Yes, I made https://xitter.cf/t.co/Q77IEc0OAg Solving problems over 30yrs of self-funded startups. CEO, author, husband, dad. Debunking business posts.
NYC, Catskills, Shenzhen
Joined November 2008
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I don’t post highlight pics of where I am or what I’m doing there, because it would be misleading and fake. This is where I spend often 7am-11pm including weekends. My life is the best for me. I’m continually satisfied, and never satisfied simultaneously.
I can post all sorts of travel pics and what looks like all I do is travel and live an extravagant NYC lifestyle. It would be a lie. I spend as much time as possible furiously working to unlock my next level. My personal hotspot use is nuts.
I say “no” to almost everything until I feel satisfied I can distract myself. I connect with customers, take few other calls, ignore most emails. Highest priority of everything is how I work. It’s amazing how little noise in your life matters. Don’t come to me unless you have exhausted yourself.
Yes I go to school, family, work events when it’s best for my family or work. I’ll work in the car and make my wife drive.
If I posted pics of me working in the car, in a line at Epic Universal in Osaka on my laptop, walking down the street, in my car on auto-drive right lane behind a truck for best radar stopping, I’d get the “performative” label. But it’s real. I’m just extremely committed by choice. It’s not a condition forced upon me.
The very specific goals I have are an obsession. I’m living the life of my previous goals-in-progress. But I’m not close to done.
One of my goals was to setup my life to remove all friction to being able to create and build by removing everything that frustrates me while creating/building. That was an enormous unlock. And it is a tool.
My environment to tilt the odds of success in my favor are optimized for who I am and how I process information. And for how I am inspired. I spend a massive amount of time working on sometimes challenging engineering problems which require 100% of what I have. And I run the show, and I’m extremely hands-on. I’ll personally get involved with anything that keeps the machine oiled.
This is reality for me, and it’s boring and awesome.
It’s ironic:
You won’t find the people with the best lives—the ones we should really listen to—on the podcast circuit.
Here’s why:
🥱 Great lives appear pretty boring from the outside.
You see, society has it backwards:
We’re told that a great life is made from Instagram-worthy peak experiences: hot dates, exotic vacations, front-row seats, 8-figure exits, fifteen minutes of fame.
There’s nothing wrong with any of those things. But the highs are fleeting.
It turns out that a great life is built from “the other 98%” of our time:
Mundane day-to-day activities that—done consistently for years and decades—compound into something spectacular.
The great American writer Annie Dillard used reading as an example:
“Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading—that is a good life.”
The same is true for almost everything that matters.
A stay-at-home mom spends her days wiping noses and butts. It’s far from glamorous, but somehow it adds up to the most meaningful life a human can lead.
I’ve made a lifelong study of what makes a life great. The happiest, most fulfilled people I've observed:
1) Are crystal clear on the few things that bring them true joy. (Hint: It’s rarely the things society celebrates.)
2) Build a life that allows them to do those things every day.
3) Say no to everything else.
A great life isn’t fireworks; it’s a steady burn. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s kind of boring, but…
When you’re already living your best life, why deviate?
My Uncle Roland (RIP) modeled what I’m talking about. He had a trademark saying:
When asked when he’d been fishing last, Roland would wink and answer, “Not since this morning.”
Uncle Roland fished the bays of Galveston 300 days a year. He sold insurance to pay the bills and was always around for his wife and daughter. In his spare time, he picked a guitar.
A day spent fishing is a pretty good day, but not particularly notable. But a *life* spent living that simple routine over and over… that’s a great life.
Uncle Roland became a local legend in the fishing community and a role model for me and many others.
Dan Simmons summarizes my point beautifully in his book, Hyperion:
"The essence of human experience lies not in peak experiences, the wedding days and triumphs which stand out in memory like dates circled in red on old calendars, but, rather, in the unselfconscious flow of little things—a weekend afternoon with each member of the family engaged in his or her own pursuit, their crossings and connections casual, dialogues imminently forgettable, but the sum of such hours creating a synergy which is important and eternal.”
Stop chasing extraordinary days. Build an extraordinary life.
Erik Kaiser retweeted
Love my crush.
