Unlock the Power of Words in a Digital Age: Writing, AI & Startups by Thomas White by Kazuki Nakayashiki

Unlock the Power of Words in a Digital Age: Writing, AI & Startups by Thomas White

Kazuki Nakayashiki

Nov 1, 2024 10:50 PM

Summary

Introduction of Tom White (00:11): Tom White, a writer, investor, and advisor in the tech ecosystem, is the founder of Battle Media and has played a pivotal role at Google and various startups. He shares insights on overcoming challenges and helping others articulate their visions.
On Writing (01:30): Tom discusses his complex relationship with writing; while he doesn't enjoy the process of writing, he thrives on finally articulating his thoughts clearly. He compares it to a golf swing—it's a craft that involves many attempts before hitting the perfect shot.
Idea Generation and Capture (05:14): Tom captures ideas from everyday moments, using various tools like email and physical notes. He emphasizes minimizing friction when jotting down inspirations, which can happen anywhere, from showers to conversations.
Editing and Publishing (10:14): He stresses the importance of editing, often spending more time refining his work than writing initial drafts. He suggests a rule of thinking deeply about a topic before writing, and then refining it, concluding that "done is better than perfect."
Perception of AI in Writing (13:41): Tom prefers authentic intelligence over AI for writing and thinks that AI lacks the soul needed for genuine expressions. He argues that the ease AI brings undermines the struggle and effort necessary for meaningful writing.
The Role of Reading (31:14): He believes that being a good writer stems from being a deep reader. Tom maintains a repository of quotes and emphasizes the importance of understanding diverse perspectives to sharpen his writing.
Legacy and Impact (42:02): In reflection, Tom wishes to be remembered as a kind person who treated others with respect, underscoring the simplicity of life’s most profound truths—prioritizing relationships over material success.

Transcript

Welcome back to Glasp Talk. We are excited to have Tom White today, an accomplished writer, investor, and advisor who has made significant strides in the tech and startup ecosystems. Tom is the founder and CEO of Battle Media, a public communication consultancy, and has been a guiding force behind numerous startups through his advisory roles at several venture funds. His experience includes pivotal roles at Google, where he contributed to product

strategy and innovation. He was a former mentor at Google for Startup Accelerator Programs. Also, besides that, he has delivered amazing TEDx talks on his journey with Tourette syndrome. Tom's work has empowered countless founders and firms to articulate their visions and drive success. So today, we are excited to dive into his insights and experiences. You are a writer, but what made you to become a writer?

I was always good at writing, and I always knew that I was good at writing, but I don't like writing, ironically. I don't like writing. I like having written, hitting publish, sending the post or my thoughts. The best part of it for me is taking these unintelligible thoughts in here and translating them so other individuals can read them, understand them, perceive them, and make note of them, right? So the process of writing is not a fun one, but when you nail it, when you hit just the right

word, just the right note, just the right sentence, it's like golf, right? I can swing a club multiple times, and oftentimes, I'm not going to hit anything close to the perfect shot. When I hit that perfect shot one time out of 100, that's the addictive feeling I keep coming back to. So I knew I was always good at writing when I was in elementary school and high school and grammar school. I did not want to be a writer. I think writing is more and more comes from

compulsion than desire. I write because I need to say these things because it helps me make sense of the world, update who I am, what I am, what I believe, why I believe it. And the only reason that I started sending my stuff out publicly was a forcing function and keeping me honest, right? Because if I just took it and I put it into a file on my computer or in my desk or whatever, I'm lazy. And the last thing I want to do after a long day's work is

to write, to think, and to try to extract ideas. So publicly sharing forced me to move my kind of adherence from my own expectations to other individuals' expectations. By doing that, I've been able to produce pretty consistently over the last four-plus years. It's been a slog, but knowing what I know now as it pertains to writing online and sharing who you are, what you believe, why you believe it, I wish I had started 10 years ago as opposed to

