Tag: hobby

Pigeons of New York – March 2023 Edition

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Welcome to the March 2023 Edition of Pigeons of New York. Authentic stories as told by the pigeons roaming the Big Apple. My role as the photojournalist is to identify a potential story, observe, and let the story naturally evolve within a safe space. The large majority of NYC’s speed walkers just aren’t listening…luckily I am.

Each story is unique. Just like the Pigeons of New York.

To follow each story as it’s released, check out @loveyou.quinn and @pigeonsof.ny on Instagram.

Here is this month’s pigeon prose.

Aubrey A. – Greeley Square Park

“I’m dealing with some stuff and just feeling alone. People are there and they reach out to check in but no one really digs deep and feels it the way I do. I don’t even know what I’m feeling sometimes either. It’s just all of the sudden you get this wave of feeling bland and gray. And then other times I’m ecstatic and ready to take on anything that comes my way. I’m a believer that all the suffering we have on us is a reflection of the society that we’re in. People are so set on just taking our money so they create fake hatred between groups, sensationalize the issues, or just over hype the problems that people have. Everything just seems so life or death all the time. People just want to enjoy themselves and feel love. They want to feel like they are doing something worthwhile. I’m the same way.”
—
I saw Aubrey staring into the passing cars while I walked along Broadway in December. She was thinking about the vastness and emptiness of New York City. To her it wasn’t about being surrounded by people, it was about being surrounded by *your* people.

Follow along @loveyou.quinn and @pigeonsof.ny on Instagram.

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Pigeons of New York – January/February 2023 Edition

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Welcome to the January / February 2023 Edition of Pigeons of New York. Real short stories as told by the pigeons roaming the Big Apple. My role as the photojournalist is to identify a potential story, observe, and let the story naturally evolve within a safe space. The large majority of NYC’s speedwalkers just aren’t listening…luckily I am.

Each story is unique. Just like the Pigeons of New York.

To follow each story as it’s released, check out @loveyou.quinn on Instagram.

Moving forward, we’ll be doing a compiled monthly edition for that month’s pigeon prose.

Doug M. – Grand St. & Eldridge St.

“Umm I’m six. I don’t like getting older because it’s…it’s…it’s…it’s really tough because you have to start a new grade and read bigger books and I don’t always know the words but I sound them out. Last year I was reading a book and…and…and…and I had to read a sentence in front of the entire class and I did it because I practiced but I didn’t like it still. But my friends said it was good and I really like to play video games and go on my scooter I can go so fast you can’t see me.”
——
I was first talking to Doug’s mother until Doug came over and interrupted us with his run-on sentences of random topics that I did not inquire about. I’ve never met a 6 year old named Doug before, and I don’t think I ever will again because Doug is the 8,335th most popular name in the world and declining as rapidly as #TSLA stock. Before I could leave I was forced to watch Doug ride “so fast” on his scooter. I could easily still see him and I told him that before leaving.

George L. – Rivington St. & Allen St.

“Best badonk in the city! You could use some inspiration couldn’t you? And it’s a 100%, all natural badonk-a-donk that makes the girls honk-a-honk! You don’t want me to drop it low though or you’ll have to call the ambulance because too many people will faint.”
——
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer” was screamed into my ear as I was walking down Allen St looking at my phone for directions to the Strand Bookstore. I looked up and saw George staring at me, puffing out his behind, apparently waiting for me to compliment him as he continued with the rest of the above stated dialogue. I was confused and unaware what “badonk” meant until I looked at Urban Dictionary later to see it was “An amazingly large buttocks with exceptional bounce and shape.” Despite his insults about my own badonk, or lack thereof, I felt obliged to follow through on his request. These are the pictures I took of George…so it’ll last longer.

Tina N. – 2nd & 15th

“There comes a time in everyone’s life when they get hit by bricks. Maybe you’re not there yet but I am. I’m getting hit by them. They are heavy and hurt and make it hard to get up. It’s not always easy getting out from under the bricks. I’m just a small pigeon. Below average for both height and weight. You take some bricks off, then out of nowhere more appear and weigh you down. I keep an open mind and know that I’ll get better control over it. Maybe if I just stay away from the dangerous construction sites with all the noise and distractions. Maybe if I just find a way to see the light and take more calculated action. I have an optimistic mindset. I used to think it was easier to just lay down and let the weight of it take over for a bit. But even though it feels like a security blanket, it’s more like a disguised energy thief til you can’t push those bricks away on your own. Today is my day to shine.”

Follow along at @loveyou.quinn.

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Wheel – a poem

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A poem by @loveyou.quinn for the stumbles on the imperfect path of life.

