Juan David's Newsletter - June 21, 2020
Hi there,
If you are a father —> Happy Father’s Day To You!
If you are not —> Happy Father’s Day to Your Father!
New to My Newsletter? - Welcome! Really excited to have you!
My father is no longer with me, and this week’s essay will be dedicated to him. I hope you enjoy it and reply to this email if you’d like to let me know what you think.
Drive & Death: A Story on Intentionality
If you prefer, you can read this essay on my website.
If there’s one question people ask me the most, it’s, “Juan David, why are you so driven?”
Not an easy one because it’s so vulnerable and personal, but I will do my best to explain.
Some lives go through events that can destroy them or fortify them. Mine might seem like it should have been destroyed, but with the help of a strong mother, I fortified it.
I was born and raised in the beautiful country of Venezuela. It’s culture and everything about it is deeply special to me. I was the son of two young professionals who worked very hard and did everything for their kids.
Venezuela started losing its essence after 1998. A new regime came to power that encouraged people to be divided, take what’s not theirs, and have everything for free. This impacted not only my life, but the lives of millions and millions of Venezuelans.
In 2005, I was two years old. Everything started on the morning of Saturday, May 21. As usual, my dad and I were going to one of my Grandpa’s farms to do the payroll and get some work done. Before we left the house, I was packed with my milk, diapers, and everything else a two-year-old needed until I came back home with my dad later that day.
We never came back home together. We never came back home that day.
This morning was nothing like the others; in fact, it was rather suspicious—my dad would sometimes have a bodyguard, but on this day he was mysteriously unavailable.
On our way to the farm, we were aggressively confronted by a group of criminals who were trying to kidnap us to request a large sum of money. My dad did not want to give up and let his son be kidnapped or killed.
Curiosities 🙀🧨🤩
Curiosity #1
My friend Adam shared with me this article on Monday. I cannot stop thinking about it. I just can’t.
This is my favorite part of the article:
The most common way smart teenagers neuter their success is by becoming addicted to wunderkind fame… Being a TedXYouth speaker should not be your goal. Status is an infinite treadmill…
The best people, teenagers or not, are somewhat embarrassed by anything successful that they do, and immediately refocus on the next goal out of a desire to not think about the achievements of the past. Be that person. Do something significant with your life
I can relate to this so much because this is one of the reasons I started writing these essays and the newsletter as well as other projects.
That “desire to not think about the achievements of the past” is very real for me. It’s good because I don’t do things for the sake of fame or vanity, but it can be bad if I just keep doing things and things to not think about the past.
Read this article here.
Curiosity #2
I discovered this tool, and it has saved so much time.
It’s basically a video speed control that changes playback speed while watching videos online. I’ve used it on YouTube, online classes, and about any other video out there.
It’s super helpful! Check it out here.
Curiosity #3
I’m taking a class about the history of technology. Yes! It is as cool as it sounds.
It was originally for high school kids, but now they open spots for adults. Take a look at their website.
As part of the course, they do weekly interviews with fabulous people. So far, we’ve had the expert on Montessori schools Matt Bateman, the economist Tyler Cowen, and the billionaire entrepreneur Patrick Collison.
These interviews are free on YouTube. Check them out here!
Curiosity #4
Videos with subtitles are super trendy nowadays.
I found this free website that generates captions/subtitles for your videos in any language.
The website is called getsubly.com
Curiosity #5
There are certain movie songs that simply get you emotional and inspired. Well, most of these songs are made by Hans Zimmers. He has made songs for Interstellar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Inception, Batman, King Arthur, Gladiator, The Lion King, and a bunch of other movies (the list is endless).
Put it this way, if there’s a movie you really like, it’s probably because of Hans Zimmers.
Check out this playlist of his best songs here.
I’m listening to this playlist right now as I write this.
If you liked or enjoyed this week’s essay, I know your friends will do too. Come on! Share it with them. Your friends will like you even more.
Thank you for reading!
Until next Sunday,
Juan David Campolargo