Ep. 2 - Jon Finkel: Writer, Author, Sophisticated Meathead

On this episode of Howie Doin’, I was joined by Jon Finkel.

Jon is a writer and author of books 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks in Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Green, among others.

He’s written for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, GQ, Details, NY Times, AskMen.com, ComedyCentral.com, Bodybuilding.com, ThePostGame.com.

Jon has written autobiographies on:

* Nate Robinson

* Charlie Ward

* Mean Joe Greene

His book Jocks in Chief ranks every United States president by athletic ability (no right or left wing biases included!).

He also writes a newsletter “Books and Biceps” that comes out every Friday at 11:11 am.

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

* Creating things inspired by what you’re interested in

* Taking an untraditional path

* A quality Father / Son relationship

* Starting from 0 and grinding your way to the top

* Treating your job as if someone is paying you a lot of money to do it

* Putting systems in place to slowly evolve into the person you want to become

Timestamps:

(0:00) - Intro to Jon Finkel

(1:40) - How he formulates writing ideas

(4:00) - Embarking on an untraditional path

(9:20) - Jon’s relationship with his Dad

(13:06) - Living up to expectations

(15:40) - The greatest piece Jon’s ever written

(20:05) - The mental approach to publishing a book (Jocks in Chief)

(24:38) - Flipping his mindset to “Jon Finkel Publishing”

(27:55) - Putting systems in place to overcome laziness

(29:45) - Setting quarterly goals

Where can you learn more about Jon Finkel?

jonfinkel.com

Weekly Newsletter: Books & Biceps

@Jon_Finkel on X.com

Check out Jon’s favorite piece of writing - The Night the Driveway Basketball Legend Was Born

Lastly, don’t forget to check out Jon’s upcoming Auto-biography on “Macho Man” Randy Savage! Coming out in Spring 2024.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit howiedoin.substack.com