Jack Squire

[Khe Hy @khemaridh]

"Daddy, we can get ice cream on Door Dash!"

I immediately remembered our last Door Dash order. Vietnamese Pho.

It was so sad.

The broth a bit too cold.

The noodles a bit too hard.

The meat a bit too raw.

Bruh, Pho is not meant to be shipped 20 minutes across town in a Toyota Prius.

So getting a single scoop of ice cream shipped across town to my house wasn't particularly enticing.

(Plus, think about the viscosity of my Rocky Road scoop?!?!)

I wondered:

Has obsession for efficiency gone awry?

My nostalgia kicked in as I thought about our ice cream outings when I was 10.

We'd often be in the south of France - at a small beach town near Bordeaux called Arcachon.

There was a huge sand dune (La Dune de Pilat) that all the cousins would run up - then roll down. Over and over until the sun set.

Then sweaty and covered in sand we'd head to the only ice cream shop in town, where the line slung around the block.

And deliciously savor the hard-earned rewards from the evening.

The atomization of commerce

The Door Dash-ification of a scoop of ice cream made me think of how small our units of commerce have become. In Charles Eisenstein's book Sacred Economics, he looks at this "atomization" of commerce.

"As the economy grows," Eisenstein writes, "by definition, more and more of human activity enters the realm of money, the realm of goods and services."

It's not enough to go get an ice cream.

It needs to be delivered to you.

And thankfully, there's a market mechanism for that.

A "micro-service" of sorts.

This atomization permeates the lives of the affluent (myself included).

The wellness industry will sell you liver pills to get buff, CBD gummies to rock you to sleep and blue chew to get you aroused on command.

You can find zen through the Calm app, heal your childhood trauma with a trip to Costa Rica and connect to your purpose with a Better Up coach.

And the human connection we so desperately crave can be found in dating apps, Instagram and annual pilgrimages to Coachella.

Again, I don't position myself as above any of these pursuits. By no means am I enlightened or blissfully coasting along on a cloud of transcendence.

In fact, I'm guilty of pretty much all of them (as both "consumer" and "supplier").

But I gotta wonder. Yes, in theory we can create the perfectly atomized portfolio of life.

But surely we're missing something.

I'm not sure what that something is - but one thing's for sure - it ain't on DoorDash.

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

@Its_Warden (1/?) is the most ADHD way to start a tweet thread ever 🤣

[Khe Hy @khemaridh]

Summers were always a fertile season for productivity.

We spent them in France and I came prepared.

SAT flash cards.
A "Beginner's Guide to HTML" book.
Ankle weights to spice up the workouts.

Then at night we'd go get ice cream. But the shop was closed.

For the ENTIRE MONTH.

I was incredulous.

To close an ice cream shop - for a month - during PEAK tourist season?

It was like a lottery winner refusing to claim their jackpot because they didn't want the hassle of managing the money.

And as a striving teenager committed to getting into an Ivy League, all I could ask was:

Where on earth was their Work Ethic?

After all, I had built myself up to be a heat-seeking missile of punctuality, reliability, diligence and professionalism.

I was consumed by learning, growing and excellence.

And here was an Ice Cream shop turning away "free money."

The owners were not prioritizing productivity. Instead, they were prioritizing leisure.

To my younger self, that was blasphemous.

But today - deeply ensconced in midlife - I find myself wondering: is there a sinister side of work ethic?

One that breeds anxiety, injects you with self-loathing, robs you of the present and emotionally detaches you from the people you love most.

I wonder.

Work Ethic has always been my "secret weapon."

As a young kid, I made websites for local businesses.

I taught myself how to invest in High School.

I got into Yale. Majored in Computer Science.

Worked on Wall Street. Got promoted to MD.

Became a moderately-successful entrepreneur.

I proudly place these achievements on the pedestal of Work Ethic.

But what about the hidden costs of Work Ethic?

