What I'm Up To
​Volume 101

Hey friends,
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Here’s what I’ve been up to since Vol. 100…
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1. November Happenings
​A quick reminder: I love it when readers hit reply and let me know what they're up to. Please consider it an open invitation!
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We had a full November. Kiki is settling into her new home with us. Taco has been a tolerant teacher and occasional playmate. Puppy energy is a lot. Like maybe there is a triple-expresso in her kibble a lot… Wendy hired a trainer to help and found a great doggy day care. They handle pickup and drop-off, so they are officially “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” IYKYK

I've had a great year of fantasy football. My team stinks, but I've managed to join my friends for lunch many Sunday afternoons to watch the opening games. I'd prefer a winning team, but hanging out with old friends is really the point.
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Our friends, April and Val, introduced us to Bill’s Oyster Bar downtown. They have a great happy hour with cheap cocktails and fantastic food. Next time you’re downtown, it’s worth a visit.
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For work, my new book, Rookie Real Estate Agent, sold 10,000 copies in the first 10 weeks. I asked our publisher to put it in perspective. He shared that of the ~11,000 business books published in 2025, only 60 have sold more than ten thousand copies. And only 15 since our pub date. Not to brag, but... okay, totally bragging. We also won a Gold Medal for the best nonfiction book from the Nonfiction Authors Association. Huzzah!
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We also hosted our first-ever The ONE Thing Summit. A handful of friends delivered some world-class keynotes, and we hosted 16 breakouts over two days. We had attendees from five continents. The feedback has been great. Can’t wait to do it again next year!

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Wendy and I got to see Ryan Holiday at a live podcast for the Nathan Barry Podcast. When asked how he juggles owning multiple businesses, he replied that “everything else must be in service of his writing.” It was a great conversation.
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We decided to divide and conquer the family for Turkey Day. Wendy and Edward stayed in Austin to keep an eye on Kiki and celebrate with Wendy’s mom and sister. Gus and I flew to Memphis for my family gathering(s). My cousin hosted at her cabin overlooking the Mississippi River. And about 50 of us (dad’s side of the family) shared our blessings and gorged on smoked meats and pie the way the Pilgrims intended. As a bonus, my cousin Mike Allen’s family (mom’s side) joined us. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and remembered to count your blessings.
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​2. What I’m Reading
​It seems like everyone I know has read The Science of Scaling by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. So read it during my quiet weekend after the Summit. “You don’t get what you want. You get what you are.” Hardy does a good job of reframing goal-setting, coaching readers to set “impossible” goals that change our approach, and to use short deadlines to increase our focus. My main takeaway was around raising the floor – how can we increase our results from an average day. ​
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Next, I lost myself in The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. It’s a hopeful, happy book about inclusion and belonging. Humanity is so weird. If we’re not laughing, we’re crying or running for our lives because monsters are trying to eat us. And they don’t even have to be real monsters. They could be the ones we make up in our heads. Don’t you think that’s weird?”
“I suppose. But I’d rather be that way than the alternative.”
“Which is?”
“Not feeling anything at all.”
​Thanks for gifting me a great read, Carly! ​
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​Finally, I picked up The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs. It’s a modern update to the classic How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. Here’s the main takeaway: Read what gives you delight—at least most of the time—and do so without shame. And even if you are that rare sort of person who is delighted chiefly by what some people call Great Books, don’t make them your steady intellectual diet, any more than you would eat at the most elegant of restaurants every day. It would be too much. Great books are great in part because of what they ask of their readers: they are not readily encountered, easily assessed. AMEN! Sometimes you want filet mignon, sometimes you want a really good taco. Both have their place.
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The book also sent me down memory lane. When I was an editorial assistant to Robert Kaplan at HarperCollins, he published Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major’’s The New Lifetime Reading Plan. The authors were very much in the “only read great books” camp. For weeks, our team debated the choices ad nauseum at happy hours. I’ve never been snobbish. I think some of the classics are part of our cultural literacy. I also think we should read what fills us up.
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​3. What I’m Watching
​Downton Abbey (Peacock) is now Wendy’s favorite show of all time. We watched seasons 4 and 5, often while sipping a tiny glass of Port.
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I also watched a couple of movies. Caught Stealing (Netflix) with Austin Butler was a good romp. After all the Downton Abbey melodrama, I needed some explosions. Wendy agreed to see Predator: Badlands (RottenTomatoes) in the theater with me. Simple premise, great action, perfect popcorn movie. And a nice turn by Elle Fanning doesn’t hurt.
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That’s it for this month. Please reply back and let me know what you’re up to! This issue will hit on December 24. Merry Christmas to all my friends who celebrate!

Be well, do good deeds, and eat tacos!
Jay

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