Hi! I'm Nic

Welcome! I work in analytics but have a lot more interests.Follow along to see what I'm up to!

Nic’s career journey includes significant roles at Citi as Vice President of Strategic Data Insights and providing top-tier consulting services to public sector clients. His ability to thrive in fast-paced, data-driven environments has led to substantial, quantifiable impacts across all his roles.

Side Quests

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What I Value

Health: Without it, can you really live your life to your fullest potential? A man has a 1000 problems until he has a health problem, then he has one. Health is at the cornerstone of everything we do, which makes it even more important to invest in.

Freedom to and from. Freedom isn’t about doing whatever I feel like. It’s about having options. Freedom is about being able to choose how I want to live my life – and being able to change my mind and choose a different path. Freedom isn’t just about living in the moment. It’s about having choices – today AND in the future.

Curiousity is a value close to my heart. Nothing brings me more joy than learning about someone or something new. Life is better when you stay a student.

Adventure adds texture to life and creates memories for the scrapbooks. Traveling, going off the beaten path to experience new places and cultures keeps my life interesting.

My Board of Mentors

Naval Ravikant: business / life
Marcus Aurelius: stoicism
Paul Graham: investing / life
Jesse Itzler: health / balance
Nikola Tesla: curiosity / innovation
Leonardo da Vinci: rennaissance, inventions, intelligence
Lao Tzu: Taoism (effortless action, simplicity, spontaneity, balance of opposing forces)
Elon Musk: what did you get done today?

My Principles

  • If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will avoid one hundred days of sorrow. — Chinese Proverb

  • To suffer before it is necessary is to suffer more than is necessary.—Seneca.

  • Focus on getting it right not being right. Outcome over ego

  • Goals are for people who care about winning once. Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.

  • In conversation, lead with curiosity instead of critique.

  • Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge. Action is the beginning of change. Action creates progress. Progress creates momentum. Momentum creates motivation.

  • Luck is a function of surface area. More experiences generate more serendipity.

  • It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war

  • Will vs can

  • Use congratulate console and compliment to maintain and create authentic relationships

  • It’s not about doing your best it’s about doing what’s required

  • When solving a difficult problem, invert it

Questions I'm Thinking About

  • What did you accomplish this week?

  • Have you tried solving the problem?

  • What important truth do very little people agree with you on?

  • Which of my current views would change if my incentives were different?

  • What pain do you want in your life?

  • What are you willing to struggle for?

  • If you had 5 minutes to explain your most important life lesson, what would you talk about?

  • Who is on your personal board?

  • What are the habits, actions, or behaviors you consistently engage in when you feel at your best or at your highest self?

  • If you hired the best CEO in the world to be the CEO of your life, what actions would be on their 100-day plan?

  • Most people don’t need systems / frameworks. They need to increase their intensity. What are some things I can increase my intensity on?

  • What do you have unreasonably high standards for?

Stay tuned for more updates!

