When tasked with writing a cover letter, most everyone goes to google and searches for a cover letter template. Trust me, I have been there. The thing is every cover letter template sucks. No matter how good the template, a copied template sucks. It’s like trying to make a movie by replicating Star Wars. The problem is that it lacks genuineness and narrative.

Right now, take 5 minutes and write a cover letter to your dream company. One caveat, don’t look up a single template or glance at an old cover letter you’ve written. Ready. Set. Go.

So what did you come up with? Odds are it’s pretty usable, let’s go ahead and make some improvements.

Acquire Your Target:

One of the quickest ways to set yourself apart from other candidates is showing that you’ve done your homework. It’s easy to write “Dear recruiter,” but it’s a lot more impressive to address it to a specific individual.

If you’ve networked with someone in person, that’s a start. If not, consider using LinkedIn and figure out who you are likely emailing.

Do Your Research:

Prove that you are not simply copy pasting the same cover letter to every job listing you see. Talk about something that you know the company does that interests you. It does not have to be hard. When I met a recruiter at Toyota, I talked about the new redesigned Camry, a freaking Camry (one of the most vanilla vehicles in the world of automobiles). While I might have lost a few jalopy points for knowing so much about the Camry, it showed the recruiter that I had been keeping up with the company.

Tell a Story (in tweet form):

Tell a short story about who you are and why you are applying. It does not need to be vivid with details, but a cute intro will do. If you don’t believe that you can tell a story in that span, remember Hemmingway wrote a story in 6 words (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn” – Ernest Hemingway).

Compare two options.

I would love to intern for Toyota this summer. I believe my experience in finance and design, along with my experience from being part of the business council qualify me for this internship. It would be a dream come true to work for Toyota.

This is a pretty typical introduction for an email. Following most advice, it does the job, it’s clear, concise, and has a definite ask for the company. But it fails to stand out from just about every other cover letter. Let’s try a more unique introduction.

Going to the dealership as a kid was like going to Disneyland. Growing up my friends were fascinated with sports cars, but I was intrigued by how cars were built and designed. Maybe it’s because my family always drove practical cars like Toyota’s. Now that I have some finance and design knowledge, I would love to help the team that makes these fascinating cars.

It will not win a Pulitzer, but at least it stands out from 80% of cover letters.

Offer Value:

We’ve already talked about this. But it’s important to re-iterate that your cover letter should focus on how you can offer value.

When I worked at Kammok and was going through the general email account, I would see dozens of emails that were all the same. They all started with introducing themselves and how they would love to work for the company or how it was their dream to work in the industry. Rarely did we see emails where someone included tangible reasons for how they would benefit the company.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s wonderful that you see a specific company as your gateway to fulfilling your dreams. But, it is not compelling for an employer to dwell on what they can do for you.

As a stranger, especially one trying to grow a business, employers care much more about how you can help grow their business than about how they can fulfill your dreams. If you can prove your value to someone else’s operation, you are already ahead of 80% of candidates. Here’s the thing, once you do land the opportunity, you will have plenty of chances to grow and learn. Again, it’s about framing the relationship.

Edit Away:

I have made the mistake of misspelling a company’s name in a cover letter and still managed to get the job, but for all intents and purposes your cover letter is a) a pitch on why you would add value to the company b)a signal of how vested in the company you are c) an indicator of the work that you do.

If you expect someone to take an hour to interview you, they expect that you take ten minutes to edit your letter. The simple reason you need to make sure your letter is meticulous is that everyone else’s will be meticulous. And if you do not put in effort into your cover letter, why would an employer expect you to do better work once they hire you.

Not to beat a dead horse, but edit your cover letters.

Last week a girl told me I was psychotic when I told her I hang my clothes with the hangers facing backward.

Two years ago I would have agreed that hanging your clothes backward just feels wrong, it’s like pouring your cereal into a bowl of milk.

Let’s step back. Like most everyone, I own a few too many clothes. Things that I loved when I bought them, but over time didn’t receive the love they deserve. In most given months, I wear the same 10 shirts. Yet, the majority of my closet is taken up by shirts that never see the light of day.

At the start of every year, I flip every single one of my hangers backward. Then, each time I then wear that article of clothing, I flip the hanger so it sits the right way. By November it’s evident what you wear and what you don’t.

To add another layer. Here’s the thing, everything that hasn’t been worn in the past year goes into a big garment bag/hamper. If I feel so inclined to wear it in the next six months and actually take it out of the bag, it reclaims a spot on my shelf. If it doesn’t I get rid of it in one way or another.

