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The Observe and Rapport Newsletter
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A weekly guide of my favorite books, articles, products, and lifestyle habits.
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April 4th, 2025 | by Kyle Brennan
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Thought of the Week
Why Attention Matters More Than Time
People love to say that time is our most valuable asset. But really, it’s not time that matters—it’s where we choose to spend it.
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Therefore, the real currency of life is neither time nor money, but attention.
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Where do you direct your focus? How are you actually spending your time budget?
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For too long, I thought I was being productive by constantly keeping up with the news. I’d read every political headline, listen to every analysis, and even engage in debates online. It left me drained, anxious, and oddly enough—less informed than I thought. I was chasing the illusion of being “in the know,” but I wasn’t actually learning anything useful. My energy was being siphoned away, little by little.
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Then I had a conversation with a friend who seemed to always be at ease. He was well-read, successful, and never seemed to be bogged down by the day’s latest drama.
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When I asked him his secret, he said, “I decided a long time ago to only pay attention to things that make me better or make me laugh.”
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That hit me hard. How many hours had I spent scrolling through things that only made me angry? I realized I was investing my attention in the wrong places. It wasn’t that politics didn’t matter—it’s that my relationship with it was unhealthy.
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I was giving my attention away to things that would never bear fruit.
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Now, I treat my attention like an investment portfolio. If something doesn’t add value—if it doesn’t make me smarter, healthier, or happier—I cut it out or drastically limit my exposure. I’d rather listen to a podcast that leaves me inspired than watch some Congressional rant that leaves me furious. I’d rather spend time writing or working out than watching TikToks about immigration policy.
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Your version of this might look different. For some people, politics is a high. Maybe it boosts your energy, inspires you to get involved, and adds a sense of purpose. If that’s you, fantastic. Keep on doing it. Just make sure it’s adding more than it’s taking away.
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Our attention is finite. So spend it on things that matter.
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What I'm Reading
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If you’ve ever sipped an ice-cold ginger ale while cruising at 35,000 feet, it’s easy to forget that human flight was once considered a pipe dream.
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Back in 1903, the idea of soaring through the sky like a bird seemed ridiculous—something humanity wouldn’t crack for at least another 50 years. But Wilbur and Orville Wright didn’t get the memo.
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I hate to admit it but I didn’t know much about the Wright brothers beyond the fact that they were credited for making aviation possible. Thankfully, David McCullough—the master of making history feel personal and riveting—changed that. In The Wright Brothers, he brilliantly captures how two humble, curious brothers from Dayton, Ohio, changed the world.
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What’s so inspiring about the Wright brothers isn’t that they were dreamers—they weren’t. They were meticulous craftsmen, blending art, science, and sheer mechanical genius. These guys didn’t set out to be pioneers. They were just two bicycle shop owners with a relentless curiosity, tinkering with flight the way some of us mess around with DIY projects on weekends—except their experiments involved flying contraptions and, occasionally, spectacular crashes.
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They didn’t have a master plan or a grand vision of changing the world. They just couldn’t stop chasing the question: “Can we actually do this?” Their obsession began with a toy helicopter powered by a stick and some rubber bands, sparking a lifelong fascination with human flight. They studied birds obsessively, realizing that nature already had the answer to their question.
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What makes this story timeless is the brothers' incredible perseverance. No matter how many crashes or setbacks they faced, they refused to give up. They weren’t fearless, but they weren’t afraid to fail—and that’s what made them legends. Reading their story, you can’t help but feel motivated to approach your own challenges with the same relentless curiosity.
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McCullough’s writing is rich with detail, and the book’s photos bring the story to life. It’s a reminder that human progress isn’t about grand ambition but a stubborn willingness to keep pushing forward—even when the world thinks you’re nuts.
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So next time your 700,000-pound airplane lands smoothly, take a second to appreciate how two ordinary men made it possible—out of sheer grit, curiosity, and just a bit of stubbornness.
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Rating: 4.9 / 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Article I'm Reading
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George Raveling is an American former college basketball player and coach. He played at Villanova University, and was the head coach at Washington State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Southern California. And if that weren’t enough, George owned the original typewritten draft of the “I Have a Dream” speech, which Martin Luther King Jr. handed him while he was working security at the March on Washington.
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In this article, author Ryan Holiday shares some of the wisdom imparted to him from someone he considers a mentor and a friend. Below are a few of my favorite quips from the legend of George Raveling:
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– You have two choices today. George told me that when he wakes up in the morning, as he puts his feet on the floor but before he stands up, he says to himself, “George, you’ve got two choices today. You can be happy or very happy. Which will it be?” (Voltaire put it another way I love: The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.)
