More than 20 years ago I got a job out of college covering high school sports for a major newspaper.
I did it for three years and was occasionally “called up” to cover college football or the NFL.
Newspapers were already dying then and opportunities to advance weren’t necessarily going to the best writers.
What I also found out was that while I did love sports. I didn’t necessarily love the sports that I was assigned to cover.
You’d have a Game 7 in the MLB playoffs, but I’d be stuck covering a high school volleyball game.
There was also no flexibility in your schedule - sports writers work nights, weekends and holidays.
And I noticed that too many of the columnists whose work I admired were alcoholics with failed marriages.
So I did some calculations, pivoted into a career in sales and never looked back. Best decision I ever made.
The money is better by orders of magnitudes and almost all work is conducted during normal business hours - so I have plenty of time to spend with my wife and kids and even get to enjoy a Game 7 of the baseball playoffs.
Both getting up early and writing every day are clearly working for you in the Power of Habit sense of things. How do you feel publishing with such frequency has affected the quality of your writing? I would imagine it's made the process much easier, but do you feel like the pressure to publish regularly has negatively affected your process/ability to work thoughts out over a longer span of time?
Along similar lines, how much of what you publish is something you're thinking about in that moment, versus something you've been working on for a period of days/weeks?
This is an excellent breakdown. I see many complaints about corporate media layoffs and the state of the media business. If the content adds value for me, I pay for it directly on Substack. Years ago I bought the newspaper or magazines. I think of it as transferring that money directly to the content creators that I value. Your point on consistency is key to success here.
I think it's a bit odd that so many in the media talk about what they do. I almost never do this, probably because my job is niche. But it is interesting. I do love listening to Spike Eskin talk about his work. To that end, pod favorite (or at least mine), Freddie de Boer just posted about how he is going to be forced to stop writing for a living, despite being a gifted writer. This made me quite sad. I would humbly request that you have Freddie back on the pod to discuss that and whatever. The conversations are always stimulating.
The consistency bit is an under-discussed point I think. I’m a certified USA Boxing Coach and I built a boxing coaching business from scratch. It all started with me coaching a couple of guys at the local park with my equipment. Initially I was managing everything through text and a Google sheet but I went on to build a landing page website and a fully functional app with automated booking, POS, auto emails etc. all by myself and I had 0 coding or web/app development experience. But the one thing I made sure of was to keep my availability consistent. They know when and where to expect me. I’ve learned that in this world that people are inherently inconsistent so YOU have to be the consistent one
I am going to offer a contrarian point of view to the man who is often labeled as the resident contrarian.
The reason I love podcasts is because many of them release episodes when there’s something relevant to cover, not because they are obligated to release one every day.
Content that is schedule-based leads to a lot of filler. Content that’s reactionary is almost always relevant.
I may be in the minority, but I prefer the random drops of House of Strauss over an article everyday.
In the before times, virtually every article was a certified banger. We still get the bangers, but there are also articles akin to a sports talk show trying to drum up football content in late May because they’re obligated to be on the air 20 hours a week. (This particular one was not one of those articles, by the way.)
And don’t get me wrong, you are my favorite writer on the planet. That’s why I feel an obligation to read them all, even if the topic doesn’t interest me terribly. The “worst” ones are still a 7/10, so I don’t want this to be taken as an insult, but I’d prefer articles that have to surpass your threshold of “A tier content” over a guaranteed output of 5 per week. Even if that means only 5 per month.
“Consistency is a quality that compounds”. Have you been reading “Atomic Habits”? This is an important (really important) point. You don’t have to kill yourself daily to improve but you DO have to do something. The reverse of that is that someone close to me has consumed 628 gallons of ice cream over the last 30 years. He’s also spent 43,800 hours watching Fox News. He’s really consistent.
Stanley Druckenmiller - any relation to 49ers legend Jim Druckenmiller?
I enjoy having something to read during the week that's not expressly about politics, even if some of your posts do intersect with politics in interesting ways.
I tend to consume written articles rather than podcasts, so the HoS shift has been amazing. Keep it up, please.
getting a like from Ethan almost ranks higher than my Radio Free Ethan shirt. Both absolutely golden.
100% this. Reading articles is enjoyable in a way a narrated article can never be.
"I wrote a little thing" is as obnoxious as the Official Chargers account posting "you know who this mf look like low key ???"