2024 letter

2024 in photos

Energy matters: The beginning of 2024 marked the end of our cleaning business Fit for a Queen Cleaning. Losing energy is never ideal but that lesson was a great way to set the tone for the rest of the year. It helped me pause. I started paying attention to what fills my tank versus what drains it. I got really intentional about choosing things that light me up instead of drag me down. I started to focus more on doing things that give me energy. There was this one day that really drove it home - spent a full day interviewing at a Private Equity firm in Raleigh late August and completely ran out of steam. At first, I was bummed it didn't work out, but then it hit me - everything really does happen for a reason. Sometimes our energy levels are trying to tell us something important. Being high-energy isn't just about being "on" - it's a superpower. When I'm energized, I make better choices, connect with people more authentically, and stand out from folks who are just going through the motions. Now I realized that bringing unreasonable energy to whatever I'm doing transforms everything. I look to do more of this in 2025.Move with urgency: I find myself being deeply interested in things for 2-3 weeks at a time. If I move fast enough in those initial weeks, I create enough motion to move past that natural dropoff point. The progress becomes self-sustaining. Those early wins feed into sustained motivation. To create 5-10x outcomes you need intentionality. You can't create exponential results with divided attention. Everything else becomes noise. In 2024, I learned to ruthlessly prioritize these periods, pouring all my energy and focus into that one burning interest. It’s not to stay I’ve found resounding success. No, but I’ve found myself making a lot more progress in a shorter period of time than I have before.Go against the grain: 2024 became a laboratory for testing one of many hypotheses: intentionally choosing harder paths and going against the norms creates exponential returns in life quality. Most parts of modern life involve very little hard choices. I stopped drinking alcohol almost entirely. Not that I had an issue, but more of a realization of how I feel after I drink does not allow me to live my best life. I love that choice and will continue to explore ways to drink less in 2025. I refuse to use tiktok after learning that it only takes 35 min of use to form an addiction.I explored different aspects of spirituality and quantum physics diving into over 14 books over the course of 2024. I came to the conclusion that the dimensions of a good life are simple: raw happiness (emotional baseline), psychological richness (depth of experience), meaningful purpose (directional pull) are all part of the good life triad. I partially jumped on intentionality and am all aboard the “gear > stuff” train. I am focused on being incredibly intentional on what I buy after learning that the average American has 30,000 belongings. Insane. I learned that you don’t need 10 different supplements to be healthy. I got rid of all highly processed foods and eliminated 90% of the plastic that we use in our kitchen. I got a high quality water filter. Health trumps wealth every time. And good health allows you to build wealth, but most people haven’t learned this yet. My investing portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 by 15%, which is a record - I am enjoying the ride knowing that it will come to an end at some point. A large part of the success was going against the grain, investing in sectors and companies that are not publicly popular. The other 90% was luck. Don’t ask me for investment advice.Don’t stop tinkering: I had a spate of projects in 2024. I created this personal website nicgraesser.com, co-founded an ERP Strategy consulting firm with my dad, erpstrategies.co, tried podcasting, learned react and built an HSA tracker and rediscovered automation tools like make.com to add more value to my life. I learned that smart homes are largely a pain in the ass which have minimal value outside of the automated lights. Most of the stuff disconnects constantly and is frustrating to maintain. Outside of the tech world, I started a food garden where I spent the majority of the summer battling tomato diseases and ants. I was able to get some decent harvests but it's the road to self-sustainability that I want to continue to explore in 2025.Experiences have the greatest memory ROI: Adventure seemed to be the core theme of 2024. I visited Portugal in April with Amanda where we spent our 1st anniversary at a two-star Michelin restaurant. This wasn’t just a meal but an experience I continue to think about often. In July, I spent a week in Alaska with my dad on a trip of a lifetime where we experienced the most pristine wildlife we had ever seen. I cannot recommend the state more. In August, I spent time in Michigan golfing with great friends. I went to the Tetons and Montana with Greg, Michael and Ben where we came face to face with a brown bear during an 18-mile hike - this was my year’s misogi. Before this, I had never hiked more than 10 miles, which we did the day before to get ready for this hike.The power of cold email: When you put in the time and write a well crafted email that has no ask initially, and focus on connecting, you have the world at your finger tips. 2024 reinforced this. I was able to connect with multiple founders, VC partners and other business people I admire through writing well crafted cold emails or DMs. I continue to cold email at least 1-2 emails per month to connect with people in the business world.Stuck with BJJ w/fair consistency: Showing up consistently created compound returns in unexpected ways. Mental toughness isn't built in comfort. Clear thinking emerges when you're forced to problem-solve from disadvantaged positions. The addictive quality comes from seeing tangible progress through deliberate practice. The tournament was a crucial milestone. It's one thing to train but it's another to test yourself under real pressure. And boy was it fun. I won the first round but like a beginner running a 1 mile sprint, I got smoked in the next two rounds.Content I enjoyed: WWII in color, Freedoms Forge, Comfort Crisis, Good Energy, Everything, everywhere all at once, Zero to One by Thiel, Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish

2024 goals

Reflecting on 2024 with the goals I set last year…
2024 Goals: I achieved 8/14 goals I set for myself

  • Reflecting on 2024 with the goals I set last year…

  • 2024 Goals: I achieved 8/14 goals I set for myself

  • I will read at least 10 pages 4 days per week: YES

  • 1 dinner date 3x per month: NO

  • No social media 30min before bed: NO

  • 5-10 min writing thoughts every day: YES

  • 1 think period per quarter: NO

  • 2x BJJ per week: YES

  • 10K steps per day: NO

  • Become incredible communicators: YES

  • 2 big trips w/Amanda: NO, only 1

  • 2 other trips with friends: YES

  • Limit processed foods: YES

  • Develop daily stretching habit: NO

  • Will start major business: YES, 2

  • Codify principles we want our kids to live by: YES

2024 Quotes

2024 was a time where I spent more time reflecting and collecting quotes and ideas that really resonated with me.

  1. 99% of effort is wasted: focus on the 1% and ask yourself Is this part of the 1% that truly matters?

  2. freedom w/out purpose is a prison: having complete freedom might seem ideal, it can feel empty—or even confining—if it isn’t grounded in a clear mission or direction.

