Author: Paul Garay

  • Shoe Dog

    Shoe Dog is an autobiography about building a business but, man oh man, this book hits different. As so many people pointed out, the storytelling is phenomenal. This is how you tell a story. Phil Knight is competitive and I am not surprised that he connected with storytelling master J.R. Moehringer to help him with…

  • Deep Work

    I am familiar with Cal Newport’s work as I have read his blog in the past. I avoided Deep Work for many years because I thought I already know the content of it. The case studies in the book are interesting like that of Walter Isaacson who could be social but also do deep work,…

  • The pressure to succeed young

    “Bro, I’m burned out.” I was totally caught off guard by my friend’s message. This dude is a machine. A one-man development team with two successful apps in the Apple Store and Google PlayStore. A week earlier, a buddy of mine who flips real estate sent me a message asking my thoughts on truck driving.…

  • The power of saying “I don’t know”

    I am a skeptic. The works of Nassim Taleb and Karl Popper has been tattooed in my worldview. Yes Nassim, finding a black swan will invalidate the theory that all swans are white. Karl, I understand that science should attempt to disprove a theory rather than finding ways to continually prove it. Countless times in…

  • Too much and too little of anything is not good

    Indifference Curve. Isocost. Isoquant. If you’ve taken Microeconomics in uni and you feel the dread, I feel you. I was very interested in economic theory and consumer behavior but once my professor threw me those indifference curves, I was done ya’ll. No chance. Too much complexity and graphs to what I think could be explained…

  • Passion in business won’t take you to the next level

    Back in the day when Shopify and Woocommerce were not as easy as it is today, I use to work with mom-and-pops with their e-commerce. I would upgrade their brand image, advice on product description and images, work on their copywriting, design and build their website. Working with small business owners at the start of…

  • Value is determined by the buyer

    As of today, the floor price for a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT on OpenSea is 87.5 ETH (Ethereum) – approximately $108,000. Last year’s bull run, when ETH was hovering between $2,500 to $4,000, many apes were sold north of a hundred. A JPEG photo of a primate on the blockchain is selling for hundreds.…

  • A Simpler Life

    Over the years, I have sought simplicity because I am overwhelmed by the productivity mindset that our culture has imposed upon us. People who are not productive are seen as losers while people who work 12-hour days are seen as heroes. Furthermore, it seems to me that people who read diverse books, talk to a…

  • Build wealth through leverage

    I had an interesting conversation with my tennis partner this morning. He is in his early 20’s and still trying to figure out his career path. As his ultimate goal is financial freedom, I told him the concept of leverage. Two things I have learned from our conversation. First, I have a difficult time expressing…

  • Ultralearning

    Ultralearning by Scott Young should be a required reading for educators and people who want to learn effectively. I thoroughly enjoyed the principles of ultralearning which Young describes as “a strategy for acquiring skills and knowledge that is both self-directed and intense.” The word “ultralearning” seems to be the extreme version of learning. But after…