Trading the Pen for the Mic
It’s said that talk is cheap. If that's the case, then I belong in the poorhouse.
Why, you ask?
Well, over the last few weeks I have traded the pen for the mic, written words for spoken syllables, and have appeared as guest on a litany of podcasts in order to discuss startups, Stonks, and my syndrome. What follows is the first of a few more waiting in the wings.
I hope that you enjoy the sound of my voice much more than I do!
Longtime readers know full well that White Noise is more personal scribblings than professional memos.
This is very much by design.
Delving into the very nature of our behavior and psyche—namely, what we do and why we do it—interests me far more than “leveraging synergies” or “boiling the ocean.”
Unfortunately, I feel that most of what we consider contemporary, professional work resembles the above phrases. It is obscure, futile, and light on real meaning.
It is jargon writ large—professional patina lazily smeared atop muddled thought and unclear purpose.
It is confusion masquerading as cogency, bullshit impersonating bravado.
It reigns supreme in the harshly-lit, drop-ceilinged offices of old.
Per David Graeber, it accompanies our current Bullshit-Job Boom; the proliferation of work defined as:
[A] form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case.
Perhaps no movie better describes this soul-sucking sea change than cult classic Office Space:
I mention the above in order to maintain a grateful heart so as to have a continual feast. That is, to remind myself of how lucky I am to do what I love and love what I do.
As I wrote in Verbal Portrait No. 4:
It's not much, but it's honest.
It's not easy, but it's simple.
It's not labor, but it's love.
And that's a lot more than can be said for most people.
My work writing, thinking, investing, and researching both electrifies my mind and lights up my heart.
Connecting people to places, ideas, capital, and yet more people begets a virtuous cycle of serendipity that only compounds over time.
Indeed it has led to a sort of work-life harmony—an intermingling of two formerly-parallel strands of my life that have joined together as one. Much like a braided rope, these strands grip one another tightly and firmly. By doing so, they work in unison to make the resultant whole much more robust and resilient than the sum of its parts.
In this way, I continue day by day to take deliberate strides towards my final destination: the Japanese concept of ikigai (生き甲斐, lit. 'a reason for being').
I encourage you to do the same.
After all, we only get one lap around the track of life and, as is said, people aren’t everything, they are the only thing.
So:
labor alongside associates and colleagues that light up your days and calm your nights,
doggedly pursue work so personally satisfying that you would do it for free,
and know that you possess talents entirely unique to you. Lean into and cultivate them.
Who knows? One day you might join Warren Buffett with your own tome entitled Tap Dancing to Work.
And so, I share the below podcast where I discuss my work. Work that brings with it a sense of purpose, belonging, and dignity. My shoddy Midwest internet aside, I hope that it provides inspiration and prompts introspection.