Iterate Weekly - Issue 45
This week we're talking about Metaverse Mortgages, 7 Core Skills of Knowledge Work, The Cool City Challenge, NFT T-shirts for NBA fans, and reliving a scandal with Pam & Tommy!
Welcome to issue 45 of Iterate Weekly!
Just a reminder that you can always reply to this email or leave a comment on the web version. I read all of them, and I appreciate the feedback, questions, and insights from all of you.
Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖 Tech
Metaverse Mortgages
By this point, we all know that the Metaverse is the next big thing right? It will be the digital world that we all live in for better or worse? You’ll be a nobody if you don’t have a presence there? Have you considered where you’re going to live in this futuristic new world? Are you saving up for your Metaverse mortgage?
Back in November, a piece of digital land in the virtual world of Decentraland sold for $2.43 Million. That more than doubled the previous high-water mark for digital real estate. And I do not doubt that the current record will come crashing down soon after this writing. Let that sink in for a second. Think about the physical land that could be purchased for that same amount. Hell, you can even get a house already built on that land for that price if you’d like!
I’m not trying to be the grumpy old man who questions the validity of digital purchases in the Metaverse. After all, the piece of property in question is located in “the heart of the fashion street district,” so it has that going for it. In all seriousness, the location could prove highly lucrative for its owner, The Metaverse Group, who is looking to get into the world of digital fashion. Could they end up selling the virtual land for a profit in the future? Certainly.
As someone who just purchased a physical home in “the real world,” it’s hard to wrap my head around the process happening in the Metaverse. Will we have virtual real estate agents? Will we be in bidding wars with other people from all around the world (and I thought the housing market was competitive in the Bay Area)?
I feel like this may be more of a quandary for my daughter’s generation to worry about, but the future is coming very quickly. Do you see digital real estate purchases in your future? Is our society (banks, tax regulations, insurance) ready for them?
🎓 Education/Media
Caveday 7 Core Skills of Knowledge Work
My friends over at Caveday have a fantastic course coming up for folks looking to improve their relationship with work.
I typically guide focused work sessions on the Caveday platform at least once a week. I’ve found it to be one of the best ways to minimize distractions and get meaningful work done in short amounts of time. In fact, this newsletter is typically written while I’m focusing “in the cave”.
I’ll be taking part in the program myself and know that I am going to learn a ton. Here’s a peek at what the curriculum will be:
WEEK 1 - FOUNDATION
What are the forces that most affect our relationship to work, and how can we build better habits?
WEEK 2 - FLOW
How can we regularly & purposefully reach peak mental performance?
WEEK 3 - FOCUS
How can we rewire our brains to overcome distractions and ignore interruptions?
WEEK 4 - ENERGY
Sustained focus requires sustained energy. How can we use our body's natural rhythms to energize us?
WEEK 5 - CREATIVITY
What are the frameworks to generate better ideas and solutions?
WEEK 6 - SELF-KNOWLEDGE
What do we already know about ourselves that will help us work smarter?
WEEK 7 - RELATIONSHIPS
How can we build better relationships with our coworkers and still maintain a healthy relationship with work?
If you’re interested, you can learn more about the program here.
♻️ Health & Environment
Cool City Challenge
Have you heard about the Cool City Challenge? Don’t feel bad; I was clueless myself until recently.
The Cool City Challenge was started to help cities limit their carbon footprint. The initial concept was an invitation for cities to apply to be chosen as the 3 pilot cities for 2022. Lo and behold, my new home city of Petaluma was chosen for the program along with Irvine and Los Angeles.
These three cities have been given a $1 million grant to help plant the seeds for a greener tomorrow. The specific moonshot goal is to become carbon neutral by 2030. It won’t be easy, but they’re deploying a block-by-block initiative to help neighborhoods learn ways to take care of the environment while also fostering community pride.
I’m excited to be part of the program for the coming year and will be examining all the ways I can minimize my carbon footprint (and likely sharing some of these things with you in this space). Although I’m not 100% sold on the name “Cool City,” they could have maybe used a bit more market research on that one, haha.
You can learn more about the specific work being done in Petaluma here. And if you’d like your city to be part of the program, you can learn more about that here.
🛍 Grab Bag
The Cleveland Cavaliers Create NFT Lockers for Fans
Another day, another story of crypto news in the sports world.
I’m highlighting this one mostly because of the team involved. The Cleveland Cavaliers are getting into the NFT space by offering up “Crypto Lockers” for fans who attend games at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?)
We may have expected this from the Warriors or the Nets (I talked about their Netaverse initiative recently). But the Cleveland Cavaliers? Good on them for getting in on this trend early.
Yes, I think some version of this will exist in every NBA home arena soon. I find it interesting that the first NFT they offer will be a “digital t-shirt” that you can only access if you’re physically attending the game.
Is this how the NBA will lure young fans away from their home TVs/phones/computers and back to the arena? By promising them NFTs being fired out of a virtual t-shirt cannon? Huh…that just might work!
💬 Quote of the Week
“Worry is as useless as a handle on snowball” - Mitzi Chandler
📺 Content Recommendation
Pam & Tommy
This week’s recommendation is another blast from the 90s past. I’m talking about “Pam & Tommy” a special mini-series that can be streamed on Hulu right now.
The series chronicles the unlikely true story of Pamela Anderson-Lee and Tommy Lee. Their intense relationship is on full display. But we’re mostly seeing the improbable manner in which their infamous sex tape was leaked.
It’s a star-studded cast with Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, and the immensely underrated Sebastian Stan (he may actually be my favorite MCU actor, it’s a shame Bucky Barnes couldn’t get more lines).
If you lived through this saga in the 90s, you will thoroughly appreciate the nostalgia. I do think it’s safe to say that most of us have not heard this whole story until now, so even if you’re a 90s culture buff, there is much to learn. It also gets bonus points for the killer soundtrack from 1995!
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!