A Guide to Building Your Knowledge Over Time
How to improve your daily routine, optimize your resources and get smarter without drastic changes (or cramming)
Written By Nick Tommasini
An Introduction
For most of us, the transition into becoming a University student involves learning how to become an adult, make new friends, cook edible meals, refine our study habits for more challenging classes, find a career path that interests us, and take steps towards building that career. This overwhelming shift over the course of four years can make it difficult to change our daily habits to fulfill any one of those major goals. However, it’s possible to make small changes and effectively use some great resources — like newsletters, podcasts and books — to become much smarter without upending your daily life or distracting you from any of those worthy goals. In fact, making these small changes is likely to bring you closer to those goals without you even realizing it.
There are countless lists proclaiming the “best” resources out there, but very few that focus on how you can make the most of these resources as part of your daily routine. That’s what we’ll be discussing today: how to build your knowledge and translate otherwise passive activities into real learning that compounds over time.
Disclaimer: While we believe all of the below tips are useful, implementing all of our suggestions into your routine at the same time is by no means a necessary step. We instead encourage you to find those resources you find most interesting and integrate our suggestions into your routine as applicable.
Newsletters
How to make the most of them
Types of Newsletters
Newsletters can be distinguished by two primary characteristics: topic and publication frequency. There are niche newsletters for any imaginable topic you could be interested in, both within business and finance and well beyond it, as well as newsletters that focus on more general news updates. Don’t just sign up for newsletters that you think will be “useful”; find ones that genuinely interest you and will fit within your schedule.
Quality > Quantity
Newsletters are an excellent way to distill the most important information happening in the world around you into a single source — no more scrolling through the Financial Times’ frontpage or Bloomberg’s news sections. However, you don’t want to be too ambitious with your newsletter reading. We recommend between 1–3 daily newsletters, including 1 general newsletter, and between 2–6 weekly / infrequently released newsletters of whichever topics appeal to you. There is a paradox of choice: subscribing to too many newsletters will be overwhelming, and you might end up reading none despite your initial goal of reading all.
Organize Your Inbox
Don’t throw your newsletters into your main inbox folder. Instead, create a folder (or several, organized by topic or publication frequency) for your newsletters. Then, create rules for each newsletter, so they arrive in the correct folder where you can systematically go through each every morning. Here are some guides on how to do this in the most common email clients: Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail.
Be Smart
Often, newsletters will link to longer stories breaking down the news. If a news article sounds cool but you don’t have time to read it now, use Pocket to save it for later. Additionally, if the email contains something you really want to remember for later, flag it so you can quickly find it when preparing for an interview. Alternatively, create another folder dedicated to newsletters with information you want to remember for interviews, and manually move newsletters there as necessary.
Not Reading? Not Enjoying? Unsubscribe.
Don’t let newsletters you’re not enjoying fill up your inbox or take up valuable time in your day. Unsubscribe to newsletters by scrolling to the bottom of the email and hitting ‘Unsubscribe.’
Our recommendations
Our Daily General Business Newsletter Pick: Morning Brew
Morning Brew is a quick 5-minute newsletter for young professionals and students running Monday — Saturday that gives you everything you need to know to start your day. It’s also entertaining and full of puns and pop culture references while still being short and sweet.
Some good alternatives:
- DealBook, from the New York Times.
- FirstFT, from the Financial Times.
- 5 Things to Start Your Day, from Bloomberg.
Our Daily Finance & Markets Newsletter Pick: Money Stuff
Money Stuff is a highly entertaining, hugely informative 15-minute read written by Bloomberg’s Matt Levine (a former Goldman banker). Covering several important market stories every day, Matt breaks down every concept in layman’s terms and regularly pokes fun at the most interesting (and weirdest) stories in business today, including WeWork and Wirecard.
Other great finance, markets and investing newsletters:
- Due Diligence (daily), from the Financial Times
- Graham & Doddsville (quarterly), from the Columbia Business School
Our Weekly Strategy Newsletter Pick: Stratechery
Stratechery, written by leading technology strategist Ben Thompson, is widely considered the best tech strategy newsletter. The internet has flipped economics on its head, making abundancy the most important element of the digital economy (rather than scarcity, a hallmark of the traditional analog world). Ben’s weekly unpacking of major news events is crucial to understanding how every big tech company works. We also recommend purchasing an annual subscription for his Daily Updates if you can.
Other great strategy and tech newsletters:
- Benedict’s Newsletter (weekly), from Benedict Evans
- A Balanced View (infrequently published), from Patrick
- Exponential View (weekly), from Azeem Azhar
Podcasts
How to make the most of them
Morning Routine
Podcasts require more concentration than listening to music, but less than reading a book or newsletter. That makes them ideal for listening when doing menial tasks, like getting ready. Putting in your Airpods (or putting your phone on next to the shower) while you get ready for the day and listening to a 15–30 minute podcast helps you use that otherwise half-asleep time more effectively.
Notifications On
Whatever podcast client you use, it’s easy to slip out of the habit of listening to podcasts if you’re busy on a particular day or throughout the week. Turn on notifications for non-daily or infrequently published podcasts so that you get reminded whenever a new episode comes out.
