Some Life Lessons

Tings Newsletter #6

Who am I? I'm an ex-founder figuring out what to do with my time. Every month, I send out a newsletter on life, money, and random tings. Subscribe here. 

  1. On my 40th birthday, I shared some life lessons from the past decade. Out of the 25, this lesson got the most likes: rather than asking someone what they do, ask them what they're excited about right now. It leads to a 10x better conversation.

  2. Over the last month, I refrained from buying things on Amazon. It was an interesting experiment. I would add items to my cart and let it sit there. After a few weeks, I realized that I didn't even want the item and remove it. Lesson is to "ice" items, ideas, etc to see if you're still excited about them down the road.

  3. 3.50% yield for two-year US Treasuries. The highest since 2007. It's probably only going to go up from here. Boring is good.

  4. Couldn't agree more with this advice from David Vasallo: Instead of studying how Bezos made his billions, it's much more useful to learn how someone like you is making $10K/mo. So often we try to gain lessons from the outliers when in reality we can learn from our neighbors.

  5. This trend has always existed but interesting that it has taken off recently. Quiet Quitting is "about rejecting the notion that work has to take over one's life and that employees should go above and beyond what their job descriptions entail."

  6. The Ethereum merge is coming up in mid-September but is the merge overhyped? Here's a rebuttal.

  7. Looks like Web3 is going to follow the same playbook as Web2. Sigh. IMO, both the protocol and app layer will be important in capturing value.

  8. What. A. Shitshow. NYMag goes inside the crash of Three Arrows Capital. The two partners bought a $150M yacht and called it Much Wow, which is "an inside joke nodding to the cryptocurrency dogecoin that would both thrill their social-media acolytes and be intelligible to all the pathetic, poor “no coiners” out there."

  9. Who needs couple therapy when you can do psychedelic therapy with your partner instead? Drug of choice: MDMA with you partner. Preferably a cabin in the woods.

  10. Freddy's Burger > Shake Shack > In-N-Out. Double smashed burgers. Crispy fries. Special fry sauce. Don't @ me.🧑‍🍳

  11. This summer, I've been working on my golf game. I'm a newbie (as I just started playing last year) but The Four Foundation of Golf by Jon Sherman has been an excellent read. He also distilled 25+ years of golf lessons here.

  12. Speaking of golf, it's been fascinating to watch the LIVGolf vs PGA Tour battle. It's a great story of how a startup is trying to disrupt an old legacy institution. But in this case... this startup has unlimited cash.

  13. I went down a Youtube rabbit hole watching Navy Seals interviews. This one with DJ Shipley from SEAL Team 6 was fascinating for three reasons: a) I was engaged for the entire 4.5 hours, b) he was extremely vulnerable and c) he is a great storyteller.

  14. Wow. Leon Edwards is the new UFC Welterweight Champion. Great underdog story. Ignored for so many years. And at one point, he was booed when he won a fought in his own country. Look at him now! Inspirational video.

  15. Speaking of the UFC, I'll be headed to NYC for UFC 281 to watch Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira. Israel is one of my favorite fighters but Alex walks around at 226 pounds (and fights at 185 pounds) and has beat Israel twice already.

  16. While on vacation, I couldn't put down Upgrade by Blake Couch. Finished in a few days. His best work yet. This book "is a masterclass in how to write a riveting, edge of your seat, page turning work of art."

  17. I miss RSS Readers. The 2022 version would allow me to read through various channels: RSS, email newsletters, tweets, etc. To that end, I signed up for Reader by Readwise. Raindrop is another one that was recommended.

  18. We all owe Manti Te'o an apology. Great documentary on Netflix.

  19. Being a Mom is just as important as any career. Shoutout to the full-time parents out there.

  20. If this doesn't put a smile on your face today, I don't know what will. Lizzo's performance at the MTV awards was both fun and visually stunning.