Product Therapy: cheeseboards, base layers & an unoptimized life
Febs 2025
An unoptimized life
A week ago, it snowed for twelve continuous, magnificent, icy, all consuming hours. While the snow plows1 barreled through my tiny neighborhood, I was enthralled with the precipitation. Outside, brave souls suited up to experience snow peaks forming in real time. The busy streets of Brooklyn numbed to a hum as everyone hunkered down around toasty fireplaces and savory crock pots.
The first day of a snowstorm is the best.
Since this magical day, it’s been bone-chilling cold. The kind of cold I was sure to have escaped from2. It’s been “sleep-in-sweats-under-a-blanket-with-the-heat-on” kind of cold. The kind that turns soft snow peaks into hard ice peaks overnight.
Those ice peaks have a secondary effect: they deny New Yorkers their god-given right to jaywalk.
If the snow wasn’t shoveled last week, it froze. Sidewalks narrowed. And suddenly, commuters were forced into “single file lines” like middle school kids.
If you’re anything like me3, not being able to navigate the NYC streets with ease is infuriating.
I choose which subway car to get on because I know which is closest to the exit.
I order my coffee two stops ahead of where I get off so I can quickly scoop it on my way to work.
I’ve got it down to a science.
So, the days I’m shoved into a subway car that’s far from the exit, on the days that the wifi doesn’t work, on the days that the snow forces me into a single-file line….I’m deeply inconvenienced. Maybe irrationally so.
But what if inconvenience is part of the point?
Recently, I stumbled on a piece about cohabitation. It was a compelling article and argument for communal living that most people in their right mind would never agree to. But hidden in the words were nuggets of wisdom:
“Relentless enhancement of experience does not usually bring inner peace. Avoiding minor annoyances becomes addictive, and it can lead to a life perfectly optimized to our preferences, all alone.” - Your Social Muscles Are Wasting Away
I felt…called out. 😳
Because I do a lot of optimizing. I carry an unconscious belief that control brings inner peace. That if I plan well enough, stand where I need to and cross the street before the walk sign comes on, I’ll avoid inconvenience and thus, be calm. And happy.
But control doesn’t bring peace. Control brings control.
A life perfectly optimized to my preferences alone would definitely be smoother. But it would also be smaller and, probably, uninteresting.
The aftermath of this week’s storm - the ice, the cold, the single file lines - was a reminder that I’m not in control. And maybe that’s the point.
Stay frozen out there.
Things I Stacked
I wrote about focusing on solving real problems and the differences I’ve found in building products in Big Tech vs. Startups.
Culture Clicks
DRAMA is one of those bands that I’ve loved for a long time. I went to one of their shows at Brooklyn Paramount and they are just an absolute bop. They just released a new album. Harry’s coming back soon 🥹.
Industry is back with an edgy vengeance and I couldn’t be happier. I’m using Queer Eye Season for cathartic crying sobbing. And I’m reading Stranger, a cutting divorce story, to rock me to bed every night. Give me emotion, what can I say.
Update: Something from Nothing is getting close to being my “most cooked cookbook” ever. Plus, we’ve made these tacos a few times and, they’re so damn good.
Finally, I want to shout out Smart Wool base layers. Between Chicago and New York this month, I wouldn’t be where I am (still cold, but not as cold) without you. 😘
Substack clicks
I’ve thoroughly been enjoying my Substack feed. It’s giving early Twitter, even early Instagram. Here were some favorites this month…
I’m Jori Bell, VP of Core at Hampton. I’m also a Coach for Product Leaders. I have one more open coaching spot this season—if that sounds like something you’ve been craving, reach out.
I learned about this nifty tool from a cute little neighborhood stack: Boerum Bulletin
Chicago born, Wisconsin educated. Some days, on my way to high school, I’d drive with my head out the window because the snow was coming down so bad.
An impatient New Yorker who waits for no one.
An unoptimized life sounds like pure chaos! I like it.
Love this reflection! That line about control bringing control, not peace, cuts deep. I've noticed in my own workflow how over-optimizing for efficency can become its own form of stress, almost like the system starts running me instead of the other way around.