It was a CRAZY week...
Hi everyone,
This week my newsletter is going out to 91 people. We’ve had 1 new signup since last week.
I’m going to start announcing that at the start of each newsletter. I’ve seen some other creators do it and I like it. I feel like it helps keep me accountable, is a subtle motivation for me to grow the letter, and also helps create a sense of community and shared achievement.
Here’s what I have for you this week.
🌪A Whirlwind of a Week
I had some amazing things happen in my world this week. Here are just a few:
1.) I spent last weekend with the Performative Speaking team, myself, Robbie Crabtree, and Sean Connors, in my new hometown (still crazy to say) of Austin, TX. This was the first time our team met. There is always uncertainty in that first time. But it was special. This team is primed to create great things and I’m excited to be a part of it. Somehow, this feels like an eternity ago even though we all first met up last Thursday. They also nearly killed me at the gym on Sunday. I almost passed out during the last set of kettlebell swings. I’m also pretty sure my spirit my have left my body for a few moments while we were getting smoothies after. Well, really, to be honest - they were the ones getting smoothies. I was mostly focused on keeping my composure.
But this was actually an incredible team-building exercise.
A snapshot of what we are capable of if we a.) work together and b.) feed energy and motivation into one another. It was an amazing way to bond with them while also stretching what I am capable of as an individual.
2.) On Monday, I moved into my first apartment. It is the first time that I will have a space that is solely and entirely my own. This has been beautiful and challenging and eye-opening and given me perspective on lots of things (one of them being why my Mom loves to decorate so much) even though it’s only been a few short days. It’s also given me a lot of perspective on why Rachel loved to decorate so much (or why she spent literal hours figuring out which towels we should get).
This was a part of the rock and hard place I mentioned. Leaving her. Leaving the little world that we built (and that she put so much care and intention into).
But I also felt like I needed this experience. Of building something. Of creating a space and place that is entirely mine.
It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I spent a good portion of my mid-20s traveling around and was actually quite proud of my ability to exist without many things. In retrospect, that feels like I was collecting experiences and things and perspectives. Now, it’s time to settle in and do the work of sifting through all of that and creating something for the world.
I also spent a good portion of time (like an hour plus) wondering which french press I should get and how it might offset the backsplash in my kitchen. The things no one tells you about getting older.
3.) I had three calls this week. They were with Jamie Russo, founder of GoodNote, Greg Frontiero, the founder of NooWave, and Ajibola Oladiipo, a blogger destined for greatness.
The first call was with Jamie Russo. Jamie is the founder of GoodNote, a project still taking shape that is dedicated to spreading kindness in the world. Jamie is an amazing human being.
His mission is simple: spread kindness.
His mission is significant: 1 million acts of kindness by 2030.
I feel deeply committed to helping Jamie achieve his mission. The call earlier this week went so well that we had another this afternoon which, if I’m being honest, I’m still processing. A lot of the discussion was so incredibly poignant and I’m just stoked to see what Jamie does with this project.
He’s the sort of person (really, all of them are) that just being around is going to make me better. It’s greatness through osmosis.
We’re going to be doing a weekly call moving forward and I feel sort of like:
Find Jamie here.
The second was with Greg Frontiero. Greg is the founder of NooWave. Their initial product is Flow State Coffee, a product that blends l-theanine with cacao to aid in the induction of flow states (my words, not his). Here’s a really unscientific explanation that should probably get fact-checked: l-theanine helps reduce the jittery effect of the caffeine and cacao has a host of health benefits including lowering blood pressure. For those of you who are interested, you can learn more about l-theanine here and you can learn more about cacao here. Bear in mind, this is not scientific evidence and is not a recommendation that you use them without first doing your own research/consulting with a doctor. They have, however, both been helpful to me at different times.
This call was a great reminder that yes, I should be taking theanine with my caffeine and that yes not having to think about that alone is worth paying for. It’s a stack has worked well for me in the past (I love caffeine but hate the jitters) and am excited to try again.
But Greg also has a vision much larger than coffee. I don’t want to ruin the fun.
I also had the distinct pleasure of purchasing the two bags that put NooWave at its break-even point:
Another friend of ours, Matt Tillotson, commented shortly thereafter that he had purchased a bag and put Greg and the NooWave team in the green. It’s beautiful stuff.
Our call was short but I’m looking forward to another.
The third call was with Ajibola Oladiipo. Aji blogs on personal productivity and habits while maintaining an interest in politics and philosophy. Most of our conversation revolved around politics which was, largely, because I was interested in Aji’s view on current events here as well as the way he saw his own country and its political system. Aji was remarkably insightful on things ranging from the problems of comparing ourselves to other country’s, the problems of making conditional judgments about our own country or another without considering things like the length of time that country has existed. I also learned a ton (even though it was a brief explanation) from him about the origins of Nigeria.
Aji ended the call by saying, “I hope we get to talk more about creative projects in the future” which I’m very much excited for the potential of.
They’re creating great things and will change the world for the better.
They already are.
🎶The Sound of Music
In case you are in need of something uplifting and beautiful:
📚Book Club Update
Our book club meeting is this Sunday at 10 AM CDT. We will be discussing How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
We will be using Zoom for our meeting. Here is the link to join.
You can see what time 10AM CDT will be in your local time zone here.
Shortly after I announced that we will be reading Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse next month, he passed away.
Here is a quote from what we will be reading:
“Only that which can change can continue: this is the principle by which infinite players live.” - James P. Carse
I think reading his book will be a beautiful way to honor his memory and contributions to humanity.
I haven’t read it myself but it’s been recommended to me quite a bit. I’m excited to give it a read. It’s a great time to do it.
The book is available on Scribd, a service I’ve been using and loving for a few months now.
That’s it for this week.
I hope to see you on Sunday. It’s BYOC (bring your own coffee). Unfortunately, Greg hasn’t agreed to supply everyone with Flow State Coffee…yet.
Until then (or next week),
KB