The Profile

At age 13, Graham Weaver’s parents had recently divorced when he stumbled upon a self-help classic: Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich.’ “Because my home life was unsettling, I was really looking for something to grab onto,” Weaver told The Profile.

Good morning, friends! Last week, I shared my interview with Laura Dekker, the youngest person to sail solo around the world. I was surprised at the number of responses I received to this interview. I had only recently learned of Dekker, but it seemed like many of The Profile readers had followed her journey to sailing the globe in 2010.

When Laura Dekker was 13 years old, she decided to do something fun for Spring Break without telling her parents. Dekker decided to sail from Holland to England by herself. “I left in the morning when my dad was working, and I made sure that I was far out at sea by the time he got back home,” she told The Profile in an interview. When Dekker arrived in England, she was greeted by police who put her in handcuffs and drove her to London.

Good morning, friends! Every time I have the nerve to make plans, things go dramatically different. Last weekend, I wrote about how excited I was to watch the Thanksgiving Parade with our 2-year-old daughter in person, but that didn’t quite turn out the way I planned. On Nov. 22, my husband, daughter, and I welcomed our son Leo three-and-a-half weeks early.

Good morning, friends! As you know, we recently moved back to New York City, and I’m really looking forward to attending this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. This is because 1) I love parades; and 2) I was once in The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade as a malt shop clown. You read that right. The year was 2015, I was 24, and I had lived in New York for only a year when my friend asked me if I’d want to join her as a volunteer at the parade.

Good morning, friends! I recently watched Graham Weaver’s Stanford talk, “How to Live an Asymmetric Life,” and it’s excellent. In it, he shares four ways to achieve asymmetry in your life, which he adapted from asymmetric investing — achieving the biggest possible outcome relative to your risk. One of those ways was particularly interesting to me. He shows the following chart, and says: This chart shows our lives, and this is what happens.

Good morning, friends! This week, I published an interview with NFL icon JJ Watt. Since he retired from the NFL at the end of 2022, he’s been dabbling in sports analysis, business, and entertainment. I found our conversation fascinating mainly because Watt was very candid about how he’s at a crossroads in his life. He has the ultimate freedom to do anything, but that freedom can be a double-edged sword. It reminded me that early success can be extraordinary and crippling.

On Dec. 27, 2022, JJ Watt, one of the one of the NFL's most well-respected defensive stars, sent the tweet that would mark the end of one chapter and signal the beginning of another. At age 33, Watt announced he would retire from the NFL after 12 seasons. Even though football has been the dominant focus for the majority of Watt’s life, he has made a name for himself outside of the game.

Good morning, friends! I recently interviewed Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich. I really enjoyed our conversation, and he said many insightful things that you can apply to your own life. But there was one particularly interesting concept that I’m thinking about implementing myself.

As the founder of Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread, Ron Shaich is often credited for pioneering "fast-casual dining,” a $100 billion–plus segment of the food industry. And it all started with a cookie store. In 1980, Shaich opened a 400-square-foot cookie store where he learned the fundamentals of running a business and fell in love with entrepreneurship. “All I can tell you is for a kid from New Jersey who can't dance or sing, it was the most creative thing I ever did in my life.