No. 295 | August 22, 2025
Welcome to this week’s Friday Five — a quick dose of insights, inspiration, and personal favorites to kick off your weekend with clarity and intention.
Music of the Week
Vibes & Tones is a collaborative project that blends jazz, neo-soul, and hip-hop. The group draws on musicians from the Midwest, a region with deep roots in jazz, soul, and funk. Their sound connects past and present, layering live instrumentation with curated samples. The result feels timeless—music that puts my mind at ease every time.
Quotes of the Week
For the past several weeks—maybe months—I’ve leaned on quotes to steady me through business challenges. These lines help me reset—focusing on the present instead of worrying about the future.
“Do not let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same reason you arm yourself with today.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.” – Epictetus
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” – Charles Spurgeon
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
Article of the Week
Derek Sivers says: If it’s not a hell yeah, it’s a no.
In July, I read several books that reshaped how I think about work, life, and success.
- Excellent Advice for Living – timeless advice on kindness, creativity, relationships, and travel.
- The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success – reframed success as living with intention, not just pushing harder.
- Make Your Bed – practical advice on discipline, resilience, and courage from an ex-Navy SEAL.
- Hell Yeah or No: What’s Worth Doing – taught me that saying “no” creates space for more meaningful yeses.
- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant – distilled wisdom on happiness and wealth, both learnable.
📝 Read my July books blog post on my website
Book of the Week
The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant draws on more than 100 interviews, including Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang, and reveals how Nvidia, under Jensen, has been committed to the long game.
Jensen consistently created new markets with its chips, outmaneuvering giants like Intel time and again.
Nvidia traces its founding back to the early 1990s. Like many early ventures, Nvidia survived costly missteps that sank others. One reason it survived was Jensen’s flat, decentralized structure.
Jensen is obsessed with solving the Innovator’s Dilemma–the fate of an entrenched company falling to nimble competitors. This obsession drove Jensen to refine his corporate strategy to fend off external threats.
Nvidia also saw the AI wave sooner than everyone else—thanks almost entirely to Jensen. And when he saw it, he pounced, making bold bets that seemed risky at the time but ultimately reshaped the industry.
Podcast of the Week
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce sat down with Taylor Swift—one of the best singer–songwriters of our time.
She opens up about reclaiming her master recordings, her new hobbies after the Eras tour, what it’s like attending an NFL game as a celebrity, and her new album.
What struck me the most was how thoughtful and hard-working she is. She’s thoughtful in how she constantly engages her fans, and hard-working enough to record a new album while still on tour. Unreal.
I left the episode with a deeper appreciation for Swift—she’s operating on an entirely different level of talent.
🎧 Listen to the episode on Spotify
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