Coεmeta Public Work Log 2023.1.MSU — Reinvesting the Harvest

Midsummer Solstice Update (6/21/2023): Strange loops & new knots

This is the sixth Public Work Log entry for Coεmeta, a Public Benefit company providing data & sensemaking services with positive externalities. It’s intended as a window into our journey & playbook as it develops, in the spirit of working in public, contributing to knowledge commons, “finding the others” & leaving a trail + some resources for those that follow. I hope it inspires more folks to follow a similarly rewarding path & find similar (if modest & provisional) success. Feel free to reach out at any time, I’m happy to help however I can!

- Daniel McNichol, founder & Chief Scientist

This post is an excerpt of the full versions available at: Github (primary source & version control) & Roam (navigable outline format)

• comments, forks & pull requests are welcome!

It complements our Open Source Strategy repo, which offers more discrete, version-controlled resources related to the strategies & frameworks discussed here in more narrative form.

📜 Prologue: backstory & antecedents

Backstory

Coεmeta is an attempt at an infinite game. The goal of infinite games is not to win, but to keep playing.

I consider this the metagame (as opposed to endgame):

a more balanced, integrated, enriching & impactful life in greater community

To pursue this metagame indefinitely (aka “infinitely”), I needed to reclaim some agency & autonomy in my work. So Coεmeta is also currently a Pennsylvania Public Benefit LLC, serving as a vehicle for more traditional freelance & consulting work, as well as broader public-benefit oriented activities.

(My longer-term vision for Coεmeta as a formal entity is something more like a worker-owned cooperative or DAO with shared collective ownership, or at least part of a federated network of mutual aid & partnerships with other “self-sovereign” ᵋ groups or entities. This is part of the “in greater community” aspect of the metagame.)

So Coεmeta is not exactly a traditional ‘venture’ or typical small business or startup etc, but assumes some of those trappings for now. The previous log entry recaps more of the motivations & considerations underlying all of this, & our Open Source Strategy repo describes some of the strategic planning & wayfinding models used so far.

As elaborated throughout these artifacts, public work & contributing to knowledge commons are core parts of the overall metagame strategy & ethos. So these posts are part of that: figuring it out as I go, learning while doing, in public. This entry picks up where the previous left off. (The timing & titles of these entries should make the intended heliocentric publishing cadence clear.)

ᵋ NB: I’m generally skeptical of this terminology & its associations with neoliberal / libertarian fantasies of fully atomized “sovereign individuals”, but “independent” isn’t quite adequate either.

Antecedents & adumbration

This is the 2nd cycle of Public Work Logs, & the 2nd Midsummer Solstice Update. Last midsummer update I was shifting to a more outward focus & emerging from long-sought balance to seize new opportunities (which would ultimately vanquish all balance until well into this year). That dynamic persisted until last update, where I described difficult decisions needed to rebalance, refocus & recover — eventually feeling rejuvenated enough to revisit + recommit to neglected pillars of the original mission.

Since then, I’ve gone a bit …off script: got an apartment-sitter for the summer, bought a used electric car, set out on an indefinite car-life adventure to visit friends & family & play in the woods, etc. Also eventually got back around to the whole neglected pillars thing.

⏳ Timeline

(This content is too long to navigate without the ability to collapse & expand sections, so see the full version on Github or Roam)

꩜ Coda: eval & checkout

Eval

And again for continuity if nothing else, the numbers tell a thin, reductive version of the story:

• the workload rebalancing across the pillars is apparent here, as is the June impact of forrest / mountain life
• (this rebalancing & resource reallocation also reflects progress towards my nascent 8 capital strategy)
• NB also: I’m still struggling a bit to be at ease with hyperopic balance, still some psychic hangups & lingering feelings I should be doing more conventional “work” at most times. So having frameworks & rituals like this to zoom out & recalibrate has been invaluable.

(targets are not prorated …still lacking in tool & content output…but finally working on it)

… & a glance at the recently rebooted OKRs for completeness:

Vibe Check

& as for the vibes:

Immaculate as ever
…the path feels truer by the day, & my gratitude & appreciation grows in turn

I’m consciously cashing in on lifestyle credit accrued during last cycle’s overload & burnout, & know that hyperopic rebalancing will come calling again. And I’m here for it. This is the way of the infinite game.

Thanks for reading, follow me & the Coεmeta publication for past & future posts. And comment with your thoughts, questions or suggestions!

—
Follow on twitter: @dnlmc , @co3meta
Youtube: Coεmeta channel
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dnlmc
Web: coemeta.xyz

Coεmeta is about finding truth together

We create data & sensemaking tools & services with positive externalities: supporting commons, solidarity economies & prosocial change.

Learn more at coemeta.xyz