TSS #018 - September 17th, 2023
too many business deals, the arctic monkeys, and happiness (once more)
Good morning afternoon and happy Sunday Saturday folx,
Welcome to the 5 new subs who’ve joined “the ride” this past week! 🤩🫡
One day I’ll update that welcome email haha - special thanks to those who responded with a “howdy,” ;)
I am glad y’all are here and I hope you enjoy.
Last week was another one of those weeks…
Late nights, early mornings
Oversubscribed/spinning plates in all domains of life
A rollercoaster of highs and lows
Yes - I too, have noticed this trend the past few weeks. I do believe this is just a “season” and anticipate it slowing down a smidge in about two weeks…
But until then, we ride. Here are the two biggest highlights from last week.
I CLOSED MY FIRST DEAL
As alluded to in the previous letter, part of the hecticness at work has been closing land deals for this upcoming planting season (before inoculating >1M seedlings in two weeks.)
I’ve been working with private/family landowners in the southeast and officially closed our first deal this past Friday.
It felt euphoric. This project I’ve been working on for over a month has finally borne fruit.
It is something I feel very proud of…and it’s been hard to explain.
Honestly, I’ve been hesitant to even try to explain it, but here we go:
on the outside, all it really is, is an electronic signature on a PDF…but when I see that “executed” PDF in our GDrive - I see more than just the signature.
I see the hours of "first calls” and follow-up phone calls,
The answering of questions and easing concerns of unprobable “what-if” scenarios,
back and forth with lawyers,
and the myriad of edits, explanations, and exchanges of information,
To get to a place of mutual understanding and benefit.
A true symbiotic relationship.
And it’s been a huge collaborative effort behind-the-scenes with the Funga team to accurately convey scientific information, and legalese in our Carbon Agreement, and find answers to problems we’ve never encountered or anticipated. (Did you know that each state has a different Notary page with specific language for each? Me neither.)
Editing legal documents is nerve-racking. Multiple eyes and endless checks and double-checks to make sure that the information and formatting are accurate and binding in “the eyes of the law.”
Anyway - it is a huge personal and professional milestone for me and I look forward to closing more deals and leading more projects like this.
THE ARCTIC MONKEYS
An absurd amount of money for pre-sale floor tickets and a year later…
I got to see one of my favorite bands of all time this past Friday. The Arctic Monkeys.
Some context/background via a slack thread:
For those who already know of my infatuation, please skip
It may be one of the best concert experiences I’ve ever had.
Seeing Alex Turner on stage, experiencing the presence and energy of the crowd, dancing and singing my heart out with some great friends…it still feels very surreal.
It’s hard to believe that I got to see one of my greatest musical heroes, who had an indelible effect on me growing up, and a major influence in my own musical endeavors.
I am still processing it all. If you are interested in a fraction of any of the above, I’ve created a playlist of the setlist here.
Unfortunately, I was not able to get a “proper study” in this week - but I did consume a quality piece of content that deeply moved me. Below are my high-level takeaways/notes for one.
a podcast on happiness
This was a long one - I’ve pasted the YT version and encourage you to hit on any of the timestamps that your curiosity takes you! You will not be disappointed.
macronutrients of happiness
Enjoyment
Not pleasure…if you mix people and memory-making with pleasure, it can be enjoyment.
Never do pleasure alone - leads to addiction. Think alcohol and porn.
Satisfaction
Satisfaction = what you have divided by what you want
The simplest solution to being more satisfied is reducing your desires.
Achieving something with struggle. Doing something that takes effort.
delaying gratification.
Meaning
“Purpose and Meaning” are too big of questions…must accept you will never have THE answer - but you can break it down into more manageable chunks.
Purpose:
What is the end goal of my life? What is the direction I am going?
Meaning:
Why does it matter that I am alive?
Two more meaning questions:
Why are you alive? (Metaphysically - Who/what created you? // What you are meant to do? // do you have a why?
What would you die for?
There are no wrong answers to any of the above…but you have to earn your answers to your meaning questions.
There are only two types of problems
Complicated vs Complex
Complicated problems are hard but can be solved
Think any technology, coding, AI…or just computers themselves!
Complex problems are simple but very hard to solve
Think love, football, or purpose.
Brooks argues that in this modern world, all we have is complicated solutions to complex problems. Often mismatching the wrong solutions to the wrong problem.
The 4 idols
Money
Power
Pleasure
Fame/Reputation/Opinions of others
Some way or another, our unhappiness stems from one of these categories.
Most of the time it goes unnoticed because they hide in the shadows.
A good way to identify what idol pulls you, is to figure what idols do NOT pull you.
on presence
“When you are doing the dishes, think about doing the dishes”
“If you think about the juicy peach when doing the dishes, when you eat the peach, you’ll probably be thinking about something else…rather than enjoying the peach.”
As always, if you’ve made it this far, thank you.
If this isn’t your vibe — please unsubscribe! :)
If you have any questions, comments, or ways I can improve this newsletter, please reply to this email or tweet at me!
I’ll be in New York for the next two weeks to attend Climate Week and to spend some quality time with friends. I am hoping to meet cool people, further deepen relationships, and have some fun.
If you are around, know any folks I should meet, or have any events/restaurants/experiences I should check out - hmu!
ML,
Traveling Tony
love the wins you had this week with arctic monkeys and the 1st official closed deal - proud of you!
might not be a full study but tons to unpack in your notes. without having watched/listened to the podcast... my initial thoughts:
- you've almost phrased pleasure as a negative thing.. is it? can pleasure never be had alone? im still trying to draw the line between pleasure and enjoyment and see if there's overlap.
- the satisfaction fraction sounds great in theory - makes sense reducing desires to increase satisfaction. but does it make sense to increase struggle to increase satisfaction? (I think it does but seems antagonistic)
- would love to make a venn diagram of complex vs complicated problem examples and see where they overlap
- on presence: my grandfather always says "eat while you eat, play while you play, work while you work, and sleep while you sleep" - a very important rule but tough on the overthinker's mind.
more irl :)