Comment below with thoughts. Subscribe for more. Follow @loveyou.quinn Instagram

Oops, I tripped
On that crack in the sidewalk.
I had even seen it coming
As I step step stepped closer

A root beneath the concrete
Growing in all directions
Displacing the laid foundation
Slow slow slowly until it’s fast

Walk to trip
Trip to fall
Fall to get up
Get up to repeat

Perfection, the imperfect measuring stick

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I have been in perfectionist hell for much too long. I am only just realizing it and I am trying to break free.

In almost everything I have done I have had a fear of sharing with others until I felt I had perfected whatever it was I needed to complete. There are some elements of Imposter Syndrome that cause this in me, but we explore that in another post.

I had a breaking point recently where a lot of my fears, insecurities, and weaknesses were thrown in my face. Although seeing your weaknesses is daunting, it is even more gratifying and refreshing to start uncovering the positive opportunities that are tangled.

A few weeks ago my wife shared a newsletter with me from Holisticism. The first sentence gave me enough inspiration to write for 30 minutes straight with no stops. Here are some of the key points as I am starting to explore my internal fears that lead me to use perfection as my imperfect measuring stick.

Have you had similar experiences, fears, or effects of trying to be “perfect”?

It’s impossible to be perfect (drats.), and when you realize that fact you can unclench your butthole and make more things with less preciousness. (bc perfectionism keeps us in a riptide of stasis)

~Holisticism newsletter

Time to unclench that butthole.

A “riptide of stasis” has been my home for awhile now.

The consequences of perfectionism for me seem to be:

  • Waiting to share / build community until reaching a certain level of achievement
  • Difficulty acknowledging and celebrating small wins
  • Cycle of burnout and loss of consistent joy
  • Over-preparing to avoid a weak appearance
  • The feeling of being in debt to anyone that shows me recognition or interest

I’ll break down a couple of these.

Waiting to share until reaching a certain level of achievement

As a first step to sharing, here are things I am working on. Let me know if you want to collaborate:

  • Giving Bag
  • Creating a fashion line
  • Repurposing packaging into art
  • Content creation
  • Music production and performance
  • Poker and Risk
  • Charitable work
  • Financial education/investing
  • Learning Farsi
  • Birds
  • Open a secretive lounge or bar. Shhh!
  • Making fresh juice in the morning
  • Wandering cobblestone streets
  • Turning my house into a rental
  • Going to Alaska
  • Practicing yoga and meditation

These activities bring me joy, but many times I let my joyful experiences get clouded by over-protecting myself from outside influence.

Whether it has been conscious or not, it seems I have felt that the outside influence when talking about my interests will be detrimental to the end product since I’m not an expert, when in reality the influence of others is more likely to enhance productivity and joy. I isolate interests and passions from others and as a result I rarely get to a point where I can share anything at all. Even my closest friends would be surprised by some of this list.

When I actually get to a point where I feel comfortable sharing it is far later than it should be and I’m already at or past a point of burnout.

I want to start collaborating with people who have similar interests. I no longer want to do everything on my own like before.

Burnout

I’ve hit burnout roughly 6 times in my life. All have been related to work, but only about half were from my full-time job. The rest of the burnout experiences came directly form my side-hustles and personal interests that I kept to myself, as described above. I pressured myself to “work” and perform, rather than allowing myself to invite in consistent joy.

It is a simple change of reference. The actions I take on a daily basis are not drastically different, but my mindset flips from performance standards to finding moments of joy and gratitude.

The term “burnout” came from an American psychologist named Herbert Freudenberger who said burnout was the consequence of severe stress and high ideals (National Library of Medicine).

Psychology Today mentions that, “The cynicism, depression, and lethargy that are characteristic of burnout most often occur when a person is not in control of how a job is carried out, at work or at home, or is asked to complete tasks that conflict with their sense of self.” Bolded for extra emphasis.

The confusing part, although I work extremely hard during my full-time jobs and have high quality output, I still have been able to achieve positive work life balance. During my time at TINT, I had high respect for each of my “bosses” and felt truly cared about. I rarely felt out of control.

There must be a different boss that is controlling how I am living my life. I am that boss. I am putting the pressure on myself. There are some deep seated beliefs and insecurities somewhere in my brain that I’m just starting to acknowledge and recognize.

I put so much energy into my jobs to obtain a sense of achievement (based on my “paycheck measuring stick”) that I have so little energy left over for my other passions. This is the problem. I overachieve for others and then am forced to underachieve on my personal interests. There’s something going on with my sense of self worth or ego that is prioritizing putting too much energy into endeavors where I get immediate approval from others.

