Dru's Notes

Calcium makes bones stronger only once they carry weight, and what you learn builds a skill only once you try to use it. Jim Koch had three Harvard degrees and had never sold anything until twenty bars a day taught him how to sell.

Show Notes

Calcium makes bones stronger only once they carry weight, and what you learn builds a skill only once you try to use it. Jim Koch had three Harvard degrees and had never sold anything until twenty bars a day taught him how to sell.

Featuring: Jim Koch, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Watch on YouTube

Read the full post

Brought to you by:

Trends.vc: Discover new markets and opportunities. https://trends.vc/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=sponsor

HeadsUp: Know when your competitors move. Before your customers do. https://headsup.bot

Multi: Turn any content into a YouTube video. https://makemulti.com

Chapters:

(00:00) Goethe on knowing versus doing
(00:09) Calcium and a bone that carries weight
(00:20) Carbs, protein and books
(00:33) Jim Koch and the Boston distributors
(01:01) What you learn builds a skill

Where to find Dru:

Essays: https://druriley.com/
X: https://x.com/DruRly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dru-notes
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/drus-notes/id1888795427
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3lFHqgKxuvEHmdiEUfYShG

Subscribe to Dru's Notes for a new episode every day.

Creators and Guests

Host
Dru Riley
Founder of Trends.vc
JK
Guest
Jim Koch
Featured in Dru's Notes: You've Read Enough. It's Time to Start Using It..
JG
Guest
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Featured in Dru's Notes: You've Read Enough. It's Time to Start Using It..

What is Dru's Notes?

One mental model each day in a few minutes. Habits, business, building products and thinking clearly. From Dru Riley, founder of Trends.vc.

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I was listening to a health podcast when I heard that calcium makes bones stronger once they carry weight.

The link between learning and doing came to mind: what you learn builds a skill only once you try to use it.

Carbs pack extra fuel into a muscle once exercise drains it.

Protein builds muscle after training tears the muscle.

Books, podcasts and classes are like calcium, carbs and protein. Each one needs to be paired with something else to work.

All beer distributors in Boston turned down Jim Koch when he started Samuel Adams in 1984.

So each morning he filled his briefcase with ice packs and six beers then walked into bars to pour samples.

He had three Harvard degrees and had never sold anything. 20 bars a day taught him how to sell. One bar at a time, Samuel Adams grew into a $3 billion company.

What you learn builds a skill once you try to use it.

What could you attempt before reading another page about it?