of where to improve. There’s a time and place for cheerleaders, but I’m finding them less helpful. Don't get me wrong, encouragement is nice, but I often want accurate feedback.

I appreciate the harsh truth from others, but it’s potentially destructive when done to myself because I see all the imperfections. Even if something turns out well, I can nitpick the process and my mindset. Yikes!

As a small business owner, I find myself regularly wading into the unknown and fighting perfectionist thoughts (and the natural genius... discounting years of practice to get to where I am today). For example, as my property management business grows, I keep wondering when people will realize I’ve never scaled a business before. It regularly feels like we’re just staying ahead… which is a classic imposter syndrome feeling! Of course it feels that way — growth, by definition, puts you into inexperienced territory.

Another example: I can no longer keep every unit and tenant in my head. Things fall through the cracks, and we’re building new processes (and ways to store/access info) while still maintaining daily operations. I keep thinking, “We just have to stay ahead for a bit longer… then it’ll be OK.” But, according to owners I respect, it’ll still be hard; it’ll be a different hard, but still hard.

The more experienced I get, the more I suspect most adults are just making it up as they go. Parents are raising kids they've never raised before. Managers are leading teams they've never led before. And business owners are solving problems they've never encountered before. The people I admire most aren't the ones who always know what to do, but the ones willing to move forward despite not knowing.

I suppose this is more of a note to myself to remember that, even though I sometimes feel like a phony. I still have things falling through the cracks, I still disappoint people occasionally, and I still find myself thinking that if I can just stay ahead a little longer, I'll eventually feel qualified. But perhaps that's how this works. Maybe competence isn't the absence of uncertainty (and mistakes). Perhaps a large component of competence is continuing to move forward despite the errors.

So, on the days I feel like a phony, I'm trying to remember: I may not be perfect, but I'm not starting from zero either.

My Trip To Uganda Taught Me About Active Patience

I recently returned from a trip to Uganda to visit some missionary friends. It was my first time in Africa, and while I loved the sights and people, what stayed with me most wasn’t the experience itself  — it was what I learned about patience.

I expected to be inspired by my friends’ big vision of a new retreat center. What surprised me instead was their attitude toward failure.

One person we visited moved to Uganda 32 years ago, and she’s a legend! She brought peace between warring tribes through her veterinary work. It’s incredible! (There’s even an Adventures in Odyssey episode about her.)

Her vehicle, which helps people know it's her.

During the trip, we visited three places that told the story of her life’s work:

• the location of her first assignment, where she regularly washed her hair in a waterfall,
• her (and her husband’s) current home and ministry,
• and the site of their future retreat center.

The retreat center is just getting started. A few small buildings stand now, but their vision includes a massive A-frame space that’ll serve as a training ground for mission training, veterinary education, and farming instruction.

The retreat center at night.

But working in Uganda is hard.

For example, the land they purchased is being contested by the seller’s son, and title protections aren’t the same as in the US. They also have to deal with antics like neighbors trying to plow their land to claim it as their own. At one point, they built a fence, but raiders stole the fence materials. So they hired a guard, bought all new materials, and built another fence.

It’s regularly two steps forward, one step back.

What struck me most wasn’t their vision, but their patience. Yes, they have enormous goals, yet their daily focus remains simple: take steps each day, even if it’s a repeat of yesterday’s steps. Again and again, they spoke about trusting God’s timing and finding God’s purpose in setbacks.

How many dudes does it take to fix a broken tractor?

Be Patient

Reflecting on their work reminded me of something I had read many times but never fully felt: the steady faithfulness described in the book of James.

Unlike some early followers, James stayed in Jerusalem through decades of hardship. His letter was written to believers scattered by persecution: people facing loss, poverty, and uncertainty, wondering how long their suffering would last.

In response, James points to a farmer:

'Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.'

James 5:7-8

The image would have resonated immediately. Most were from agrarian communities in Palestine and knew there were two rainy seasons: planting and harvest. The farmer couldn’t control the rain, but he could prepare the soil, sow the seed, and wait in trust.

The farmer’s patience wasn’t passive. It was active.

He worked while he waited.

Digging up a root to make medicine for a sick goat.

James, like my friends, knew this firsthand. He led the struggling Jerusalem church with limited resources and many trials, including political tension, famine, and persecution. When he writes:

' Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. '

James 1:2-4

He isn’t offering theory. He’s describing a life shaped by endurance.

Growth takes time. But waiting isn’t inactivity. The farmer tills, plants, and prays. In the same way, James calls us to active patience: a quiet trust combined with faithful action. Delays aren’t signs that God has forgotten, but signs that He is ripening something precious in time.

Burn dry grass to make way for new grass when rain comes.

Count It All Joy

Just as the early church learned to persevere through hardship, and just as my friends continue building despite constant setbacks, we are invited into the same kind of patience.

Most of us aren’t building retreat centers in Uganda. But we’re all waiting for rain somewhere.

Maybe it’s a business that’s growing slower than expected. A relationship that feels stuck. A calling that hasn’t produced visible results yet. A season where faithfulness feels repetitive and progress feels invisible.

