The Return of The Metagame

After a several month writing hiatus, I’m back from the dead.

I think we can all admit 2024 has been a long year. It’s been over six months since I last shared my thoughts with you, but before you unsubscribe or move me to spam—here are some big life updates that might inspire you to stick around:

• I built sequence.games, a Wordle-inspired memory game.

• I guest lectured for an NYU Cybersecurity Master’s program.

• I won $20,700 in a poker tournament.

• I killed 2 houseplants.

• I finally got my sister’s cat, Max, to let me pet him.

If that’s not enough to keep you around, then I’m not sure what else you’re looking for.

But in all seriousness—when I created this newsletter a year ago, I wanted to share what I learned about the intersection between productivity, self-improvement, the influence games have on us, and ways to live a successful and meaningful life. I dove into ideas you won’t find in your typical social media posts, and I turned these niche topics into advice you can actually use in your everyday life.

And that’s exactly what I plan to keep doing.

Everything around us influences everything we do.

Your actions today affect what happens tomorrow.

Life is one giant game of chess, and until you can understand the rules of the game—what the board looks like, how the pieces move, the best strategies—you’ll be stuck playing checkers.

I hope I haven’t scared you away yet.

Your support means everything to me.

For now, all I ask is that you keep sticking around. I promise you’ll learn something new every time you hear from me.

Also, shameless plug to check out my game sequence.games. It’s free and will help you improve your focus and memory skills.

Next week, I’ll share a few things I learned about memory and why I built this game in the first place.

Stay tuned.

Quote of the week

Thanks for reading.

If you have any questions, hit me up on LinkedIn or on 𝕏 at @sam_starkman, or feel free to reply to this email.

— Sam