Notes
If you hear something you really want to take down, either take notes with something like Notion or use a dedicated app with dictating functionality on your phone or smartwatch so you can speak into the app. We recommend something like Bear for the iPhone.
Our recommendations
Our Daily News Podcast Pick: The Daily
The Daily is hosted by the New York Times’ Michael Barbaro and features a 20–30 minute deep dive into topical stories like politics, the pandemic, and business. A solid way to open your morning.
Some other great daily (or semi-weekly) news podcasts:
- Business Casual, by Morning Brew
- Planet Money, by NPR
- Pivot, hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway
Our Technology Podcast Pick: Acquired
Acquired, hosted by Pioneer Square Labs’ Ben Gilbert and Wave Capital’s David Rosenthal, is a great monthly podcast on the world’s most important technology companies and the stories behind them. Featuring deep dives on the most relevant tech giants around the world. Also has a thriving community discussing each episode on Slack.
Some other great technology business podcasts:
- The a16z Podcast, hosted by partners at Andreessen Horowitz
- Masters of Scale, hosted by Reid Hoffman
- Exponent, hosted by Ben Thompson (of Stratechery) and James Allworth
Our Business Leadership Podcast Pick: Exponential View
The Exponential View podcast, hosted by Azeem Azhar, is a complement to the newsletter of the same name (see our Newsletters section) and covers everything from responsible management to the innovation ecosystem and decentralization, spanning topics across technology, business and society.
Some other great leadership podcasts:
- HBR Ideacast, hosted by faculty at the Harvard Business School
- Invest Like the Best, hosted by Patrick O’Shaughnessy
- KindredCast, hosted by partners at LionTree
Books
How to make the most of them
Consistency > Binging
Reading should be both informative and entertaining. Especially when it comes to non-fiction, don’t try to rush through books to get to the next — you can’t synthesize information and remember it effectively if you’re not taking time to parse and reflect on what you’re reading now. Stick to a consistent reading schedule when possible (for example, reading every night or other night), rather than taking large breaks and then bingeing. This will help you build up reading habits. You can help this process by setting aside time in your schedule to focus on reading.
Not a Reader? Audiobooks are the Answer.
If you’re not into reading page by page, or just prefer listening and multi-tasking to dedicated reading time, use an audiobook service like Audible to get all of your information in the same way. We recommend getting an Audible subscription if you’re into this to save money on books. Check out our Podcast tips above for more on this.
Book Clubs & Discussion
The absolute best way to think critically about a book you’ve read or are currently reading is through discussion with others, challenging both your own viewpoints and those of the authors. Whether formally or informally, chat with your friends about what you’re reading, and work through books you’re both interested in at the same time. We also recommend formal book clubs to get into the habit, like the Ivey Book Club or the Burgundy Book Club.
Be Smart
If you want to synthesize your information into knowledge, taking notes is a great way to build a bank of knowledge that accumulates with time. We recommend using a customizable platform like Notion to organize your ideas. Alternatively, if you’re a Kindle user, we highly recommend Readwise to save, organize and return to the most important highlights you’ve made.
Our recommendations
Our Business Leadership & Personal Improvement Pick: Principles by Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio, of Bridgewater fame, is a legend in the hedge fund community. His Principles is a guide to using “radical transparency” to live a more productive, fulfilling life, and to develop effective business leadership.
Other great personal improvement and business leadership books:
- The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
- Atomic Habits, by James Clear
Our Smart Investing Pick: The Little Book That Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt
Joel Greenblatt’s The Little Book That Beats the Market is a fantastic, easily-applied set of instructions for investors to outperform the popular market averages by simply and systematically applying a formula that seeks out good businesses when they are available at bargain prices.
Other great value investing books:
- Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks
- The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G. Hagstrom
Our Business Strategy Pick: Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn
Competition Demystified is a fascinating, simplified approach to business strategy that puts the focus of a business’ strategic decisions on its interactions with competitors. More than just a textbook, Competition Demystified is easily readable with several in-depth case studies.
Other great business strategy books:
- The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clay Christensen
- Swipe to Unlock by Neel Mehta, Aditya Agashe and Parth Detroja
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee A. Mauhborgne
Our Business Story Pick: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
Bad Blood is the incredible and absurd story of Elizabeth Holmes’ blood testing Silicon Valley startup Theranos, which achieved a $9 billion valuation in 2014. The only issue is that the testing technology didn’t work, and the entire company was built on a massive-scale fraud.
Other great business stories you should read:
- Red Notice by Bill Browder
- Billion Dollar Whale by Bradley Hope and Tom Wright
- The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
In Conclusion
We hope that you found our insights and recommendations into some of the most common resources helpful. There are of course hundreds of additional resources that can not only help you build knowledge but also change your life, and this list is just a start. We hope you’ll continue to find more of your own and share them with your friends and peers.
The resources above are also not of uniform complexity or challenge. If you find yourself uncertain of any concepts, we highly recommend Investopedia, Corporate Finance Institute and Breaking Into Wall Street’s YouTube Channel to clarify — or reach out to any of us!
Finally, there are fantastic newsletters, podcasts and books not related at all to business and finance. Make sure you find time to both enjoy and learn from resources outside of these fields and remember to give yourself time away from learning to enjoy all of the best parts of University.
