Start Here
OMD Ventures (OMDV) stands for Old Man Dan’s adVentures. It’s my journal as I explore the intersections of systems, culture and human performance in pursuit of self-mastery.
Why OMD?
Old Man Dan is something friends and colleagues started calling me early in my career because of my lifestyle. I like reading on Friday nights, love routines, hate trends, rarely drink, avoid social media, and don’t care for people’s branding in titles, employers, and school. It felt like an endearing term to my philosophy so I decided to build on it.
Who is OMD?
I’m a powerlifter, investor, and writer. Professionally, I’ve been an auditor, management consultant, equity value investor, and business writer. I’ve set world records in powerlifting and breakdanced under downtown Vancouver. There’s so much I have yet to see and experience that I think I’m a permanent foreigner and explorer on this Earth.
I was employed for four years. Then I was unemployed for four years building what became a Personal MBA—I just wanted to build a career investing in people (whatever that was). OMDV became a way to document this journey. It all started with my obsession to pursue self-mastery and see if I could help others do the same so we could all live fulfilled lives and inspire the same for the next generation.
If you’re curious, read About Me Here and/or what adventures I’m on Now Here.
Why does OMDV exist?
This is where I’m documenting my optimally suboptimal pursuit of self-mastery. I’m optimizing my life for who I am. But this will appear sub-optimal for anyone who isn’t me.
Call it a blog, business, portfolio, or resume. It’s an ever-evolving manifestation distilled into the framework to becoming healthier, wealthier, and wiser.
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
I think the foundation of a happy society is individuals pursuing self-mastery. How could we ever hope to help others when we don’t know ourselves? The pursuit to examine ourselves and become the best person we can be will result in us helping others.
For myself, this process is a constant back and forth of chasing my curiosity, processing the data, doing something about it, and repeating it. OMDV is where I hope to share my learning, thinking, and execution in the hopes I can attract other like-minded individuals who are on their own journey of pursuing self-mastery.
The goal in a few decades’s time would be a kind of performance coach or consigliere to a handful of individuals. Individuals who would like my help on their journey as they seek to build organizations that’ll help many more pursue their best lives.
How is OMDV led?
I’ve applied the framework of becoming healthier, wealthier, and wiser to three facets of my life. They’re to become the best strength athlete (powerlifter today), investor of people, and writer I can be.
These three roles came out from countless experiments, iterations, and reflections. I started powerlifting in 2009, investing in 2014, and writing in 2018. All three have been at the crux of daily routines and anchors for my life.
They are the constraints that allow me to be creative and the features that give me a taste of happiness and purpose. It’s through powerlifting, investing, and writing that I discover and build myself every day.
What’s on OMDV?
All of this manifests in the following adventures:
Writing
All essays, articles, research have been archived at Essays and Book List. The most recent writing is shared through my newsletter.
The newsletter has evolved from a monthly, weekly, daily, premium, to free, and the current form. It’s the best way to stay current with what I’m thinking.
Subscribe if you’re interested to follow along the journey:
Podcasts
Accounted For. I started this podcast to learn what people did. I wanted to dig into how difficult various career journeys were and to account for the unseen things behind the glamour and prestige of titles and employer brands.
OMD Daily. This podcast was a week day daily show focused on sharing interviews and learnings (solo episodes) on the pursuit of trying to build a career investing in people.
I stopped both podcasts but you can check them out on the Podcast page.