Newsletter Archive

  • How Much Should We Automate?

    We begin this week’s piece in a similar breadth as last’s. The influence of data on our lives is enormous, and therefore the ability to analyze it effectively an increasingly necessary skill. As its happened, this skill has been central to several of my past pursuits including engineering school, financial market education, and my SEO…

  • Take Control of Your Dreams

    In previous pieces I’ve alluded to the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Agency I started in 2023 and how my efforts to promote it led to Becoming Polymathic. For this week’s piece, I thought it would be relevant to discuss that experience in detail. It’s a winding story with a simple message – take control of…

  • Embracing the Journey: Prioritizing Process over Product

    Each time I begin a new business, workout program, or side hustle, the first step is mapping out its potential. In total, I’ve performed this ritual 50 times over the past five years. A few days ago, I decided to do the same for Becoming Polymathic. This one would be different. It wouldn’t fall to…

  • Rise Early. Rise Above. Respect your Morning.

    “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” My mother used that saying more times than I can remember. As a teenager, I thought she used it to justify her propensity to go to bed at 9:00PM. As a college student, I didn’t think about that advice as most…

  • Theory of Mind, As Explained by Planet of the Apes

    Pierre Boulle is a name unknown to most. His limited contributions to literature and cinema, however, are transcendent. Boulle authored Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes in 1952 and 1963, respectively, both of which were adopted into the namesake award-winning films. They are among my favorites because of their fascinating examinations…

  • Avoiding the Life of Quiet Desperation

    “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Since its original appearance in Walden, many people have tried to assign meaning to this enduring quote by Henry David Thoreau. Rightfully so: it’s an ambiguous yet powerful statement which has become more relevant to modern society as time passes. In recent years, I believed the “lives of quiet…

  • Analyzing Our Universal Themes (Thus Far)

    In continuing with the reflection theme of the past couple pieces, I will begin this week’s with another lesson learned from this past year of Becoming Polymathic. Fair warning, it is nothing earth shattering. There are few universal themes in life. I can hear the “no shit” comments ringing in my ears. The genesis of…

  • Why Did Learning Style Models Explode in the 1980’s?

    The past couple weeks have been filled with lots of conversation around education. I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to speak to a variety of people from administrators to educational consultants and school board members as well as tour revolutionary learning facilities closer to a science museum than a classroom. These interactions have been thought…

  • Mastering Curiosity: The First Skill of Being More

    What does it mean to be curious? Why is curiosity significant? How will being curious aid me on the journey of being more? If these questions came to mind reading this title, you’re well on your way. If they did not, that’s fine. This piece will provide a starting point for mastering the journey of…

  • The Transformative Power of Walking

    Until now, Becoming Polymathic has lived in my head as a metaphysical entity. Manifesting it on (digital) paper for the first time, as I’m sure you can imagine, is intimidating, and caused a great deal of anxiety this week. To combat this angst, I deferred to a ritual from my Bay Area days – walking.…