like nearly five years ago. It has changed my life for the better, and it has accelerated my personal and professional career in wild ways. It's led me to where I am. I stumbled into this kind of role writing and ghostwriting and editing and being a communications advisor for a wide variety of startups. So I never planned on it. I still kind of recoil when I call myself a writer. I don't feel like I've earned that title, which is a weird thing to say, but I think

that's common to a lot of writers. But it was a happy accident and I stumbled into it. This was never the plan, and I feel like that's most people's careers, right? You make plans, God laughs, and then you end up where you end up. So I can't complain. It's a lot of fun, and I get paid to discuss, distill, and disseminate my ideas. And that's a dream because I'm a nerd at heart, and I'm super curious, and I love talking to interesting, intelligent individuals like you

two. Thank you so much. We've found many inspiring quotes and many interesting ideas from your writing, and we are curious, how do you get the ideas or keep the ideas? Do you use any tools, workflow, or something? Yeah, it's not pretty for me. A lot of individuals, they don't have an idea problem. They don't have an idea generation problem. They have an idea capture problem, right? I write everything down, whether it be pen and paper, my calendar, my email. I

don't overcomplicate it. Most usually comes from an idea I have in the shower, on a walk, working out, in conversation with someone. I will take that seed, let it germinate, and then I will have a lot of different sentences and quotes and excerpts and different things that I accumulate. It could be over a day, it could be over a couple hours, it could be weeks, it could be years. There are drafts. I have over 160 drafts in my newsletter dashboard, some of which I've

just been working on for the long period of time, and I'll put a little bit here and a little bit there. It's like how a bird almost assembles its nest, taking all this random kind of things, putting it together. Initially, it doesn't really have a form. You don't know what it's going to be, but over time, it becomes a sort of home. It takes shape, it protects, it nourishes. That's my approach. It's less sitting down and kind of hammering things out in front of

a white screen and a blanking cursor. It's more assembling all these things, having all the puzzle pieces in front of me, and kind of taking the different snippets and sentences and paragraphs that I've written and ordering them so that there's a cohesive narrative, and I go from point A to point B to C to say what I'm trying to say. I don't believe in any interesting software like Notion or Roam or anything. I use email. I email

myself. It's super basic, super easy. The title is the subject line, and then it's just different things that I've written and copied and pasted and sent to myself. So it's not rocket science. It's very messy, candidly, but it's been working for me because what you want, what I've found is useful, is that you want to decrease the friction between getting the idea out and putting it down on paper because inspiration is fleeting, and the way that you think something or say something

for the first time or write it down, that diminishes over time. So you want to capture it while the iron is hot and strike while that iron is hot as well. I don't recommend it. My system is very disorganized, and it's all over the place. I mean, I have a pen and paper here where I'll jot things down as well as I come to them or I have conversations with folks. So I don't recommend it to folks, but it's worked for me, thankfully. Interesting. It's all email,

not like physical notebook or physical email. No, no. Notebook as well. Physical notebook right here too. So they're everywhere. It's like a disaster. Okay. So you remember what you written before on the notebook because it's so hard to search it, right? Do I write what in the notebook? Yeah. I mean, do you remember what you write? So what you wrote before? No, I don't remember what I've written. I don't remember. Once I've

written it, like I've read all my posts, I've read like, I don't know, 15 or 20 times just to get the right, I read it aloud to myself. I get the right word choice and punctuation, beats and rhythm. Once I publish it, I really don't want to read it because I'm sick of the post. It's like, all right, let me get it out there. So I don't remember that. I don't write it down. I don't remember it. So writing these ideas down, writing these sentences down, writing these fleeting bits

of inspiration down is the only way that I'm able to retain all of this and actually put a piece together as opposed to trying to rely on memory or rely upon an idea or something that I thought a couple of weeks ago, you know, while walking or in the shower that is all but gone just because of everything that had happened since then. So it's not the most organized situation, but writing, I don't know, I think writing is supposed to be hard. And that's one of the

sad things about AI. AI is making everything easy. It's like an easy button for everything. But oftentimes, like the struggle to articulate yourself in written phrase, in verbal phrase, clearly and concisely, that is critical thought. And that critical thought drives everything from business to, you know, like relationships to politics and everything of that nature. So kind of all over the place in my answers, but hopefully that's interesting.

