Ideas & attention
Stop Reading More
Stop Reading More. Start Reading Different. Last year I was stuck on how to price the Do Radio subscription tiers.
Work & ambition · 28 newsletters
After the finish line.
Success, money, work and what happens when the usual answers stop working.
Work & ambition
Why Does It Always End Like This?
I'm a writer. Well, I like to write at least. You can decide whether I'm any good at it or not. For a writer, when Substack launched, back in 2017, it was amazing. It was genuinely groundbreaking and idealistic.
Work & ambition
The Final Countdown?
Buried in the SpaceX IPO filing, under “future revenue streams,” are three business lines I can't read without laughing: rocket commuting;
Technology & the future
The Best Thing About AI?
I’ve been thinking about AI all wrong. For the last couple of years, I’ve mostly looked at it through the lens of hype.
Being human
Stop Touching It
My son keeps asking me about day trading. Not in a formal, “Father, please explain the mechanics of leveraged speculation” kind of way. More in the way teenagers ask about something they’ve already half-decided is interesting…
Technology & the future
AI is much better than you...so what?
You’ve probably felt it. That body blow when you realise how fast AI is moving. You spend two weeks perfecting a report and then someone else uses an AI tool and does it in ten minutes.
Work & ambition
So you want freedom, do you?
What do we actually tell our children about work now? I’ve got kids at university. They’re smart, capable, good people. And when they finish, I’m meant to look them in the eye and explain the world they’re walking into.
Work & ambition
What Happens After Success?
This isn’t just a personal issue. It’s societal. Structural. The story we’re told, all through school, work, and in wider society, is that success is a ladder, and the goal is to get to the top.
Living deliberately
Keep Calm and Carry On
When I look back at the things I’ve done in my life that really mattered to me the common thread isn’t brilliance. It isn’t luck. It isn’t even inspiration.
Work & ambition
Is this the end of growth?
For the past century, we’ve built our entire world on the back of one core belief: growth is good. Scratch that, growth is essential.
Work & ambition
This yearYou're not invited
This year, I've started to take my music career seriously. I'm trying to take it from a hobby to a business. And if you've ever tried to start something new—a new business, a new sport, a new habit, even moving to a new area and…
Work & ambition
The success paradox
It's a strange feeling, isn't it? That moment when you finally reach the summit you've been climbing... only to discover the view isn't what you expected.
Technology & the future
Why isn't technology fun anymore?
In 2000, I was working in London. I’d recently landed my dream job and I’d just got married. It was just the two of us. No kids yet. Just time, London and some money to spend.
Work & ambition
Are you even playing the game?
I was taking my kids to school the other day when a Ferrari with a personalised number plate roared past me. (Well, it didn't really roar, so much as trundle. It was rush hour in London and traffic wasn't moving but Ferrari's…
Work & ambition
So, what shall we get up this week?
I've just come back from a dog walk along the river and the number of fat, old people out running is enough to scare the local hospitals. I was getting drunk just from the fumes coming out of these old bastards.
Work & ambition
Try something different
I sat up with a start and glanced at my watch. It was 4.30am, I was damp with sweat and far too hot, despite the frost descending outside. I lay there for a bit trying to slow down my heart.
Work & ambition
Stick to your lane, bro
The most dreaded words a parent could hear are the words: "What if?" OK, maybe not the worst worst. "Dad, I'm pregnant" could be pretty bad (depending on their age).
Work & ambition
So you want to launch your own business
I was chatting to my wife last night about birthdays (it's her birthday coming up and I have no present ideas whatsoever) and it suddenly struck me that my parents are 30 years older than me. OK this shouldn't be news. They…
Work & ambition
Greed is good
I was standing on the deck of an enormous boat as it pulled into the harbour. The sun was shining. The noise was insane. I was a guest at the Monaco Grand Prix. I was 28 years old.
Family & belonging
Cutting through the noise
My daughter is afraid of spending money. And I don’t mean just the big stuff (laptop, phone etc), she hates spending money on anything, even a cup of coffee.
Work & ambition
Why you need to play the long game
I’m a very patient man. Anyone who knows me will tell you.
Ideas & attention
The most boring question of all time
"So, what do you do?" At any gathering of adults, especially adults who are friends of friends, rather than part of the inner circle, this question will be uttered hundreds of times during an evening out.
Work & ambition
Are you working yourself to death?
People often ask me what I do all day. You see, I've been 'retired' for a decade now. It's never an easy question to answer.
Work & ambition
The Power & The Glory
I know, I know. I promised you psychology tips and insights but here I am going on about something completely off topic. But this will make you think. It might also save our children's lives.
Work & ambition
Are you tough enough?
You've got to be the big man, right? Make the tough decisions. Be assertive. Be aggressive. Brutal honesty. Tough love. "You're such f*cking dopes. You're not serious figures. I love you, but you are not serious people", Logan…
Work & ambition
The secret to succes
What I’m about to reveal is so important that I truly believe it’s the secret of the universe: Be boring. Keep it dead f*cking boring.
Family & belonging
Our children are screwed
As you trudge into work on Monday Tuesday, doing the same thing (but better?) than you were doing 10 years ago, ask yourself, honestly, whether you’re still adding value? OK. I know you all answered, “Hell, yeah!” to that one.
Work & ambition
The Magic of Mastery: Continual Improvement is the Key
I often think "what's the point?" when I look up at the clock and realise that I've been messing around on my synths and FX hardware for hours. Time has disappeared. Time I could have spent doing something else. Something…