Random Observation/Comment #795: Wealth is when your passive income exceeds your expenses. Why this List? I don’t remember where I heard this, but it made an impression – “The average millionaire has 6 forms of income.” If you play the game correctly, the salary keeps you in the rat race, while assets that accrue some revenue and/or appreciates in value...
Random Observation/Comment #794: Death to Crypto. Long Live Web3! Let’s work on tech crypto instead of money crypto. Why this list? I’ve been trying to foster enterprise adoption of web3 since 2014 (with slow and incremental luck). Around 2019, I gave up the “replace post trade financial services settlement layers with better technology” and went full degen exploring DeFi, NFTs,...
Random Observation/Comment #793: I feel nostalgic for writing ink on paper. It’s good to know there’s no automatic cloud backup of it. Why this List? The “Burn After Writing” (by Sharon Jones) book of prompts has been one of my favorite things to decompress and reflect with. I loved just writing carelessly and thinking about my past, present, and future....
Random Observation/Comment #791: “Dad, I’m hungry.” “Hi Hungry, I’m Dad.” – That’s peak dad. Why this List? I love Dadding. It’s an opportunity to say silly things and teach by having fun. I also realize most of the “Dad” things are closely tied to the pride of being handy in home improvement projects. Here are a few of my favorite...
Random Observation/Comment #790: Enjoy the magical period of “roughing it” and “hustling” with a strong metabolism and stamina. Why this list? We have so much expectation for our younger selves. Hindsight is 20-20. 2020 was also a terrible year. If I were to go back, I probably wouldn’t change a thing (besides buy more BTC). The journey was more important...
Random Observation/Comment #789: Make decisions that make tomorrow a better place. Why this List? I’m an optimistic worrier. In previous pieces, I’ve expressed musings around 30 Macro Worries (May 2022), 30 Impacts of war, and 30 bearish trends (Sept 2021). Of course, I was somewhat over reacting and planned too far in advance. To put a spin on similar thoughts,...
Random Observation/Comment #788: Program your own sub routines. I am a robot with feeling. Why this List? Systems make life so much easier and form longer term habits. If you have a good system or routine, you’ll approach problems easier and live without this constant anxiety of needing to meet deadlines for goals. The systems I’ve created make me like...
Random Observation/Comment #787: I survived another round of layoffs. Wrote this while pouring one out for my homies. Why this List? My last series of buzzword posts were back in 2021 (30 DeFi Buzzwords), 2019 (30 Smart City Buzzwords), and 2016 (30 Blockchain Buzzwords). Since we’re probably emerging from the hype of blockchains and venturing into modular combination of budding...
Random Observation/Comment #786: A writer writes. Try to create as much content as you consume. Why this List? Sometimes I think about being interviewed on a TV show / documentary and looking at my title overlay. What would it say? What if it’s something just descriptively random? ~See Lemons Self Titled
Random Observation/Comment #784: The best notetaking app is the one you use. Inspiration is spontaneous and I love bottling it. Why this List? I’m continuing my end of year activities and previous 2021 version of Random Insights by looking at the randomness in my Google Keep Notes. Here’s some of my favorite out of context random notes from 2022. ~See...
Random Observation/Comment #783: ElevenVR is so much fun as it is, but it can grow to be so much more. Why this list? The only games I ever got obsessed with were Half Life, Portal, Counterstrike, Diablo 2, and Guild Wars. I probably poured years of my life into playing them in college. Since then, I haven’t really played anything...
Random Observation/Comment #782: I don’t need to write lists of 30s anymore. All hail our robot overlords. Why this list? In Oct 2022, I wrote a post on 30 areas AI is taking over. Little did I know that everything I thought would be applied is even simpler when we enter into a narrative economy with #chatgpt.For those who haven’t...
Random Observation/Comment #780: Reading more Life Pro Tips should be a top LPT. Why this List? If you know me, you know I love pro tip life hacks. I had a whole section in my book “My Life in Lists of 30” devoted to it. For my personal entertainment, I follow the subreddit /r/LifeProTips and have kept track of ones...
Random Observation/Comment #779: Buy the dip (but probably closer to Q2 2023)! Why this List? We’re probably (most definitely) about to go into a recession or world war in the next 3-9 months where equities usually bottoms first. While I normally buy ETF and indices, I like thinking about single stock trades and like macro musings on how earnings could...
Random Observation/Comment #776: AI can easily write lists of 30 for me. Maybe I need to spend my time on things that aren’t easily replaced by data processing and optimized decision making algorithms. Why this List? Continuing on the Oct 2022 trend of thinking about tech more broadly, I wanted to map out how AI can be applied to different...
Random Observation/Comment #772: Traveling the world and eating fast food restaurants with live podcast recordings? That’s the dream, right? Why this list? I’m still on a podcast binge and this month is Doughboys. They travel and eat at fast food restaurants to rate them (discussion and hilarity ensues). There’s a ton of fun sections throughout the show and one of...
Random Observation/Comment #767: I’m a sucker for funny email subject lines. Take my click. Why this List? Since early 2021, I’ve been following Messari writers and have a pro account to read all those spicy takes and great content. What I really love is the daily newsletter title written by Ryan Selkis and his team. Here were 30 of the...
Random Observation/Comment #766: We’d rather be here and now than there looking back. Why this list/children’s book? It’s the little things that makes it all unique and memorable. The attention to detail is a distinct bookmark in my memories. I can have a vivid flashback most quickly when I take photos, but when I can tie in all the senses...
Random Observation/Comment #765: Taking out one intermediary often creates a new one. See Tradfi pivot to CeFi leading to over leveraged systematic risks. Why this List? When you reduce friction for the customer, there’s going to be an “X” as a service play. It was a fun exercise reflecting on what has been created from these models and how “disruptive”...
Random Observation/Comment #764: If you’re in it for the tech and not the economics, then drip savings into ETH and contribute to the ecosystem without worrying about the price. Why this List? The Merge is upon us (hopefully early Sept)! I’ve been keeping track of all dev updates through Ben Edgington’s notes and I realized there’s a lot of marketing...
Random Observation/Comment #763: First off, do half as much. Second, make those half things you do twice as awesome. Quality over quantity. Why this List? I have no shortage of lists, especially “to do” ones. I take pleasure in adding things to them so I can satisfyingly check them off. As I think through all that I can do, I...
Random Observation/Comment #762: Instead of retiring, I’ll just work 1 week per month (maybe just 2 days a week with a reverse weekend) and have my passive income be greater than my spend. Personal financial freedom should be this easy. Why this List? When you attend enough crypto conferences, you find a lot of smart, passionate developers that have effectively...
Random Observation/Comment #761: Elon just Gets Shit Done. Take my Money. Why this List? I’m not an Elon Musk fanboy, but I do appreciate his willingness to take risks and build companies that tackle huge problems in a very aggressive way. I think all the engineers and employees would rather build a product/industry from scratch than rely on another company’s...
Random Observation/Comment #760: Eleven Table Tennis VR has replaced real life TT. I can’t beat no commute and some games between work meetings. Why this List? I have played the Oculus/Meta Quest 2 since April 2021 and I surprisingly still use it everyday (mainly for ElevenVR table tennis – this me). I get a good sweat playing different games and...
Random Observation/Comment #759: I’m just so tired from thinking this week. Why this List? I’ve been learning macroeconomics for the past few years to better understand how different events are correlated to my portfolio distribution. It’s an incredibly complex set of moving pieces, but once you see the factors and think broader, you can connect the dots and basically panic...