It's really interesting. Yeah. But any difference between like, you know, the things you write on the email? Oh, yeah, I edit, I edit it insanely. Writing is easy for me. Like I'll write things very, very quickly. Editing is where I spend so much time. There is a post I wrote about the 3-2-1 rule. You should spend three hours thinking about something, two hours writing it, and one hour editing it. I've since inverted that. It should be the 3-1-2

rule. Three hours thinking about something, one hour writing it, and two hours editing it, so that you nail the right messaging. Like good writing is just great editing. It's taking the I mean, I don't know, I think Hemingway said it, the first draft of everything is shit. And I firmly, firmly believe that. Like when Stephen King writes a sentence or when Annie Duke or any number, Barbara Kingsolver, any of these titans, exceptional writers, the first time they

write anything, it's probably just as bad as what you are. But just like with business, just like with writing, just like with like professional sports, those people are willing to sit with it for longer to be consistent with it and to suffer for a longer period of time than the average man or woman. So what is in my email and what is on my calendar is so different from the final polished phrase. Taking a diamond, mining it, like shining it, putting a lot of pressure on it,

then it actually gleams. Like the crappy rock that you see, it's really, really funny. Sometimes it's just like it's oftentimes misspelled words. Sometimes I don't include a verb. I just put like a string of words that I refer back to just to kind of jog my memory. It's very, very disorganized. Very seldom do I take line for line and word for word what I've written as notes or putting information down and set it right into my writing.

I see. And I think this is kind of forever question to writers. How do you decide, oh, this is time to or ready to publish? You know, you could edit all the time forever if you have time. I get sick of it. And I think every word, at least at that point in time, and everything can be better, right? Like every book's a failure, as Orwell said, because every single book could be better, which is one, a really difficult thing to internalize, and it's kind of discouraging.

But two, when I've read aloud, when I think that every, you know, beat, rhythm, measure, word, punctuation mark, et cetera, is in the right place, I'll just send it out. Like done is better than perfect. And you're never going to get perfect when I send my stuff. It's when I'm sick of them. Because people are, I mean, one, I'm not like people are giving me my time to read my stuff, consider my ideas, share it, or forward it along or what have you. So

for me, I'm not going to do a disservice of giving someone garbage to read. I'm going to put in the hour because I don't want to waste their time, because time is the one thing that, one, we don't have enough of, and two, we can't buy more of. So typically, when I'm sick of it, and I think it's worthy of another person's time and attention, is when I know it's ready to go. Otherwise, I mean, I'd be spinning my wheels forever and tweaking this thing and that thing

and what have you. And I don't know, done is very much better than perfect. A lot of people don't even start writing-wise or things of that nature because they let the kind of, I don't know, asymptote or mountain of perfect daunt them, scare them. And that stops them from even starting, let alone beginning the journey. I see. And also for your writing, do you use any AI tools for brainstorming, research, editing? No. I've tried it because

I'm lazy. Oftentimes when I use AI or when I've tried to use AI and more time editing and rewriting than if I had just done it myself. AI I think is mechanical. I think artificial intelligence is named actually because it's soulless, mechanical, and it is just pattern recognition writ large based on large language models and tremendous amounts of data. For me, I prefer authentic intelligence that is like blood, sweat, and tears. And I don't know, the suffering that comes from an

idea that is embedded in someone's heart or soul or mind, they're trying to extract just so that someone can feel what they're feeling or understand what they're trying to say or be inspired by their words or what have you. So I've tried almost every AI tool in the book. Again, it's funny, I work in tech, but I'm kind of a Luddite. I need just less and less and less. I need my word, my phrase, and everything of that nature. I see. At the same time, I've read your book,

