Travis Wright
Dear Jeff
Pennies, Pebbles, and Pottery
Beyond enough
Helpful questions for untangling fulfillment and money
Be in one place at once
The difference between presence and splitness
Cultivate outcomes
The power of initial conditions
The longer path is the faster path
Why straight lines are slower than we think
On being early
Why being early is more difficult than it seems
Reality checking real estate (Home size edition)
A macro analysis of Sacramento home price per square foot performance
Products are a three-way parlay
The three things all successful products get right
Intelligence = Error Correction
A minimalist definition of intelligence
Reality checking real estate (SF & Seattle edition)
A macro analysis of major metro home price performance and affordability
Reality checking real estate
A macro analysis of home price performance and affordability
Relatively speaking
Distinguishing between price and purchasing power
The secret to patience
On having fun and being unbeatable
The Cantillon Effect
On measuring value with a shrinking measuring stick
Gradually, then suddenly
A framework for max uncertainty
On fleetingness
On the pricelessness of temporary things
Solve problems worth solving
On creating products that matter
Poetry vs. long-form writing
On pairing form and intention
Allegory is the way
On reading spiritual texts allegorically rather than literally
We are made of eternity
On death, evolution, and eternity
What’s your life aesthetic?
On designing each facet of our lives with intention
When to be waterfall, when to be agile
On using cost-of-change to guide process design for a project
Pull your joy forward
On creating space now for the things that bring us fulfillment
Why I’m reading fewer books
On finding the balance between input and output
Compressing vs. editing
On identifying and sequencing the actions that matter most
Study your discontent
On using discontent to improve wellbeing
The downside of (developer) sprints
A career of sprints is an exhausting prospect
Everything is raw material
On choosing what to make from the materials we’ve been given
Truth has a shelf life
On seeing truth through the lens of time and evolution
Success: An alternate definition
On identifying our unique recipe for living that maximizes fulfillment
What type of God do you believe in?
On the universe’s essential nature and its posture towards us
Hunters and diggers
On understanding how we’re wired
Get comfortable living in the gray
On the relationship between rebellion and freedom
The power of working remote
On the power of decoupling impact from hours worked
Thinking about the work is the work
On the experience of being a knowledge worker
Be like a Roomba
On using action to figure out what to do next
Don’t make things in an attempt to earn your freedom.
On making things that make you feel free
Jigsaw puzzle (a design process metaphor)
On how to approach design problems
Slipping through the cracks
On reducing my reliance on list keeping to help put first things first
Fortunate > Blessed
On expressing gratitude while embracing randomness
Collect now, curate later
On figuring out what should belong and what shouldn’t
Be an archeologist
On discovering who we are by stripping away all that we aren’t
Build the machine first
On why adding headcount doesn’t make up for poor management or process.
Start with the market
On how to start a business
The details are your life
The big things are made up of the small things
Philosophy isn’t one-size-fits-all
On judging philosophy by the quality of life it creates
Lessons from Japan
On beauty, craft, self awareness, and community
You are here
On moving from the fringe to the middle
Fate as probability
On the relationship between circumstance and choice of response
Fall in love with the search
On the importance of consistently showing up
Eden is a metaphor
On balancing advancing consciousness and connection with the natural world
Find your likes by eliminating your dislikes
On using a process of elimination to find your passion
Living is so much more interesting than dying
On living more fully here and now
Nobody is self-made
On leveraging our circumstances for growth
Celebrate today
On appreciating the wonder we’re a part of
Serendipity
On reconnecting with the fun that drew you into creative work
Fulfillment is a posture to circumstance, not a product of it
On the unique and personal nature of fulfillment
Why I’m a perfectionist
On the costs and difficulty of achieving upward mobility
Everything compounds
On emergent phenomena and why it’s the engine of the universe
Fullness, emptiness, free will, and fate
On the spectral nature of fate and fullness
Create enduring value
On the difference between perfectionism, craftsmanship, and laziness
I’m a binge creator
On the ebbs and flows of making things
Don’t debate ideas, validate them
On using degrees of certainty to make product decisions
Waterfalls and filmstrips
On the fluid nature of our beings
How I got better at golf while playing less
On achieving better performance with less effort
Play the long game
On patient accumulation, asymmetric bets, and winning Monopoly
Why political systems disintegrate
On why societies fail when they leave too many people behind
Stick your shovel in the soil
On allowing time to weather your work
We need integrative philosophy
On assembling a mosaic of methods for defining the many layers of reality
The age of integration
On our need to merge science and mysticism
This is all there is
On why the action is here, and always will be
Let your users push you
On having the courage to build less
How to be slower to speak
On being a more valuable contributor to conversations
Fidelity should match confidence
On how to use fidelity as a communication tool
Debt is reversible
On the power of simple-yet-tough decisions repeated consistently over time
The art of controlling (almost) nothing
On identifying what we can control and releasing ourselves from the rest
Be prolific
On how to hold your creative work more loosely
Regulation and taxes (A positive perspective)
On the relationship between population density, regulations, and taxes.