Active patience means doing today’s work well while trusting God with tomorrow’s outcome.

We prepare the soil.

We plant the seed.

We keep showing up.

And in time — often longer than we’d prefer — the rain comes, and the harvest arrives in ways only God could produce.

I can't believe she washed her hair in this waterfall...

42

Touring the USS Blueback Submarine at OMSI

Yesterday, Elinor asked me, “How do you write a good book? You know, a book or movie that other people want to read.”

What an excellent question!

I was already thinking about what I wanted to write for my 42nd birthday, and I kept coming back to the idea of doing 100 reps to get good at something. But it turns out that’s exactly what I wrote about for my 41st birthday. It’s nice to know I’m consistent. :)

In responding to Elinor, I first confessed that I don’t know for certain because I’ve never written a book, let alone a good one. But I have some clues.

#1 Write a Lot

You have to write a lot and be OK with it being bad at first. But if you commit to writing each day and trying to get better each time, you’ll eventually write a good book. You can be impatient with the inputs — like your effort — because that’s what you control. But then you need to be extra-patient with the outputs.

The question I keep thinking about is, how do I accelerate — be impatient with — the reps? I’m pretty sure there isn’t a shortcut other than devoting more time to getting reps in than seems “reasonable.”

When Elinor first started playing piano, she was bad. And that was OK! With daily practice, she’s improved and now plays songs I recognize. If she keeps playing, she’ll eventually write her own songs and will likely create something good. It might be years, but again, that’s OK!

It also inherently requires focus. By devoting time to getting better at one thing, you have to say no to other things. This is my number one struggle. I love shiny objects and do a great job of figuring out how to justify them! For example, in the last year I got my property management licenses, drone pilot licenses, and contractor’s license. They’re all related to real estate investing, which is how I justify it, but I’m not going 1,000 miles deep in any one. Maybe it’s OK... given the next idea I shared with Elinor?

#2 Combine Ideas

The best way to come up with an “original idea” is to combine many ideas. In the book “Steal Like an Artist,” Austin Kleon wrote:

“The writer Wilson Mizner said if you copy from one author, it’s plagiarism, but if you copy from many, it’s research. I once heard the cartoonist Gary Panter say, “If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re so original!” (p. 36)”

I often think of myself as a curator. When writing website/ad copy or creating analysis dashboards, I’ll first look at dozens of examples. I’ll pick and choose the pieces I like and then combine them into what ultimately becomes my own thing.

For example, my real estate podcast is styled after the Bible Project Podcast, where one person, me, is the expert and the other person, Jessi, is “normal.” The topics are inspired by other real estate podcasts/articles, economic news sources, and my personal investing experience. Combining them all produced something new.

And in my property management business, we’re vertically integrating maintenance to create a better service for our owners and tenants (hence the contractor license). This isn’t a unique idea yet, but I’m getting there.

Create Good Things

I really like what Elinor is thinking about! The desire to be good at something is admirable and worth striving for. It’s hard, but that’s what builds character. I’m looking forward to another trip around the sun with my kids as we all push to get better.

How Small Promises Build Big Trust — in Business and at Home

I recently listened to a podcast where they discussed a decision to build a big business. The interviewer asked what his wife thought about his decision. Here’s what they said:

Question:

“What about that conversation with your wife? Was it an easy yes? Was it an easy, let's go?”

Answer:

“Yeah. You know, it was easy. And here, it's because I take the garbage out. And what I mean by that is this: whenever I talk to people about getting their spouse on board, people ask that question: ‘Oh, my spouse isn't on board, or my spouse doesn't really want to do what I want to do, or I want to start this business — my spouse isn't on board.’ It's usually because they don't take the garbage out. And I use that as a metaphor, but it's also a reality. If they say they're going to do things in their personal private life, and then they do not do it. So they have trained their spouse that they are unreliable; non-dependable.”

“They are not to be trusted. And they have trained their spouse over and over and over by saying, ‘I’m going to take the garbage out,’ and then not taking the garbage out! So if you do that year after year after year and week after week and day after day and all that. And then you say, ‘Hey, I got this idea. I'm going to go build this business.’ You have already set yourself up to be untrusted with that. So, of course, I'm not going to support the other person because I don't believe that they're going to do what they say they're going to do because they never do what they say they're going to do. How you do anything is how you do everything.”

This reminds me of a book by Dr. Kevin Leman called “Sex Begins In The Kitchen,” which says great sex is the by-product of the way spouses treat each other all day long. Small, consistent “deposits of care” — like listening, sharing feelings, pitching in, and expressing affection — create emotional closeness, and physical intimacy naturally follows. The kitchen is a metaphor for those mundane, daily interactions.

I love a good metaphor. 

So, I’ve been thinking about both of these all week and take three lessons I can apply in my business & personal relationships.

Lesson 1: Keep My Promises

If I say I’m going to do something, do it. It’s so simple, right?! The problem I deal with is underestimating how much I can actually accomplish. So, I tend to overpromise (with good intentions) and then inevitably don’t deliver on something. This is my reminder to give myself margin to do what I said I would do. It’s OK if every day isn’t perfectly optimized for productivity.