Nobody Reads, and you said 46%, 50% of Americans don't read any book per year. So meaning, do you think people read? I mean, people watch videos on TikTok, YouTube nowadays, and other media formats are spreading all over the world because it's easy to consume for some people. It's passive too. I don't have to read. I don't have to look at the world. I can just sit back and this flow of senses can hit me as opposed to reading. It's an active activity. You have

to remember where you are on the page. You have to actually actively go from line to line as opposed to the video just kind of comes at you. And that's, again, it's a tragedy that more people don't read, but sorry to cut you off. Go ahead. I wanted to ask, do you think people will keep reading text or what? How do you think people consume information in the future? It's a really good question. I think about Lindy effect, like things that have lasted for a long

time have a tendency to last ever longer. And the book is one of the most anti-fragile, resolute, and oldest forms of technology. Like a book is technology. So I think the written word won't change much. The spoken word won't change much. I think it's where we meet that information. So as to ingest it, that we have it. But soon we might, I mean, it might be like the matrix where Neo can just pop in the cartridge, like, oh, I know judo now,

or I know Kung Fu or what have you. That might be the case, but that like the easy button of everything and the exemplification of everything, I think is a really, really, it kind of hollows the hard work and effort that individuals do in order to understand or become a master of a subject or what have you. Ozempic feels like cheating, right? Like I'd love to be on exemplic, but it feels like cheating. So like in a culture like that, where everything is a click or a pill

or a post or something away, that I think really deadens and hollows out what it means to be human. And I think we're going to have to think, seriously consider what humanity is, why it matters, and how to retain that as we go into this brave new world where machines will think better, work more quickly, be more efficient than we in a lot of ways, shapes, and forms. But what does that mean for humanity? What does that mean for the soul? What does that mean for

friendship and faith and human connection? I've already seen individuals that are relying upon AI chatbots for romantic partners and therapists. That's really, really dangerous to me. So I think the means by which we ingest information won't change, which is to say written texts via our senses. That's the only way as far as I know that we're able to retain or to pick up and retain information. What the modalities and media look like for the transmission

of that information, I think that will change. Like Apple Vision Pro, for example, versus an iPhone. They're fundamentally the same thing. It's just one is goggles strapped on your head, and another is in your hand. I see. And also in your blog, I found interesting quotes like, we are drawing in information while starving for wisdom. Yeah, that's from... I wrote that. It was from E.O. Wilson, who's a sociologist, I think.

Yes, biologist. Yes. And do you think it will keep happening to us? Yes. Oh, 100%. We're so much information at the point where the answer to any question you could ever want is literally a query away. And it doesn't necessarily mean it's the right answer, but an answer is right there versus in medieval times or even pre-internet. I can look up the market for local journalism or the revenue that X company or Y company did from a supercomputer

in my pocket. At the point where those answers are instantaneous and they are everywhere, the questions matter more fundamentally. So I think the future is more a problem of curation as opposed to creation, because there's too much data out there. I mean, another quote that comes to mind is, we have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology, and those three things are not compatible. Our lizard brains are not fit to digest and make

sense of and retain and distribute all the information that is created in a minute on the internet, which is like hundreds of thousands of emails and millions of text messages and videos uploaded to TikTok and YouTube, what have you. And I'll do steps are very different from equities, public equities. You have information. A lot of that is priced in. There's not the information asymmetry, because theoretically, all that information is available to every investor

and every market across the board. So it's quote, unquote, priced in. There's a lot more asymmetry in early stage companies, and it's more reliant upon paradigms and frameworks and things like that as opposed to data or revenue or anything of that. So for me, at the earliest stages, what I focus on is the team, the team, the team. You need the right jockey riding the right horse, jockey being the team, the product or service, the running the right race, which is a market that is big enough

to justify the risk that you are taking by investing in a startup that is 90% likely to fail, just given the law of averages and what have you, right? So for me, it's the team, the team, the team. You can replace the product and you can pivot the technology. YouTube used to be, I think it was like a location services company or like a dating app. I think Tinder was location services as well. All of these companies started as something vastly, vastly different. If you are

able to pivot and if you are able to be an entrepreneur that is willing to suffer and willing to have a heavy dose of resiliency, you will succeed. That can't be taught, that can't be replaced any more so than a viral product or what have you can be replicated in some way, shape or form. The team for me is everything because startup, it stinks. Like startups are very, very hard. I don't have to tell you both. My favorite quote about startups is Sean Parker.