When I was moving to Dallas for a summer internship, it was easy to decide what I was taking with me. There were only a dozen or so shirts I actually loved wearing. The rest stayed at home.

If you feel like your possessions are bogging you down, start by clearing up your wardrobe. It doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think. You may get some odd looks when someone looks at your closet, but flipping your hangers is a start at simplifying your wardrobe.

They Don’t Have Their Act Together: 

You might be excited to start your internship, but odds are it’s just another day in the office for everyone you’re working with. You may have known your start date for months, but your manager probably just found out that you were joining their team yesterday. So don’t be surprised when you aren’t assigned a project on day one. It might take a week or two.

It might take a while for them to set you up with a laptop or company badge (I’ve heard stories of interns not getting a badge to go to the bathroom until 5 weeks in). Every internship I’ve been has had me sitting around the first week or two. Don’t take it personally. Just sit tight and use the time to network.

It’s Exhausting

In college you probably spend 60+ hours a week between class, homework, studying and extracurriculars. But you get plenty of naps and breaks in between.

The first week you start working a 9-5 job, where you stare at a screen all day, you’ll find yourself exhausted. Add in commuting and getting ready for work (you can’t show up in sweatpants anymore) and you’ll find that the first week is going to feel long.

I forget this every year when I start interning. After a few days, you’ll find ways of breaking up the monotony.

More importantly, remember not to make judgments about working there right off the bat. Every job is going to feel slow at first, but remember it’s your responsibility to keep yourself energized.

You Have a Golden Telephone

You can talk to anyone.

No, I’m not trying to motivate you like your mom did in first grade. But here’s the secret. If you want to talk to your manager, they’ll make time. Want to talk to your manager’s manager, just send an email. Want to talk to the VP, just ask. Even if his or her calendar is chock full, they’ll find the time. After all, they only have 10 weeks to sell you on the dream of working there.

I’ve been able to talk to CEO’s and partners of companies I’ve worked at simply by asking. Once you’re full time you might not get that access, but as an intern, nobody is off limits.

Those connections don’t die once you join the firm. Take the time now to build those relationships, because those open doors slowly close off once you’re a full-time employee.

solidcore is what happens when you let a SoulCycle instructor teach a class in a BDSM dungeon. At it’s heart, it’s a bodyweight fitness class with the added energy of SoulCycle . I’ve been wary of flashy classes like SoulCycle and Orange Theory, but, when I had the opportunity to go with my team, I had to try it out. Here’s the skinny on the fitness class that is solidcore.

You enter solidcore and it looks like pretty much every other yoga studio. It’s well lit and there’s a check-in desk along with some changing rooms. After getting changed, we were ready to embark on our fitness adventure. Note that you are expected to ditch your shoes and socks, rather walk around barefoot. As a traveling consultant, this is nice since you don’t need to pack an extra pair of shoes.

A few minutes before the class begins you enter the dimly lit studio, with distinct accent lighting, and receive training on the reformer machines. The reformer machine is essentially two platforms, one of which is on a sliding track. The moving platform can be attached to different bungee cords which provide varying levels of resistance.

All in, there nine or so reformer machines in a solidcore studio, which creates for a pretty intimate setting. At first, I was worried about looking like a fool amongst my new coworkers, it was quickly evident that everyone else becomes too preoccupied trying.

The class consists of a 50-minute workout in which you go through a variety of slow bodyweight exercises. The exercises themselves aren’t intense, but holding them for extended duration can be challenging. For example, you’ll have to hold a plank while the moving platform is trying to pull you further apart. Furthermore, it worked muscles I otherwise wouldn’t have touched. I definitely felt sore in my inner thighs the next day.

Paired with the workout is an energetic instructor who is all too ecstatic to keep you holding your plank to catchy dance music. It is definitely an encouraging (if not a bit intimidating) environment which will want you to perform. Above all, it is a very supportive environment. I definitely do not have the motivation to perform fifty minutes of body weight workouts on the regular, so having an engaging instructor was helpful.

That said the instructor didn’t do much other than provide encouragement. There were a couple of times that the instructor vaguely corrected my form, but not nearly as most classes would. There was a secondary instructor who also participated in the class with us, but it was hard to look to her for guidance while doing your workout.

For me, the big takeaway from solidcore was the power of body weight workouts. I’ve done my fair share of push-ups and pull-ups, but solidcore helped me realize that there were so many other bodyweight exercises I can start incorporating. I’ll definitely be doing more weighted crunches and sideways planks.

