Most years feel like they rush by. This year moved like molasses.
As I wrote in My Greatest Fear, I spent a lot of time trying to integrate experience, stabilize myself, and find direction. The first half of the year especially was wobbly and plagued by insomnia, visions, asthma, and the most spaced-out dreams.
I truly understood the downside of running your own shop. Doesn’t matter whether your interests shift, whether your attention is shot, whether sleep is a roller coaster ride through lands of cosmic symbols — you live and die (economically) by whether you can deliver. If you destabilize yourself too much, you let everyone down.
Liberty once explained newsletters to me as a continuum between personality and information. I like the idea of being an expert and I wanted this to be about something — my perspective on markets, investors, money, or what have you. That seemed like a sure way to scale, to money, and to feel and look smart. But that never worked.
The only answer for me, it seems, is to write as honestly as possible about whatever feels alive right now. We’ll see where that takes us. Right now, I feel grateful that I resisted the urge to shut it all down when it seemed like I could not possibly ever write anything interesting again.
My 2023 reflection showed me the value of going through my publication spreadsheet. I am always surprised by how much happened and how much I’ve written — good and bad. Frankly, it’s a reminder to myself that in the blur of the days there were gems. It’s a reminder to keep moving, no matter what comes our way.
See you in the new year!
— Frederik
January 2024.
What does it mean to leave a legacy that endures over millennia? What games do we play to avoid thinking of death? In Search of Ozymandias was my reflection on a world in which the rich and powerful seem to have lost their ability to dream.
If you can’t spot Ozymandias the idea in immortal stone, you may find Ozymandias the tyrant staring back at you in your bathroom mirror. One seeks to inspire you. The other will make you his slave.”
February 2024.
What does a dark night of the soul feel like? In Night Season I wrestled with finding alien eggs in the caverns of my unconscious. How do you show up for work when the world keeps melting and refuses to find a steady shape?
“You make a thing until you can make the thing you want to make.
That’s what I’m here for. To express what I see with my heart. Life’s too damn short to do it any other way.
I am not going back. I am moving forward. In circles. If you’re convinced you’re staring at the ramblings of a madman, you’re right.”
March 2024.
In The Birds and the Wasteland I worried about living in a dying culture in which our attention is swallowed and churned by the algorithm and its addictive one minute videos.
“The answer to a dead culture starts with the song of birds and the beating of our hearts. The answer to a dead culture emerges when you realize how truly and deeply alive you can be. Then you start walking.”
In The River and the Silence I reflected on my long silent walks in nature that helped me move forward after losing my job during COVID.
“In a wasteland of noise, silence is as precious as gold. Once lost, we forget what treasures wait in its depths.
Life is not a competition. Not for money, status, or power. Not to be the wisest, not to have the most intense experiences, not to be the most loved. It’s not even a competition to quote the most sages or spend the most time listening to birds and gazing at rivers.
That’s why I meditate. Not for enlightenment, but to be lighter.”
April 2024.
I spent a weekend at a Zen monastery (thank you Dave Nadig ) and explored in The Skillfulness of Stillness how different kinds of stillness had been invaluable to great investors.
“Moving to a point of stillness is about approaching attention with intention. It’s too easy to get bogged down turning over rocks and miss what is flowing your way already — whether it’s a seismic shift in markets or a beautiful forest to be enjoyed.”
My father, money, writing — why does it all have to be so difficult? What does it mean to Search for True Words?
“I wanted money, yes. But what I really wanted was what money represented. I wanted to be released from the inner demons I didn’t dare to look at. I wanted to relinquish the emotional debt buried in my depths.
I couldn’t do any of that until I started the search for true words. That’s what I still hope to do here: Find a few true words and explore the mysteries of money and meaning, one true sentence at a time.”
Lessons from the Ultra-Wealthy was reflection on my years in the family office world, the “inner sanctum of real wealth.”
“The lawyers always get paid.
Invest in people first.
Don’t delegate what gives your life meaning.”
Berkshire’s annual meeting prompted my Search for Secular Cathedrals. Where do the ‘spiritual but not religious’ find community and meaning? Is it a mistake to look to business and technology for answers?
“By its very nature, the space of sacred community is not for sale. It comes at the price of making an offering from our hearts, not our wallets.”
May 2024.
Nothing defined Berkshire like the partnership of Buffett and Munger. In How to Find a Partner like Charlie Munger I pondered how to re-create such an enduring relationship.
“Imagine if Munger had been looking for his own sidekick, another Munger. Imagine if his ego had prevented him from becoming number two at the world’s most successful investment enterprise. Maybe don’t look for a Munger but for a Buffett.”
After his death, I looked at The Algorithm Behind Jim Simons's Success.
“It took many years of learning, experimenting, and building relationships before Simons had the most valuable secret sauce on Wall Street. Importantly, Simons couldn’t have predicted that there even would be a secret sauce. He needed other smart people to compound his own curiosity.”
How can investors improve at using their intuition? Start by applying the midwit framework, The Meme Every Investor Needs to Grasp.
“What makes the journey so frustrating is that the relationship between effort and return inverts. … the middle is where luck goes to die. People in the middle don’t want to get lucky, they want to be right.”
Nobody likes to lose money, but what if an early “cathartic experience” of loss is a necessary ingredient to success? In Why Losses Make Legends I looked at the evidence.
“If you hire people to deal with money, remember to ask them if they know how legends are made.
June 2024.
A good way of measuring burnout: there’s not a piece I wrote in June that seems worth re-sharing!
July 2024.
After watching Dune 2, I could not stop thinking about the metaphor of Paul’s Way South. This story and Dante Alighieri’s journey to the very center of help kept whispering: keep going. Take the leap.