It's like chewing glass, but eventually you like the taste of your own blood. That is very, very, very true. And it's like writing, right? You don't necessarily want to do it. You feel like you have to, you're compelled to do it. You have some vision or some force in the future and you want to take that vision and take it from here, the idea phase into reality, whether it be on people's phones or in people's hands or what have you. That's a very, very real calling.

So I want those individuals that are obsessed with that, that have some unique unfair advantage that makes them the best person to build or scale a product or service. And I want someone that is resilient and comfortable with suffering because there's a hell of a lot of suffering just in life, but especially in startup life, right? If you go get a cushy job at a big corporation, it's like playing life on easy or what have you. And that's unfair, but I'm just going to extend

the metaphor. If you're going to found a startup or working at an early, early, early stage business, that's playing life on expert mode. There are no rules. There are no processes. There are no systems. You're wearing every hat in the business and you are trying to literally put a dent in the universe by creating something that was not there. So those are the types of founders I like to get behind. Ideally, financial outcome, you invest. So I give you $1, you give me $2, you want an

outcome like that. However, the law of averages and the base rates are such that the vast majority of these companies are going to fail. But ideally, you've invested enough into the successful companies that they will pay for the failures in dividends and more. Yeah. I see. And I've read your blog, like we've read your blog, making dollars using sense, and that's one of my favorite. Yeah. Thank you. And I love your philosophy,

helping people who help others. And that's just- Yes. That's what it comes down to. It's simple. It's super, I mean, life is very simple. I've said this so many times, life is super simple, but it's not easy. And oftentimes it's not easy because we tend to overcomplicate ourselves by chasing the wrong things, focusing on different areas and concerns and this, that, and the other thing. You don't need much to one, not only survive,

but to truly live and live happily at that. Totally resonate. Yeah. With that point. And yes. And, but from your list, I saw your list of investment and it seems like you invested in many, like a kind of intelligent product or community, like a recollect, like a book club or inter-interact, that kind of, do you have kind of theme or topics you usually invest in or are personally interested in? For me, it's mostly boring businesses. Those businesses that are not competitive,

that are not very, very sexy. I've been burned when I've invested in like sexy consumer apps and things like that. I think one, like that's super competitive. Two, everyone wants to build a consumer app. Very few individuals want to build, I don't know, a CRM for plumbers or something like that, or I don't know, something for morticians or what have you. So I'm opportunistic in terms of what I like. I'll invest in anything as long as I understand it. If I don't understand

it, I will not invest in it. That's the first condition. Secondly, the more boring, the better, like the more esoteric and niche and weird it is, the more excited that I get, which is ironic, given I'm an extrovert. I love to talk about what I'm doing and what I'm interested in and things like that. That's the second part. The third thing is founder problem fit. Why is this person, this founder, and the team that he or she has recruited and surrounded himself or herself

with the right person at the right time to do this? Why is that person, that kind of force of will going to win as opposed to the countless other individuals that are super talented, super driven, and super motivated that can easily, not easily, but can attack this problem as well? Thank you. Yeah, that makes sense. So switch back to the topic of writing. I love, you know, the pen is mightier than the sword, and I left the quotes. But I'm curious, you know, when you

help, you know, you also help others write or, how to say, crystallize ideas, right? And when you help others, and how do you, where do you begin with? Like, do you understand their story behind, then sort and synthesize idea, or have you found any common thing people are struggling with when in writing? I think the first rule is to tell the truth. If you know, tell the truth, you never have to remember anything. And I think a lot of individuals don't say things,