This was fantastic, the point about writing consistently to lessen the need for a hit is fantastic
More than 20 years ago I got a job out of college covering high school sports for a major newspaper.
I did it for three years and was occasionally “called up” to cover college football or the NFL.
Newspapers were already dying then and opportunities to advance weren’t necessarily going to the best writers.
What I also found out was that while I did love sports. I didn’t necessarily love the sports that I was assigned to cover.
You’d have a Game 7 in the MLB playoffs, but I’d be stuck covering a high school volleyball game.
There was also no flexibility in your schedule - sports writers work nights, weekends and holidays.
And I noticed that too many of the columnists whose work I admired were alcoholics with failed marriages.
So I did some calculations, pivoted into a career in sales and never looked back. Best decision I ever made.
The money is better by orders of magnitudes and almost all work is conducted during normal business hours - so I have plenty of time to spend with my wife and kids and even get to enjoy a Game 7 of the baseball playoffs.
This is insightful; thanks for sharing.
Both getting up early and writing every day are clearly working for you in the Power of Habit sense of things. How do you feel publishing with such frequency has affected the quality of your writing? I would imagine it's made the process much easier, but do you feel like the pressure to publish regularly has negatively affected your process/ability to work thoughts out over a longer span of time?
Along similar lines, how much of what you publish is something you're thinking about in that moment, versus something you've been working on for a period of days/weeks?
Thanks
This is an excellent breakdown. I see many complaints about corporate media layoffs and the state of the media business. If the content adds value for me, I pay for it directly on Substack. Years ago I bought the newspaper or magazines. I think of it as transferring that money directly to the content creators that I value. Your point on consistency is key to success here.
I think it's a bit odd that so many in the media talk about what they do. I almost never do this, probably because my job is niche. But it is interesting. I do love listening to Spike Eskin talk about his work. To that end, pod favorite (or at least mine), Freddie de Boer just posted about how he is going to be forced to stop writing for a living, despite being a gifted writer. This made me quite sad. I would humbly request that you have Freddie back on the pod to discuss that and whatever. The conversations are always stimulating.
The consistency bit is an under-discussed point I think. I’m a certified USA Boxing Coach and I built a boxing coaching business from scratch. It all started with me coaching a couple of guys at the local park with my equipment. Initially I was managing everything through text and a Google sheet but I went on to build a landing page website and a fully functional app with automated booking, POS, auto emails etc. all by myself and I had 0 coding or web/app development experience. But the one thing I made sure of was to keep my availability consistent. They know when and where to expect me. I’ve learned that in this world that people are inherently inconsistent so YOU have to be the consistent one
You’re making me feel better about all my parasocial relationships: My friends and family might now show up, but the content is always there.
I am going to offer a contrarian point of view to the man who is often labeled as the resident contrarian.
The reason I love podcasts is because many of them release episodes when there’s something relevant to cover, not because they are obligated to release one every day.
Content that is schedule-based leads to a lot of filler. Content that’s reactionary is almost always relevant.
I may be in the minority, but I prefer the random drops of House of Strauss over an article everyday.
In the before times, virtually every article was a certified banger. We still get the bangers, but there are also articles akin to a sports talk show trying to drum up football content in late May because they’re obligated to be on the air 20 hours a week. (This particular one was not one of those articles, by the way.)
And don’t get me wrong, you are my favorite writer on the planet. That’s why I feel an obligation to read them all, even if the topic doesn’t interest me terribly. The “worst” ones are still a 7/10, so I don’t want this to be taken as an insult, but I’d prefer articles that have to surpass your threshold of “A tier content” over a guaranteed output of 5 per week. Even if that means only 5 per month.
I view sports media significantly better than 5-10-15 years ago. Far more quality content and likable personalities available today.
“Consistency is a quality that compounds”. Have you been reading “Atomic Habits”? This is an important (really important) point. You don’t have to kill yourself daily to improve but you DO have to do something. The reverse of that is that someone close to me has consumed 628 gallons of ice cream over the last 30 years. He’s also spent 43,800 hours watching Fox News. He’s really consistent.
Stanley Druckenmiller - any relation to 49ers legend Jim Druckenmiller?
I enjoy having something to read during the week that's not expressly about politics, even if some of your posts do intersect with politics in interesting ways.
CR makes insight look so easy that I bet he’s got a daily reps story too