There’s nothing wrong with doing things that are not your passion. We have to do that to survive in this world. And it’s good to be of service to others. But I need to better control how I save energy for my personal passions.

Losing control of this energy distribution spirals into disappointment, demotivation, and depression. Which then creates large peaks of productivity and the deep valleys of exhaustion, both while isolating myself from broader communities, thus creating a perpetuating cycle.

The Joy Report Card

I am slowly starting to change my life “report card” from money-based to joy-based. Measuring achievement based on joy is difficult because you cannot just look at your bank account to see how much joy you have earned in the past month.

I have memories of the joy I’m trying to invite in more. Many of them revolve around the removal of work stress, adventuring, exploring new places, not having to think and stress about money. I also find joy and energy from being around kind, inspiring people that are motivated to be their best self.

  • Exploring Thailand on a scooter
  • Sitting at the hidden Fabrique Bakery in Hoxton
  • Burning Man
  • Blanco White concerts
  • Hearty laughter with friends

How does the Joy Report Card work? Well like all things, it is not perfect but I will share (go me!).

Step 1: Write down a list of 5 things that bring you joy on a weekly basis. You can add more if you would like but it is helpful to start simple. For example it could be:

  • Eating dinner with your partner
  • Moving my body for 10 minutes
  • Reading a book
  • Making a smoothie
  • Calling a friend
  • Turning your phone off

It can be anything that allows you space to find joy and reduce any type of weight that might be on you. I have found that a larger goal like “moving to a new city” is not the most helpful on your report card. Focus on the smaller steps that can get you there.

Step 2: After you have your list, do a quick review of how often you currently do them in a normal week. That’s your baseline.

Step 3: Every morning, look at your list and see if there are any pockets of time that you can add in the activities that bring you a bit more joy. One key is to try and be kind to yourself if you are not able to consistently add in items from your list.

You want to avoid having the activities that bring you joy, start to to become “activities that stress me out because I am not doing them”. It is okay to go months with just looking at the list and not doing any of them. But over time your brain will rewire to find pockets of time for you and your joyful activities. It is extremely helpful to remind yourself of what makes you joyful because many times we spend our entire day just thinking of the stressful things we have to do.

An object in motion stays in motion. 

Find ways to stay in motion, even if it’s super small.

========

p.s. It’s always a work in progress. I should have published this post weeks ago but I kept adjusting.

My $100 Challenge – Donate To Stop Saying “Umm”​

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Ummm, so I like kinda have a confession….I’ve given conference keynotes, been on panels, presented in front of classes, and generally feel confident with public speaking. But since starting an experiment to create a YouTube channel, I’ve been surprised by just how many times I say filler transition words (“Um”, “Like”, “So”, “Kinda”).

I developed a plan to remove those words and have more clear speech.

Scroll to the bottom and give me a comment with your most used filler word AND any of your public speaking strategies. Then scroll back up and read the rest, ha 🙂

When I’m recording a 10 minute video, I probably have about 30-45 minutes of footage that I end up editing. And after posting my 7th video on QuinnTalksMoney this year and realizing the unbelievable amount of filler words I use, I thought of a plan.

Donate to charity to stop saying the filler words!

I decided that I would record the videos in one take AND any time I used Um, Like, So, or Kinda, I would donate $1 to a charity. Once I hit $33 I would choose a charity and donate the money. This would force me to slow down, be more intentional with the words I chose and put me in a situation where I would truly know the extent of my “Um” problem.

I would do this three times until I hit $100 to charity. This should take me a while…right?

WRONG!

1st Attempt – I recorded a video on recommendations for online investing platforms. It was a topic I felt confident completing in one take.

While I was recording, I tried to keep track of the Um, Like, So, and Kinda uses.

At the end, I was proud because in my head I had counted 3 and thought to myself, “It’s going to take me awhile to get to $33 at this pace.”

NOT SO FAST!https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=7838523517715464332

Let’s just say that I must be really bad at counting too.

As I rewatched the footage, I kept a tally. Within the first minute or so I had already passed 3…

Then it was 10…

15…

20…

25…

30…

THIRTY THREE!!!!

I could not believe it! In the first video, the one I had so much confidence in, I said the filler words 33 times. That was $33 toward a charity (see charities chosen below).

Hitting the $100 mark

7 videos later, I have exceeded the mark! There’s a good chance I even missed some when counting during the editing.