  3. perception vs. perspective: Perception is the raw data (e.g., you hear someone speak a certain tone). Perspective is the story you build around that data.

  4. Aliens live in the 4th dimension and we are just containers for souls:

  5. Intensity is driven by emotion

  6. Most people think commitment takes away their freedom - but commitment actually creates more freedom

  7. focusing on one thing >

  8. Masculine sexual essence: A strong sense of mission, focus, and direction in life. Seeks to create structure and stability. Values achievement and progress. spend more time reflecting what your true sexual essence is. Are you living up to it?Living means taking risks, pursuing your interests, embarrassing yourself, attempting difficult things, setting ambitious goals, trying, failing, and trying again. Living means pushing your mind and body to their limits, just to see what you’re capable of. Living means fighting back against the inertial forces that draw all of us toward the apathetic life. Living means being the protagonist of your own story, not a passenger whose outcomes are at the mercy of their environment.

  9. Commitment starts when motivation stops.

  10. People are pushed to action by reason or emotion. Know which one it is.

  11. Anger after a mistake causes you to lose twice…messing up and getting angry

  12. A good relationship is when someone accepts your past, supports your present, and encourages your future.

  13. The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well

  14. In order to make great art, it’s important to make bad art. Get the bad out of your system and the good art will come much more naturally

  15. Think of a thought portfolio similarly to an investment portfolio. You need to diversify and have different ideas to play around with. Just as a diversified investment portfolio reduces financial risk, a diversified thought portfolio protects against mental stagnation.

  16. The average person has 10-30K belongings. Think about that! My goal has been to become a lot more intentional with stuff I buy. Gear > stuff. 1 in 2 out.

  17. "If you come to me with anger, but I choose not to accept it, the anger still belongs to you. You are the only one who is moved by it."

  18. Mastery is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status

  19. We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. - Epictetus

  20. The key to life is found in recognizing that you have the power to take an action and create an outcome.

  21. Your entire life will change when you realize that everything matters.

  22. You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you

  23. “Normal” is a socially constructed concept.

  24. There's no such thing as later

  25. To be calm and serene when under attack is much more difficult; therefore, I tell you it is far better to be a warrior tending his garden than to be a gardener at war.

  26. Busy people chase tasks. Focused people chase impact.

  27. Toothbrush product. Whats something people have to use multiple times per day?

  28. Prioritizing speed is dangerous: It leads you into bad, short-term decisions. It encourages "get rich quick" thinking that lands a lot of people in trouble.

  29. The scarcity loop drives a lot of psychology. What opportunities exists where scarcity loops are occurring without people knowing.

  30. Entertainment disguised as knowledge: 100% of the news, 100% of Twitter, 99% of podcasts, 90% of business books / biographies. The opposite: Dave Chapelle doesn’t really tell jokes anymore. He just tells the truth, in a way that’s disguised as humor.

  31. Write for equals. In other words write for yourself since you’ll attract people that enjoy your writing style.

  32. Every home has broken shelves. The people living in the house have learned to ignore it, and just live with it. If you want to make an impression when you move in. Find the broken shelves, and fix them first.

  33. Misogi is a key to happiness

  34. The best predictor for success for a hotdog stand is a starving crowd

  35. The most interesting parts of life are in the extremes

  36. If you’re gonna play the game play to win. Most people don’t even think about winning

  37. Good advice is so simple you can’t possibly charge for it.

  38. Expectations are toxic. Only agreements can strengthen and create better relationships both at home and at work. Agreements are 2 people working towards a common goal while expectations are 1 sided.

  39. Virtuous cycle of belief. Belief drives action. Amount of belief drives amount of action. A lot of belief will take you to take a lot of action which creates a lot of result. Result verifies belief.

  40. “Here’s a guy that was born on third base and thought he hit a triple”. What an insult.

  41. "The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." Paul Morphy once said this, maybe the best chess player in the world in the 1850s, and it's always stuck with me, I haven't been able to shake it

  42. The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life

2025 themes

Moving on to 2025….

  • Curiosity

  • Intentionality

  • Health

  • Freedom

2025 goals

  • Read at least 10 pages 5 days per week

  • Get revenue for VA or ERP Strategies

  • Add ruck vest to walks

  • 1 adventure and 1 misogi

  • 2 dates per month

  • Donate to charity

  • Prioritize close friendships

  • PVO - positive vibes only

  • BJJ 3x per week, 20 workouts per month minimum

  • Invest in food: organic and farmers market food

  • Learn 1 new recipe per month

  • $2K invested per month minimum

  • Buy gear not stuff