Appearing on the Work in Progress Podcast
For I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe—that unless I believe I shall not understand.
—St. Anselm
Above: A Work in Progress on the Work in Progress Podcast.
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of virtually sitting down with former Buzzfeed CTO, serial founder, and prolific investor Peter Wang on his wonderful Work in Progress podcast.
Our conversation spanned a wide variety of topics—from creation to consumption to Catholicism—and Peter’s thoroughness, intellect, and warmth made for a wonderful experience.
Sixty minutes felt like five; we could have gone on for hours.
St. John Paul II once said, “The worst prison is a closed heart.” I opened my heart during this far-too-short conversation and hope that you open yours when listening to my words.
I leave you with Peter’s exceptionally kind introduction:
“Live and live well, for someday you will be needed by somebody…[after all, your] life is not about you. Your life is about others."
In the latest Work In Progress podcast episode, Thomas J. White IV shares profound wisdom on how he embraced the curse and the gift of Tourette, the purpose of his life, and how hardships lead to true vulnerability and dignity.
Tom writes a thoughtful newsletter called White Noise, consults (thinking-as-a-service as he puts it), and invests across asset classes.
A few nuggets of wisdom from our conversation:
1. On celebrating life: “Embrace the life that you lead. Let your talk be heard. And remember, each word is a celebration and hope.”
2. On gratitude: “'A grateful heart hath a continual feast.' Gratitude is the only way to treat the wonder and the joy that we all take for granted on a daily basis.”
3. On hardship and vulnerability: "Hardship leads to vulnerability, which leads to connection, which leads to conversation, which leads to camaraderie, which leads to dignity."
4. On interdisciplinary thinking: “The more you can accumulate a latticework of interdisciplinary thought, ideas, and connect concepts, say, from music to math, or from physics to investing, the more dangerous you're going to be.”
5. On the external and the internal: “We live in a world where we want to know and do everything externally, but avoid the things internally that actually matter.”
6. Are you running the wrong path? “The man of progress is not one that keeps going down the path, but one, if he realizes he's on the wrong path, stops and immediately turns around.” — C.S. Lewis
7. Life as golf more than tennis: “Life, it's not tennis. It's golf. It's you versus the course”
8. On growth v. comfort: "Growth and comfort cannot coexist.”
9. On happiness: “Happiness cannot be an end; it's a byproduct...You can't aim at happiness because you're surely gonna miss it.”
10. The 3-2-1 rule: “For every hour of writing, you should do two hours of editing and three hours of thinking.”
I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did:
Episode Timestamps
00:00 Opening: Live and live well
00:30 Intro
01:42 Who is Tom White? Catholic, Stoic, American
05:48 Tourette as a blessing and curse
13:08 Everything is a gift: how to stay grateful
19:51 Are you running the wrong race?
20:55 Create to process vs. create to promote
22:37 Content consumption vs. application vs. creation
29:08 Thinking as a service + skin in the game
32:38 Who are your heroes?
42:04 How do you measure your life?
44:58 3-2-1 rule for writing
49:31 Brand building = storytelling
56:23 Kintsugi, the art of emphasizing imperfection
58:22 What is true vulnerability?
01:01:42 Why is faith under attack?
01:05:38 Permission vs. permissibility
01:07:19 Two final quotes