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Here are the stats:

  • Attempt 1 (Investing Apps): $33 for 33 filler words
  • Attempt 2 (Extra Income Ideas): $9 for 9 filler words
  • Attempt 3 (Investing Mistakes): $15 for 15 filler words
  • Attempt 4 (Charlie Munger): $15 for 15 filler words
  • Attempt 5 (GameStop Part 1): $10 for 10 filler words
  • Attempt 6 (GameStop Part 2): $12 for 12 filler words
  • Attempt 7 (GameStop Part 4): $8 for 8 filler words

*Some of these I ended up not being able to do in one-take. I counted the filler words while editing.

Maintaining perfection

It would be great if maintaining perfection was as easy as that, but I know I’ll continue saying filler words every now and then. Although I’ve definitely reduced my filler words, it will take a conscious effort to change this habit.

Practice is the best I can do, and I vow to continue bringing clarity to my content and speaking 🙂

Charities I’ve Chosen

I am overjoyed to have been able to donate $33 to each of these amazing charities:

  • Lunch on Me – After spending the month of December in Los Angeles, I found this incredible organization. They bring nutritious meals to skid row and serve 10,000 people per month. They have an awesome bodega, LaRayia’s Bodega that is an extension of the non-profit. If you are in LA, please go check it out. Buy a kombucha, some sea moss, a crystal, and support/volunteer.
  • Got Green Seattle – Another great org in Seattle that is helping to raise voices and break down the “green ceiling” that keeps low income communities from finding benefits in the green economy. And check out that great website art.
  • Good Cheer Food Bank – This is a local non-profit in my community that runs a food bank and thrift store to help support the community on South Whidbey Island in Washington.

In addition, I’m joining a Toastmasters group to continue learning and growing.

———-

Thanks for getting all the way down here 🙂 I think you’re awesome! If you liked this article, drop me a like or comment!

4 Steps to Make Progress on Side Hustles

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I’ve found something interesting this past week. Each action we take in life, each goal, hobby, business we start has the same structure as a startup.

I restarted a side YouTube Channel, QuinnTalksMoney, that I work on during my nights and weekends. By trying to hit 200 subscribers by the end of January, I realized that my strategy should be the same that you’d expect for a high growth Silicon Valley startup.

↓ I’ve detailed the 4 steps below ↓

Tell me what similar experiences have you had that relate to the life of a startup in the comments.

——————————————-

1. Define your niche and solve a problem.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last 6 years at TINT. Not only has this experience been the time of my life, but I’ve understand the necessity of defining your market early on, and ensuring that you are solving a problem and bringing value to customers.

This goes for any side hustle that you hope to start. No matter how small or seemingly insignificant it might be.

Spend time figuring out where are able to bring value, and then validate this with people in your network to ensure that you are able to provide what people are expecting.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=9135492551403321720

2. Create a product that brings value

In my case, I’m creating videos and content. They are FAR from being Hollywood production quality (as you can see above), but the content and what I’m saying is my product. If I am not bringing value, then the audience will leave and my “startup” will fail. So the top priority is to bring useful insights via YouTube videos. The studio lighting can come next month!

I’m fully in experimentation mode right now and just having fun while I get into a routine and groove with creating content at nights and on the weekend. The video above I created in 2 hours after getting my invite to Clubhouse App.

This should be similar with your life as well. As a sales person, or a customer success manager, or a chief of staff, if you are not bringing value to the customer, your company, or your executive team, you will likely see less success. Define what challenges exist, and find ways to fill that void and provide a solution.

3. Friends and Family Round! Build loyalty and confidence.

No alt text provided for this image

For almost all startups and businesses, you have to start with a friends and family round. There is a very obvious reason for this. They know you, they trust you, and….they want to see you succeed. Also, they usually willing to put their money and efforts behind you…before you have anything to show for it. They take a risk in you.

Too many times in my life I have tried to do things alone building a side hustle or achieving a goal. Not only does this decrease the likelihood of success, but it wastes valuable time.

Engage your friends and family to get feedback, and give you the confidence and traction you need to have a slightly more legitimate offering.

For my few videos I would ask my wife to leave our house while I filmed because I was so embarrassed about messing up. All I was doing was talking to a camera in an empty room, but it was so difficult (and still is).

After I posted my 10th video, you start to get comfortable speaking into a camera. Step out of your comfort zone a bit and your confidence will continue to grow and snowball.

4. Expand your reach and grow

Once you’ve tapped all your friends and family (and have thoroughly annoyed them!) it’s time to broaden your reach.

I’m not quite at this stage yet, but next steps will include:

  • Expand to other social networks – Every social network has different content forms. I’ll find ways to bring value on other platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and maybe even TikTok.
  • Collaborations – Find other creators that are in a complimentary niche. Collaborate on content to tap into each other’s networks.
  • Review analytics and make adjustments – Don’t worry about this too much before Step 4. Get in your groove, put content out there, and then review analytics to find trends and improvement areas.
No alt text provided for this image

Pivot and Iterate

Yes, this will be inevitable. As we get started with anything there are a million pieces of information that we just cannot know right now. So always be open to adjusting your model to find what works.

