Weekly Mix #239 - Why the pursuit of happiness is misguided

The Pursuit of Emptiness, Better Conversations, Debt, Plastic & Golf

​

Happy Tuesday!

We were treated to some summer-like weather this past weekend, with some temperatures much higher than usual for May.

Sometimes it can feel "too hot" in places like Montreal, which regularly reach 30+ with high humidity.

Whenever that happens, I visualize January in Montreal instead (-20C), and immediately I'm much more grateful for the nice weather.

One thing I want to highlight this week: my friends over at Saltwreck are in the midst of a fundraising effort for the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

They have some limited edition prints and t-shirts available for sale, with all proceeds being donated.

You can support the Peace for Ukraine initiative here.

Have a great week.

Graham

​

Links

📖 The Pursuit of Emptiness - John Perry Barlow - Published first in 2001, this essay is about our misguided pursuit of happiness.

"Happiness being the most subjective of states, I can only speak for myself. I have found four qualities that I believe naturally enrich the ecology of joy. When I'm capable of sustaining them, they sustain me and continue to do so even in these strange days. They are: a sense of mission, the casual service of others, the solace of little delights, and finally, love for its own sake."

📖 20 Simple Techniques for Better Conversations - Holloway - Good communication is a critical skill for success in life, and being a good listener and conversationalist is at the core of those skills. This infographic built by podcast host Andrew Warner gives 20 tips for having better conversations.

📖 'Buy now, pay later' is sending the TikTok generation spiraling into debt, popularized by San Francisco tech firms - SFGate - I still believe financial literacy is one of the biggest gaps in most education systems, and while I was lucky enough to get a good one from my parents, most people are not. Buy now, pay later programs, which you've likely seen shopping online, are the latest danger to most people's financial health.

📖 Scientists Discover Method to Break Down Plastic in Days, Not Centuries - Vice - I often find myself a bit conflicted, as I'm both a technological optimist and someone who cares deeply about the environment. I believe science and innovation can solve many of our problems. The question is usually whether it will be fast enough to prevent irreversible damage, which is why when it comes to things like plastic I prefer to both a) avoid it as much as possible, and b) highlight and encourage solutions like this.

🔧 Arccos Golf - I recently wrote How I'm Getting Better at Golf, and mentioned Arccos was one of the tools I was planning to use. I played my first few rounds with the sensors, which help provide insights into where I need to improve my game, and it's brilliant. The data will only get better with more use, but I'm very excited about the results already.

​10 Tweets

​​4 ways to grow a SaaS product​

​How to make $1M+ selling online courses​

​Tiger Global's investment in ByteDance at an absurb valuation​

Photo of the Week

I'm back in Nova Scotia for a couple weeks to kick off the golf season, and the view of Lunenburg from the local course never disappoints.

​

​