Newsletter Archive
Every Monday since 2018 I've sent this newsletter with the best things I read that week – startups, investing, philosophy, and whatever else I find interesting.
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February 9, 2026How to be a successful founder
February 2, 2026Shutting down my company
January 26, 2026Humans are the AI bottleneck
January 19, 2026Scott Adams believed in Jesus
January 12, 2026Welcome back
December 15, 2025Richard Posner reviews a biography of William Douglas
December 8, 2025Read.
December 1, 2025My friend ran for office and wrote about it
November 17, 2025"My dad could still be alive, but he's not"
November 10, 2025Optimism might help you live longer
November 3, 2025Information does not want to be free
October 27, 20252 ways to invest your money
October 20, 2025A new city in California is finally being built
October 13, 2025Diversification is underrated
September 22, 202510 ideas for overthinkers
September 15, 2025Don't RSVP with a "maybe"
September 1, 2025Why Radiology AI didn't work
August 25, 2025How the US intelligence community works
August 11, 2025Minnesota's home prices went down
August 4, 2025Why having kids is great
July 28, 2025First do no harm, always & forever
July 14, 2025Having agency makes you feel alive
July 7, 2025Stripe as an index of the AI economy
June 30, 2025Living a divided life
June 16, 2025"Hope is the thing with feathers"
June 9, 2025Killers of the king
June 2, 2025It's sales all the way down
May 26, 2025Good interview with Costco's CEO
May 12, 2025Don't take public advice from successful people
May 5, 2025Give me anonymous feedback
April 28, 2025Trying hard is underrated
April 21, 2025Who's up and down in status
April 7, 2025Baseball is benching its star pitchers on purpose
March 24, 20256 ways to understand DOGE
March 17, 2025How to sell someone else's patented drug
March 10, 2025Why American Christianity has stopped declining
March 3, 2025I'd like to buy Stripe shares
February 24, 2025AI predicts how much money you make
February 17, 2025I'm investing in early stage AI startups
February 10, 2025The men who lost their babies
February 3, 2025How to succeed in a world of AI
January 27, 2025Big week
January 20, 2025Mamba mentality
January 13, 2025Greenland, Lithium, and the fires
January 6, 2025Really try
December 30, 2024Optimism now, optimism forever
December 23, 2024Who can cut the government?
December 16, 2024Interstellar is in theatres
December 9, 2024Please read the art gallery piece
December 2, 2024People prefer order
November 25, 2024Ghost engineers
November 18, 2024You should try Claude
November 11, 2024The case for optimism
November 4, 2024How much do you think Nerds Gummy Clusters makes per year?
October 28, 2024Wake up & go directly to work
October 21, 20242 new cities
October 14, 2024A $5m telegram
October 7, 2024The only free lunch in finance
September 30, 2024Is the American Dream alive?
September 23, 2024The world is not efficient
September 16, 2024Useful and Overlooked Skills
September 9, 2024Why John Carmack worked for Steve Jobs
August 27, 2024I started a prediction market for my weight
August 19, 2024Great tweets
August 12, 2024Sabbath Hard and Go Home
July 15, 2024Optimism today, tomorrow, and forever
June 17, 2024Claims about Taylor Swift
June 10, 2024People unlike you
June 3, 2024Working at Enron
May 20, 2024Choose life
May 6, 2024Be critical
April 29, 2024Help your parents
April 22, 2024Optimistic ought to be a verb
April 15, 2024Product reviewers are too mean
April 8, 2024I'll go where you want me to go
April 1, 2024The housing theory of everything
March 25, 2024The mindset of speed
March 18, 2024Nobody cares
March 11, 2024You can't tell people anything
March 4, 2024Optimism should be a verb
February 26, 2024It's harder to be kind than nice
February 19, 2024The life of every person is a singularity
February 12, 2024Try to go faster
February 5, 2024How to do things
January 29, 2024Real life starts now
January 22, 2024I'd like to invest in your startup
January 15, 2024How to increase your agency
January 8, 2024Most people don't read the books
January 1, 2024Happy New Year :)
December 25, 2023Merry Christmas!!