Lesson 2: The Small Things Matter

Who cares about the garbage? That’s a small thing. The important thing is that I earned enough money to pay all of our expenses. Well, yes. Important things are... well... important. But it turns out, so are the smaller things. It never fails to bring Jessi a smile when she comes home to find all the dishes done.

I think small things are important because it shows a level of care: I’m not just focused on the big things, I also care about the small ones. Furthermore, Ramit Sethi calls these competency triggers: visible cues that signal to others that I’m skilled, reliable, and worth trusting.

Lesson 3: Victory Happens Before The Start Line

I recently syndicated the purchase of a super cool building. The deal took many months to complete, involving a significant amount of work by multiple parties. It wasn’t easy to get it over the line.

But here’s the deal, I unknowingly started working on this deal YEARS before I even knew about it. This was a mixed-use property, and I happened to have experience with those types of tenants/spaces. So, I had the experience.

I also had a list of investors interested in funding this type of deal.

And finally, I built a great friendship with the broker. We did a previous deal together, I joined him on panels, I sent him referrals, and generally supported his career. So, I was on a very short list of people who knew about the deal before the rest of the market. That gave me the chance to submit an offer before anyone else.

The point is this: I had been doing things that made this deal even possible. Without the experience, resources, or connections, there’s no way I could have bought such a cool asset.

Going forward, I can be more intentional about where I want to go and focus on gaining the experience/skills necessary before I directly pursue the next level.

Final Thoughts

One more quote from Jim Collins in Great by Choice:

"Discipline, in essence, is consistency of action—consistency with values, consistency with long-term goals, consistency with performance standards, consistency of method, consistency over time."

This is what the podcast conversation was getting at. Success is about consistency of action, both big and small. It’s taking out the garbage and making deposits of care. Doing that builds trust with others. It’s a simple idea, but hard to carry out. The best way I know to do that is to not overcommit, so I can keep both my big and small promises.

Why Most Meetings Feel Draining — and How to Make Them Worth Attending

When I worked for HP, I typically had 4-8 meetings a day. It was a lot! Then, when I left, it dropped off dramatically - sometimes zero meetings in a week. But, as I’m growing my company, I’m holding more and more meetings. Yet, this time round, it feels different. And part of it has to do with this quote from the book Traction: 

What makes for great meetings is solving problems. Patrick Lencioni says it best: “Your meetings should be passionate, intense, exhausting, and never boring.” (p. 190) 

There were times when my HP meetings were forgettable, dull, draining, and boring. They were typically larger group updates. I’m sure they were great for some people, but I loathed them. HP would hold quarterly all-company meetings, and I usually only stayed on for the first 10 minutes (if not skipping it entirely and only reading the follow-up email).

And yet, I had other multi-hour-long meetings that I loved. Those were the ones where we tackled tough forecasting problems. Or, sometimes it was finding yet another way to say people were printing less (“printing growth is attenuating” was my favorite).

But today, I enjoy most of my meetings. I find many of them directionally similar to what Lencioni described. I had a meeting with the executive director of Love INC to discuss a proposed budget change that wasn’t explicitly addressed in the financial policy document. She wanted my interpretation (as the treasurer) of the policy’s spirit and assistance in updating the relevant section to clarify its application in this situation.

You’d think that would be a horribly tedious meeting, but I enjoyed it. Why?

Rat Race Meetings

One reason people hate meetings is the lack of autonomy. 

There’s a neuroscience study called “The Effects of Voluntary, Involuntary, and Forced Exercises on Brain Function after Cerebral Ischemia,” which looked at two groups of rats. In one group of rats, they ran on a wheel whenever they wanted. In the second group, they were forced to run on a treadmill. Both groups ran the same amount. So you’d think, physically speaking, they would have similar effects.

But no.

• The voluntary runners had higher hippocampal BDNF (a brain health marker), better motor recovery, and lower stress hormone (corticosterone) levels.
• The forced runners showed higher corticosterone (stress) and lower BDNF, with poorer recovery outcomes, typical of chronic stress exposure.

Yikes!

No matter how amazing a meeting might be, if you’re “forced” to go (by, say, a manager), there are built-in negative headwinds. And let’s be honest, most meetings are middling, so in reality, they’re a net negative.

And unfortunately, the person who called the meeting — usually the manager — was the voluntary runner and, therefore, enjoyed it.

I think this explains why I enjoyed my financial policy meeting: I volunteered to join the board. So, even nit-picky policy meetings like that are fun. But I think there’s more to it than just autonomy.

Asymmetric Meetings

Many times, the outcomes are asymmetric. I remember once complaining to my HP boss that our weekly update meeting felt like a waste of time for me (except for my 5-10 minute part, of course). I appreciated her response, “Well, the meeting isn’t for you; it’s for me. By doing it this way, I can get updates from the entire team in a single one-hour meeting instead of holding 7 half-hour meetings. It’s not perfect, but it lets me spend an extra two and a half hours each week tackling other problems. Feel free to multitask when it’s not your turn.”

