💡🧐 Curiosities | Round 5

On love, art, humanity, Y Combinator, growth without goals, and more

Welcome back to The Comma Project - where it’s all about helping fuel leaders further, faster along their path. It’s a space to ask the questions that matter of life, leadership, and connection.

I’m back with round 5 of Curiosities - a digestible download of ideas and stories for leaders.

Here, I unearth gems of insight on the art of seeking, becoming, and building a life of significance.

I hope you enjoy - and if you do, I’d be grateful if you pressed the little ❤️ button at the top left corner of this piece, and shared it with a few people you think would also enjoy it.

Cheers,

Devin

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[Essay]

The Generalist on Y Combinator as the institute of innovation

As I’ve written about (a lot) recently, I’ve been dreaming about what I wish I had during this chapter of exploration - this process of seeking and becoming that I’ve been walking.

I’ve been dreaming about a school - but a new one, that’s done differently than the ones we’re familiar with.

I’ve been dreaming about a leadership academy, like Y Combinator, but for life and leadership instead of startups.

This deep dive into Y Combinator was fascinating, and provided a well of insight and inspiration as I’ve been imagining what it might look like.

[Trailer and Documentary]

American Symphony on Netflix

Watch it.

Trust me.

Perhaps my favorite watch of 2023. Incredibly deep, moving, and intimate.

True art.

Just watch it.

[Podcast]

Dr. Gabor Maté on The Diary of a CEO

Inner peace is not a selfish goal. It’s from a position of inner peace that we can speak compassionately and truthfully to others, that we can serve our other goals.

The worst aspect of trauma is the disconnection from ourselves

The Chinese character for crisis is made up of two characters: danger, and opportunity.

This is a conversation that feels magnetic in its importance and empathetic view on the human project. So many of the topics discussed are at the core of what I’m spending time exploring through The Comma Project.

[YouTube]

Ludovico Einaudi at The Steve Jobs Theatre

Einaudi is one of my favorite listens recently, especially for when I’m seeking to slow down and drop into some peace. This live performance is a beautifully moving 90 minutes. It’s also great focus music.

[Essay]

Patrick O'Shaughnessy on growth without goals

But I now realize that the key isn’t thinking long-term, which implies long-term goals. Long-term thinking is really just goalless thinking. Long term “success” probably just comes from an emphasis on process and mindset in the present. Long term thinking is also made possible by denying its opposite: short-term thinking. Responding to a question about the “failure” of the Amazon smartphone, Bezos said “if you think that’s a failure, we’re working on much bigger failures right now.” A myopic leader wouldn’t say that.

There is always that stupid interview question: where do you see yourself or your company in five years. Instead, we should ask, what things do you think are important to do every day?

It is in these woods that I’ve begun to teach my son (and will soon teach my daughter) this lesson: explore for the sake of exploration, without expectation. Discover essence in your surroundings and in yourself, free from external conditioning (stories) and expectations. Build from the inside out and bottom up. Great habits and practices make a great and successful life. Cultivate those and the rest will take care of itself.

I came across this piece of Patrick’s from 2016 deep in a rabbit hole the other week, and it lit something up inside me. He put into words so much of how I’ve been working to shift my life over the past 13 months.

I’ve spent so much time asking the “why” and “what” of the direction I’m orienting my life - but this piece puts into words the “how” behind this search. “Inside out” instead of “outside in” is a way I’ve even described the way I’m seeking to live.

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