December 11, 2023How to make new friends as an adult
December 4, 2023It's December
November 27, 2023I'm back
October 30, 2023It's gonna be a great week
October 16, 2023Fear of responsibility is a catastrophic bottleneck
October 9, 20234 book reviews
October 2, 2023Get tickets to the Lincoln assassination
September 11, 2023Being a professional
September 4, 2023Sam and Rebecca
August 14, 2023The metric system
August 7, 2023Have a great week
July 31, 2023Read this
July 24, 2023Be in first person
July 17, 2023Help progress, build an audience
July 10, 2023How to drop out
July 3, 2023Villains Act, Heroes React
June 26, 2023Tell stories
June 19, 2023How to have better conversations
June 12, 2023Become great
June 5, 2023We're here, because we're here
May 29, 2023What to do with your life
May 24, 2023I'm hiring a Data Engineer
May 22, 2023Sam, Sam, and Sam
May 15, 2023Success & the imaginary rules you live by
May 8, 2023Get lost
May 1, 2023The Last Lion
April 24, 2023Hardware is hard (but cool)
April 17, 2023Can we talk to whales?
April 10, 2023Everybody is the main character
April 3, 2023Buying a history building you can't actually afford
March 27, 2023How to win an Olympic Gold medal
March 20, 2023Let there be light
March 13, 2023Hang in there
March 6, 2023Be alive
February 27, 2023Cadavers & Banknotes
February 20, 2023Getting to know you
February 13, 2023How to get 7 million TikTok views in 6 weeks
February 6, 2023Four articles from 4 founders
January 30, 2023The one change to make in 2023
January 18, 2023I'll pay you $100 if you beat me at ping pong
January 16, 2023NYC Pizza tracker guy
January 9, 2023Startups are an act of desperation
January 3, 2023Happy new year
December 26, 2022Merry Christmas!
November 28, 2022How to live forever
November 21, 2022Is there such a thing as good taste?
November 14, 2022How not to kill your company
November 7, 2022How to live a meaningful life
October 10, 2022How to open a Swiss bank account
October 3, 2022What a time to be alive
September 26, 2022Kobe Bryant's practice free throw success rate
September 12, 2022What it's like being poor
August 15, 2022Failures to cope
August 8, 2022The greatest startup in the history of the world
August 1, 2022Audacity is underrated
July 18, 2022Night owls vs morning people
July 11, 2022Why Mr. Beast canned an k video
June 27, 2022How Tesla ships software
June 20, 2022The 15 minute city
June 13, 2022There is no beating the Soviet gulag (good morning!)
June 6, 2022The best thing you've ever read
May 23, 2022The worst person in the world
May 16, 2022How much should you criticize people?
May 9, 2022Watch a comedian write a joke
May 3, 2022A day late but never a dollar short
April 25, 2022In praise of talented, high agency people
April 18, 2022Things you're allowed to do
April 11, 2022How heritable are various sports abilities?
April 4, 2022Being hard to work with
March 28, 2022The deal of a lifetime
March 21, 2022Successful startups don't grow exponentially
March 14, 2022Why you'll never lose anything in Japan
March 7, 2022Processing your emotions is a competitive advantage
February 28, 2022A lot can change in a week
February 21, 2022What Napolean would look like today
February 14, 2022Turning dreams into reality
February 7, 2022Red light green light
January 31, 2022The banality of genius
January 24, 2022Thank you for your help last week
January 18, 2022Announcing my new company right now
January 17, 2022I'm announcing my new company tomorrow
January 10, 2022How to design a house to last 1,000 years
January 3, 2022My personal theme for 2022
December 27, 2021My favorite things from 2021
December 20, 2021Should I shut down the newsletter? UPDATE
December 13, 2021Should I shut down the newsletter?
December 6, 2021Push yourself
November 29, 2021Become successful
November 22, 2021The most dangerous fallacy
November 15, 2021Stop lying to yourself
November 8, 2021How to talk to your heroes
October 18, 2021The path to success always goes through hell
October 11, 2021How to design an organization
October 4, 2021How to save America
September 27, 2021There's 2 kinds of people in this world
September 22, 2021100 miles late
September 13, 2021My new company
September 7, 2021How to find talent
August 30, 2021Announcing The Roots of Progress
August 16, 2021Is Elon Musk irrational?
August 9, 2021How to start a new country
August 2, 2021How to waste your career
July 19, 2021The meaning of life
July 12, 2021How to be an infinite player
July 5, 2021All good things.
June 28, 2021Why Warren Buffett didn't invest in Microsoft
June 21, 2021How does Putin think?
