Notes

Updated 21 August, 2026 The Cultured Copia Ltd is my Jersey-based investment vehicle for short-term media loans. It is now in its 3rd year, and I couldn’t be happier with it. …

My next fund is a few months from launch. Target raise £50m. This one is going to be epic.

In order to spend quality time, you have to spend quantity time. Nothing meaningful is spoken in passing conversation or quick car rides.

Forcing solutions creates it’s own problems. Remove things first. Simplify.

As of today, 7th August 2026, this is how I use AI: I never use ai to write as me. Not in emails, social media, messages or website articles. I use Claude for questions. Basically …

by Massimo Pigliucci Stoicism is its practicality: it began in the guise of, and has always been understood as, a quest for a happy and meaningful life. ataraxia, or tranquillity …

by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga This is the difference between ‘aetiology’ (the study of causation) and teleology (the study of the purpose of a given phenomenon, rather than …

by Cal Newport Marcus Aurelius asked: “You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life?” how tech companies encourage behavioral addiction: …

by Greg McKeown When you simply can’t try any harder, it’s time to find a different path. What about you? Do you ever feel as though you’re running faster but not moving any closer …

by Aaron Stupple Parenting is the process of supporting a child until they understand the world well enough that they can support themselves.

by Oliver Burkeman ‘It is easier to try to be better than you are than to be who you are.’ – MARION WOODMAN ‘imperfectionism’ – a freeing and energising outlook based on the …

We had the most fun wedding you’ve ever seen (private post).

by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz Feeling forever starved for time, we assume that we have no choice but to cram as much as possible into every day. But managing time efficiently is …

by Ali Abdaal It suggested that feeling good doesn’t just end with feeling good. It actually changes our patterns of thought and behaviour. Positive emotions are the fuel that …

by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink Effective writing has a well-defined purpose. Effective writing helps the writer as well as the reader. Effective writing is not the same as …

by Julia Cameron The following spiritual principles are the bedrock on which creative recovery and discovery can be built. Read them through once a day, and keep an inner ear …

by Cal Newport A philosophy for organizing knowledge work efforts in a sustainable and meaningful manner, based on the following three principles: 1. Do fewer things. 2. Work at a …

by Peter Biskind As Quentin Tarantino puts it, “Independent filmmakers don’t make money. They’ll spend all the money they have to make the movie. Money they don’t have. Their …

by Ralph Waldo Emerson Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame …

by Ryder Carroll Studies suggest that your concentration suffers simply by having your smartphone in the room with you, even if it’s silent or powered off! Sometimes the hardest …

Photoshoot with the talented Oliver Doran for his Art of Enterprise series. Oliver rounded up some interesting entrepreneurs in Jersey, showcasing them in a wonderful light. I was …

by Shane Parrish If you’re like me, no one ever taught you how to think or make decisions. There’s no class called Clear Thinking 101 in school. While the rest of us are chasing …

by Alex Hormozi My offer was simple. I’ll fill your gym in 30 days for free. You pay nothing. I pay for everything. I sell new members and keep the first 6 weeks of membership fees …

by Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba An unfair advantage is a competitive upper hand, and your set of unfair advantages is unique to you. It’s more than just a unique selling point, it’s a …

by Alex Hormozi This book is about how to make profitable offers. Specifically, how to reliably turn advertising dollars into (enormous) profits using a combination of pricing, …

by Gay Hendricks PhD The problem: I have a limited tolerance for feeling good. When I hit my Upper Limit, I manufacture thoughts that make me feel bad. The problem is bigger than …

by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox, and David Whitford I sincerely believe that the only way we can learn is through our deductive process. Presenting us with final conclusions is …

by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz The goal is to identify what your counterparts actually need (monetarily, emotionally, or otherwise) and get them feeling safe enough to talk and talk …

by Greg McKeown Weniger aber besser. The English translation is: Less but better. A more fitting definition of Essentialism would be hard to come by. The way of the Essentialist is …

by Shunryu Suzuki Trudy divided the book according to emphasis into three sections—Right Practice, Right Attitude, and Right Understanding—roughly corresponding to body, feeling, …

by Steven Pressfield Steve’s novels are now assigned by Oxford history dons who tell their students that if they wish to rub shoulders with life in classical Greece, read …

by Josh Waitzkin I discovered some interesting foundations for my experience in ancient Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Greek texts—Upanishadic essence, Taoist receptivity, …

by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle Coaching is in vogue: it used to be just athletes and entertainers who had coaches, but now we have leaders taking on executive …

by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein The shooting range is a metaphor for what can go wrong in human judgment, especially in the diverse decisions that people …

by Ryan Holiday There have been countless lessons (and books) about achieving success, but no one ever taught us how to overcome failure, how to think about obstacles, how to treat …