I think we attend many meetings where the benefits are much greater for the leader than for the attendee. Fundamentally, you have to care about the outcome, or the meeting will feel like a waste of time.

Type II Meetings

Perhaps one way to think of meetings is using the three different types of fun framework. In the same way that there are three types of fun, I think there are three types of meetings.

Type I Meetings:

These are enjoyable in the moment. They might be quick (who doesn’t love it when a meeting ends early?!), energetic, or insightful. I think of meeting someone new for coffee as a perfect example.

Type II Meetings:

These meetings aren’t necessarily fun while in the meeting, but are fun in retrospect. These meetings are what Patrick Lencioni is referring to. You’re solving a problem. Some examples are strategy sessions or negotiations. I find myself wanting to have more of these types of meetings.

Type III Meetings:

These are the worst. They’re not enjoyable during or after. There’s no progress, insight, or closure — it’s just a soul-sucking slog. Ugh! I think group update meetings can get this way if you’re not careful. So can meetings that turn into a one-person monologue, or where the leader is unprepared.

My multi-hour forecasting meetings and that finance meeting were type II meetings - hard in the moment, but fun in retrospect.

Predictable Meetings

In the book Hooked, Nir Eyal explains that “Experiences with finite variability become less engaging because they eventually become predictable” (p. 127). If you’ve ever binge-watched a pre-streaming-era TV show, you notice the show’s pattern, and it quickly becomes predictable and less interesting.

But there’s nuance. Simply changing up the format probably won’t work because only the leader has true autonomy. Eyal continues:

Remember, variability is only engaging when the user maintains a sense of autonomy. People will stand in line for hours to ride the twists and turns of a roller coaster but are panic stricken when they experience a bit of turbulence on an airline flight. Therefore, the job of companies operating in conditions of inherent variability is to give users what they desperately crave in conditions of low control—a sense of agency.  (p. 129).

Instead, you want the content of the meeting to be variable. This is probably why weekly team update meetings are the worst: they’re highly repetitive, predictable, and forced.

In my company, I avoid group check-ins and instead do one-on-ones. And, for the most part, I let the other person drive the discussion because I’m already interested in what they’re doing. It’s my small attempt at sharing autonomy. Yes, I’m in four times as many meetings versus doing it as a group, but I find the experience is better for everyone.

And, of course, if you change up the order or topics, some people will enjoy it and others won’t. You’ll never have everyone fully on board unless it’s something where everyone volunteered to attend.

Less Meetings

Another way to limit meeting predictability is to reduce the number of meetings. Here’s the advice from the folks at 37Signals, who only hold meetings as a last resort. In their book Remote, they write:

Meetings. Ah, meetings. Know anyone out there who wishes they had more meetings? We don’t either. Why is that? Meetings should be great—they’re opportunities for a group of people sitting together around a table to directly communicate. That should be a good thing. And it is, but only if treated as a rare delicacy.

When meetings are the norm, the first resort, the go-to tool to discuss, debate, and solve every problem, they become overused and we grow numb to the outcome. Meetings should be like salt—sprinkled carefully to enhance a dish, not poured recklessly over every forkful. Too much salt destroys a dish. Too many meetings can destroy morale and motivation. (pp. 114-115)

They also recommend hiring only smart people who get things done. I mean, obviously, that’s what you want to do, but it’s much harder to do in practice, so the advice isn’t super helpful. “Just have fewer meetings” can also sound like a great theory that’s hard in practice, especially if the alternative is sending more emails. Still, it’s worth remembering and striving for fewer meetings if possible.

Better Meetings

Alright, let’s land this plane. Here’s how I try to make meetings better.

If you lead meetings...

• Recognize that everyone else will be walking in with the negative consequence of being a “forced attendee.” You don’t need to apologize; just do the work ahead of time to make the meeting meaningful.
• Hold fewer group updates. Go asynchronous or default to 1-on-1s.
• Focus your meetings on solving meaningful problems.
• End with a “meeting rating” (1–10) to improve feedback loops. I don’t do this often, but I’m trying out Slido.

If you attend meetings...

• Find your autonomy: suggest time slots (I blocked out maker hours in Outlook when at HP), ask for the agenda, or volunteer for a meaningful role (like capturing action items).
• When possible, choose meetings where you solve problems that you care about. It may not be fun in the moment, but in retrospect, you’ll appreciate them. If you don’t care about the problem, consider not going.
• If you’re in a group update, give yourself guilt-free permission not to be 100% engaged because the meeting isn’t for you.
• If possible, earn yourself positions where you get to decide if there’s a meeting or not.

Passionate. Intense. Exhausting. Never boring. Meaningful meetings aren’t effortless — they’re earned. Keeping these points in mind can dramatically improve your meeting experience.

I Have A Content Problem And I Don't Know How To Solve It

This will not be one of those "How I went from 200 views to millions of views" posts. It's quite the opposite because I have a content problem, and I don't know how to solve it.

In my business, the big question I must answer is: "What would it take for someone who found me online to invest $50,000 into a real estate deal with me?" The high-level answer is that I need to create enough trust that I'll do what I say I'll do.