If you make 10 pitches to a client and no one wants to learn more about your product, well it might be time to change your script. If I make 50 videos and the only people watching them are my wife and mother, well then I might need to adjust my content to have a wider appeal 😛

————————————–

My main takeaway from this short journey so far has been that enjoying the process with patience is essential. There is absolutely NO WAY that I will be able to hit my goal of 100 videos posted to my channel in 2021 if I am burning myself out, talking about topics that bore me, or focusing too much on view, likes, etc. etc.

Yes, I ask people to like and comment in my videos, but that is honestly the least of my worries. My biggest concern is that I’ll sit in my cold garage into the dead of night creating videos that I don’t care about, and that my audience (tiny right now) has no interest in.

So let’s have fun and build our life goal startups!

And because Step 3 is important…here’s the link to my YouTube channel, QuinnTalksMoney, so you can subscribe haha!

I spend 10 hours/day learning to code

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My life adventures have included mountain climbing, world travel, and a half ironman. I’m only 2 weeks into my latest adventure and it is far harder than all of those combined.

My latest adventure includes sitting in a chair for hours on end, staring into a screen of gibberish until you’re about to fall asleep, and going through a roller coaster of thoughts ranging from “I understand this perfectly,” to five minutes later, “I know absolutely nothing about anything in the world,” to “What is a brain? Why don’t I have one?”

This adventure is a 15 week intensive software engineering program at Flatiron School. I’m doing this along with continuing work at TINT/Filestack. My days are jam packed (typically starting about 5am) and exhausting, but I’ve actually been able to have higher output focusing on the most important tasks that allow me to be successful in each endeavor.

No alt text provided for this image

I chose to go to coding school for a few reasons:

  1. My experiences are all over the place: hotels, startups, marketing, digital signage, finance, business development. One glaring area I found missing was technology. I have a high level understanding of technical concepts, but applying those concepts into useful outputs was a gap I wanted to fill. 
  2. TINT was acquired in September. I was a bit burnt out from 4 years at a startup and needed to make sure I was giving myself the best shot at continued happiness and growth. I’m grateful for our new parent company’s willingness to allow me learn a new skillset while still working.
  3. I like building things. I’ve always loved putting things together without instructions. I’ve tried this method of “no instructions” with coding, but have been unsuccessful. I needed an in-person, full-time bootcamp to immerse myself and allow myself to suffer through hours on end of brute forcing my way to solutions.

Why Flatiron School?

I chose Flatiron School because it had a great reputation, but more importantly, I chose this over some other programs because Flatiron made me realize that I wasn’t just a client, I was a part of a family.

This was a main decision factor because of my time at TINT and the culture that our three cofounders Tim, Nik, and Ryo created. I am proud to have been a part of such a special culture and honored that I was given the opportunity to be a part of it seeing the many highs and a few lows of the company through it’s acquisition. Three similarities I see between TINT and Flatiron School are:

  • Feel cared for
  • Transparency
  • Shared enthusiasm

It is hard to put into words how positively my life was affected at TINT and I owe so much of who I am today to that experience. If my experience becoming a software engineer at Flatiron School is 10% as good, it will be a huge success. So far, the culture and experience have not disappointed.

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When I told some people that I was planning to go to coding school I was mostly met with confusion by people outside of my family. People didn’t think I was a coder and couldn’t see why I didn’t put my time to other tasks. A few people recommended I rethink my decision. 

However, for the people that knew me most and know my ambitions and interests, it was a predictable step. Up until 5 years ago, I spent a lot of my academic life enjoying math, physics, and STEM. I originally wanted to be an engineer before randomly finding a magazine that talked about a college in Switzerland, realizing that school only offered Hotel Management as a major, and then proceeding to research and fall in love with the hospitality industry. “Bye for now STEM”.

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Now that I’ve had my taste of hospitality and a few other experiences (hey Giving Bag), worked around the world at amazing hotels, and enjoyed every second of my current career, I’m looking for my next challenge and growth area. Software engineering is that adventure!

What’s next?

Not a clue! There are a lot of options that I’m continuing to explore. Some include starting my own company, going back to previous roles with my new skills, becoming a Chief of Staff, being a full time software engineer, or most likely a combination of all those! 

My mind is open to possibilities. I am a naturally curious and intellectually hungry individual. I anticipate that the skills I learn will continue to excite me and continue to open up new areas that I’ll want to explore.

loop do

puts “Keep on smiling”

end