For years, I've been connecting with interesting people and documenting insights that might help my clients and myself. What was once private is now (mostly) public.

People often ask: "How do you know all these people?" and "How do you connect these (re: random) ideas?" The answer is simple: consistent relationship cultivation and thoughtful note taking. My north star is trusting my instincts, my maps are the constellations in these reflections.

Find my Personal Archive on CultishCreative.com, watch me build a better Personal Network on the Cultish Creative YouTube channel, listen to Just Press Record on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and follow me on social media (LinkedIn and X).

You can also check out my work as a financial advisor/planner at Sunpointe, in collaboration with Epsilon Theory (at Perscient), and on our open-sourced investment education channel Excess Returns. You can listen to Epsilon Theory on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and Excess Returns on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

I'm a busy guy - but hey, this approach to multidisciplinary networking has helped dozens of clients, colleagues, and friends strengthen their networks and unlock new opportunities. While you're here, feel free to:

- Steal these ideas directly 
- Hire me to implement them with you
- Create your own combination that works for you

I can't promise you'll learn FROM me, but I guarantee you can learn something WITH me. Let's go. Count it off: 1-2-3-4!

Introducing… Grant Williams!

Do you know Grant Williams? He's an author and podcaster about the financial world who's moved from being inside the business for decades to operating on its fringes - which he calls "infinitely preferable" these days.

If not, allow me to introduce you. Grant creates "Things That Make You Go Hmm" and conducts remarkable interviews with figures like Tony Deden, always starting with questions he genuinely wants answers to rather than what he thinks his audience expects. I wanted to connect with him because he embodies something I value deeply: the courage to write authentically from curiosity rather than trying to please everyone.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Just Press Record YouTube channel (and this Cultish Creative Playlist). Listen and you'll hear Grant discuss everything from his love of Fulham FC to the difference between communities built on love versus shared values.

THREE: That's The Magic Number of Lessons

In the meantime, I wanted to pull THREE KEY LESSONS from my time with Grant Williams to share with you (and drop into my Personal Archive).

Read on and you'll find a quote with a lesson and a reflection you can Take to work with you, Bring home with you, and Leave behind with your legacy.

WORK: Write For Yourself, Trust Your Audience Will Follow

Key Concept: Grant's approach to content creation centers on authentic curiosity rather than audience pandering. By starting each piece with a genuine question he wants to explore for himself, he creates work that resonates because it comes from a place of real investigation. This self-directed approach actually builds a more loyal audience - people who trust that when Grant finds something interesting, they probably will too.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: I remember having a conversation with an old work colleague where he made a statement like, “Are you writing this for the Wall Street Journal or as an email to us?” And, he was kind of right, I was trying to structure some stuff together in an academic-yet-entertaining enough way where they’d think I was smart, but also so I would feel smart, and he was right to question it.

He was picking up on how it wasn't my voice. I was trying to figure something out but then frame it for others. Which is a great meta-skill that certain people possess. But, it also proved an indication (and invitation) for me to start figuring out how to write more like I talk, and not be so scared to think on the page a little.

Most people get caught up in creating in a format they see working for others. That’s fine. It can even take you places. But if you’re creating for sake of the creative habit, you’re really practicing spending time inside your own head, and hearing THAT voice so you can pick up on its words, turns of phrases, and awkward stumbles.

I know when I’m doing it right now. I like to think I can spot it in others too. Grant calling it out so clearly - that’s a big ol’ French chef’s kiss in my book.

Work question for you: What questions are you genuinely curious about in your field that you could explore publicly, regardless of whether you think others will find them immediately compelling?

LIFE: Create Flow States Where Nothing Else Matters

Key Concept: Grant describes the importance of having spaces in life where you can achieve complete presence and immersion. Whether it's watching Fulham FC with his dad or reading a good book, these moments of total engagement provide essential mental restoration. The key is recognizing and protecting these flow states rather than letting them get consumed by the constant connectivity of modern life.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: Part of the under-discussed magic of sport (barring cricket, which I don’t understand) is that the games are finite. You have a window of time, a window where you can get totally sucked in and lost, and then it ends and you go back to life.

If I stop and step back, and I really admit that the temporal reality of sports and books and movies and music and even a good meal is defined by the fact they start and stop… why wouldn't I seek that sub-structure everywhere else in life?

We want immersive flow states. Or, at least, I do. I love my writing focused time. I love my podcasts and dishes and musical drives in the car. But I love them because they’re fleeting. Maybe that’s my magic formula: super engaging + definitively fleeting.

If the best times can’t be all of the time, then it’s on us to make sure some of the time has the optionality to become the best times.

Life Question For You: What activity or environment consistently allows you to achieve that state where "nothing else matters," and how can you protect and prioritize that time?

LEGACY: Trust Your Gut About When Enough Is Enough

Key Concept: Grant demonstrates the wisdom of trusting your instincts about natural endpoints and completion. Rather than forcing conversations or content to continue beyond their organic conclusion, he recognizes when he's gotten what he came for and stops. This intuitive approach to boundaries creates better work and builds trust with an audience that appreciates authentic rather than manufactured experiences.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: Grant’s one of my favorite podcast hosts. Most of my people probably know him for the finance stuff. But, I have a pet theory that if you listen to him talk to Roger Mitchell and friends on Are You Not Entertained - where the topic is sport - you’ll better understand his entire approach (and my appreciation).

Grant’s instincts include knowing how to laugh, knowing how to give space, and knowing how to bring ideas to closes. Honestly, it’s just good conversation skills. But that’s what makes him so engaging and his audience so appreciative of what he does.

When you don’t question how he’s working a conversation, you don’t think about there being any rules in play. It's like that old saying about how a well-refereed game is one where you don’t find yourself thinking about the refs until the final whistle blows and you realize “It’s like I didn’t even know they were there.”

You have to do it for the love of doing it. You have to be willing to lose yourself in the moment. You have to be willing to remember that the moment will end, and the end is what gives the entire moment its very meaning.

Legacy question for you: In what areas of your life could you better trust your gut about when you've accomplished what you set out to do, rather than pushing beyond the natural endpoint?

BEFORE YOU GO: Be sure to…

• Connect with Grant Williams at Grant-Williams.com and sign up for all his stuff

• Check out "Things That Make You Go Hmm" for his monthly financial insights

• Follow him on Twitter @TTMYGH (though he admits he's not on there much anymore) and listen to Are You Not Entertained with previous JPR guest - the great Roger Mitchell

• Take a moment to reflect on all these ideas!

You have a Personal Network and a Personal Archive just waiting for you to build them up stronger. Look at your work, look at your life, and look at your legacy - and then, start small in each category. Today it's one person and one reflection. Tomorrow? Who knows what connections you'll create.

Last thing: Don't forget to click reply and tell me who you're adding to your network and why! Plus, if you already have your own Personal Archive too, let me know, I'm creating a database.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE:

My interview with just Grant on his life and career is here -

and I have to put the song here, I can’t help it -