New Product First Review. Very excited about the two “Crush the Memory”s that I ordered. The package came in one day ahead of schedule. Very nice packaging. Very impressed. As good as any Apple packaging. (I wrote this post using the device while looking at the photos I wanted to use .) @crushthememory @ErikKaiser 1/9🧵
If I “was” Hunter Biden… Although grammar evolves unnecessarily at times, the was/were distinction is one that shouldn’t be buried. “Was” indicates factual statements like a sarcastic “If I was interested in posting in X I would try daily.” Well I am, and I do. Factual.
“Were” indicates a hypothetical as in “If I were Hunter Biden…”. You’re not Hunter Biden.
If and wish are always “were” unless it’s a true statement.
Language is my chief means of communication, and I love studying it to learn how to say more with less and be more accurate with my delivery. My punctuation usually takes the hit with my typing speed and disinterest in proofreading.
Look, $40,000 of curated images that should narrate an stress-free and detached-from-reality lifestyle. These are just static moments from 10 days of introducing my family to China and Thailand. In 2010 when I moved to China it wasn’t a “move”. It was a trip which I extended for seven years. I wasn’t thinking about returning to Manhattan and paying $14,000/mo for rent for a similar condo sold at auction to satisfy a PG judgement. I was in Shenzhen building, cranking out products, getting back on my financial feet after the GFC total wipeout. My newly pregnant wife said raising kids in China was a non-starter. Back to NYC, but I was financially back(ish), too. Family never saw Shenzhen until last week. Amazing what happens when you visit.
I’m right now in the last 30 days of a two-year company restructuring to get our main business to be right side up. Yes, business is hard. Don’t let anyone fool you with ez street. Esp in manufacturing and brand-building. @Molson_Hart and I often volley this topic.
This trip was productive for the collective family, but my mind is darting in multiple directions while I try to command instructions to staff in multiple time zones.
A photo doesn’t really tell a story - it allows the observer to use their imagination as a proscenium arch to set the stage according to their bias. The table setting for four was our last dinner in Phuket absent my mother and brother & family. The table accommodated nine of us with room, and we remarked how empty it seemed with them missing on our last day. Where we document new emptiness another without context may think opulence.
Back to the desk, my command center, my int’l Internet, my monitors, my passionate job in 15 hours.
🤖 Made with AI
Dr. Kaiser had one of these in the 70s and 80s. He covered the ER, and I spent lots of time watching him through the back seat windows of his burgundy diesel Oldsmobile Tornado in a rotary phone booth covered in stickers, scratched windows, and an accordion door that pretty much is still the most reliable door closure ever created. He was the earliest adopter of the mobile phone. His first bill was $3,000, because he forgot to hit the End button. So he powered it off when he wasn’t using it.
As someone who did oh-so-much dating in NYC I would say “yes”, get her address, reverse search, and then decide if she is real estate desirable.
Single girlfriend in NYC’s text exchange with a Hinge match. She’s upset. In my opinion…
- She’s entitled to whatever expectations of men she wants, but asking a stranger from the internet to send a car is cringey, and she has no business being upset if he won’t
- The guy’s response is simultaneously fair, abrasive, and weird. Just say “How about I come to you?” if you still want the date, or “I don’t think this is a fit…” if you don’t
Hard not to stay stuck single if you interact like this 😬
Me today. Day 10 of traveling with my brother’s family and mother in China and Thailand. I want to work.
In Shenzhen the malls are jammed, but the only shops that have activity are all the food & beverage and PopMart. There are no store shoppers for clothing or elsewhere.
Aging parents start flipping the script on privacy, autonomy, and capability. My brother and I struggle with how invasive we should be. Should we know where our mother is at all times? Are her driving skills still good? Where is the secret stash before you forget?
I’ve forced a consolidation of banking to Morgan Stanley so the money is in one spot. Still gently pulling together everything else.
This is my kind of thinking.
BREAKING: Atomarine has launched out of Y Combinator. The startup is looking to develop nuclear-powered data centers that sit on large-scale barges offshore.
Its first gas-powered data center is set to deploy in 2028. Atomarine has secured early partnerships with offshore barge builders and multiple SMR developers, with the systems designed to operate fully off-grid.
