Turning Three

24 Letters launched on this day three years ago. It was a project that came to be as I began transitioning into parenting leave with the birth of our second child. I remember working on ideas while at the hospital, waiting for my son's debut, and struggling to find the right name for the site. I had a few books with me, and I was taken with a quote in one of them by the Stoic philosopher Athenodorus Cananities:

Whenever you feel yourself getting angry, Caesar, don't say or do anything until you've repeated the 24 letters of the alphabet to yourself.

Athenodorus was an advisor and teacher to Caesar Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. That's a pretty big job, and by many accounts, the first Caesar's reign was one of prosperity and expansion for the Empire.

The advice not to immediately react to what's happening is timeless and as practical for us as it was for one of history's most important and powerful men. I wanted to be reminded of and inspired by this quote every time I wrote something that would appear on this site. Thus, the site got it’s name.

The desire to help others develop the strength of pause, self-reflection, and self-understanding has grown and continues to shape the work I do. Last year, noting a shift to broaden my focus to include journaling, I wrote:

There's so much to journaling beyond putting pen, whether digital or analog, to the page. It's about mindset, what you're reading, who inspires you, what your inputs are, and where you're trying to go. It's also about your past and how the more you can understand that, the better your future will often be. It's as much about the mistakes we make as the successes we have.

In short, it's an analog for living.

Creatively, I've continued to write here and on Threads while also launching The Journaling Guide newsletter and planning a few new ideas that fit into what I’m building. In 2024, I also fulfilled a longtime goal and guested on two episodes of the Basic AF Show, talking about the iPhone launch event and taking a deep dive into journaling. I’ve definitely got the podcasting bug, but know I don’t have the time to dive into my own show right now.

In late 2024 I returned to work, and that's been a significant shift and is why there's been less of me here since early November. I've gotten my legs under me at work, so I'll be writing more regularly.

I'll close this rambling little retrospective with a piece of advice that helped me get started. If you have an idea or a project that's important to you, start working on it now. Don't wait. It won’t be perfect, but it will grow into whatever it is meant to be and you will grow and develop right along with it.

As Voltaire wrote, "Perfect is the enemy of the good." Remember this as you set out on your journey.

Turning Two

Two years ago, I launched this site into the world. Last year, I shared some thoughts when discussing the transition I had made to a stay-at-home from the working world:

I quickly realized that I still had an overwhelming desire to be creative and find a new way to continue my favorite part of being in a leadership role, giving people the tools and ideas to develop, grow, and become stronger versions of themselves. That philosophy of empowerment is central to what I'm doing because I want to guide people to learn things that help improve their lives.

This remains a focus of what I'm trying to do here, particularly as some of my focus for action shifts towards helping people develop meaningful journaling practices.

There's so much to journaling beyond putting pen, whether digital or analog, to the page. It's about mindset, what you're reading, who inspires you, what your inputs are, and where you're trying to go. It's also about your past and how the more you can understand that, the better your future will often be. It's as much about the mistakes we make as the successes we have.


In short, it's an analog for living.

I'm thankful you're here, whether you are brand new to this site or have been with me since the beginning. This year, I want to make it less about me shouting into the Internet and more about you and us connecting in new ways. Let's make it happen.

Welcome to 24 Letters

Hey everyone, and welcome to 24 Letters. I’m excited to be launching this new project as we enter 2022, and I appreciate you stopping by!

It’s been years since I had a blog, and I’m thrilled to be back at it! I will write about topics that I have a passion for, including technology, learning, team building, communication, productivity, and development. I’ll be looking at these subjects through the lens of apps, books, streaming, the web, podcasts, and other creative media that can help make us better and keep us learning and growing. I’ll also share what I’ve learned and developed in my career as well. Of course, there will be plenty of general nerdery too!

The Title, 24 Letters, comes from a quote attributed to Athenodorus Cananites, a stoic philosopher who advised and taught Caesar Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. Athenodorus told Caesar the following:

Whenever you feel yourself get angry, Caesar, don’t say or do anything until you’ve repeated the 24 letters of the alphabet to yourself.

I found this quote in one of Ryan Holiday’s books or emails and see how much we all need to add time and space into our lives to think and reflect. I’ve found, particularly in the last half of 2021, that I was sorely lacking in this space. So, a goal in the new year is to practice this daily, and I’ll be writing more about how that goes in the coming months.

Right now, I’m a big fan of another quote attributed to Voltaire, which says, in part:

the best is the enemy of the good.

I’m taking that philosophy to get this site launched. Of course, I could tinker with the design, the font face, or any number of aspects forever, but I realize that I would never actually publish much of anything. So, with that in mind, here goes.

I welcome your feedback and thank you for taking this journey with me. Stay connected. I’m excited about the future!