The Elevator: On a Personal Writing Retreat in CMDX
Here’s to finding a more fun process for your own project…
The Elevator: Curated inputs to elevate your business and expand your lifestyle.
Writing Retreat Reflections
Hey from Mexico City,
I’m on my own personal 5-day writing retreat.
No rigid schedule. Just focusing on my attention on writing in the mornings, and then taking the day for exploration.
I skimmed a handful of blog posts about other people’s retreats before I left. Most of them sounded… kind of painful: every minute accounted for, spreadsheets, and warnings about the agony of “getting it done.”
That isn’t how this feels to me at all.
Writing a book is more like a relationship than a to-do list. Some days you’ve got to get to the page. On other days, you need space. Like Wednesday, when I woke up thinking to myself, “I need to take this day fully off.” Which I did. I checked out a great local Sauna + Cold Plunge studio (Koti), which I highly recommend if you make it to CMDX!
What’s great about writing a book is it forces you to go deep… and the conversation you have with the book is always going on in the background, as you puzzle through the message, trying to make it all fit and work. After writing a blog for about 10 years, I’ve realized that writing a book is night and day different to writing blog posts.
My book coach, Azul Terronez, offered a simple, counterintuitive rule: skip the outline. Thanks to Azul for that advice! Letting the writing process lead has made it very enjoyable.
I’ll likely share a deeper debrief after, but for now I’m looking for 10–15 early readers who’d like to peek at the rough draft and give honest feedback.
About the Book: The book is about the tension that shows up after you start a business, and now you feel your growth start to stall. I share about how I learned to trust my transition out of the CEO role, and how you can grow your business without needing to be at the center.
If you’re curious, there’s a sign-up link below.
Here’s to finding a more fun process for your own project…
xx David
On to the links…
Two paid finance Substacks I’m enjoying: One is a niche value-stock research looking for 100x value names. Seeking Winners. The other is a bit of a parody (also not though), Reminiscences of a Shrub Operator. Also on X
“I bought a property in 2017 to Airbnb it…For the first 6 years, I made about a 4% cash-on-cash return. Not bad…Until it wasn’t. The last 2 years? ZERO profit. I broke even after repairs, maintenance, and all the joy of being a landlord….” Good reminder about some of the reasons to think through Real Estate (Noah Kagan on X)
Crypto is having all types of great headlines this week. Here’s behind the scenes of Stripe talking about their Stablecoin rollouts. Stripe Sessions: The future of Commerce.
“The latest images from Webb show how big our universe is. In an area of sky the size of your pinky fingernail, almost every one of its dots is a galaxy, not a star. If we are the only one of 10^23 planets to have sentient life, that is disturbing. But if we are one of zillions, our ignorance is disturbing. (Kevin Kelly on X).
The Future of Culture is Tokenized: Luca Netz (Pudgy Penguins) is a very impressive founder. (Youtube/TedX)
Quotes and Sign Posts…
”So... the digital world has nearly eliminated friction (ChatGPT writes essays, Meta's AI plays your friend). The physical world drowns in it (Newark airport, infrastructure crumbles). And for those who can afford it, friction becomes an optional aesthetic choice (West Village living, curated experiences).” – Kyla Scanlon
Have a great weekend,