What I'm Doing

My current strategy for building enough trust for that type of investment is a content funnel:

• I create podcast episodes and videos to earn trust and attract potential investors.
• From those, they visit my website and either download a free due diligence guide or join my mailing list.
• That puts them on my email, where I educate them on passive investing & nurture the relationship.
• And ideally, they eventually invest with me once I build know, like, and trust.

On a typical week, I produce one podcast, three shorts/reels (from the podcast), and a summary carousel (of the podcast). This is sustainable for me (and Jessi).

My Results

Here are my typical stats:

• Podcast audio listens: 10
• Podcast video views: 532
• YouTube views per short: 1,991
• Instagram views per reel / carousel: 215 / 65
• LinkedIn views per podcast post / short / carousel: 23  /  7 / 41
• Weekly website visits: 62
• Email subscribers: 1-ish every 3 weeks
• Active investors who found me online: 0

At first glance, those numbers feel... underwhelming. I recognize that subscribers and views are vanity metrics and not my ultimate goal, but they're part of my funnel and feel low.

How Do I Improve?

I have an existing set of investors, which is fantastic, but I'd like to 10X that so we can do more/bigger deals. And for now, my biggest issue in reaching that goal is not having enough people at the top of the funnel. So, I'd like to 10X (or 100X?) each of those results above.

But I'm genuinely at a loss for what I need to improve. Here's an overwhelming list of questions I regularly ask myself:

• I've created my ideal customer profile based on current investors. Maybe I need to be more niche?
• I've taken classes to improve my video editing skills, but perhaps I need to increase the production quality significantly?
• I've gotten help with my YouTube SEO, but the impact isn't meaningful.
• I think the topics we discuss are relevant to investors... but maybe not?
• Maybe I should do epic real estate things (i.e., hard to replicate at home) and share them?
• Should I start or join an engagement pod where 4-10 of us like/comment on each other's posts to kickstart the ol' algorithms to promote them more? (probably not)
• Or, should I leave my $1.80 by commenting on 90 posts a day?
• I'm posting 1 video and 3 shorts a week. Should I increase to 1-2 a day? Is that sustainable?
• I like my titles and thumbnails, but perhaps they're not effective?
• Do I need to invest more time in understanding my retention analytics and optimizing what I have?
• Should I hire a social media guru? Probably not... But maybe there are folks who could coach me?
• Is this answer "yes" to all of them?!

So many questions! And yet, I simultaneously feel like I'm overthinking this!

What Would You Do?

The standard advice is to keep going and improve something 1% each time. I feel like that's what I'm doing, but... I don't know... It's discouraging. I'd like to try putting in 10X the effort, but a) I'm not sure where to put it, and b) I don't have that much time (or money to pay someone else to put in that much time) since this isn't directly related to my revenue.

In reality, if I attracted one qualified investor a month, that would be amazing! So, I don't need a huge following, but having more would be helpful.

So that's where I'm at. I'm open to feedback or ideas. :)

The Seven Dwarves Deserve Their Own Movie. Here's My Pitch.

I've been thinking about the new Snow White movie recently. In my opinion, all remakes struggle because they have to contend with the nostalgia of the first version. The movie can't just be a little better; it has to be orders of magnitude better (like Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy).

Instead, I think the winning strategy is to tell an adjacent story.

For example, Maleficent, Wicked, and Cruella are the origin stories of Sleeping Beauty, The Wizard of Oz, and 101 Dalmatians. It lets the original stand as-is and builds depth into the villain (while often flipping the original's moral framing).

There are also origin stories of side characters:

• Finding Dory
• Minions
• Lightyear

And then there are spin-offs:

• The Lego Batman Movie
• Venom
• Planes
• Frasier

These tend to be more lighthearted, which is fine with me.

One obvious concept for Snow White would be the origin story of Queen Grimhilde (aka The Evil Queen). It would follow her journey from royal bride to feared sorceress. Maybe she descends into madness after being betrayed (another moral framing flip). Perhaps her enchanted mirror becomes her only confidant, but ultimately her tormentor. I'd call it "Mirror, Mirror" or something catchy like that.

I'm in! Who doesn't love a well-told anti-hero movie these days?!

The Seven Dwarves

However, one fascinating area to explore is the seven dwarves.

For example, you could go gritty:

Before they met Snow White, they escaped a brutal war in the mountain kingdoms. They were once proud gemcrafters to royalty, but now they live in exile. And they were part of a sprawling underground civilization before the war. Perhaps the gems aren't just pretty but store magic (that was ultimately used in the war). This "band of brothers" swore never to get involved in "human affairs" again... until Snow White.

But I think you could also tell a super fun origin story.

Hear me out: what if they were former thieves?!

Doc is a genius strategist with alchemical skills, but society has rejected him because of a massive mistake. (I know it's vague, but let's keep rolling.)

So, he wants to break into the castle's enchanted vault to steal the Heartstone — a magical gem powerful enough to keep someone eternally youthful and powerful — to change how he looks and effectively create a new identity (it's a selfish reason).

