#Lite: I do not dream of labour

What is it the kids say, be true to yourself?

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

I write this at 7:30pm on Sunday evening and I’m tired lol. I’ve had a relatively calm day (even took a 2+ hour nap) but feel tired all the same. I guess it’s just one of those things. I will keep today’s newsletter brief (#Lite), but first, two interesting things.

One.

In an email exchange with one of you last week, they guessed my occupation as “Economist or Business Administrator”. I was simultanously surprised and honoured lol. I know I ramble sometimes about macroeconomic concepts I find interesting, but I was surprised that someone might think I have actual professional depth in the field. 😂

I was honoured because I have massive respect for Economists - they really do the Lord’s work, and I think that might be one of the most underappreciated occupations in modern society. And, well, if my overarching interest in “Business Administration x Management” is communicated in this newsletter, then that is good news as well.

What is it the kids say, be true to yourself? 😅

Two.

Yesterday, I had a 30-minute phone call with a friend I had not spoken to in 10 years. We had completely fallen out of touch over the years and got back in contact some 3 or so months ago.

** side note: Amazingly, we should meet up in a few weeks in the same place we met last, more than 5,000 km away from home. Talk about coming full circle.

Anyhoo, my friend mentioned that he had subscribed to my newsletter a few months ago. And one of his comments was along the lines of “Your newsletter has been shorter and shorter of recent. I can tell you’ve become a lot busier.”

And it was absolutely spot on. While my relative motivation to write (with spikes and dips here and there) has mostly stayed the same, the amount of available time x brain space I have today is significantly less than it was in August of 2020. And so more and more often, I am in a hurry to produce content just to tick a box - I published! - rather than to actually explore in detail some of the ideas I have.

One potential solution would be to quit writing weekly. Changing to bi-weekly, monthly, or ‘as the spirit leads’ will definitely increase the time I am able to devote to writing, and subsequently increase the length and quality as well. I have talked about this before, but have been unable to take the leap for now. I guess we’ll see how it goes. 🥴

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As a #Lite post, I shall be sharing what I’m currently reading, watching, and thinking about. Leggo.

What I’m reading

I’m currently reading Crypto Wars: Faked Deaths, Missing Billions & Industry Disruption by Erica Stanford. As someone who has been relatively crypto illiterate, I am trying to be a bit more intentional about understanding warrapuns there.

While this book focuses a bit more on the ‘negatives’ of crypto (market-wide manipulation, unregulated processes, Ponzi schemes, etc), it is equally a good starting point to the positives of crypto - understanding the advantages of decentralized finance in a world where trust in traditional institutions is at an all-time low.

If you have had to google “HODL” or “WAGMI” in recent times, then you will probably find this book useful.

What I’m watching

I’m currently watching a speech titled “Oracle CFO’s Career Didn’t Follow Straight Path” by Jeff Epstein to the Stanford MBA class of 2006.

In the world of LinkedIn, it is easy to think that everyone else has things figured out - regular promotions, access to opportunities, and career transitions that make sense. As this talk highlights, that is not always the case. What I really like about Jeff’s story is how he missed out on taking advantage of the early days of the internet and the mobile phone, even though he was right in the middle of people who had access to both new industries at their respective launch times.

For me, this video has been a reminder that: 1. the super smart people we look up to do not always make the right decisions, and 2. sometimes we can miss out on the highest profile routes to achievement and attain success all the same.

Definitely worth a watch in my view.

Image from Youtube

What I’m thinking about

“I used to think that academia was my dream job. But as the saying goes, I do not have a dream job. I do not dream of labour. What I dream of is the ability to choose my labour, to have an intellectual life, and have autonomy over my time. That is the dream.” - Sophie Rigney

** Jara content:

Abdullah ibn Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, the supplication of a fasting person is not turned away at the time of breaking the fast.”

Source: Sunan Ibn Majah 1753

One week of Ramadan to go. Let’s use it.

Have a great week. ✨