27th / Connect the Dots. LEGO. Obama.
How to become a good investment.
Welcome to Circle Three!
Relax. Take a deep breath. You’re in The Circle now.
My LinkedIn post last week was inspired by a Circle Three interaction about choosing a creative project. As always, feel free to reach out with your own favorite links or questions.
Cheers,
Dan
So what’s Circle Three? It’s a community. A tribe. Thanks for being a part of this third circle. Let’s create something.
One Big Idea
“You have to exercise, or at some point you’ll just break down.” — Barack Obama
President Obama had long days, and he often talks about what his daily schedule was like during his presidency. Exercise was a mainstay of his days: “The rest of my time will be more productive if you give me my workout time.” If a President can carve out some time for exercise, how can you make time for moving your body during your busy days?
Circles of Thought
Interested in learning what the heck a Bitcoin is? Go subscribe to my new newsletter FirstWatch Crypto aimed at helping people overcome that initial hurdle of understanding the basics of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Or read the second letter here.
Here’s a quick 2-minute video from James Clear on how he filters the information coming at him. “When you choose who to follow on Twitter, you’re choosing your future thoughts.” I love how he thinks about designing his environment and how that inspires his thoughts.
The internet is an amazing treasure trove of resources. For you traffic nerds out there (you know who you are) that know the difference between cloverleaf and trumpet intersections, this microsimulation of traffic has everything you could need to virtually play with traffic flows. It’s quite fun.
I finished reading 12 Rules for Life a few weeks ago. To follow up on some of the topics, I watched this video of a presentation by the author, Jordan Peterson. He presents an entertaining summary that is worth your time if you’ve never read the book.
Cool Spotify link alert! Who doesn’t like white noise? More importantly, who doesn’t like LEGOS? Here’s a LEGO White Noise playlist with clever names and amazing sounds.
Read this article on how to layer clothes for your next outdoor adventure. I didn’t know what a belay jacket was prior to reading.
Inner Circle: Let’s Play Connect the Dots
Becoming a good investment: It's not a race, it's just a line.
"Call!"
That's the recurring reminder that pops up every Thursday on my phone at precisely 7:30 pm.
It's not a call to anyone in particular. It's a reminder to talk to someone that I've been out of touch with.
I've found that relationships are built on these moments.
Love at first sight might sound romantic. Here in reality though, professional and personal relationships build over time.
Entrepreneur-turned-venture-capitalist Mark Suster wrote back in 2010 about how to build investment relationships to get funding. "Meet your potential investors early," he says, and tell them "what you plan to achieve by the next time you see them." Then go and do it, and let them know.
Each of these interactions creates a data point. And just like a couple's engagement doesn't (usually) happen after the first date, one data point doesn't get you anywhere. One meeting or conversation is a singular measure of performance; it's certainly not enough to confidently make an investment or build trust. Suster argues for demonstrating small progress over time through updates and contact to build a linear relationship, eventually looking like this:
Movement up the y-axis is proof to the investor that the wheels are turning in the background, and you're not just standing still.
A thought process I get trapped in is that the performance updates need to be significant; but I remind myself each update or check-in is a chance to show thought-process, ability, and grit, regardless of the size of the performance increase. Progress happens slowly over time, so bring people on the journey. It's a chance to learn about each other. If someone invests in a company or a person that's just a dot, the investor is likely a dot to that company in turn.
No matter the y-axis title, progress is up and to the right. Want to establish trust at work? Or maybe start mentoring a young professional? The y-axis label could be Delivery or Humility; the client label becomes family, boss, spouse, friend, etc. Consistency is the key in all cases.
Building your personal brand slowly and consistently builds a strong line. People want to invest in that line. Circle Three is one way for me to nurture relationships and establish consistency in order to build a line. Imagine that, in 10 years you'll be able to say you were there for the first few dots. The writing establishes a dot each week. Hopefully the dots will continue to connect to form lines of reliability.
What lines are you building?
State of the Circle
Dan is a mechanical design engineer interested in human-centered design. I love coming up with intuitive solutions. Reply to this email with what you’re working on.
🔊 Listening: Scaled and Icy by Twenty One Pilots
📖 Reading: Recalculating by Lindsey Pollack
➕ Win: Week 2 of Pomp’s Crypto Course
🍺 Untappd: Two Trellises by Athletic Brewing
📊 Sidebar: How often do you find yourself lost in optionality?
This week was: Too sedentary.
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