I encourage everyone to read this. Deeply relevant life lessons, even if only a reminder.

I just published my annual birthday check-in. Biggest lesson I learned? High-achievers don’t self-sabotage because they lack ambition. They do it because they’re terrified of going all-in and still falling short. Here are the 14 lessons I learned:

Need some good weekend reading recs?

Real estate entrepreneur @RyanSerhant has built his career on adrenaline, discipline, and an unshakable focus on the work. Here are three quotes that stuck with me while profiling him (the last one in particular):

ICYMI: Some incredible longform profiles in the latest edition of The Profile:

“Am I shooting from the hip? Would any of this have happened if I was? ... You can be accidentally successful for three or four years. Accidents happen. But careers take hard work." — @taylorswift13

The strongest profiles (especially ones of well-known subjects) make the reader pause and think, ‘Wait, I never saw them that way’ — all in the first few sentences.

My newsletter subscribers: “Write more profiles, please!” Me: 64 tabs deep, trying to track down a college roommate who once called him ‘driven’

From this week's newsletter:

Good morning from NYC!