Weekly Wisdom #337 - What kept going while I was away

Snow Crash, Lessons from 29, Growing on X & The Rule of 100

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Happy Monday!

Just got back from 2.5 weeks in New Zealand.

Last issue I wrote about the systems I set up before leaving. Content scheduled. Tasks organized. Things in place so I wouldn’t come back to a mess.

Here’s what actually happened: some of it worked, some of it didn’t.

The content kept publishing. The automated stuff ran fine. But the things that needed my judgment — responding to real questions, making decisions on what to build next — those just waited.

And honestly? That was the useful part.

Coming back and seeing what moved forward on its own vs. what stalled told me a lot about where my time actually matters.

There’s a quote I think about: “Plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

SEO is like this.

You write articles. For weeks, nothing happens. Then traffic starts showing up from a post you forgot you wrote. The compound effect is real, but it’s slow.

Most people bail before it kicks in.

​The War of Art talks about “turning pro.” Showing up every day regardless of how you feel.

I’ve been thinking about what that means for someone building on their own.

An amateur needs to be present for things to work. A professional builds things that work whether they’re there or not.

Not everything can be automated or systemized. But more can than you’d think.

And the only way to find out which parts are which is to step away and see what breaks.

What would keep going if you stepped away? What would stop?

Have a great week!

Graham

📚 Book Notes: Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson​

Sci-fi novel from 1992 that invented the term “Metaverse.”

You’d think it was written last year. Virtual world where people own property, run businesses, socialize. The whole thing.

I read it for the plot, which is fun on its own. But it’s also worth reading to see how far back these ideas go. Most of what people called “new” in 2021 was imagined thirty years earlier.

📖 Article: 29 Lessons from Year 29 — Graham Mann​

One of my older posts that still gets traffic.

I wrote it as a list of things I’d learned up to that point. What’s interesting is how many of them I didn’t really understand when I wrote them. The words were right but the experience wasn’t there yet.

A lot of compounding works this way. You plant the idea. It doesn’t click until years later.

From the Blog

📝 The Rule of 100 — 100 days of consistent effort puts you in the top 5%. The compound effect only works if you don’t quit early.

📝 How to Grow on X (Twitter) in 2026 — Another system that compounds. What’s actually working on X right now — replies, proof posts, community.

📣 Quote

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett

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