But there's a catch: the only time the vault is being predictably opened is for a wedding ceremony of the King's new wife. His wife died during childbirth, and he found a new wife/stepmother. Unbeknownst to all, she's only marrying to get access to the Heartstone.

To pull off the heist, he gathers six outcast minors.

1. Grumpy: A no-nonsense bruiser, former royal guard
2. Happy: A charming con man with a winning smile
3. Sleepy: Has prophetic dreams, but is unreliable
4. Sneezy: Can literally sniff out magic traps
5. Bashful: Quiet and stealthy
6. Dopey: Silent, but brilliant with gadgets and explosives. A wild card.

I'm making this up without a complete storyline; don't get upset at me.

Act 1 would be recruiting and planning.

Doc has been out of the game until he hears about the Queen's vault. He gathers the old crew - each one reluctant, hiding in exile, or eking out a mundane life. He promises each of them a redo in life because of the stone.

Act 2 would be the setup and challenges.

They do training and recon missions. There are magical hiccups, run-ins with guards, unstable tunnels, and enchanted traps. They discover the magic mirror sees everything, so they must blind it to their actions.

Act 3 would be the heist.

It's a multi-layered plan with parallel timelines. Perhaps Bashful almost sells them out but decides not to. Or, the entire time, Dopey has been accidentally solving problems, but now he deliberately saves the day!

But then they decide NOT to keep the gem and use it to save the newborn princess's life (which, unknown to them, was threatened by the soon-to-be-queen). And an obvious side effect is that it turns her skin as white as snow while protecting her from the Queen trying to kill her in the future (hence the huntsman and the "sleeping death" in the cartoon).

Ultimately, we see them vanish into the woods without rewards, titles, or a redo. But they're content with their decision and start whistling as they go away...

I think some fun titles could be:

• Seven and the Stone
• Once Upon a Heist
• The Seven

That's my idea. Disney, you can DM me for where to send the royalty check. ;)

Why Streaks Work On Me (Even When Motivation Fades)

I hate to admit it, but streaks—consecutive days of doing something—work on me. And if I’m really candid, most of the time, the loss of breaking a streak is slightly more motivating than the positive feelings I get from seeing a long streak.

A Streak For Streak’s Sake

For example, I currently have a 192-day streak of using Duolingo (language learning).

That’s cool, but I actually think I’m over it. We’re back from Spain, and it doesn’t look like I’m going to Mexico this year. So, my motivation to keep going is relatively low. I know it’s probably good for me to keep going, but if it weren’t for that 192, I would have stopped two weeks ago!


How crazy powerful is that?!

For The Love Of It

But there are others that I genuinely enjoy doing every day, regardless of the streak counter. For example, DayOne (journaling), Readwise (book highlights), and MyFitnessPal (calorie tracking).

But here’s what’s interesting: these allow for catching up, and I do that occasionally. And it’s not because I want to ensure I journal or get the review - it’s simply to keep the streak alive!

Broken Dreams... I mean... Streaks

And then there are others that I wish I still had a streak in but no longer do, like Quip (teeth brushing) and Fitbod (strength training). Here are the streaks I had in January (when I originally conceived of this post).

Alas, quip connects to my toothbrush via Bluetooth, and it couldn’t handle the time change in Spain. So, on one day, I have 3 brushings, and on another, I only have one brushing. The steak is broken, and there’s no way to “fix it.”

Does it count that I physically did the responsible thing and brushed twice daily in real life? Nope!

And then there’s these sad situations.

Twenty-three weeks was pretty good, but I got sick after returning from our trip. Combine it with bad weather, and well, the streak is broken. I totally own this one, and I don’t even have the satisfaction of knowing in my heart I put in the work.

You’d think the whole “I didn’t work out” thing would bother me, but nope! The loss of the streak is what bothers me!

Sure, I know I can “just start again,” but the whole point of this tirade is my admission that keeping the streak is somehow, inexplicitly, more motivating than the actual thing.

Why Streaks Are Powerful

I wanted to know why this works so well on me (and presumably others). Here’s what I learned:

Loss Aversion

It’s not just the steak I’d lose. It’s the effort, identity, and progress associated with it. And I (apparently) value a loss much more than a win, so I put in more effort to avoid all those losses.

Identity Reinforcement

Streaks become part of my self-perception. “I’m the kind of person who doesn’t miss a day of brushing.” Or “I’m the kind of person who values reading.” The steak acts as an easily identifiable external signal of the kind of person I am. This is why recovering alcoholics track how long it’s been since they had a drink.

The Zeigarnik Effect

Streaks keep a task “open” in my mind. If I don’t get to Duolingo first thing in the morning, I think about it the rest of the day, trying to remember to do it. [David Allen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Allen_(author)) would shed a tear for me. That desire for closure compels me to keep the steak alive.

Progress Triggers Dopamine

There’s actually a physical, addictive component to streaks. Each step releases dopamine, which reinforces my action. Knowing this kind of makes me want to do a streak detox and break all of them for a week. (But I probably won’t, hence the addictive part...)

