Yikes. I forgot to blog last weekend. It was because I did a lot of other writing – and simply forgot. One great thing that happened this week was that I read Donald Trump’s book.
The book was only recently recommended, but the idea of reading it has been brewing for a long time.
Last year when I was training for my marathon, a friend asked if I was getting any coaching. “There’s a trainer at my gym,” I said, “but he’s really into lifting weights.” My friend replied, “don’t confuse his goals for your own.”
I felt like an idiot.
The trainer might know a lot about running, fitness, stretching, and cross training even though that’s not the path he follows. I knew this in other areas (finances, landscaping, reading suggestions) but not in this one. Why not?
My problem was that I was conflating goals and knowledge. Hmm, I thought, I should test how deep my bias goes. What might be a good evaluation of that?
Could I read Trump: The art of the deal, and learn something even though Trump and I have little in common? Yes, of course I could. Not only that, there were many things we have in common. Donald Trump and I both view skin in the game, asymmetrical rewards, and optionality the same way.
Certainly I don’t agree with everything he says and does (and wears), but that’s true for everyone. The trick is to figure out what’s good and what’s garbage, and you do that by reading a lot and widely. I wouldn’t normally have read Trump’s book. But I did and I l saw familiar things, those things are probably “more true” than others.
What I’ve been reading and writing.
At Productivityist; The value of working in a hotel room. Good health and producitivty go together.
At The Waiter’s Pad; Phil Rosenthal, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Brett Steenbarger, Aruthur Samberg, and Tim O’Reilly.
Not reading anything at the moment because I just finished Trump.
Mike Dariano 