I purchased Project 52 while looking for an office to work from. I wanted somewhere that didn’t have corporate soul-sucking vibe and when I saw the listing, I immediately …

by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz On Monday, you’ll map out the problem and pick an important place to focus. On Tuesday, you’ll sketch competing solutions on paper. …

by Brianna Wiest These are the same people who have communicated to us some of the longest-standing conventional wisdom: that to believe is to become, that the mind is to be …

by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool In the case of perfect pitch, it seems that the necessary adaptability in the brain disappears by the time a child passes about six years old, so …

by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky Make Time is a framework for choosing what you want to focus on, building the energy to do it, and breaking the default cycle so that you can start …

The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter is one of my favourite non-fiction books. It just really speaks to a topic I’m passionate about and have been thinking on for a very …

by Matthew Dicks and Dan Kennedy It’s a human need to be told stories. The more we’re governed by idiots and have no control over our destinies, the more we need to tell stories to …

by Simon Alexander Ong ‘If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.’ NIKOLA TESLA Think of energy as a form of power that we …

by Frank Herbert So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: ‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and …

by Robin Sharma “Do not allow your fire to go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not at all. Do not let the hero in …

The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham argues the best way to succeed is to avoid mistakes. He is an avid believer in thinking time and he treats business as an intellectual …

by Chris Guillebeau To succeed in a business project, especially one you’re excited about, it helps to think carefully about all the skills you have that could be helpful to others …

by Morgan Housel The premise of this book is that doing well with money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave. And behavior is hard to …

by Adam Grant The smokejumpers landed near the top of Mann Gulch late on a scorching August afternoon in 1949 — Same anecdote as Keith With all due respect to the lessons of …

by Ben Horowitz How many of the following questions can be resolved by turning to your corporate goals or mission statement? Is that phone call so important I need to return it …

by Scott Kupor As venture capitalists, we raise investment funds from a broad range of limited partners (LPs), such as endowments, foundations, pension plans, family offices, and …

by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi What I “discovered” was that happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that …

by Yuval Noah Harari In Homo sapiens, the brain accounts for about 2–3 per cent of total body weight, but it consumes 25 per cent of the body’s energy when the body is at rest. …

by Michael A. Singer What manifests in front of us at any given moment is actually something truly extraordinary—it is the end result of all the forces that have been interacting …

by James E. Loehr & Caren Kenney Legacy is the trace you leave. Every life leaves a trace, a trace that may exist for generations. Your legacy is the sum total of the impact …

Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a really big influence on how I do business. It helps to explain some moral concepts I’ve thought about for a long time. …

by Eric Jorgenson, Jack Butcher, and Tim Ferriss Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. …

by Murray Eldridge good coaching is not about great leadership. Anyone with a normal degree of self-esteem wants to feel they are good at what they do, whether in sport, hobbies, …

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is the best example I’ve read on my fascination with the human body’s ability to adapt to stressors. My favourite highlights:

by Austin Kleon The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others. …

by Ray Dalio Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life. I believe that the key to success lies in knowing …

by Benjamin Graham “something foolish, something creative and something generous

by Ayn Rand When he was asked what he would want to do, he answered at once, “Whatever is right,” and added, “You ought to do something great He had to say it; words were a lens to …

by David Allen keeping the book functional as a continuing and “evergreen” manual, one that would be useful globally and remain relevant and applicable for the twenty-first century …

Charity boxing event in Jersey. Still relatively new to the island, I signed up to a boxing night to fight in front of hundreds of people. There was a 12 week training camp and a …

Company Turnaround Imagine you know of a technology that could make a huge impact on the world for the better. This technology is able to unlock an endless supply of clean, …

A lap around Sri Lanka on Royal Enfields. Another trip of a lifetime that words won’t do justice. Scradly, Cronje, Stretchy and myself hired some gutless Enfields for a lap …

by Alain de Botton Love means admiration for qualities in the lover that promise to correct our weaknesses and imbalances; love is a search for completion. We call things a turn-on …

by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills A sin is anything that you do which goes against yourself. Everything you feel or believe or say that goes against yourself is a sin. You go against …

by Herman Hesse Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be …