The Inner Circle - Issue #7

This newsletter is for my inner circle. The people whose opinions matter to me the most. It’s where I’ll be more open than normal. Where I’ll share what I’m excited about, what I’m processing. You’re on this list for a reason. Thank you for being in my life.

In this issue:

• Teaching 3s to become 2s
• The future of education and how to find balance
• Learning to sit still

Teaching 3s to become 2s

There are 3 worlds right now.

1. The legacy world.
2. The new decentralized world.
3. Folks being left behind.

It was incredibly hard for 3s to become 1s. It’s much easier to become 2s.

We tend to hyperbolize everything these days. But I really do believe we’re living through a once in a lifetime transition. And everyone can participate, at least theoretically.

But the world of crypto and decentralized finance is super confusing. I’ve given presentations to my own team, and organizations at Kellogg, and to the employees of companies of my friends. These are incredibly smart people, and even for them it’s hard to wrap their minds around.

There is a window of opportunity to help level the economic playing field, at least a bit. It requires some new knowledge and new skills, and a healthy dose of personal information security. But it’s possible. Even with a small amount of money.

We need more 3s to become 2s. And I’d like to help.

I’m going to put together a small course walking folks step by step through the process of getting into crypto and decentralized finance. The course will be free. I won’t be trying to upsell anyone into anything. I’m planning to release it (I hope) in January.

If it’s something you’d like to participate in, you can fill out the tiny form here.
If you know folks who would benefit, please share on social, or share directly.

The future of education and how to find balance

The last few podcast episodes have been super interesting:

One of the remnants of home school that we kept was our Synthesis School subscription. It was an online school started by SpaceX that helps teach kids how to think differently. I got to chat with the CEO and Chief Evangelist on the origins of Synthesis and how they approach learning.

The other was my interview with RescueTime - an app that used to be about helping you maximize your productivity, but coming out of COVID made the big decision to shift its focus to balance. I chatted with the founder about their unique insights into how people actually work, and how to be effective without burning yourself out.

Learning to Sit Still

Last week, my wife and I sat tonight in front of the fire and did nothing for an hour.

No screens. No books. No journal. No conversation.

As much a possible, we tried not to think about things we need to do or worry about what’s to come.

Perhaps most surprisingly, we both got sleepy about 20 minutes in. When you literally never shift into neutral and down regulate, once you finally do it’s like the first thing your body realizes is its need to rest.

It was incredibly hard. But felt surprisingly good after.

As we enter a season of busyness, I’d highly recommend finding an hour to yourself in the next week or two to reset. You won’t like it. You might fall asleep.

But at the end you’ll be glad you did it.

Thanks for reading!

As always, if you have ideas for how to make this better, please let me know. Thanks for being in my life ❤.

--Sean