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– Always be reading. He told me a story from when he was a kid—“George,” his grandmother asked him, “do you know why slave owners hid their money in their books?” “No, Grandma, why?” he said. “Because they knew the slaves would never open them,” she told him. To me, the moral of that story is not just that there is power in the written word (that’s why they made it illegal to teach slaves to read), but also that what’s inside them is very valuable. And the truth is that books still have money between the pages. My entire career has been made possible by what I read.
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– Keep a commonplace book. At his house, George has these big red binders filled with notes. He calls them his “learning journals.” They’re his version of a commonplace book—a collection of ideas, quotes, observations, and information gathered over time. The purpose is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life and work. It’s a habit he’s kept since 1972. To this day, he told me, “I go back and just read through them. I’ll just get one of the binders and I’ll sit down at the kitchen table and start reading through it. Sometimes I come across stuff that is more applicable today than it was when I wrote it in there.”
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What I'm Watching
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I wasn't born in the '60s so I can't claim to have "grown up" on The Beatles, but thankfully, my dad introduced me to The Fab Four as soon as I could listen to music. The first time I heard albums like A Hard Day's Night, Help!, and Please Please Me, my world was transformed.
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By the time I was eight years old, I knew every word to all 27 songs on The Beatles '1' album of greatest hits. Me, my brother, and my cousin Keith would sit and watch the movie A Hard Day's Night any chance we could get. We were mesmerized by these four English lads who took over the music scene in the United States with a sound no one had ever heard before.
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Since I never got the chance to see them live, I love documentaries that give me a chance to feel what the world must have been like when The Beatles arrived in New York City on February 7th, 1964 to unprecedented excitement and hysteria. "It was like the lights turned on," noted one fan in the documentary.
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From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country. Their thrilling debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show captivated more than 73 million viewers, the most-watched television event of its time.
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Beatles ’64 presents the spectacle, but also tells a more intimate behind-the-scenes story, capturing the camaraderie of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they experienced unimaginable fame. The film includes rare footage filmed by pioneering documentarians Albert and David Maysles, beautifully restored in 4K by Park Road Post in New Zealand. The live performances from The Beatles first American concert at the Washington, DC Coliseum and their Ed Sullivan appearances were demixed by WingNut Films and remixed by Giles Martin. Spotlighting this singular cultural moment and its continued resonance today, the music and footage are augmented by newly filmed interviews with Paul and Ringo, as well as fans whose lives were transformed by The Beatles
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Funny Concept on Coolness
The Geezer's Paradox
You don't become cooler with age but you do care progressively less about being cool, which is the only true way to actually be cool.
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It also makes you think about what might be overlooked in such situations... that "coolness" was never actually about style or trends, but about authenticity all along. The real plot twist isn't that we stop caring about being cool—it's that we finally understand what coolness actually is: the freedom to be unapologetically ourselves.
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What I'm Listening To
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Naval Ravikant (@naval) is one of my favorite thinkers, and one of the best books I've ever read is a compendium of all his best thoughts in one spot—The Almanack of Raval Navikant.
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In this three-hour conversation, Naval explains his simplistic, yet often controversial life philosophies.
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Question I'm Pondering
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If someone watched you for a week, would they believe you're serious about your goals?
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You don't have to tell people what you want. How you spend your days already does.
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Observe and Rapport is a blog, Instagram, and podcast channel that discusses wisdom, perspective, and lifestyle habits gained from books and other historical forms of media.
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Top Books of 2024
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Browse my favorite book selections hand-curated by me. I also earn commissions so if you buy anything, those earnings get reinvested right back into this fancy newsletter ;)
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Affiliate Links!
I've had the fortunate opportunity to partner with some great brands that I love. Use the links below to find great hats, sweatshirts, and sunglasses
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33 Life Lessons on My 33rd Birthday
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Thirty-three was a big one. Mostly because I became a dad. Our daughter was born on New Year’s Eve — a fitting arrival for a kid destined to reset everything. It’s been a beautiful, if slightly sleep-deprived blur ever since. I’ve only been “Dad” for less than ten months, but if I’m being honest, I’ve been preparing for the role for over …
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Depth Over Downloads: Why Spending Time with Books Still Matters
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Everyone wants faster information. But no one asks if faster information leads to better understanding — or a better life. In the age of AI and tweet-sized wisdom, we’ve confused information with transformation. But there’s a massive difference between knowing what a book says and being changed by it. The Delusion of Instant Learning In a recent interview, political journalist Ezra Klein admitted he once believed …
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The Jack Reacher Approach to Never Being Caught Off Guard
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There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.’ Either way, nothing happens.” —Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia I don’t read much fiction, but I’ve always been hooked on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. He’s not your typical …
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