Open Q&A
I never thought I’d be in a position to do this but I think it is the only way. I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking really open ended questions that I don’t have time to answer individually. I also know that I’ve been vague in describing what I am doing and why I left school. I can’t answer everything obviously but I’ll do my best to clear up as much as possible.
You guys can email me or post in the comments and then I will respond later in the week with a big post. Hopefully I can turn it into a FAQ or a bio section to save time. I am totally happy to answer specific or personal questions but when they are things like “What are you doing?” it leads me to believe that I skipped an explanation somewhere.
Also, to the person that sent an Amazon Giftcard to my email address. Thank you. I never expected things like that to start happening.
I know all your would-be booze money goes to books, and you’d rather wake up sore from running than hungover; but, will you be getting shitcocked for your (upcoming?) 21st?
You’re early posts about running are what got me reading your blog. Do you still run much?
Specifically, what’s a typical day for you (sort of like Ferriss’s post on a typical day for him)? Is your schedule flexible? What type of things do you work on a day-to-day basis?
With regard to the short-term, do you desire to travel? I have followed your writing extensively and can’t recall any instance of you expressing this desire, which is apparently common within people our age.
How’s the puppy? Haven’t heard much about it, except for the first couple weeks you’d had it.
I’ve read your entire blog archive in the past few days after stumbling to it from the external links in the wikipedia entry for Meditations (I think someone has deleted it now but it was there). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, and I look forward to forthcoming posts.
One thing I noticed, though, was the entry “why I left school.” Apparently you left college, but you don’t really talk about the circumstances surrounding this decision very much. I would be very interested in hearing more about what made you come to that decision, how you felt about it, and what ramifications of it you have experienced so far or expect to experience in the future.
The reason I am interested in this is that I am the same age as you, and I find your thought processes and interests to parallel my own. I am currently going through a period where I am reevaluating everything that I assumed to be true as delivered to me by society and my parents, including the notion that the terms of my education must be dictated to me by the institution of college. I am beginning to find other avenues of interest which I find more interesting and absorbing than my current collegiate prison. Because of all this I would appreciate it if you could tell me a little bit about your own experience regarding these topics.
Keep up the good work man. Peace.
It’s well known by now that you’re very much into Aurelius, and practice stoicism.
How does your stoicism effect those around you, such as your girlfriend? Does she, Tucker, whomever, ever mention or feel that your position on practicing stoicism leads you to be cold or what-not? I’m interested to hear how your personal philosophy effects those around you.
As you mentioned before about Aurelius practicing stoicism, ideas have consequences.
I, too, would like to hear what your exact plans are. As someone who went through the same process as you, leaving school for a year because I felt I could learn more on my own, I would definitely like you to talk about those experiences in specifics. Not that such a decision was foolish, because I did indeed learn a lot, but I eventually returned to school to finish. I wouldn’t say it was foolish, but it was something I had to do at the time.
Talking about your experiences would be really interesting for me at least. It is, of course, your blog. Blog what you want.
What exactly do you do for Tucker, Robert and TheExecutive?
I am curious about how you came to work for Tucker Max and Robert Green. Did you contact them and just say I want to work for you? Did one of them lead you to the other? You never write about drinking and fucking, so it seems a bit odd that you would be drawn to someone like Tucker. But I think it could be a cool little bit about how you started doing what you do now.
I’ve read this blog for about a year and here’s what I’ve made of your situation (I could be totally wrong):
You’re original job was doing PR for Rudius Media, but Rudius (blogs) have taken a backseat to Tucker’s movie until that is all over. So you left school to work for a big firm in Hollywood, maybe to get some insight into the industry for yourself and Rudius? But you’ve also alluded to working with bands and writing business plans for them, which I’m guessing would be marketing plans. This conjecture is based on the fact you feel your job “creates value” and can’t be outsourced, you allude to Godin a lot, and read a lot of books somehow tied into this stuff. You can’t talk about it because you don’t want to give away any inside details of the firms dealings, or reveal the future plans of Rudius.
So want to verify or correct any of that?
I also want to know how you came to meet Robert Green and Tucker, and also if you have any advice on finding a kick-ass mentor like those guys.