June 14, 2021The best in thinking bigger
June 7, 2021I'm in SF next week
May 31, 20211 Chinese billionaire dies every 40 days
May 24, 2021How to make things happen
May 17, 2021A new science
May 10, 2021Short & sweet
May 3, 2021Agency over determinism
April 26, 2021Shorter is better
April 19, 2021Taylor Swift is a BAMF
April 12, 2021Embrace the grind
April 9, 2021Trevor goals update 4/9/2021
April 5, 2021My last day at Lambda School
March 29, 2021The first private city in Honduras
March 22, 2021How to get out of a funk
March 21, 2021Trevor thoughts - March 21
March 15, 2021The Quest, moonshots, and zippers
March 15, 2021Trevor weekly update - March 15
March 8, 2021It's (almost) time to live
March 7, 2021I'm leaving Lambda School
March 1, 2021Back from LA
February 28, 2021Trevor personal update
February 22, 2021Victimhood vs Victimization
February 15, 2021Desperation is underrated
February 8, 2021Building new cities
February 7, 2021Trevor's goals - Sprint #5
February 1, 2021Build 2021
January 31, 2021Trevor's goals - Sprint #4
January 25, 2021You gotta watch this show
January 22, 2021Trevor's goals - Sprint #3
January 19, 2021Action produces information
January 17, 2021Weekly Sprint - #2
January 11, 2021How to write consistently
January 8, 2021Weekly Sprint - #1First TM_FRIENDS email
January 4, 2021The right time to be alive
December 28, 202080 hour work weeks are wrongSending from new domain to engagement score of at least 4
December 28, 202080 hour work weeks are wrongSending from new domain to engagement score between 1-3
December 21, 2020How to go viral
December 14, 2020How to be more interesting
December 7, 2020Builders Gonna Build
November 30, 2020Think for yourself
November 23, 2020Be specific
November 16, 2020Destroy perfectionism
November 10, 2020See the future, read better, and believe in yourself
November 2, 2020The best in books
October 26, 2020The path to greatness is simple but not easy
October 19, 2020Believe you can
October 12, 2020Make a decision
September 28, 2020How to use Slack without going insane, the best in big mistakes, what makes us human, and finding your own path to success
September 21, 2020I made a personal flag for 2020, the Almanack of Naval Navikant, high performance cultures, the West vs the Old, and more
September 14, 2020How to make things happen, the best in university talks, personal user manuals, and creating a world class about us page
August 31, 2020Secret gyms, NYC isn't dead, progress studies, and a campaign for better government writing
August 10, 2020How to survive a startup, the value of speed, Hiroshima in 1946, and what to do once you know life is short
August 3, 2020How It Actually Works 125: Subpoened documents, the Cubs, sales, knowing things that are good
July 20, 2020How It Actually Works 123: Self doubt, 8 figure businesses, Costco, Optimism, Heroes...
June 29, 2020My favorite Slate Star Codex essays
June 29, 2020LINKS FIXED – My favorite Slate Star Codex essays
June 15, 2020The Best Textbooks on Every Subject
June 8, 2020How to generate more ideas
May 26, 2020Why you should be more optimistic
May 18, 2020The best commencemence speech of all time
May 4, 2020Happiness is a flow, not a state
April 27, 2020Remote work is evil and will make you unhappy
April 20, 2020Two of the best essays on building things
April 13, 2020Optimism2020: A Manifesto
April 6, 2020How to feel like a badass
March 30, 2020I hope you're staying sane
March 23, 2020Should we keep talking about Corona?