Commitment & Consistency Bias

Streaks become a psychological contract with myself. I desire to be consistent with things I’ve already done, so a small streak starts creating internal pressure to remain consistent with my prior actions. The longer it goes, the stronger it gets.

So, streaks work because they intertwine behavior with emotion, identity, memory, and even brain chemistry. And thanks to smartphones and apps, streaks are easier than ever to create. 

I’m unsure if my situation is a good or bad thing. I suppose since all of mine are healthy habits, it’s good?

But knowing how powerful they are on me, it’s good to be aware of for some not-so-healthy habit-forming apps, like some smartphone games.

PS. In case you haven’t noticed, I posted once a month last year. Here I am in the last week of March, keeping the streak alive...

PPS. This would probably work on me if it weren’t so hidden. Thankfully, Apple’s too concerned about my mental health to put it front and center.

Why I Don't Read Physical Books Anymore (and How I Remember What I Read)

 I enjoy reading, but I mostly enjoy nonfiction self-improvement books. For example, my last three books were God and Money, Million Dollar Weekend, and Supercommunicators.

All three are fantastic, with dozens of nuggets I want to remember (101, 97, and 104 nuggets, to be precise). I used to read a book, remember it for a little while, and then its lessons would fade into the background.

But no more.

Kindle

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite in 2013, and it felt magical. Being small and lightweight is nice, but the real perk is the built-in reading light. I love getting books instantly, but the built-in light is still the coolest part. While sleeping in an Indian hostel/camp while hiking in the Himalayas last year, a friend marveled that I could keep reading when it was time to turn off the single bulb in the sleeping quarters. It's such a simple feature, and I love it.

My biggest initial problem with the Kindle was that it didn't show book covers. After a while, all the books started blending together, and I couldn't remember where I read something or the author's name. It's incredible how passively looking at something 30-50 times for 1-2 seconds each time helps information stick.

Thankfully, Amazon eventually fixed my problem by incorporating book covers into the lock screen. (My last request for improvement is the ability to zoom in on graphics, as sometimes the rendering makes them too small to read.)

(side note: I also listen to audiobooks, but only books I don't want to take notes on or highlight. For me, those are biographies and fiction.)

Readwise

In June of 2022, I stumbled upon Readwise, and it's fantastic! The idea is simple: sync your highlights from an eReader, and it'll show you some highlights in a daily email (or the app). Or, manually add any book, and it'll show you popular highlights. You control email frequency and how many highlights are in each email.

The benefit is that it helps you remember what you've read.

Today, one of my 12 highlights was from a book I first read with my mom in 1998 and reread in 2019. Here's the crazy part: in 2019 - before I had Readwise - I highlighted 290 parts of the book!

At the time, I wrote a 4-page summary of the book because I wanted to remember its lessons. It was super helpful at the time, and I still have it saved on my computer, but the last time I opened it was in 2022 (I just looked).

But then today, I got a small reminder:

How cool is that? And it also sparks memories of related passages. Just like seeing a book cover for 1-2 seconds multiple times helps me remember the title and author, these snippets help me remember what I read years ago.

Since getting Readwise, I've used it a lot - 750 days in a row. It's the first or second app I open in the morning.

Physical Books

I like this system so much that I refuse to read paper books. When someone gives me a physical book - and I probably shouldn't admit this - I buy the Kindle version and then give away the physical book!

I figure the point of the gift isn't the book itself, but the knowledge shared by the author.

Though I'll admit, I'm starting to soften my digital-only stance. I'm currently running an experiment of keeping a bookshelf of physical books. My hypothesis is that seeing the books will act as one more memory enhancer and inspiration for other creative work.

My experiment is a little flawed because I read these physical books before buying my Kindle (I added them to Readwise and get popular highlights). So, it might be different to add a book I read digitally, but so far, I like having them in my physical space.

So that's what's working for me right now. If you use a Kindle, I recommend trying Readwise.

41

Celebrating 16 years of marriage... in the DMV parking lot waiting for an HP fireworks show.
Eating a French picnic with some delicious local wine. You can't do crazy stuff every year. :)

Last year, I turned 40 and shared 40 lessons and quotes. I'm amping it up with 41 new lessons and quotes this year!

Just kidding - they'd lose their meaning.

How about just one more from Noah Kagan and Alex Hormozi?

Do 100 reps before even thinking of stopping!

In a culture of increasing instant gratification, I find it hard to accept that I'm initially bad at something and need practice to improve. I'll try it three times, declare (to my inner self) that it's too hard, and stop.

No!

Making valuable things requires skills; frequently, developing those skills takes longer than I think. So, to help me get over the initial slog of learning, I commit to doing 100 reps of the thing before even thinking of stopping.

For example, when Jessi and I started our podcast, we committed to doing it for a year before looking critically at the stats. I figure the first 50 episodes are simply us finding our shared voice. Only after that can we start actually trying to improve and grow it, and then only after that can we assess if it's worth the effort.

Moments before starting our first episode

And guess what?! A few months in, we had a busy week, and recording a podcast felt like one too many things. And it wasn't even growing the business! But then we remembered that business growth isn't the goal this year. It's simply finding our voice and how it fits into our weekly rhythm. We took it as a learning opportunity and kept going.