Set your alarm the same time every day
On seeking health, fulfillment, and joy daily
The afterlife lets us off the hook
On just how fleeting our time together in this life really is
There’s a person behind every product
On the importance of considering the people behind the things we buy
Be where you’re from
On the costs of relocating your home base
A beginner’s guide to light
A brief overview of the relationship between Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO
Beggars and billionaires
On what we seek when we travel
The reward for a life well lived, is a life well lived
On the fleetingness of life and the benefits of not believing in an afterlife
The best products are made in relationship
On the importance of making things in community
Join a cat for sunrise
A lesson about reconnecting with the now
Moving pianos
A story about the art of anything
Ideas must be caught
A mediation on making room for ideas and bringing them to life
How to get unstuck
A mental model for generating change
Forget your work
A perfectionist’s guide to writing (and sharing) more easily
Lead your life with David Gerber
This week we’d like to introduce you to David Gerber. David is a life and leadership coach who works with individuals, teams, and organizations to help them reach their full potential
Following your curiosity with Kevin Knox of Cal Football and Mosaic Bay
This week we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Knox. Kevin serves as the chaplain to the California Golden Bears and is the pastor of Mosaic Bay Church in Berkeley, California
Finding the courage to step into the void, Paul Di Giordano of Lounge of Life
This week we’d like to introduce you to Paul Di Giordano. Paul is the founder of Lounge of Life, a Sacramento, California-based alternative night life experience that gives people a safe place to socialize without feeling the pressures of excessive drinking, drugs, and promiscuity
Paint-covered pants
On finding the courage to live the life we were created for
Embracing the unknown with Dr. Jeff Cook of CrossPurpose
This week we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jeff Cook. Jeff is a former church planter, pastor, professor, and now the Fellows Academic Director of CrossPurpose, a Denver, Colorado-based organization working to abolish economic, spiritual, and relational poverty through the power of redemptive relationships
Integration, balance, and disrupting fast fashion, Blake Smith of Cladwell
This week we’d like to introduce you to Blake Smith. Blake is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cladwell, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based startup who is blending software and fashion to help people create simple, minimal, personalized “capsule” wardrobes
James Delarato of Citizens San Francisco on finding the courage to transform your life
This week we’d like to introduce you to James Delarato. James is the Planting Pastor of Citizens San Francisco, an emerging community based in San Francisco’s Haight district
Brian Moll of Defy Ventures on finding grace, justice, and transformation behind bars
This week we’d like to introduce you to Brian Moll. Brian is a former pastor and church planter and now the Executive Director, Bay Area of Defy Ventures, an entrepreneurship, employment, and leadership training program that serves people with criminal histories in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York
Fostering community, relationships, and generosity with Kyle Brooks of Oakland Startup Church
This week we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Brooks. Kyle is the founding pastor of Oakland Startup Church, an emerging community located in the heart of Oakland, CA
A fresh thought about homelessness in San Francisco
Making sense of the growing homeless population and it’s relationship to the amount of support that’s available to them
The art of storytelling with Jeremiah Aja of Forge Sacramento and Tell It Well, Inc.
This week we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah Aja. Jeremiah is the President of Forge Sacramento, an organization devoted to training men and women to live as missionaries in their neighborhoods, and Tell It Well, Inc., a Sacramento based marketing and branding agency
How to foster redemptive community, Ruthie Kim of Because Justice Matters
This week we’d like to introduce you to Ruthie Kim. Ruthie is the founder and Director of Because Justice Matters, a San Francisco based organization reaching women who experience exploitation and isolation
Artifacts of evolution
Processing the pain and promise of progress in the epicenter of disruption, San Francisco
Travis Clark of Canvas San Francisco on being patient and avoiding the allure of explosive growth
This week we’d like to introduce you to Travis Clark. Travis and his wife Jena are the founding pastors of Canvas, a young, thriving, and inspiring community based in San Francisco.
The art of making room with Craig Kelley of Gold Country Church
This week we’d like to introduce you to Craig Kelley. Craig is the founding pastor of Gold Country Church, a thriving and inspiring community based in Auburn, CA.
4 keys to fostering contagious generosity
On the primal elements that unlock our innate desire to be generous
Choose both
On the importance of seeking to resolve seemingly contradictory truths
The beginnings make the endings
On the myth of overnight success
How Yosemite turned my life upside down
On the importance of seeking out new perspectives and experiences
There’s no such thing as luck
On learning to experiment and embrace failure as integral ingredients to success
Make money while you sleep
On the power of decoupling our time from our income
Create for you and no one else
On the importance of creating for yourself and no one else
What will you do?
On why we can’t be free until we know why we want to be free
Creativity is courage
On why creativity ultimately has nothing to do with what we make and everything to do with what living a life of courage makes of us
Talking about work is not work
On the danger of talking away our creative energy
Focus on habits
What Tiger Woods can teach us about achieving goals
Inspiration finds you
On creation feeling more like surrender than accomplishment
Don’t be afraid to use the ink
An exercise in breaking through my inability to embrace my desire to create
I don’t want a raise
On using constraints to unlock hyper-creativity
Do work you’ve never done before
On learning to embrace and seek discomfort
Why we find things after we stop looking for them
On worrying less