On a Monday in September I wrote to myself:
“Grateful I have work where I can drop off Oliver & Annabel to their camp at 9. And then walk to pick them up at 3. And it’s all good. I can still get everything done. I can still do fun side projects, and make it to the gym, and all the stuff I like to do.”
A quarter of small bets
This quarter felt measured. I made a lot of small bets and optimizations. A few examples:
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Waking up at 6 AM instead of 5 AM (and no more snoozing repeatedly)
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Voice mode with ChatGPT
My state of mind was experimentation. If I had an idea, how fast could I execute it (with AI, obviously) and get it out into the world to see whether it was worth pursuing or discarding? That lends itself to trying a lot of different things.
Experimentation is a muscle. It’s a mindset, and it takes time to hone. I’ve been working on it since my Reforge days, and my stunted emotional attachment to people, places, and things gives me an above-average disposition for it. It’s a double-edged sword, though. It’s easy to get caught up in the fun part of work: trying new things. But the only way to make something valuable, or to really enjoy it, is to make consistency your superpower: stick with it for an uncomfortable and unreasonable amount of time.
Here’s what moved this quarter:
Good Morning Philly
Good Morning Philly went from about 2,100 subscribers on July 1 to 3,950 this week. I haven’t missed an issue: 12 this quarter, with a 58% average open rate.
A big question for me all year has been “Is there a there there?” Closing in on 4,000 subscribers after nine months, I think the answer is yes; maybe there is.
I’ve also been thinking about why I’m doing it. Two reasons:
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Create something valuable and useful for a community my family loves and is so happy to be a part of.
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The intellectual challenge of building something from scratch. I know I have the skills. Now I have to prove it to myself.
Consulting
Both of my client engagements kept going all quarter. They’re getting more intense, but I’m managing. On July 30 I wrote:
“Time is a constraint because of this phase of life, not because of the jobs.”
Some days it feels like a lot, but not because the work is harder or beyond my grasp. The opposite: I’ve landed in a sweet spot, with one foot in the known and one in the unknown, and I find it challenging and rewarding. What makes it hard is balancing family, other responsibilities, and the side projects I’m so excited about.
Remote Life OS
The Monday remote jobs email for Remote Life OS keeps going, same as always. What’s new is a Thursday issue where I write about what I’m actually doing: how I plan our meals with AI, my monthly money review, and why the work I do keeps compounding.
I’m also moving everything off Kajabi and hosting it myself, starting with my course, Land the Interview, to remove some technical debt and overhead.
Family
Oliver started third grade. He won his first soccer match, and he and Annabel both started piano lessons.
Annabel started kindergarten and turned six (I wrote her a letter). She’s back to rock climbing, too.
Theodore is still in daycare; he’s still a joy, and he takes most of our energy right now. A two-year-old’s emotions, wants, and needs are a lot to manage.
Madeline has proven to be the chill baby, which is exactly what we need. Her grandad suggested three names, and we took the one that means beautiful and calm. She has lived up to it.
The summer was full. We had beach days at Asbury Park. Spent a week at Rehoboth Beach. Dorney Park felt too far one Monday, so we took the kids and my mom to Diggerland instead. We made it to Dorney Park in August anyway. Deborah and Andrew came over from Cork. And Amy and I celebrated 13 years.
What I’m focused on for Q4
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Good Morning Philly: Get to 5,000 subscribers and run a handful of mini experiments along the way: a custom front page, a better subscribe flow, and the YouTube channel. Something to think about for next year: instead of treating this as a side project, do I turn it into a proper media company?
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Work: Keep the clients going strong. Make sure I’m continuing to deliver.
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Writing: Most of this quarter’s optimizing was really getting my processes back on track. I’m writing Good Morning Philly every week, writing for Remote Life OS (including posts on portfolio careers and AI workflows), and I’ve started writing this newsletter again. It took all quarter to get the process in place, but it’s here. Now I just have to keep it up.
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Fiction: I have three fiction projects that have sat on the back burner for over a decade(!), and I’ve started sourcing and researching again. There’s never going to be a good time for this, so I want to bring them forward a little at a time. That way, when I do get a few months to sit down and crank something out, I’ll be ready.
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Family: Halloween. A proper Thanksgiving with all the traditions: football, a movie, karaoke. And at least one week off at Christmas, maybe two.
How did your quarter go? Hit reply and tell me.
This is my sixth quarterly review. Previous reviews: 2022 Q1 · 2022 Q2 · 2022 Q3 · 2024 Q2 · 2026 Q1. I publish them because accountability works better in public.
⭐ Recommendations
🍽️ Eating
🥘 Home Appétit. These save us so much time on school days. You know the 5 pm problem. Everybody’s home, everybody’s hungry, and all you’ve got in the fridge is a bottle of OJ and a bag of shredded cheese. This has been a game changer for us.
📖 Reading
📘 Circe by Madeline Miller. Just finished it, and it was outstanding. I was surprised at how much I liked it. It reminded me how much I loved reading the classics when I was younger, and now I want to go back and reread them.
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