January 2, 2026: Friday

Building Profiles Course

Over the past week, I’ve been thinking a lot about a short internal memorandum Elon Musk once shared with his team. In it, he encouraged people to write—plainly and honestly—about what they had actually accomplished during the previous week. Not what they planned to do. Not what they hoped to do. But what they did.

That idea stuck with me.

I’ve always believed that writing is one of the most powerful tools for focus and accountability. When I began writing daily journals, I noticed something immediately: writing forced me to slow down, evaluate my actions, and stay intentional about how I was using my time. It kept me focused on execution rather than aspiration.

I want the same thing for the people in our community.

People who carry a criminal conviction face real complications long after a sentence ends. Based on decades of experience and data, most people will face one of five outcomes after release:

1. unemployment,
2. underemployment,
3. homelessness,
4. continued problems with the law, or
5. success.

The first four outcomes often happen by default. They require little planning. Success does not.

Success Requires Intention

That belief is what motivated me to focus so much energy on completing the Profiles course. I wanted people to understand not just that they should build a profile, but how to use it effectively. I wanted to create a set of best practices—a clear, practical framework—that anyone could follow to document effort, growth, and preparation in a credible way.

Today I worked deliberately to build that framework. I created lessons on:

1. defining success,
2. writing a personal biography,
3. journaling consistently,
4. documenting learning through book reports, and
5. building realistic release plans.

I worked with my team to engineer a “hub” to publish guides, worksheets, sample entries, and planning tools so no one would be left wondering where to start or how to improve. Every lesson reinforces the same principle:

• preparation should be documented, measured, and visible.

The Profiles Course

My hope is that people in our community will commit to writing regularly—daily or weekly—and use their profiles to show how they are living intentionally. Over time, those entries become more than words. They become a record of discipline, self-direction, and effort. That record can help people overcome skepticism, advocate for themselves, and pursue higher levels of liberty through merit.

I’ll continue writing my own journals for the same reason Elon’s memo resonated with me:

• writing keeps me accountable to what I’m actually doing.

Self-directed question:

• What did you do this week that moved you closer to the outcome you want—and how are you documenting that progress in your profile?