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The Observe and Rapport Newsletter
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A weekly guide of my favorite books, articles, products, and lifestyle habits.
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February 5th, 2023 | by Kyle Brennan
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Thought of the Week
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At a show on his Solo Tour, John Mayer paused to confess:
“I wait for most things to be over. I wait for this to be over to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing...”
We treat everything we’re doing as valuable insofar as it lays the groundwork for something else. Life is all about solving the next problem, one after another, but often we're so focused on getting through whatever we're currently doing that we never acknowledge the present moment.
He went on to say, “Everything you love and hate leaves at the same speed: Done. Done. Done. The thing you hate that you have to do tomorrow will be over before you know it, and the thing you're looking forward to tomorrow will be over before you know it."
To counter this tendency, John Mayer implemented a rule.
Never wish for less time.
Life is just a series of moments.vYou can plan all you want, but a plan is just a thought, a dream, an expectation. The future is under no obligation to comply with your expectations.
In Four Thousand Weeks, Burkeman adds that “the most effective way to sap distraction of its power is just to stop expecting things to be otherwise — to accept that this unpleasantness is simply what it feels like for finite humans.”
Waiting for things to be over is just wishing for less time.
“So wherever you go, just make a home right there and do that thing…Wherever you are, go, 'this is where it's all at right now.' I’ve been having the time of my life because I figured that out…”
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What I'm Reading
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Everyone knows Carnegie and Rockefeller, but not many people have heard the story of Sam Zemurray. You're more likely to know the name of the company he captained as CEO for 18 years - United Fruit Company, now Chiquita Brands.
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Known as the Banana Man, Zemurray lived one of the great untold stories of the last hundred years.
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This book is the story of a penniless Russian immigrant who came to America at the turn of the last century. Zemurray helped to introduce the banana to America while living in New Orleans and proceeded to take over the majority of the banana trade in the most audacious manner.
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Starting with nothing but a cart of freckled bananas, he built a sprawling empire of banana cowboys, mercenary soldiers, Honduran peasants, CIA agents, and American statesmen.
Zemurray singlehandedly instituted a revolution of the Honduran government with a force of banana cowboys and mercenary soldiers to gain land and political backing for his banana crops. With help from the CIA and American statesmen, he eventually controlled these countries’ elections in his favor. The US government became engaged in uncomfortable - sometimes conflicting - interests, between supporting Samuel Zemurray and trying to curtail his influence.
This book talks about the banana trade and profiles the story of a self-made man who set the foundation for what all corporate companies and politicians do today. We have seen the correlation between the political side and the business side. How many Sam Zemurray's are there in the world today? People who hold extraordinary power but stay away from the limelight. A select few whose decisions shape our everyday life.
He battled and conquered the United Fruit Company, becoming a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof that America is the land of opportunity, but also a classic example of the corporate pirate who treats foreign nations as the backdrop for his adventures.
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“Self-defense is not just a set of techniques: it is a state of mind, and it begins with the belief that you are worth defending.” - Rorion Gracie
Although I only started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a little over a month ago, I can already tell how the “gentle art” has the potential to improve one’s life in multiple ways.
Worth Defending was written by Richard Bresler, a man down on his luck and in poor health when he stumbled upon the great Rorion Gracie in a garage in California in 1979. He went on to become the first student of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in the U.S.
If you’re not familiar, the Gracie family is legendary in the world of jiu-jitsu and are widely credited to be the founders of the martial arts style. Rorion founded the UFC back in 1993 where Royce Gracie debuted jiu-jitsu to the world taking down opponents far bigger and more ferocious with a new style of close-contact grappling using leverage to subdue an opponent’s strength.
The book is a story of one man’s life journey, about the genesis and growth of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in America, about running a business, and the tenuous nature of relationships, health, and well-being from a physical and mental aspect.
The history of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has been forgotten by many. Nowadays, the emphasis is mostly on tournament training and MMA. Most folks just think of it as “ground fighting,” but this book provides the context for the original purpose of jiu-jitsu, which was being able to defend oneself against larger opponents.
Rating: 4.0 / 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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My Latest Article
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Most of the time, we act like thermometers, merely reflecting the temperature of our surroundings.
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But what if we dared to be thermostats instead?
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What I'm Watching
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I will never pass up an opportunity to watch one of the all time great comedians. He's already on the Mount Rushmore of comedy and this special only adds to his long resume of great specials.
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Every Chappelle special is designed to shock the audience then slowly reel them in with relative and supporting content to make his point. Eventually and with great a precision the punch line which masquerades as "the moral of the story".
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Article I'm Reading
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I enjoy the musings of Scott Galloway (@profgalloway). If you're not familiar with him, he is a clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, public speaker, author, podcast host, and entrepreneur. I read his book, The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google a couple of years back and learned a ton about the inner workings of the tech Goliaths.
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His articles on Medium are full of wisdom, funny personal anecdotes, and interesting business statistics. This particular article is about the value of storytelling, and why it is the most critical skill to acquire if you want to succeed in anything. Below is my favorite excerpt:
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"Making people feel something bests any business insight. In a remote world swamped by a tsunami of digital information, the rare earth metal is humanity."
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Quote I'm Pondering
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“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication…In the long run—in the long run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it.”
— Viktor Frankl
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Last week, we were excited to bring our first guest on the podcast.
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Remy (@isthatremy) is a singer/songwriter from New York out of Hopeless Records whose highlight cuts include The Chainsmokers, Tate McRae, Justus Bennetts, and AJ Mitchell's debut single "All My Friends," which peaked at #20 on Top 40 radio. His recent collaborations include A$AP Ferg, Quinn 92, Verzache, Olivia Holt, and Jutes.
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We had an awesome two-hour conversation about the music industry and what it's like to be a professional singer/songwriter. Unfortunately, all of the audio from our conversation was erased shortly after, making it impossible to upload the compromised episode to all of our social platforms.
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While Keith and I are devastated and deeply sorry to Remy, we plan to have him back on the show for another conversation that we hope you enjoy.
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In the meantime, please check out our latest episode #16 below:
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Keith and Kyle sit down to discuss how stupid Dry January is, various examples and statistics that provide a reason to be generally optimistic about the future, the wisdom of Charlie Munger, and to wrap up the episode, Keith tells a hilarious joke.
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Books/Essays mentioned in this episode:
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Check Out My Amazon Favorites Bookstore
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Browse my favorite book selections hand-curated by me. I also earn commissions so if you buy anything, those earnings get reinvested right back into this fancy newsletter ;)
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Kyle's Published Work
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33 Life Lessons on My 33rd Birthday
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Thirty-three was a big one. Mostly because I became a dad. Our daughter was born on New Year’s Eve — a fitting arrival for a kid destined to reset everything. It’s been a beautiful, if slightly sleep-deprived blur ever since. I’ve only been “Dad” for less than ten months, but if I’m being honest, I’ve been preparing for the role for over …
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Depth Over Downloads: Why Spending Time with Books Still Matters
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Everyone wants faster information. But no one asks if faster information leads to better understanding — or a better life. In the age of AI and tweet-sized wisdom, we’ve confused information with transformation. But there’s a massive difference between knowing what a book says and being changed by it. The Delusion of Instant Learning In a recent interview, political journalist Ezra Klein admitted he once believed …
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The Jack Reacher Approach to Never Being Caught Off Guard
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There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.’ Either way, nothing happens.” —Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia I don’t read much fiction, but I’ve always been hooked on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. He’s not your typical …
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