The Twenty Percenter
Weekly advice for top business professionals.
There’s a Lot Between All and Nothing (2 Min Read) | Vol. 188 January 30, 2026 “The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step.” – Brandon Sanderson. There’s a Lot Between All and Nothing When I was a grad student …
One Room. One Book. Radical Simplicity (3 Min Read) | Vol. 187 January 23, 2026 “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry One Room. One Book. Radical Simplicity In April, I’m taking my first trip to Japan. While …
Switch Off Your Should-O-Meter (1 Min Read) | Vol. 186 January 16, 2026 “‘Should,’ is a shame-based statement that creates stress and anxiety in your body and mind.” – Suzanna Newsonen Switch Off Your Should-O-Meter Earlier this month, I went for a walk with my friend Juanpablo. He’s in a career transition and shared how …
Sliding Doors, Time Blocking, and the Battle for Your Life (2 Min Read) | Vol. 185 January 9, 2026 Quick Note: Today’s email is about the battle for your calendar. If that battle feels real to you, the First Domino is designed to help. Doors are open until January 14th, with just a few spots …
The Only Question You Need to Answer for 2026 (2 Min Read) | Vol. 184 Before you set another goal for 2026, there’s something you need to know. Most of what fills our calendars won’t matter three years from now. But ONE thing will. On January 6th, I’ll show you how to find it – …
Permission to Pause (2 Min Read) | Vol. 183 December 26, 2025 “The enemy echoes what we’re afraid of until fear feels familiar and peace feels peculiar.” — Jeremy Johnson Permission to Pause My friend Jen Davis led one of the largest coaching companies in real estate. She was great at it. Then, in June …
Year-End Inventory & Reflection (3 Min Read) | Vol. 182 December 19, 2025 “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker Year-End Inventory & Reflection For the past three years, I’ve shared year-end reflection questions here.* But I’ve skipped an important step. If you …
Show Them You Know Them (3 Min Read) | Vol. 181 December 12, 2025 “The way that we express love to people through gift-giving is by reflecting who they are back to them, and also by showing them who we see them as.” – Helen Rosner Show Them You Know Them In a LinkedIn post, …
I’m Not in Sales ( Min Read) | Vol. 180 December 05, 2025 “You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” – Andrew Murphy I’m Not in Sales Most of my adult life, I’ve told people, “I’m not good at sales.” That’s not actually true. While I’m not confident or comfortable with sales, …
Marketing Casserole (2 Min Read) | Vol. 179 November 28, 2025 “Food should be fun. Food should be happy.” – Dorcas Reilly Marketing Casserole Happy Thanksgiving! If you ate Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, you probably tasted Dorcas Reilly’s legacy. Her story also happens to be a great recipe for timeless marketing. In 1955, Reilly worked as …