#151 - Prof Mike's Profound Takeaways

Welcome to our second-to-last edition of the year and our final look back at 2025. Our previous December editions featured my -

• Top 3 Growth Takeaways

• Top 3 Productivity Takeaways, and

• Top 3 Money Takeaways

- and now, I’m giving the floor to Prof Mike for a few of his favorite lessons / reminders from the year that was.

Let’s take what we’ve learned in 2025 to reach new heights in 2026. Together.

PROF MIKE’S TAKEAWAYS FROM 2025 💡 

Before I get started, I want to thank Dan for all his hard work this year. Whether he’s curating or writing from scratch, his content always helps me remember things that would otherwise get lost in my swirling, cluttered mind.

My approach here will be similar, built around three sayings you’ve undoubtedly heard thousands of times over the course of your life. They may even qualify as cliches, which as a writer I’m supposed to avoid. But why? They’re popular for a reason. And you know what they say: if it ain’t broke…

Never mind.

1. Patience is a Virtue 💰 📈 🚀

I saw something the other day online that really resonated with me (though not enough to have liked or saved it 🤦‍♂️). It was a post about building wealth and said something along the lines of:

It’s more about a consistent crawl than a big leap.

This stood out to me for two reasons:

1) I’m someone who's sold good investments because they weren’t growing fast enough and held bad ones because of “about to explode,” “skyrocket,” “to the moon” nonsensical hype. Neither worked out well for me.

2) It aligns with a lot of what Dan’s talked about over the year, especially with regards to saving.

Sure, some people luck out and get rich overnight with this cryptocurrency or that stock, but what’s tried and true is that slow growth and consistent gains add up over time. In saving & investing, in building a company or a brand, and in becoming the person you aspire to be.

2: Think Before You Speak 💰 📈

My mom used to say this to me all the time, usually right after I’d embarrassed her by blurting something stupid or offensive in public. Essentially what she meant was, Consider other people’s feelings, but over time, as a teacher of writing and public speaking, the saying has taken on more complex meaning. It’s not just about *not* offending people; it’s the foundation for good communication in every way imaginable.

In any interaction where the stakes are high enough that you care about the outcome, always consider:

• Your Audience - Their background, knowledge, likes/dislikes, goals, fears, relationship to you, relationship to what you’re talking about, and anything else that might give you a persuasive advantage.
  

• Your Purpose - Not just the main thing that you want - the sale, the job, the contract, the grant, the connection, etc. - but other things, too: how you want to present yourself, how you want to make them feel, and more.

There are a lot of articles out there about workplace communication and leadership, many of which we’ve linked to and broken down in the past. They’ll analyze vocabulary and tone adjustments in the pursuit of motivating employees or building better culture, and they’re certainly worthwhile reminders, but in the end they all come back to the same fundamental point:

As a communicator, ask yourself “Who am I talking to, and what do I want?” Then tailor your language to fit your answers, and achieve your goals more often than not.

3: Embrace Change 💰 📈 🚀

As a teacher, I’m not fond of what AI is doing to my student’s work. (I can’t even call it that, because it’s no longer their work.) But as a human being with my eyes wide open, I am taking Dan’s advice to heart: if you don’t board now, you’ll miss the flight.

That doesn’t mean we all need to become solopreneurs with various streams of passive income, sending automated emails and systematizing our entire lives. But we can’t bury our heads in the sand. We need to stay informed, and we need a basic knowledge of how to utilize some of the most common tools.

I consider myself to be somewhat old-school - taking notes by hand and (gulp) reading physical books instead of off my phone - but at OTF’s urging, I’ve begun dabbling with LLMs for both personal and professional use. And I think Dan’s advice on how to start is exactly right: you don’t need a degree in computer science before you begin. Just experiment and figure out what works for you.

(So far, I like Perplexity. Haven’t gotten to the point of using their Comet browser that Dan’s been pushing, but baby steps…)

Looking back over these three takeaways, I’m noticing that patience, unintentionally, has become the common thread.

• Instead of “get-rich-quick” moves, look for slow, consistent gains.

• Instead of rushing to respond or saying the first thing that comes to your mind, slow down and think for more effective communication.

• Instead of hastily rejecting AI or feeling pressured to catch up to all these self-proclaimed tech experts on your feeds, take your time and learn at your own pace.

Which kind of brings us full circle: our lives so fast-paced, our minds swirling, we’re all so busy and in a rush to speak, learn, grow, build, achieve…the solution might simply be patience.

Before You Go!

Next week happens to be the 5th Tuesday of the month, which means a Bonus Edition. But instead of looking back, we’ll take a quick moment to look forward before the New Year arrives.

Thanks again for reading. We hope you all have a very Happy Holiday!

As always, see you next Tuesday 🤝 

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