Hi!

A friend of mine posted the image above to her Instagram earlier today, and the timing was great — because (a) I wasn’t sure what I wanted to share today and (b) oh boy, have I been on the roller coaster above lately.

Outside of Now I Know, I’ve been working on another project, one where I help people who work in PR and communications adapt to a world where AI literacy is increasingly important. I started that project in January and it’s not quite followed the path above (the second, squiggly path, I mean), but it’s pretty close. I build, I get excited about what I’m doing, I share, it lands fine but not with the same degree of excitement. That causes some self-doubt to take root, which doesn’t go away until I find another way to find a solution, and then the cycle repeats itself — or, until I realize that I’ve actually made a lot of strides toward my goal already. In other words, in the moment, where I am on the chart is all that matters, but if I take a step back, I can see the progress being made since inception, and it’s a lot.

But there’s something that the chart above shows which isn’t as obvious — and often, much more frustrating that the setbacks themselves. The top line isn’t just straight — it’s short. You set a goal and quickly achieve it. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work on our timelines. When you’re creating something new, that almost always requires the help of others. and rarely do they have the energy for your project that you do.

It’s good to keep the lesson that my friend shared in mind — success isn’t linear, isn’t quick, and isn’t always obvious in the moment. But those aren’t reasons to give up. And really — it’s more fun on the squiggly path anyway.

(Oh, and if you want to help me move toward success on the other project, you can. I’m looking for people to help beta test something I’m building. If you’re interested in learning how to vibe code and similarly have interest in PR/communications, you’d be perfect; if not, but you’re willing to pretend, that’s good too. Just reply to let me know and I’ll follow up with more info.)

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: The Crime of Borrowing a Teenage Witch?: Ridiculous. Also, as reader Fred J. pointed out, how is this “embezzlement”?

Tuesday: The Cat Phone Came Back: I’ve read a lot of Garfield comics in my life (my brother was really into it growing up) and this would have been a really dark one.

Wednesday: Crease and Desist: I really want to send a letter like this one day.

Thursday: A Combative Way to Stop Smoking: I really don’t want to do anything like this — ever.

Long Reads and Other Things

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “The Death of a Superman” (The Believer, 20 minutes, March 2026). What starts as an obituary for a Hollywood Boulevard Superman impersonator becomes a searing look at how clothing donation bins quietly kill homeless people across North America.

2) “Your IQ Matters Less Than You Think” (Nautilus, 13 minutes, April 2026). IQ often gets treated like destiny, but the actual evidence says otherwise — this argues that once you clear a baseline level of smarts, traits like grit, creativity, and drive tend to matter more.

3) “I’m a 39-year-old real-estate agent who just played in the Masters. It’s mentally exhausting” (The Athletic/New York Times, 7 minutes, April 2026). I think this is behind a paywall — not much I can do about that, sorry. It’s a very human-first story, so I wanted to share it regardless.

Have a great weekend!

Dan