Riley Lamont
Weekly(ish) riffs about life, business, and the world.
How to be useful (winning the game of life)
Be Useful I had a tweet a few weeks ago that said something like: If I was in highschool, I’d learn a skill that’s useful to rich people (social media marketing, sales, connections, event planning etc), then go work at a golf course, tennis club, hotel valet etc. Get good enough at the skill where you’d be confident asking rich people if they want you help, then keep a few business cards on you. You basically guarantee success, as you’re skyrocketing your likelihood of right place, right...
Why AI generated music is a good thing
I will use music to illustrate my point here, but this applies to every form of creative output. Including business. For the past 5 years or so, a primary indication of “good” music has been if it sounds “real” Think of the emergence of indie rock, shoegaze, pop rap - The big shift was that teenagers could produce music that sounded similar to music recorded in a studio 10 years ago, from their bedrooms. This completely levelled the playing field. Distribution became the new important thing....
Don't be a sled dog without a sled to pull.
I watched Jordan Peterson's Maps of Meaning lecture series a few years ago. It was really pivotal for me at the time. I know he’s a very controversial figure these days, and it is disappointing to see how the last few years have been, but his early work stands the test of time and is truly some of the best “self development” (hate that term) you could get for a College aged kid. He also taught it at the University of Toronto, which was about 10 minutes down the road from my apartment at the...
How to become smarter than 99% of the population (in 12 months)
Now, by "smarter," let's clarify what I DON'T mean I DON'T mean IQ. Quite frankly I don't think we have the least bit of understanding of how IQ measures work. Too many multi-dimensional qualities that go into someone having true practically high IQ. Tests don't mean shit. (Also, the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the highest IQ on the planet declared his faith. Sorry, atheists.) I DON'T mean knowledge. Knowledge isn't understanding. That's a cliche old as time. I don't even think...
How to guarantee success in 2025:
I swear it wasn't 2 months since my last newsletter. Whoops. No fluff today. Here's how to actually guarantee success in 2025: Walk through this thought exercise: Would you rather have a 100% chance of making $10,000,000 over the next 10 years... Or a 20% chance of making $1,000,000 in the next 10 weeks? Seriously, answer the question truthfully. If your answer is the second option, that's awesome. You're a risk taker, you're hungry, you value speed and action. For the sake of this email,...
why won't you stop lying to yourself?
A few weeks ago, I packed my suitcase and moved onto my brother Jake's couch. You know Jake, he runs Irrational Optimism. The purpose of the move was twofold: 1) To hyperscale IO to where it needs to be. My marketing brains lights up whenever I find a truly bulletproof offer that I know could crush it. I've never come across something better than what's inside IO. 2) To get over my biggest fear. My biggest fear was not working hard enough. No matter how many times I read Deep Work...
learning to like the taste of your own blood
Chewing glass. I'm not sure if it's a real term or if I came up with it. I probably heard it from someone's dad at some point. It's how I explained what this past month felt like to my friends today. Last email was about how hard my month was. Naturally, that means every single fibre in my body wants to make this a really happy upbeat the world is great I AM HAPPY one. But, in pursuit of making these emails some of the most vulnerable writing you read during your time spent on that soul...
failure is impossible (here's why):
Missed you. This past month, any opportunity I had to be stable, comfortable, at ease, was ripped from me. Thank God. Now, full transparency - I am not the guy who's writing you want to read if your goal is to feel motivated. I am not going to sit here and go all Jocko Willink "RAH RAH I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE HARDSHIP" on you. No shot. Gratitude journalling never worked for me. Trying to find 3 things I was grateful for when you've got nothing good to feel is a humiliation ritual to yourself....
If you feel behind on AI, read this:
I am not in the tech world in the slightest. I can't write a single line of code, I have no idea what Python does, and my computer monitor is still horizontal. This, fortunately, has nothing to do with my access to the latest tech. When I first got started in the business world, I was completely alone (like most were). I felt like an outcast - everyone was using crazy lingo and casually throwing around numbers I didn't even think we're possible (they are). I had no one to ask "hey man,...
how do you *know* that you know what you know?
The past few emails have been fairly coherent and put together. So let's ruin that today. I'm getting a double-edged sword tattooed soon. I genuinely say the term every single day. It's not a great thing -- Sometimes I wish I could be more convicted in what I say. But as an overthinker, everything is truly a double-edged sword. I can never just do. Wake up yesterday, in a deep rut. Remember I have free will and a bit of cash and can just book a flight to somewhere cheap in LatAm. Maybe I'll...
Weekly(ish) riffs about life, business, and the world.