The burnout of constantly and relentlessly pushing yourself to do more. (And never being satisfied.)

The toll on my physical health. High blood pressure. Alopecia. Binge drinking. 15 years of 6 hours of sleep. Grinding all the enamels off of my teeth. (The list goes on.)

And the deleterious individualism. Praying to the altar of the self. The flawed and isolationary belief that this was all "because of me."

Could it be that my single-minded focus on work come at a devastatingly steep cost?

And were the owners of the Ice Cream shop aghast if they were to see my NYC lifestyle? (Crossfit → Wall Street → Side Hustling → All while listening to audiobooks at 2x speed.)

I've come to believe that the Ice Cream store (and Europeans, generally speaking) had mastered a different ethic: Life Ethic.

Life Ethic takes the Deferred Life Plan and flips it on its head.

Instead of waiting until retirement to travel, you take more time off today.

Instead of eating on the go, you enjoy leisurely meals with loved ones.

Instead of hiring life coaches, you have deep emotional intimacy with your partner, friends and community.

And you take naps. (I mean, Americans thought it was nuts when we could "work out" in the middle of the day.)

Now there's an inherent paradox between Life Ethic and Work Ethic.

Work Ethic is about doing. It's about WHAT we do and WHAT we accomplish.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Life Ethic is about being. How we interact with leisure, loved ones, food, the arts and nature.

So how do we build lives where Work Ethic and Life Ethic coexist in harmony?

[John Summit @johnsummit]

like fr tho social media is supposed to b fun and when it’s not i simply put my phone away and live my life

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

If you're looking to use Notion for your business, then this Ultimate Guide by @khemaridh is a must read 👉🏼 https://t.co/zWfKKG30Se

Used it as the framework for my new businessOS (& everything @khemaridh writes is a must read anyways)

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

@themattmeadow This is incredibly ironic 🤣

[Kevin Dahlstrom @Camp4]

😀6 Hallmarks of Happiness

I’ve spent the last 20 years in the C-suite at startups, BigCos, & everything in between. I’ve observed 100’s of successful people and one thing is clear:

Most of them are unhappy.

I also noticed that the exceptions—the happy few…

👇🧵

[James Eagle @JamesEagle17]

I was born before the world wide web. We can't imagine living without it. Although I can because I did live before it. I create this data visualisation to tell this stor

#Innovation #Technology #internet #datavisualisation

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Every year on my birthday I write a letter to my future self.

It’s been a 10x unlock for my life.

Here’s why you should start doing it:

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

@khemaridh @ConvertKit @BillyBroas @mattragland @stephsmithio @nathanbarry Can’t wait!

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

@Yannick_Veys 5) keep around low calorie snacks for when you’ve ate your calories but are still hungry (pickles are great for this).
6) progress is better than perfection. Pick a direction (workout program, diet, etc) and give it time.
7) read the previous 6 tips again.

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

@Yannick_Veys 80/20 of how I’ve lost and kept off over 120+ lbs:

1) Nutrition is everything. Use Carbón Diet Coach (or a nutritionist) and eat your macros/calories.
2) do workouts you enjoy that fit your goals. If you want strength gains, go to till failure, not a prescribed rep number.

[Jack Squire @itsjacksquire]

@Yannick_Veys 90% of people overcomplicate it (myself included). Here’s some bonus tips:
3) the best diet is the one you can stick to (easily)
4) environment forces function. If I buy ice cream, I will eat the ice cream. When there’s a barrier (having to go buy ice cream) I usually won’t.

[Gaurav Singh @gauravsingh961]

You already know the best productivity hack in the world

“SAY NO”

But it’s hard to do it quickly + kindly + clearly

So I went searching all over the internet.

Here are 16 of the best tips I found on ‘How to say NO’
👇 …

[Rock @TheCensoredRock]

What in the Mountain Dew meth fuck is going on here

[Maria Scholler @mschollz]

I need to find hobbies that don’t include my debit card