About Me
Background
A little about me: I grew up in the desert southwest of the US in Arizona. My family moved there from outside of Boston when I was too young to remember. The Phoenix-area community shaped my life growing up.
I went to a small school in Boston, Babson College (Roll Beavs), which specializes in entrepreneurship. As an undergrad, I double-majored in finance and accounting. I chose the former because of an interest in understanding businesses and investments. The latter because of a great intro teacher, its value in understanding financial statements, and it graded on quizzes and exams (read: not participation).
I stumbled backward into a job at the intersection of venture capital, technology, and life sciences. Before that, I had accepted a position in Phoenix at a mortgage funding company, but in the week between finishing classes and graduation decided I wasn’t ready to come home yet.
Confuscious says that we have two lives, and the second starts when we realize we only have one. I jumped the tracks in my personal life, which led me to evaluate what was important to me, how I wanted to spend my time, and who I wanted to be. Listening to myself led me to write.
Why I Write
The first voluntary writing I can think of was for fictitious sports leagues. I participated in video game-based sports leagues run on internet forums where I spent hours per day. On the site, I wrote weekly articles on the league, players, etc. I am unsure how many I wrote, but probably hundreds over the years. That stopped when I went to college, and I didn’t write anything of my own volition for approximately ten years.
As I was meditating on what I wanted my life to mean, I decided writing should be a central part of it because i) it helps me explore, understand, organize, and express my thoughts, ii) it connects me in a meaningful way to others, and iii) it is a means of contributing to the world. The best way to understand who I am is to read my writing.
After taking the time to think through my choice, I set to write a novel. I had no foundation for the project and less knowledge of how to go about the process. I had dabbled with the idea of writing a book previously, but the project never got beyond a page or two. This time I went into it aware of the commitment and ready to be a writer, not only write a book.
Writing, writing, and writing some more is the best way to improve as a writer. Imagine that. I created this blog to host some of that writing, create a standard by publishing publicly, and facilitate sharing with others.
What I Write About
I am interested in, and therefore write about, a variety of topics. I am a student of life on a lifelong journey learning. Distilling topics into categories would be as follows:
Philosophy and Self-Improvement. Understanding life, the universe, and better ways to live it. How can I put my values into practice, determine proper actions in a situation, change myself to create the life I am proud to live?
Finance and Business. Exploring and understanding businesses and financial topics. I’ve learned some of my most valuable life lessons from entrepreneurs, markets, and companies.
Psychology, Sports, and Other. Human behavior is fascinating. There may be sports topics sprinkled in as to how they teach about life, teamwork, and incentives.