or don't express things because they are scared of what they might say. Even if it's something banal or, or anodyne, like startup or business or what have you, if, if you tell the truth, and if you're vulnerable, and you're honest about what you discuss, why you discuss it, why it moves you, why it motivates you, one, that's going to make you connect with other people more easily, and two, you're not holding anything back, so you don't have to be protected, and you

can get into deep conversation and vulnerable interaction, and that's what it means to be human. My favorite quote from C.S. Lewis is, I mean, acquaintanceship goes to friendship. One person says to the other, oh, you too? I thought I was the only one, right? That's where they go, and they move more closely in this kind of immense solitude, he says, that we call life, so I think the way I approach it, it's very different. I'm kind of like a personal trainer,

like I'm not needed by any of these individuals per se, particularly when I'm working as kind of like an intellectual conciliary slash communications advisor. They're the knife, I'm the sharpener. The way that they use me, they are going to dictate and determine, but my goal is to make their thinking more robust, their communications more clear, and their messaging more consistent across the board, oral and written, and also in just like

internal correspondence and what have you. For some individuals, that's high level advisories. For some individuals, I get in a call, just like with you guys, we'll discuss an idea, I'll record the conversation with their permission. Afterwards, I'll listen to it, I'll take different tidbits, and then I'll get all the puzzle pieces I need to be able to write a piece about, hey, this is why X is important in a time of Y, and this is the ideal reader for it,

which is, you know, X, Y, Z person somewhere and somehow. So there are many roads to roam, and there are a lot of different ways to kind of bake the cake or make the sausage, so to speak. For me, it's a matter of knowing what the person wants. Like, do they want to improve their communication? Do they want their communication done for them? Like, do they want ghostwriting, or do they want communications coaching and consulting and what have you? Or do they want

kind of like a thought partner off which they can riff, send ideas and better refine their product strategy or their go to market or even just their messaging to potential customers? First time founders obsess over the product, second time founders obsess over distribution. And another quote, because I'm full of quotes, and that's all I do is just steal quotes, is that the universe isn't made of atoms, it's made of stories. People do things because of

stories, seldom because of reason. They will justify it to themselves doing reason or using reason, pardon me, but they will be motivated emotionally and psychologically via the wiring in our minds by stories, because that's what it is. To be human is to be a listener to and teller of stories. And everyone has a story to tell. And everyone has an important story to tell at that because my life is different from yours, different from the next person's different from

my brothers, etc. Like everyone should tell their stories. Because you even if it's to one person, you could change a life in that way in a way that inspires or helps or say, Hey, I'm not I'm not alone. Like this, this person gets it or that guy gets or that girl gets it. And that's incredibly, incredibly powerful in a world where, again, this is a trope. We're so hyper connected, but we're not actually, you know, communal and and friendship is waning in a world of hyper

connection and, you know, superficial interaction as opposed to, hey, let's get into real conversation or the heart of the matter or what have you. I see. By the way, we found very interesting quotes in your writing, like a 29 sorts for 20 years, nine years old, broken. How? Yeah. How do you? How do you get the quotes? I mean, do you read from books? I read all the time I read any quote I like, I'll take it and I'll put it in like a big repository slash file that I have.

And sometimes I know is like, this quote is going to go on this piece when I'm talking about that. Other times, like, hey, the way that was said was really beautiful and wonderful, and it moved me in some way. I'm just going to put that in my back pocket. And when the time is right, I'll pull it out and be kind of good to go. So read all the time. Another like great kind of idea is like to be a good writer, you have to be a great reader. Like you have to read and you

have to expose yourself to a lot of different styles and sentences and paragraphs and facts. So as to build latticework or a mental or a latticework of mental models to make sure the world makes sense around you, because a lot of people like they like to think that they're thinking, but they're actually just rearranging prior opinions and prejudices and things like that in their head. Like critical thought is, is not only admitting you're wrong, but being

