The last links of the year. Enjoy;

Why Amazon has no profits (Andreessen Horowitz)
Even when Buffett loses, he still wins (ZeroHedge)
Private vs Public healthcare in India (Marginal Revolution)
Hedge fund building a model of the (WSJ)

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Continuing to provide thoughtful content through the holidays.

What happens when you quit watching the news (Raptitude)
China is ready to take American teachers (Bloomberg)
Life is getting better (Vox)
Fastest internet by country (Big Picture)
Jerry Seinfeld (HBR)

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As 2016 draws to a close, I’m taking a moment to review the goals I set at the beginning of the year. I’m sharing because I think it’s super important to keep it real about  


1. Podcast - Produce 100 episodes

This was very intentionally my primary goal since the podcast is my central personal project. Hitting 100 episodes was more than a goal, it was an expectation on which I would not allow myself compromise.

I ended up producing 119 episodes, and, in the process, learning that I am capable of a work rate greatly superior than anything I’d previously done.

As podcasts continue to grow in popularity (we are approaching 100,000 active podcasts on iTunes), differentiation simultaneously increases in difficulty.

Consistency provides the foundation for differentiation in a couple of ways;

1. Creativity - More episodes means greater opportunity to experiment with format. While they seem obvious in hindsight, the unique formats I explored in episodes 131, 170, and 171 were some of my most popular episodes and have opened the door for me to try more of the same in the coming year.
2. Quality - As Cal Newport would contend, you just have to be better than the competition. More reps means I’m improving at a faster rate than the competition. Whenever I can do the podcast full-time, I’ll dedicate myself even further to catching the pros who have done 1000’s of interviews.
3. Habit-Building - Many of the best email newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube channels have recreated the phenomenon of appointment viewing tv. Despite being unrestrained from linear programming and completely on-demand, thousand of people still carve a specific time out of their week to consume their content. This habit will only be reinforced if you, the producer, shows up EVERY week at the same date and time.  

2. Frisbee - AUDL All-Midwest Team

Total fail. As I acknowledged in my analysis of the goal at the beginning of the year, health would be the primary variable to success;

1. Key variable; Health
   1. Plan; Eat clean throughout the season, cut out all processed carbs
   2. Timetable; January through September

A hip injury in my fourth game of the season put the kibosh on this pretty firmly. I also did not anticipate missing the first two weeks of the season traveling to Asia. This completely disrupted my training, which I had been building all winter. Another two weeks off after my hip injury left me a step behind for the remainder of the season.

Interestingly, this was also the only goal I set that was tied directly to external validation. Lesson learned. Only process goals from now on, still had a lot of fun this year.


3. Video - Produce 6 Videos for YouTube
​
I’d say this was the biggest success after hitting 100 podcast episodes. A brief recap;

3 Ultimate Videos - Including 2016 Callahan winner Trent Dillon
4 Live Podcast Recordings - Including Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto
3 Asia Vlogs - South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong
1 Trailer - Filmed at StudioMe

As I travel through Asia in 2017, I’ll be doing more travel vlogging. 2016 was great practice for sharpening my skills.


4. Email List - 500 email addresses

Failed, but found a silver lining.

I did not quite hit 500 email addresses on my email list, but I did get all the basics down. I’m approaching a 2% conversion rate on people who are visiting my site for the first time.

Additionally, I’m averaging over a 50% open rate and 10% clickthrough rate on my monthly newsletter. Both are well above average. Definitely making this a bigger focus in 2017.

Let me know if you want to get in on the action.


5. Read 30 Books

Nailed it- right on the nose. Read my full 2016 reading review.


On a more personal note, this year has been amazing and unlike anything I've experienced in my life. Getting to meet so many amazing people and connect around the globe is simaultaneously humbling and thrilling.

Thank you so much for checking out the stuff I do and for being involved some way or another. I had a few people connect with me this past year to check in on goals and hold each other accountable. If you'd be interested in doing that in 2017, drop me a line.

And from my family to yours, I hope you have a happy, healthy, and successful 2017.

​- Aaron

Continuing to provide thoughtful content through the holidays.

Amazon disrupts everything (Bloomberg)
Tangled up spacetime (Scientific American)
Trump conservatism (National Review)
Deep sea fisherman’s Twitter account is amazing (Gizmodo)

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Continuing to provide thoughtful content through the holidays.

There are 433 pain pills for every man, woman, and child in West Virginia (WV Gazette)
Apple consistently is disrespected (BGR)
Poland's Power Broker (Politico)
Avoid Sugar (Philip)
Silicon Valley’s political endgame (Medium)

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Continuing to provide thoughtful content through the holidays.

Prosecute Wells Fargo (New Republic)
Nike’s quest to break the 2-minute mile (Wired)
Stitchfix uses machine learning and algorithms to dress you (Mercury)
Aphorisms from Nassim Taleb (Thought Catalog)
Napoleon Hill’s life of fraud (Gizmodo)

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Continuing to provide thoughtful content through the holidays.

The Year in Search (Google)
How to save mutual funds (Reformed Broker)
Lesser Evilism doesn’t work (Rollingstone)
Corporate Execs who doubted disruption (CB Insights)
Dominance of Google and Facebook (Ritholtz)

Support the podcast and blog by doing your holiday shopping through this Amazon link. ​

Continuing to provide thoughtful content through the holidays.

Andreessen Horowitz and USV invest in digital token hedge fund (Forbes)
The magic of AirBnB (FEE)
Uncanny Valley (n+)
Facing one fear per week (Medium)
A guide to the alt-right (Breitbart)

Support the podcast and blog by doing your holiday shopping through this Amazon link. ​