One year of building things is complete. I started last August, fresh out of grad school, having fun with AI coding tools, and here we are in another August of our lives! Older, maybe wiser? There were laughter, tears, frustration, focus, diversions, personal issues, my last year had it all.
The big themes career wise of my last year was exploring AI and climate. I played with so many AI tools, made AI music videos, created automated social media profiles, and built apps. For much of the year that energy was channeled into climate related projects: AI for climate research, a video inventory tool, and multiple forest explorations some of which were even old fashioned physical businesses. One of the more interesting things I learned about was mass timber, a way to use smaller logs as structural engineering elements to help create a market for the hundred years of forest overgrowth we have. See a cool example of the output below.
I am so grateful for the time and space to do this exploration. Deep in my heart is a desire to contribute in meaningful ways to climate, social issues, and this time was lived doing so much of that as well as many other creative endeavors.
So what’s next? Over the last month I’ve pondered is it time to focus only on a job, or do I continue going even if none of these endeavors has made me more than 25% of my old salary. For a while I thought it was time to focus on jobs, but as I reflected more I decided I’m going to keep exploring, just with some new guidelines.
The first guideline is that I’m going to give myself up to 3 years to explore. I’ve heard it often takes that long for a new business to get settled, and I’d feel sad not getting to some point where I’m meeting a few more of my goals for this chapter of my life. The second guideline is to go deeper for longer blocks. I can pivot too much, and have a large set of interests so I’d like to get deeper into fewer things. The third is to stay closer to my areas of expertise/advantage. I’ve wanted do something to make our world more sustainable, but I haven’t found that perfect thing yet. Nor am I retired and able to just volunteer my time forever. So in the meantime I’d like to focus three months on areas I’ve previously done well in or had a passion for a specific craft. That means investing and media creation.
I’ve been a successful investor in multiple domains, and did already spend the last month exploring which arenas of investing I want to go deeper in including building some technology to automate some of the trading I’ve done in the blockchain space. I read The Intelligent Investor and a few other investing classics to zoom out. I plan to spend at least 50% of my time the next three months continuing to go deeper.
On the media front, I’ve always been told one of my super powers is asking questions. I’ve made 3 podcasts over the last decade, written for KQED, Wired, and a few other publications, and just love exploring topics. I’ve spent less time the last month focused on this, but am committed to spending any of that extra 50% of the time not spent on investing in making content. I’ve got a list of ideas so far including documenting some of my forestry learnings, going deeper into economic issues that drive trends in our society and impact our ability to make change in climate, or even some more out there ideas like doing a podcast highlighting people at the forefront of breathing science. This area is still much more nascent compared to me actually building tooling for investing.
I think I’ll also change up the approach I take on these monthly updates. My favorite part of doing them is getting to interact with you who read them, so I’ll be attempting to figure out how to optimize even more for that. My first idea is more stories and less summarization.
The story most on my mind is the story of someone with confidence on a quest. I do feel a little lost in my career and a bit bummed my last year didn’t have more breakout wins. A part of me feels like the seeds I’m planting aren’t yet growing in fertile ground. I think that is because I’m scared of failing on this journey. It feels cheesy to bring in Moana, but something about that brave confidence to explore the seas is the character I most want to embody in both the calm and the storms. Damn those corporate geniuses, creating a character that appeals to me even as I have those inner anti-corporate streaks. We’re all paradoxes aren’t we? Anyway, I don’t always feel that confidence, but I pray that continuing this alternative path will lead to some meaningful ways to contribute to society and I’ll find clarity along the journey that this is a path I can continue on for years to come.
As I start on my second year, I do want to share a portfolio of the things I made this last year which you can see here. They aren’t being used by billions of people, or reshaping climate, but I’m proud to have made them nonetheless.
Finally, I want to thank those of you who read these updates and are along for the ride! I’m so grateful for my family, friends, you readers, and the larger communities I’m a part of. I may not have got everything I wanted, but my needs are well taken care of and that wouldn’t be true without you. Thank you, bless you, and please reach out if I can ever be part of your journey towards fining meaning.
We’re all paradoxes, which makes it all the more interesting. Huge congrats on this step back to step forward. Here if you ever want to catch up~!
Appreciate and admire your openness and transparency navigating these vast, uncertain waters, man! I am wondering if you have considered weaving your interests in investing and sustainable forestry and explored any of the ReFi, carbon/biodiversity/eco credit schemes, green/blue bonds, etc. investment spaces? I have been dipping my toes in those waters as an advisor/consultant and feel those domains could benefit from having someone like you in the mix.