happy you're wrong because you've gotten closer to capital T truth, which is very, you know, different. And I fall victim to it. Everyone falls victim to it, right? Like, theoretically, if you are a lover of truth, and someone points you, put you back on the path towards truth, you should be happy. But individuals like being right, being heard and being themselves more than they like truth. And I think that's a very dangerous proposition when, you know, individuals

can no longer agree that the sky is blue, right? Like, it's like, hey, like, the sky is blue. And you could say to me, that's your opinion. My lived experience, the sky is green. It's like, objectively, that's not the case. But we have to meet somewhere on solid ground. So it's a long, long rant and diatribe. Just how being honest with yourself and being honest with others is a great way for you to live life without trying to put on masks or be someone that you're

not. And a lot of individuals are having a lot of masks on. And again, just because I'm saying these things doesn't mean I don't fall victim to them. I'm the most imperfect person around. But yes, yeah. Thank you for that. And also, you know, we need to be a good at grammar, right? I read you how to write good and you know, you are a good mathematician, right? And yeah, I mean, without, I mean, if bricks are words, grammar is what holds all the words together. Otherwise,

I can take a brick wall and push it down. But grammar makes it stand. And again, this is, I'm a nerd for this stuff, because it's kind of like the, I don't know, it's the seasoning on the meat that is the words, right? And it's what gives it flavor and structure and things like that. But yeah, I mean, it's grout, right? Grout is grammar. And then the bricks are the words. You can make a brick wall without the grout, but it's not sturdy at all.

I see. Yes. Yeah. So yeah. Go ahead. This is just a random question, but so yeah, for a week. So how do you spend your week? So like, you know, yeah, from Sunday to Saturday. So you know, how are you spending with your family? Or like, how much are you working? Yeah. So I lucky enough to work remotely. I split time between New York and Notre Dame, Indiana. So I'm in Notre Dame in the fall, the spring and the winter. And then I'm in

New York in the summer. I have a nice beach community in New York called Breezy Point. I live with my family during the summer. Typically, like on weekends, they'll come down to the beach and we'll all hang out together. My family is very, very important to me. My weeks during the week, my work weeks are all over the place. It really varies. I'll try to stack meetings. Like today, I've had five meetings. Sometimes I'll have 10 or eight. It really,

really varies depending on the time of the year, client work, thinking work, and things like that. So all that to say, there's no one particular day in the life. Like, I don't have a routine. I think, one, I need a routine. But two, creativity doesn't really work within the confines of a routine, which makes life a bit more difficult in that regard. The best ideas happen at the least convenient times, like when I'm swimming in the ocean or when I'm in the shower and stuff. It's

like, God, why can't it just come when I'm thinking by myself? But fortunately, the brain doesn't work that way. So typically, I'll work, like in the morning, I like to putz around. I like to think. I like to start meetings and stuff at 10 a.m. Eastern. And then typically, I'll work until, I don't know, eight or nine with a break for lunch, with a break for walks and stuff like that. It really, really varies. The lucky thing about my work is that I'm my own boss. So I can

be very, very flexible. And I can work on things when I want to work at them. Because I don't know if you guys resonate with this, but to write, you have to kind of be in a mood. And it's hard, sometimes you don't have it, right? Like other times, you're in the flow state, and it's great, and it's pouring out of you. Other times, it's like hitting my head against the keyboard and hoping something good comes out. But as long as I'm diligent with my time and with everything,

it's about the outputs, not the input, so to speak. And I travel all the time. I'm very blessed to have an incredible amount of family and friends and colleagues and stuff personally and professionally that I really respect. I'm a big wedding person. I have four more weddings for friends this year. There'll be 10 on the year in total. My biggest year of weddings, biggest year of weddings, because I'm 32 now, was 15, which was absolutely insane and super

expensive. And I love to ski. In the winter, I try to ski as much as possible. I love, love, love, love to ski. That's happiness for me, just being on a ski slope outside with family or friends and just kind of spending time there. So I guess from that answer, you can take, there's no typical week, there's no typical routine or day. It's very much varied. And that, I don't know, it suits me, I feel like, because one, I'm quirky, and two, I'm very, very curious.

