Hi Reader, I hope everyone's having an awesome start to the weekend. No concerts for us, but on deck we've got Four Tet, Barry Can't Swim and Rüfüs Du Sol. This tweet made me smile with pride: I'm 27 years removed from an introductory Comp Sci class but have spent 5 hours a day in 2025 learning how to use Cursor. (I even burned through $50 worth of credits!) As we saw with DeepSeek, the pace of innovation is frenetic. I'm excited to be on the bleeding edge of it all - at a young 45 years old! My entry point into AI-driven coding is Nat Eliason's course Build Your Own Apps. If you sign up, you'll see me in the chats!
(Full disclosure: I'm an affiliate and one of the most active students in the community.) Here are this week's top reads: // oneQuitting and returning (to investment banking)12 minutes | Paul MillerdEveryone thinks escaping the corporate grind means never looking back. But sometimes the path forward leads right back where you started. When investment banker Tom Grundy returned to his old job after quitting, he discovered something surprising: it wasn't the job that needed changing—it was his perspective. // twoOne money question to rule them all3 minutes | New York Times"How much is enough?" It's the ultimate money question asked by countless RadReaders. While we dissect healthcare costs, taxes, and spending on “nice sh*t”, the real answer transcends the spreadsheets. Instead of tracking every penny, consider whether your spending brings you “life energy.” // threeThe word of the year is "brain rot"3 minutes | Collab FundOxford's word of the year "brain rot." Yup, you read that right. This Reddit post nails our toxic relationship with our devices. While app blockers might help, the real solution lies in facing the uncomfortable silence we're all desperately trying to escape. Stories from my life"There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen." It's hard to believe that it's February first. A lot of heavy and disorienting stuff has happened over the past 30 days. Coincidentally, I started a new meditation practice (with guidance from my coach, the incredible Jess Morey) called Tonglen. Tonglen is designed to deepen one's compassion and to help alleviate suffering in others. The practice is simple. Here's how I've been taught to do it.
What's powerful about Tonglen is that it reverses our typical tendency to avoid pain and seek comfort. This Week on The Examined Life PodcastThis week's episode: How do you create leverage as an entrepreneur? Below the Fold
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Hey Reader, As you're reading this, I'll be on stage at the Econome conference in Cincinnati speaking about financial independence. (The talk will be on YouTube shortly.) Shout out to my friend, Diania Merriam I've also sent two issues of our new newsletter Future-Proof your Career with AI. I'll do wacky stuff like play with the $200 version of ChatGPT for a week to help you decide if it's worth it. Each week, this free newsletter will cover: Real-World AI Applications AI Tools & Tutorials...
Hey friend, I bit the bullet. Just for you guys. I wanted to see if ChatGPT pro is worth the absurd price I'd been stalling for a while. First, that's a lot of money. But more importantly, I didn't know how I could justify the ROI. What's included in Pro Some of the most vocal advocates of AI (like the economist Tyler Cowen) insist that if you're not using the latest models, you're missing out. The model I always hear people rave about is GPT o1 Pro - the most advanced reasoning model. So I...
Hey Reader, I’m off to the EconoMe conference in Cincinnati this week. Ohio friends hit me up! I’m also super excited to announce a new (totally separate) newsletter: Future-Proof Your Career with AI. In speaking to my readers and clients I observed a recurring pattern. Really smart professionals knew that they should be using AI more, but were completely lost about where to begin. And with the rapid innovation — DeepSeek, NotebookLM and GPT o1 Pro — how on earth can you keep up? Thankfully,...