The secret of adventure, then, is not to carefully seek it out, but to travel in such a way that it finds you.
- Rolf Putts, Vagabonding
Where were we?
It’s been 9 months since I last published on here and 18 months since I attended an online college lecture. This experiment of taking a leave of absence from school is one of the strangest and toughest things I’ve ever done.
I’ve spent days waking up to no agenda, staring at the walls and books in my room. I’ve been stumped by the questions of life, demanding answers from books, art, wealth, and stories.
Since then, I’ve been working on some pretty cool stuff:
I’m the CEO of an ed-tech startup backed by Iterative. We’ve received $150k in funding as part of their accelerator program.
I spend my days learning, teaching, executing, and talking to fascinating people. It’s crazy fun to work with folks from Alibaba, Meta, and more.
I’ve grown my network exponentially, through some fantastic conversations with founders, VCs, and operators at hyper-growth companies.
The funny thing is I still stare at the books and walls of my room. Still lightyears away from answering the big questions.
But if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that being lost is beautiful.
While it seems to depart from the norm, being lost can express the courage to take risks in the struggle to find authenticity and meaning (in the right circumstances).
So go wander and find the things that make you happy. Question life, society, and the way things work. Tinker with new projects and ideas. Iterate until you find something worth pursuing.
So what’s next?
The last time I wrote this newsletter, I experienced exponential personal and professional growth. Through sharing, I’m able to better understand my learnings and connect with people I would’ve otherwise never met. I’m also able to rediscover and reflect on myself and my journey.
That’s why I’m going to be continuing this newsletter with a different format. Recently, I’m writing a lot about learning how to learn. And I'm slowly transferring my 250+ book/video/article notes to this “blog”.
So if you're someone who loves to learn, I highly recommend subscribing or following me on Twitter. If you have a great book recommendation, contact me.
P.S.
I want to thank all the people who’ve had a big part in the journey this year. You guys are unbelievable.
Martha, John, Hou, Josh, Chris, Mon, Francis, Luis, Dexter, Justin, Wes, Adriel, David, Martin, Kayla, Melissa, Matthew, Chloe, Harvey, Lance, Ceej, Warren, Angela, Jeremy, Marrione, Hsu Ken, Brian, my parents, all our wonderful students at Up Next, and so much more.
You guys inspire me to keep learning and building. Let’s kill it this 2022.
- Javi