So if I get an idea, I can spend a couple hours going deep on that idea and writing about it for myself or a client or what have you, as opposed to having to wait until a block of sales meetings or marketing meetings or internal meetings are done and having to repress that idea. Because again, you want to strike when inspiration is hot, and inspiration is very, very fleeting across the board in that regard. I see. Yeah. Are you working on some ideas now, or do you have

currently working topic? So much. I have so much stuff that I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about this, like you can't spell renaissance, you can't spell renaissance without AI, artificial intelligence, it can mean authentic intelligence, it can mean addictive intelligence, it can mean actionable intelligence. So I'm thinking through thinking what, what does, what are each of those outcomes look like? And what is the most likely outcome? Because

AI, I think we can all agree is going to change humanity in ways that we can't even comprehend. How that happens though, we have a very short period of time to dictate before superintelligence and the alignment and singularity is achieved. And we're like playing basketball against Michael Jordan, right? Losing every single time. So that's one. A second is, and this is still thinking about it, but content creators, the influencers and all that garbage, they

purge the internet. AI is actually going to kill the internet. And the whole thing is the garbage content that first started as formulae from the influencers and the creators, the five things you need to know about X. These are the 20 things, all the listicles and garbage that individuals like break their brains on. AI is trained on those models. And at the point where you no longer need a production team or need a writing team or anything to create those,

the internet is going to be so full of garbage that is trained on bad data, garbage in, garbage out. It's kind of like a death spiral in that regard. So that's another idea. I'm thinking about how thinking like we'll run out of data eventually to train these models on, unless there's some technological leap forward. And even before we run out of data, we're trained on garbage data from influencers that simply because their messages reach the

largest amount of individuals, it doesn't mean that those messages are interesting or right, or moral, or even like intelligent in any way. So those are the two things that I'm kind of thinking about. They're hard planes to land in terms of the pieces, but I'm trying to put them down. Do you have any discussion partner? So when you come up with some ideas, you can think of it by yourself, but do you have any discussion partner? Oh, yeah. A lot of group text messages.

I have friends that all call. I'm like, hey, do you mind if I record this conversation? Because I'm trying to think through things. I'm lucky in that, one, I'm Irish American, so I'm very extroverted and very social. And two, I have a lot of individuals that are more intelligent than I that are just as curious that I can use to riff with or bounce ideas off of, or just ask questions of to see if I'm thinking about, or if I'm missing something in my analysis slash thesis,

or if I'm thinking about things in a relatively correct, at least directionally way. Yeah, makes sense. And yeah. So by the way, I think the time is running up and this is the last question. And so since, you know, Grasp is a platform where people share what they're reading, learning, and the highlights, and sometimes in quotes, inspiring quotes, meaning, you know, we see that as a digital legacy. So people are sharing the digital legacy. And we want to know

what kind of legacy or impact do you want to leave behind for future or others? It's a heavy question. No, I mean, I think it's a heavy question, but it's a simple answer. Like, I want to be known as someone that was kind, that treated individuals with respect, loving, you know, God willing, loving father, loving son, loving friend, like someone that radiated kindness, and showed up for individuals when they needed him there. Because that's what life is, right? Like, I just want to

be known as kind, and as a good person. I don't need any trophies. I don't want any laurels or anything like that. Like, just be kind. That's what it comes down to. So it's a simple answer to a heavy question. But I think, again, a lot of life's answers are pretty simple. We get in our own way. And we trip over ourselves trying to chase the Rolex or the Lamborghini when all you really need is, you know, a kitchen table and a nice home cooked meal with your family.

Yeah, totally. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Again, yeah. Thank you so much for taking time. And we really learned from your insights and experience and enjoy the conversation. Thank you so much. I loved it. And I'm excited to see this live.

Share This Audio Transcript & Summary 📚

Unlock the Power of Words in a Digital Age: Writing, AI & Startups by Thomas White

00:00

43:21