I am a big fan of autobiographies and find a lot of inspiration in the lives and experiences of others.

This one is by the founder of Nike, Phil Knight. As a 23-year old he started selling Japanese sneakers into the US. Later, after years of gathering sales skills and learning about shoes, his distribution company would become one of the most important and successful sports company in the world - Nike.

I find his story refreshing. It talks about what entrepreneurship is really about.

It is not about glamorous tech nor VC money, it is about hardship and persistence. Moreover, it makes me appreciate Nike much more as a vehicle to make people care more about their health and do sports.

The only time in the day we can reliably control is our morning.

Then messaging apps, the boss, social obligations & #fomo come crashing on us. Lately, I have become much more protective of Me time and aware of how I want my mornings to be.

Two overarching themes dominate my morning 1) Take care of myself (Body + Mind) 2) Be creative (Write + Reflect).

Networking has never been about deep conversations. The purpose is to get the next meeting by leaving a good first impression. Those subsequent content meetings are what matter.

I go to a lot of those events these days, and while I still don’t particularly like to sell-pitch myself on loop, I recognize the importance of meeting new contacts.

When I engage in a new conversation, I try to follow two rules to ensure that 1) I make a good impression and 2) I am memorable beyond the 1000 people this person has already seen today.

Mark Mason is the great author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck (very good book if you have not read it yet) and is invited to Google Talks to talk about his new book and his view on meaning in our today’s world. He says:

Having a certain struggle and challenge in life is what makes our lives meaningful. It’s this sort of overcoming of this obstacle that gives us that sense of pride and purpose. So much of our economy and innovation today is about removing those barriers and obstacles between us and what we want…As we remove those frictions from our goals and desires though, those goals and desires loose their meaning…

I like his trail of thoughts that he presents in the podcast and can very much recommend you to listen in (45min).

I met this really cute guy a couple of days ago for dinner. His smile was charming, he was incredibly smart and he was very attractive.

He ran me through his life, and in parallel, I ran through my check list like a commentary stream:

I think he especially got me with the last point. I thought his story was incredible, and he appeared solid, confident with both feet on the ground. I was already calculating in my head - what was the probability of us dating?

I had no idea that it would turn out to be one of the worst dates. It was like as if each drop of alcohol gradually brought his dark side out as the night wore on.

Should you pay or not on a (first or second) date? I always feel obligated to offer at least.

After all, I earn enough, my guy friends always complain about being exploited on dates, and somehow, paying gives me a feeling of being equal.

A friend of mine provides a very different view on this