March 16, 2020Book recommendations that have nothing to do with Corona
March 9, 2020The slideshow of your life
March 2, 2020The slideshow of your life
February 24, 2020How to write usefully
February 17, 2020Great Business Writing
February 10, 2020Finding Problems is Only 10% of the Value
February 3, 2020Changing your identity
January 27, 2020Create your own greatness
January 21, 2020Nobody cares
January 13, 2020How to win
January 6, 2020The lessons of first world failures
December 30, 2019New years resolutions are garbage (but you shouldn't listen to me)
December 23, 2019Twitter at its best – some excellent tweetstorms
December 16, 2019Why I Carry Plastic Straws
December 2, 2019The Wright Brothers, Startup ideas, and beautiful news (links)
November 18, 2019Letting your brain think for you, surviving the emotions of startups, and a short story (links)
November 11, 2019Robinhood bugs, tech & liberty, and Joe Stalin
November 4, 2019How to make a puzzle, New Atheism's death, and Hitler's Teeth
October 21, 2019Animation is Eating the World
October 14, 2019Lived Experience
October 7, 2019Change who you are
September 30, 2019Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, and Graphing Calculators (links)
September 23, 2019The Church of Interruption (links)
September 16, 2019Progress, Full Stack Startups, and the Culture War
September 9, 2019Say No, Sensitive Questions, and Investors vs Operators (links)
September 3, 2019Lessons from Stripe, Dating While Dying, and How to Learn (links)
August 26, 2019Business Models, Humans, and ebooks
August 19, 2019Participating in the Infinite Game of Life
August 12, 2019Ode to Silicon Valley
August 5, 2019Super 30, Netflixed, Progress Studies
July 29, 2019Visa, Mormonism, and Apollo 11
July 22, 2019Become a Missile, Again
July 15, 2019Bob Ross, Daily Practice, and the Refragmentation
July 8, 2019The world is made by people no smarter than you
July 1, 2019Ads, Charlie Munger, and Following up (links)
June 24, 2019Aging gracefully, and other links
June 17, 2019How could it be any other way?
June 10, 2019You and your research
June 3, 2019Apollo 11
May 20, 2019Fasting, Food, and Mormonism (links)
May 13, 2019Danielle Steel, the Gestapo, and YouTube (links)
May 6, 2019The Religion of Creation
April 29, 2019Skittles, Politics, and Harry Potter
April 22, 2019The List of Book Lists
April 15, 2019Taylor Pearson Recommendations, Book Lists, and More
April 8, 2019This Page is Busy
April 1, 2019What makes a great entrepreneur?
March 24, 2019What do your work values say about you?
March 18, 2019Swings are Free
March 11, 2019The search for greatness
March 4, 2019A collection of unrelated links
February 25, 2019Bill Murray and Enron
February 18, 2019Work for your Lunch
February 11, 2019Writing is Thinking
February 4, 2019Target Big Markets
January 28, 2019How to be Successful
January 14, 2019What I'd Work On
January 7, 2019In defense of thinking bigger
December 31, 2018What do you actually want?
December 24, 2018What do you actually want?
December 17, 2018When did you feel the most alive?
December 10, 2018Willpower is overrated
December 3, 2018How to find meaning & purpose in life
November 26, 2018Tech support vs. the Sermon on the Mount
November 19, 2018The Next Thing
November 12, 2018Be usefully interesting
November 5, 2018Adam Sandler, College Reunions, Tolerating the Outgroup
October 29, 2018Mistakes are good
October 22, 2018Why is everyone like their parents?
October 15, 2018Talk is not cheap
October 8, 2018Commit to yourself over time
October 1, 2018You aren't special
September 24, 2018Anticipation is half the fun
September 17, 2018The Danger of Outrage Narratives
September 10, 2018Why don't we do the things we say we want to do?
September 3, 2018The best videos
August 27, 2018Why I don't shop at thrift stores
August 20, 2018You're Not Lazy
August 13, 2018One reason why we're afraid to take action
August 6, 2018Production vs. Consumption
July 30, 2018How to critique a startup
July 23, 2018Personal Promises
July 16, 2018Play Against Yourself
July 9, 2018Pain is the Point
July 2, 2018Do The Work
June 25, 2018Hack the Xbox, Go to Jail
June 18, 2018How to stop procrastinating
June 11, 2018How to stop procrastinating
June 4, 2018What You Can't Say + Make Happy
May 28, 2018How wealthy people talk to each other
May 7, 2018How to win in politics, tech, and life
April 30, 2018Who owns the Bible?
April 23, 2018Thai Restaurants in the US, Student Loans, and the best political interview I've ever read
April 2, 2018You're Probably Already Rich
March 26, 2018How to Know What's True
March 19, 2018Efficiency is an Excuse to Not Do The Actual Work
March 12, 2018Stories you tell yourself that aren't true
March 6, 2018How It Actually Works Example Email
March 5, 2018How Your Emotions Are Sabotaging Your Business
February 26, 2018How It Actually Works – The Danger in Big Decisions
February 19, 2018How It Actually Works: How to beat a Russian oligarch
February 12, 2018How It Actually Works: Issue #4
February 5, 2018How It Actually Works: Issue 3
January 29, 2018How It Actually Works: Issue 2
January 22, 2018How It Actually Works: Issue 1