ALT Source: Atomarine Render
No one gets anywhere just by sitting and thinking without action. “Moving along”. Everyone needs to move along in my family. Take the next uncomfortable step up, grow, reach the next level. I actively guide everyone to move along. Enough with certain loops, expectations, and dependencies.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." This often is a simple addiction, because it's predictable. Predictability cancels out complexity. Humans want predictability even if the outcome creates insanity through loops, expectations, and dependencies.
As a man, a father, and a husband I have a responsibility to "move along" my family and equally as important -> me. It's my duty to recognize comfort and remove it when there are no footprints on the forward path to greatness. Slavery to comfort is weakness. It's hard to take advantage of someone who digests changes effortlessly.
Moving along seems to work best when there is a clean, bold break. The thump of a sledgehammer, an entropy event where one can't go back. Do it enough and recognize the benefits, and the moving along events are expected... predictable. Discomfort arises from the lack of moving along.
Milestones matter. Move along.
My children needed massive discipline on our trip in Thailand yesterday. We had to take away my oldest daughter’s favorite doll. My mom was crying. Wife was crying. Ruined the night.
However, today my children were on their best behavior. Noticeable to all. No talk-back, no talking before thinking, no sisters fighting. There have to be measurable consequences to inappropriate actions.
My wife and I are embarrassed by how loose our daughters are acting. Partly the result of not being intellectually busy for weeks and being over-served with attention by their Chinese family.
My kids need to be learning all the time. It’s our responsibility to make this happen. Proper sleep, learning, and the right amount of play is an art and science we continually strive to master as we raise future adults. Most importantly they need to be good, reliable people.
Something else… I call it “moving along”. Everyone needs to move along in my family. Take the next uncomfortable step up, grow, and get to the next level. I’ve had to guide everyone in my family in this manner. Move along. Enough with certain loops, expectations, and dependencies. I’m a fan of hard resets.
Erik Kaiser retweeted
If I could sit down with this 19 year-old kid for five minutes, I wouldn’t talk about money.
I’d tell him to pursue his wife long after the honeymoon.
Be present, not just physically there.
Your kids won’t remember how many hours you worked. They’ll remember whether you were at the dinner table, in the backyard, and on the floor playing with them.
They’ll grow faster than you can imagine.
Work hard. Be a provider. But don’t become so obsessed with providing a good life that you forget to actually live it with them.
Success isn’t measured by what you build.
It’s measured by who’s still smiling when you come home.
Unexpected find in Thailand is the Baiyasuub 100% Thai tobacco leaf hand-rolled binder, filler, wrapper. Impressive. Always a good surprise here.
How hard could it be to go to an Ivy League school and start a successful deck-building company? Very.
@jamesonhaslam is a great marketer and builder - esp if you ever think, “Who would ever be interested in {what you do}?”
He is a continual inspiration by reinforcing a clean visual and entertaining written message with consistency embraced by what appears to be transparency (which I’m sure it is).
He’s a great study if business and social media success are on your list.
“Underwhelmed” by the robot show in Shenzhen. These Chinese humanoid robots don’t appear to have any utility. What does have massive utility are robot arms that do specific programmatic jobs and co-work on an assembly line or task environment. I am excited to see robots from @adcock_brett @elonmusk @BostonDynamics et al where I expect to get a hardware developing assistant that can grab my phone from the car.
Bangkok is better received than Shenzhen. Lots to see and do. Mom and brother love the food. My wife and I love spicy. Brother mad dash after dinner. 😂🔥🌶️
My brother didn’t love Shenzhen. I don’t blame him. It’s not a cultural, friendly city. It’s a place to make money and why I love it. Fast, entrepreneurial, raw. He loved the food and the experience to connect the dots, know what is real, and have the a-ha moments. He was ready to go. My mom loved the haggle of shopping and the clothing deals. My MIL was the champion of negotiations just hammering people down on prices for anything they wanted to buy.
The next trip he takes to China will be actual sightseeing to Bejing and elsewhere.
We were smoking cigars on my balcony talking about his experience, and he could not avoid recognizing the perseverance, deal-making, and chess moves it takes to get established and survive in China. He’s correct. I started with a mission in 2010, and I never looked back.