Success!

Here's a free half-lesson: Translating internet numbers into real life keeps me grounded. When I post a video and "only" get 20 views, I remind myself that if I presented in a room to 20 people, I'd be excited. And when I hit 1,000 views, I imagine the venues required to host that many people—there aren't many in Corvallis. I'd be PUMPED if it were in person.

At the same time, I hold in tension the reality that BILLIONS of people could watch my stuff (and at least 100K ideal customers). So, if only 20 people see it, there's obviously room for improvement.

And that's the key. Within 100 reps of starting something, only focus on improvement. Don't even think about stopping. I'll even say it's better to focus on quantity over quality, and assuming you care about the output (not just doing it to check a box), improvement can't help but happen.

If you're learning something, do 100 reps without any thought of stopping. You got this.

Samson, working on his defense.

Elinor, playing at her recital.

How We Juggle Work, Kids, and Life—Thanks to Our 'Meeting of Life'

Like most families, we have a lot going on: Jessi's job, my business, the kid's school, and everyone's additional activities. It takes effort to stay on the same page! At a minimum, ensuring someone picks up the kids each day can be challenging.

To help, we started holding what we call our "Meeting of Life."

It's a semi-formal meeting between Jessi and me to sync up on things happening in the next few weeks. We started simply by reviewing our calendars together, and it expanded into other shared areas of our lives.

Jessi and I have the meeting after putting the kids to bed on Sunday evening. It's typically 30 minutes, but some weeks, we only sync up on the critical things; other weeks, we spend the entire evening talking. It's been transformational, and I highly recommend it to everyone. 

Here's what we do:

1. Pray

We start with prayer. We ask the Lord to guide our week and align us with His plan for the week.

2. Goals & Emotions

We then share our progress toward long-term goals and our emotional state. We talk a lot throughout the week, so there's rarely a surprise, but it's nice to know how each of us feels about our progress and life in general.

This part of the meeting can extend to an all-evening discussion. If it does, that's because it was needed, so it's all good.

3. Calendar

If we have limited time, this is the one we do. I pull up our calendars on my computer - a big screen where you can see the entire week helps. Yes, we have separate calendars for everyone because now the kids do their own activities. We double-check that drop-offs and pick-ups are covered and talk about irregular events - especially ones that impact the rest of the family.

We look at the next two weeks in detail, discussing each day. Then, we glance out a few weeks, looking for bigger upcoming events that might require planning.

Here's an example week. We have several recurring events, so sometimes there will be some overlaps with one-time events we'll need to resolve - and that's where we'll spend our time getting alignment. We're not crazy, right?

For the record, my normal view excludes everyone else's calendars, so it doesn't look this nuts (though, I do add my tasks, so it's a little nuts...). I cannot overstate how helpful it's been to get on the same page with our schedules! We still have double-booking issues or missing things, but they're much fewer.

4. Meal Plan

Once we have a sense of our schedules, we'll walk over to our meal calendar on the fridge. It's a dry-erase poster with five weeks on it. We re-write it once a month-ish, so it's helpful to ensure what we planned for food still makes sense for the upcoming week. We typically shop in two-week increments, so we also decide when to go shopping (and add it to the calendar).

On our meal plan calendar, we also note any big events that might impact the evening meal. So there's a bit of "two sources of truth," but it's super helpful to quickly see the context for any given meal.

And some weeks, we suddenly realize we're at the end of the calendar! Yeah, we're not perfect... We scrounge for a couple of meals (pasta!), or I'll make a quick trip (for pasta!) to get enough food to last us until we can update the calendar.

5. Finances

Now that Mint is dead, we use Quicken Simplifi to track our personal finances. So, once a month, I categorize transactions, and we look at our progress. I find the last six months over time for net income and expenses the most helpful views.

Here's the expense view. We start with this, and then I filter out big categories (like home, food, etc.), which updates the chart to break out more items from "Everything else."

Before we started regularly meeting, Jessi didn't pay much attention to what was going on. It was OK, but occasionally, it caused a problem because we weren't on the same page. Tracking finances is still a pain, but it's much better when we are aligned.

6. Chore List

We have an epic chore chart that needs resetting every week. Chores are daily, weekly, or monthly, so it's helpful to quickly see what's coming up. Sometimes, we look at something that's supposed to happen and decide to bump it because of what's happening that week.

And, I'll be honest: we're not perfect at this. Some days (weeks?!), we punt on it altogether. As long as we do it 80% of the time, it keeps our house in reasonable shape.

7. Homework and Dinner Discussions

We used to align on what the kids had for homework, but we simplified our weekly rhythm and don't need to discuss it during this time anymore. Instead, once in a while, Jessi will drop homework so I can see the kids' progress a pile of finis.

We also used to plan out some of our dinner discussions (especially on Saturdays - our quieter night), but we're working through a theology book with the kids, so we don't need to align on that, either. But, these were good for us to include so we could be intentional.

So, that's what we do. It's been invaluable to our marriage, and I recommend trying it out for the things in your shared life.