Influential Reads: July 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Problems are a feature. They’re the opportunity to see how we can productively move forward. Not to a world with no problems at all, but to a situation with different problems, ones that are worth dancing with.” – Seth’s Blog

July disappeared.  Time seems so distorted these days.  March 2020, the beginning of the pandemic for most folks, seems like both an eternity ago and just the other day. I am coming up on my three year anniversary at work, but have not seen anyone face to face for half that time. Crazy.

Here are my most influential reads – in no particular order:

  1. How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught – “Good decisions create time, bad ones consume it.”
  2. Tradeoffs: The Currency of Decision Making – “Tradeoffs aren’t always easy, which is probably why we try to avoid them.”
  3. The thirsty West’s dreaded water crisis is here – “At the heart of the problem is a lie — or call it, more forgivingly, a convenient fiction.”
  4. What Does the Delta Variant Mean for the U.S. Economy? – “For the variant to have a major impact on G.D.P. and employment, Zandi said, businesses would have to close down again and people would need to go back to sheltering in place, both of which he considers very unlikely.”
  5. Comments on existing home sale prices – “A huge number of people held off selling during the pandemic lockdowns last year in spring. Those houses are going to come back on the market, and I expect inventory to surge as the pandemic recedes.”
  6. How This Ends – “We are in the middle of one of the great asset bubbles of modern times.”
  7. The OODA Loop: How Fighter Pilots Make Fast and Accurate Decisions – “If you are able to be nimble, assess the ever-changing environment, and adapt quickly, you’ll always carry the advantage over any opponents.”
  8. The Surprising Power of The Long Game – “The most successful people in any field all play the long game.”
  9. A Memo to Investors – “This surely will sound quaint and stale to a few readers, but – and I’m sorry – the future value of a thing is ultimately based on the dividends the thing will eventually pay you, or someone to whom you are prepared to sell your shares.”
  10. Robinhood and iAddiction – “The company’s mission to “democratize finance for all,” is similar to Pablo Escobar saying his mission was to “democratize cocaine.”

Note: This is based on when I read the article, not necessarily when it was first published.  Unfortunately, my backlog of things I would like to read always seems to dwarf the amount of time I can devote to reading.

Top clicks across the site last month:

  1. Financial Model vs. Operating Model
  2. Excel Template: Football Field Chart
  3. Family Mission: Solamere Loop Trail
  4. EBITDA Is Not A Good Proxy For Cash Flow
  5. Three Take-Aways: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Updated stats through July:

MonthArticlesBooks
January654
February491
March643
April532
May970
June542
July1061
August
September
October
November
December
Total48813