Let’s not waste any time.
Improving your ability to network is not about becoming more charismatic. It’s not learning to smooze, and it’s really not about introverts vs. extroverts.
I’m the first to admit that the idea of a baby moon seemed like an odd bit of millennial silliness, like taking Frisbee too seriously. But after-the-fact, I’m 100% baby moon on board, and highly recommend it.
When I was in middle school I had three key beliefs about my future:
1. I wouldn’t buy a house. Instead, I’d live in a RV. I’d drive around the United States and park on residential sidewalks and in Walmart parking lots. My cousins teased they’d let me park my RV in their four-car garages in the winter so I wouldn’t freeze.
The first musical I remember listening to was Miss Saigon. My mother played the cassette on weekends, and we listened to it dozens of times. As a boy, I tried assembling the story by the songs alone: Why did Chris leave Kim so suddenly? Why did he marry Ellen? For years, for some reason, I thought she was stuck in a Vietnamese jail with her son Tam, not hiding in a village.
A couple weeks ago, I saw the musical for the first time, and songs like Why God Why? and I Still Believe transported me back to those weekends, that cassette, those moments wondering what transpired between Chris and Kim.
Below is the transcription of the best three-minute segment of an interview I’ve heard in a long time. And I listen to a lot of interviews.
[01:37:53] It’s not like you read one book and do one thing, and it’s figured out, and you’re done. it’s a constant course correction. You need to have those rituals to go back to.
[01:38:29] People don’t get it. It’s messy. Life is messy.
[01:38:45] It’s messy. Life is always going to be messy. It’s in figuring out how to manage that mess, and planning, “what am I going to do with this?”
[01:39:30] Life is suffering. If you expect to your life to miraculously dissolve all your problems with a new car, a new wife, a new husband, a new “fill in the blank” you are mistaken. When you conquer your current set of problems, you trade up. You just get a new set of problems, and those challenges are set out by the universe, by whatever force you believe in, to challenge you.
[01:40:37] It’s like, okay, you think Brad Pitt has a perfect life? I tell you, he has crazy stalkers, he has frivolous law suits, he has, “fill in the blank.” You trade up. You just have a different set of problems. The reason I bring it up is not to be depressing at all, it’s to underscore the importance of expecting adversity in a sense of looking forward to adversities as a growth opportunity. If you want to be a higher performer in high stress environments, you need to get to the point where you relish the opportunity to prove yourself in the face of challenges.
This was from a webcast between Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferriss in November 2012, right before the launch of The Four-Hour Chef. I don’t remember where I found the link to the audio, unfortunately.
The second time my roommates and I hosted a poker game in Los Angeles, four people showed up to the apartment.
Three of them — including myself — lived there.
I don’t mean it when I say I’m only here for the open bar.
Because the food is nice, too.
It’s strange to think our relationship grew from hate.
Well, maybe not as intense as “hate.” “Loathing” is close.