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What I'm writing

• ​Reading “The Struggle” out loud — “The Struggle” is a concept popularized by Ben Horowitz, which describes the lonely, anxiety-filled journey of entrepreneurship.
• ​Notes from Growth Elevated's 2026 Ski + Tech Event — Here are my notes from a few very interesting sessions on improving personal health and longevity, using AI, and maximizing your board of directors as a CEO or Executive Director.
• ​Notes from How to Lie With Statistics — This book explains how numbers can be twisted to mislead, confuse, or persuade, often through biased samples, misleading averages, and deceptive visualizations. ​

What I'm learning

A good plan should prepare you to handle the uncertainty you will face. It doesn’t need to address every scenario in detail. Inspiration: James Clear​

What seems like instant success is often attributable to someone’s extended patience. Inspiration: Shane Parrish​

All behavior makes sense with enough information, but sometimes that information is hard to gather. Inspiration: Morgan Housel​

Don’t allow yourself to participate in an erosion of individual accountability. Be willing to raise your hand, take ownership, and see it through. Be the person who says, “I got this.” In a world of increasing automation and AI, personal agency is the human advantage. Inspiration: Robert Glazer​

What I’m working on

I’ve been publishing a ton of new content on Windfall.com, LegUpHealth.com, and GrowthElevated.com. It’s been a fun way to deepen my domain expertise and also help out my friends and partners. Here are links to a few recent articles if you’re interested:

• ​The Small Business Health Savings Account (HSA) Guide [LegUp Health]
• ​The Hidden Cost of Not Knowing Your Customer’s Wealth [Windfall]
• ​How High-Performing CEOs Get Better Feedback [Growth Elevated]

I know I need to be tinkering with AI. (It’s a huge part of my 2026 goals.) Reviewing Joel Gascoigne’s recent newsletter, along with my notes from Growth Elevated, only increased this conviction. Despite having a technical background, I feel behind. Every week, the pace of new models, tools, workflows, and ideas seems 10x faster than anyone can keep up with. But I’m energized by it. It’s rare to live through a technological platform shift as it happens. I’m choosing to tinker with AI this year with whatever time I can muster. Playing with the tools and the technology is the only way to develop the intuition to tell what’s real from what’s noise.

Someone worth paying attention to

I’ve known Bassam Salem for nearly 15 years. But like many long relationships, most of that time was spent orbiting the same rooms—not really sitting down to talk about the things that matter. That changed over the last year through Growth Elevated, where I’ve had the chance to spend real time with Bassam and see how he thinks, how he listens, and how deeply he cares about doing life well.

Bassam’s background spans entrepreneurship, leadership development, and community building, but what stands out most is his obsession with character. Not performative values. Not hustle culture. The quiet, durable stuff that holds up over decades. That focus is now coming together in two ways:

First, he’s building the Character Code Community, a space for people who want to live with intention, invest in real relationships, and play the long game in life and work.

Second, he’s writing a book that captures those lessons: CHARACTER CODE: Lessons on Life, Love, & the Long Game, targeted for launch on June 1, 2026.

If you believe success without character is a dead end, I’d strongly encourage you to follow what Bassam is building. You can learn more and sign up for updates here: https://bassamsalem.com/join/.

What I'm thinking about

What matters most is how you respond—not what happened.

Connect with me on X or LinkedIn.

-Rick Lindquist

P.S. One of the best parts of this newsletter is discussing ideas with readers. Let me know what you think. I read every reply. Click here for the web version.