“Hell is thinking you want to change but avoiding the uncomfortable truths of your condition, the ones keeping you chained. In that sense, being in hell is a choice.”
“Success is not about the destination but the beginning. If walking seemed impossible yesterday, taking the first step is a victory already. … Our second life begins when we stop waiting for clarity, put faith in our hearts to guide us, feel the sun on our faces, and walk.”
August 2024.
David Milch’s memoir opened my eyes to the Alchemy of Writing. The stories we carry and encounter are filled with transformative potential.
“We are endowed with talents yet burdened by wounds. At their intersection, where our highest potential mirrors our darkest depths, we have a chance to practice alchemy.”
I later wrote about David Milch’s Favorite Writing Exercise (try it, it was a wild experience for me) and How to See Yourself Like a Writer.
“The richness of your character rests in its contradictions. It is your complexity that uniquely breaks the light and lets you shine.”
I spent August around family and explored how the people we love are like an emotionally resonant mirror — they show us how to Tell Air from Glass. They can guide us to growth.
“The path to the garden is flow. If life feels like pushing against glass, look for ways to make it visible. Look for perspective. In my experience, nobody does it better than the people we love, whose buzzing and bumping we can recognize as our own.”
September 2024.
Money began to emerge as a theme, a force both ubiquitous and mysterious. It seemed to touch every life in surprising ways. The Eighty-One Dollars Made Lyndon Johnson showed me that small amounts can change the course of history.
“When we work hard and save money, we think we do it for ourselves. We worry about retirement, we plan to buy a house, we want to feel secure. But the most rewarding ways to use this energy will be opportunities that benefit others — the most gratifying investments will be the ones in people.”
In Why Fortunes Are Lost I further explored the connection between our inner world and money.
“It is important to understand these rules of the game, but it is more important to study ourselves. We are the one factor they all interact with.”
I later found a potent example in Al Pacino and the Weight of Wealth.
“There is no hiding from how we really feel about money.”
Attention-hacking Youtuber Mr. Beast and biographer Robert Caro may seem like opposites, but both gave me A Lesson in Obsession.
“To succeed in the worlds of business and media, study Mr. Beast.
To leave a legacy, study Robert Caro.
To perfect your craft, learn from both.”
What do investors, journalists, scientists, and comedians have in common? They are Truth Sifters looking for “the gap that reveals a story, an investment idea, a punchline.”
“If you meet every person and situation as a vessel of hidden truths, the world will remain infinitely fascinating. Every day contains the potential of revelation.”
When I rewatched True Detective, I “found a deeper layer, a story within the story” — its supernatural dimension. I found The Prophecy of Rust Cohle. “Two detectives uncovering a conspiracy and chasing a killer? That’s surface-level stuff.”
“His story is the tragedy of an awakened soul trapped in the mind of a rational modern man. Rust could have been a Bodhicitta but instead turns into a Bodhicynic: awake to the suffering of the world and participating in it, but not joyfully.”
October 2024.
I think of money as having Three Realities: lack, affluence, and abundance. At each level, the nature of money changes. At each level, it asks us a different question.
“Can I solve my money problems; can I separate reality from illusion, need from want; what does having fortune reveal about me?”
Leonard Cohen was another artist who struggled with money. I argued it was a Blessing in Disguise that prompted him to rise to new heights.
“Cohen used every setback as an opportunity to evolve and grow. The only path forward was to share more of his gift. He alchemized failures into blessings, embarrassment into victory, and pain into words of healing and inspiration.”
November 2024.
What was The Moment that Made Louis C.K.'s Career? The moment that he began to speak his truth. The moment he faced his fears.
“I thought, okay, when you're done telling jokes about airplanes and dogs, what do you got left? You can only dig deeper. You start talking about your feelings and who you are. … Then you start thinking about your fears and your nightmares … And then you start going into just weird shit.”
Why do some investors play past retirement while others burn out? In The Price of Passion I imagined life as a jar of marbles, each able to either block or refract the light we receive.
“It’s possible to pick up every marble — every game and role we play, every relationship and activity — and ask how it directionally affects the richness of our life experience.”
“Excellence demands passion. We can expect it to last if the heart is starved.”
December 2024.
And that’s it. We’ve made it through another year!
Why write? Why do anything., To fill the world with more of what we love. Write as an act of faith, to create the world you want. … Write like the world depends on it. Maybe it does.
“Money asks us millions of questions. Only we don’t have time to listen. We are too busy making and spending it.”
“The reward for tears of grief, I’ve found, are tears of joy and gratitude.”
“Destiny is not a place to reach but a path to walk. Destiny is a direction, not a destination.”
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If you are looking for an impulse into 2025:
Take more risks with your curiosity! Escape The Midwit Trap in your information diet. Filter the noise through networks, track what smart people do on the weekend, and look for lindy pyramids.
“How much money, time, and energy can you afford to invest in your curiosity? I don’t know the right answer, but it’s not zero.”
Pursue mastery over money and climb Maslow's Lighthouse.
“The intensity required for mastery can’t be faked. The things that money can buy are fine. But what fills our hearts, what brings out the best in us and others, lies beyond.”
Mentorship has been crucial to many careers. We're Not Mozart — it’s good to ask for help if you’re doing the work. Buffett understood this as well as anyone.
“The best way to get a mentor is to deserve one. Real talent is always in short supply and a great mentor would be a fool to let it pass by.”
What a year! You've written some of my favorite essays in 2024, and I can't wait to see what awaits you in 2025. Happy New Year!
Happy new year, Frederik! Take care my friend 💚 🥃