I want to know if you live with your girlfriend, if you are still running, what kind of running, is their a goal in mind? How long you read for? When do you usually read…Watch tv much? You use the library a lot? Buy books a lot? what is a good place to buy books? what programs you use to work with your blog? You plans for the future… your plans now? you living on your own? with roommates? You drive, Bike, Take a Bus? Tell us more about what you do, how you do it and where you are going… a typical day… I suppose…
I want to know if you live with your girlfriend, if you are still running, what kind of running, is their a goal in mind? How long you read for? When do you usually read…Watch tv much? You use the library a lot? Buy books a lot? what is a good place to buy books? what programs you use to work with your blog? You plans for the future… your plans now? you living on your own? with roommates? You drive, Bike, Take a Bus? Tell us more about what you do, how you do it and where you are going… a typical day… I suppose…
You frequently talk of doing anything you want. But this only truly applies to careers like marketing, writing, politics etc, basically positions where the boss needs an idea and enough capital to hire grunts to do the paperwork.
What about jobs where you actually have to know stuff, like engineering, medicine or craftsmanship? Do you borrow NNT’s distinction or do you have original thoughts on this?
This is essentially a nature versus convention question, but it also leads me to wonder that if you have thought through the consequences of what you advocate.
Is a world with MORE cut-throat marketers, politicians and writers really somewhere you’d like to live?
Love your stuff btw.
Leon that was the creepiest group of questions I’ve ever seen. I hope you’re a normal person and that just came out weird. Why would you guys care about who I live with? Let’s keep this un-cultish
Question
Do you believe in perfection and imperfection? As in do you think anything can be perfect? And for this to be meaningful other things must also be imperfect.
Background
Perfection
But if this idea is taken to its logical conclusion, I think it implies that a person can be perfect. Which is onerous because if I believe that a person maybe perfect then I do not see any escape from the goal that I should be perfect, and am inadequate if otherwise.
Application
I see perfection in the world in certain things so this to me implies the goal for myself, which I have adopted. I disappoint myself every day though.
Hi, I’m seconding Avinash’s questions and some of Leon’s – about TV, books, the internet, just your opinions on the different ways to fill leisure time I guess. But mainly “day in the life” would be good, along with some more explanation about you job and why you left school.
Great blog, keep it up.
There seems to be only and handful of people that see the world the way you do. This includes Tucker and the Rudius crew, Bubblegen, Robert, Chris Anderson, Seth, the usual suspects you mention in your blog. After reading all of these people’s stuff over the past year, I feel like you guys all have the vision to create a new paradigm in media, music, internet, and even getting the most out of life. I think the real question is this: How can we get your voices heard on a larger scale around the world and start to change the game in a BIG way. Rather than just blogging about how broken things are. Let us know what is being done and what is in the works.
Haha! No…. I am not some crazy stalker…
It has something to do with interest…. I enjoy knowing more about a person, whose blog I am reading. I guess it has to do with being inspired. It helps me take necessary steps to achieve that kind of success. I am your age, and it’s great seeing that if you live alone or with a girlfriend. I can do those things as well. As in, I have a girlfriend and I am trying to move out. You know, I can relate to you better.
I remember on one of your bios at some point reading that you were a Creative Writing minor. Do you still do anything with that? Was applying creativity to the entertainment infrastructure, as you are now, what you had in mind all along? Were you a fiction writer originally? How have you, if indeed you have, shifted to a behind the scenes, production/orchestration mindset from an artists mindset? Or is there really not that much of a difference?
Ryan, how do set up a reading schedule to get through all the books and the writing that you do.
Thank
Tim Macdonald
Why have you stopped posting as frequently? I know you probably are working more, but you used to say that most of your ideas came while you were running or reading. Two things I doubt you have toned down that much.
An afterthought: many of those who comment on your articles are male. I base this on masculine names like Leon, Mike and so forth. You may have some female readers, but they don’t seem to engage with your work. Why do you think this is, and why do you think blogs such as your own – which I’d categorise as ‘self-enlightenment’, as opposed to ‘self-help’ – are more readily appealing to a male audience?
What’s with the ‘streamjackieg’ tag on your Amazon referral links? Where did that name come from?