This is the Monday Medley, a newsletter that goes out, you guessed it, every Monday. I republish it here for sharing and referencing, but if you'd like to sign up you can do so right here:
Happy Monday!
Last week, I published a piece on the regulatory challenges posed by Crypto and DeFi. Primarily: who do you regulate, when no one runs the bank?
And that's it for this week. On to the Medley.
I don't read that much anymore.
It's a weird thing to admit. I've built some of my identity on reading a lot of books. The name of this newsletter, the "Medley," started because I was sharing a medley of things I'd read in the last week.
Over the last few months, the contents of this newsletter has shifted to more short essays, usually riffing on one or two pieces. That's not entirely by design: it naturally emerged out of reading less.
I used to read so many books and articles that I had to set aside time each week for consolidating and processing the notes. That's why I loved Building a Second Brain so much, and why I created Effortless Output. I needed systems to help not feel overwhelmed by everything I was consuming.
But now I hardly read anything. I get through maybe a book a month. I read maybe one to two articles per week, outside of crypto related stuff. I think that if I weren't writing this newsletter, it would be less. There's always that little nagging reminder at the back of my mind: hey you need to find something good to write about this week.
I don't read as much because I'm spending 10-12 hours a day working on or learning about crypto. It's been exceptionally hard to not let this newsletter become entirely crypto-focused. Outside of health and parenting stuff, that's almost all I think about now. It's a wild divergence from what I've focused on the last 5 to 6 years, but I can honestly say I've never been more in love with my work.
The last six months of diving into programming, crypto, and DeFi, has been the most energized I've felt about work maybe since 2015 when I first tasted entrepreneurship. It's incredible. And it has nothing to do with speculating on prices or trying to get rich quickly. Behind the scenes, some of the best thinkers and builders in the world are literally building a new financial system, communication layer, organization system... a new Internet.
I don't know what it felt like to be around in the late 90s or early 2000s but it must have been something like this. Everything is exciting, moving at breakneck speed, and it's impossible to keep up with everything going on. People are quitting incredibly high paying jobs to delve into industries that didn't exist two years ago. And anyone who wants to join is welcomed with excited, open arms.
The influencer, blogger, newsletter game isn't one that's particularly interesting to me anymore. The last thing most people need is another newsletter or Twitter thread. I would not choose to start a newsletter today. I'd go build something in crypto.
And yet, I recognize that I wouldn't have been able to get nearly as far into this new space as I have without this platform I've built over the last six years. Having some semblance of an audience is an incredible asset.
So I'm really not sure what to do with the Medley. If I'm being honest with you, I'd rather be programming right now. But perhaps I can use the bit of reach I have hear to help more people get into this exciting new industry.
I can tell you now: if you're hoping for me to circle back to talking about productivity, marketing, SEO, personal knowledge management, or any of the classic topics on the blog, I think it's unlikely. They don't interest me anymore, and I've talked about them enough. Also, ugh, do we really need more people talking about productivity? Or another Twitter threadboy?
Maybe I'll just talk about crypto, health, and parenting. It's an odd niche for sure, but if you've been here a few weeks, you know there's really no theme to this newsletter anyway.
But the Medley will probably be a little different in the coming weeks and months. I'm not sure how yet, but definitely different. I can't bring myself to quit it, but I also can't bring myself to read random articles just to entertain. So I'll figure something else out. Over five years of publishing every single Monday is a pretty badass streak. Can't just give that up.
At the end of the day, I could either keep chugging along with the "Medley" theme you're used to and do a progressively worse job of it, or I could pivot into something else. Your attention is important, so I don't want to waste it with something I'm not energized about.
So here's to trying something new. I appreciate each and every one of you and I'll see you next Monday with, well, who knows what.