19/52: You can just plant things
#CapitalAtRisk
The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur.
The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.
“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow”
Proverb
Quercus robur
In July 2022 I planted my first Quercus robur (yeah, I had to Google that — it’s the latin name for the ‘English oak’).
Planting that first tree was inspired by a talk Rory Stewart gave at one of Kindred’s terrific ID8 events1. At that event there were all sorts of wonderful ideas to change the world, mostly tech, but Rory’s idea for a ‘world changing innovation’ was the English oak tree. He encouraged us to plant some and so, all inspired, I did.
Nudge, nudge
In the weeks and months after planting that first one I often thought, “I really ought to plant a few more…” but I never did.
It’s true that we can just do things, but sometimes we need a little nudge.
In November 2024 Tom started Drop Dead Generous with a mission to give $500 to 1,000 people all around the world to do generous things.
I applied for funding, said I would use the money to buy lots of English oak trees throughout 2025 and plant them around the countryside near where I live.
Tom and Drop Dead Generous agreed that this was a good and generous thing to do so they sent me $500 to get going.
Last week I was asked by Drop Dead Generous to share a voice message of what I’ve been up to with their $500 donation, and here’s the result, which they shared to Instagram earlier today…
You can just do things
I’d encourage you to do the same2.
It needn’t be $500 worth, but simply buy a pack of trees from the Woodland Trust, here, and off you go.
No permission needed3.
And, if you have another idea and the thing you want to do would benefit from $500, you can apply to get funded by Drop Dead Generous here.
In other news
🌐 I have revamped my website — check it out here. There’s a short ‘About me’ part and you can expand the toggles to read more and learn about my investment portfolio, some podcasts, press and books I’ve been on and in, as well as how I do my consulting work. Any & all feedback welcome.
💭 Sithan is running the next HDIT session on Thursday of this week at 6am (UK time). I’ve found these sessions to be hugely valuable — coming up with truly original, breakthrough thinking is hard — so if you’re keen to get involved you can sign up for updates here.
🏃♂️ I’m taking my running regime to a new level and have bought a weighted vest. To begin with I’ve been running around with 4kg in the front of the vest, below, but there’s another 4kg I can add. Any of you done similar? 🏋️♂️
More from me?
If you like my writing you can get more by buying my book, ‘Find your 9others’. It’s on Amazon here.
And if you’ve already read ‘Find your 9others’ please leave an Amazon review here.
Q&A
🆓 Free subscribers get a short preview and all free public posts.
💰 Paid subscribers can request a video call to ask me anything and talk about the things I don’t share anywhere else.
💰💰💰 Founding Members get all paid benefits plus you get to WhatsApp me unlimited questions for discussion, you get a one hour discussion session once a quarter plus a great lunch in London, on me.
Important: None of these posts are investment advice. If you are thinking about investing you should seek the advice of a suitably qualified independent advisor.
#CapitalAtRisk