Is it worth the $30 bucks that each class costs, probably not, but it is a unique experience and a good reminder of the power of bodyweight workouts.

If you knew me in high school, I was adamant that I would never work for someone. I would have scoffed at the idea of being an employee.

To me, the entrepreneurial dream was to never work for someone else a day in my life. The narrative you hear is of the entrepreneur that started a business in school and never had to find a job.

That all changed when I went to Kammok. I learned more in that one year than I would have if I spent 10 years piddling around with some ideas in my room.

In my year at Kammok, I learned more about building community and a brand than any class could have taught me. I learned little shortcuts to running a business that no textbook teaches. I was exposed to the right tools that make running a business easier.

I’m going to say this because nobody else is. It’s okay to check your ego for a bit and work for someone else. Go ahead and learn from others experience.

One professor of mine put it this way, If you’re going to make mistakes, why not do it on someone else’s dime.

In my book, there is one valid excuse for not wanting to work for someone else. Time. Not having enough hours in the day to pursue your own venture and work for someone else. Unless you have your plan figured out and the time is now, go work for someone else. There will be a time when it’s 11 pm and there’s a critical deadline. You’ll be forced to make a choice, work on the business or work for your employer. But until then, it’s okay to learn by interning for someone else.

1. Get Organized
Let’s start with the least sexy lesson. Organization. At first, I thought it was ridiculous that such a small company took time to processes and playbooks for every little thing we did, but we did and over time I came to appreciate it.

Even for a company of one, it’s important to organize and build processes for how you handle situations. Create a system for storing passwords. Create a system for storing photos and videos. It’s worth taking time now so it doesn’t become a challenge later. These days I even standardize what goes in each pocket of my pants (keys, (front right), earbuds/misc (front left), phone(back right), wallet(back left)), in order to avoid having to remember if I have my keys or not.

It’s great when you need someone to grab a file off of your computer to be able to tell them exactly where it is even if you can’t see the screen or tell a friend where something in your apartment is without them having to dig around for it. The $30 you spend on containers and organization will pay for itself each time you don’t lose something you otherwise would have.

Randy Paush, a late Carnegie Mellon Professor, made the point that you have better things to do with your brain power than keep track of things. You may be smart enough to remember where you put something or how to complete a task, but you have much better things to do with your brainpower than remember these unimportant details.

2. Stories Do the Selling
Before working at Kammok, I couldn’t understand why people spent $100 on a hammock when you could buy a $50 hammock and use the other $50 to buy twenty-five pints of ice cream from the corner store instead.

But as I understood the story, people, and process of what went into the product, I started to buy into it. Turns out, so did the Kammok community. The story created a framework for why this hammock was better than others.

Over the past year, I’ve noticed a big push to find your park.

I find this absurd.

As an Eagle Scout and avid outdoorsman, I’ve spent the better part of the past two decades exploring national parks. I was blessed to have parents who took our family to national parks every chance they had. Our national parks system is one of our greatest assets. One that I truly do believe is underappreciated.

I’m all for individuals finding adventure. I believe it is instrumental in developing the human spirit. But the notion of finding your park creates a mentality of takers.

The idea that individuals should find their park inherently implies that the park is theirs. It encourages them to treat it as if it belonged to them. This is all at a time when parks are already struggling. Over the past few years, our national parks have surged in popularity, which is putting a strain on the parks already limited resources.

The statement “find YOUR park” leads individuals to explore these parks as if they were their own. It implies a sense of ownership. It leads individuals stray off of marked trails, litter the woods, and deface natural artifacts.

The slogan also reinforces the notion that one’s experience at a national park should be catered to them. Instead of being mere observers, visitors have come to demand

What happened to staying in quaint cabins?

higher expectations. They expect accommodations and dining to meet commercial standards. In order to cater to these growing demands, companies like Xanterra, have stepped in to provide fine lodging and concessions within the parks. No longer are the accommodations in national parks basic cabins, they now rival luxury hotels (with prices to match).

All I’m saying is let’s not Disney-ify our national parks. Let’s not tear down forests so visitors can have better coffee. Sure let’s make them accessible for all to see, but at the same time be conscious of the footprint we leave. Let’s keep them pristine. Let’s leave them as we found them, not as we want them to be.

So please, don’t find YOUR park, rather discover OUR parks.

P.S. if you ever have any questions on how to adventure in the wilderness without leaving a trace, please don’t hesitate to message me.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine pointed out that I’d hit my one year anniversary of sailing with the UT Sailing Club.

In that time, I’ve learned a couple things (I know most of you didn’t think I was capable of that). Number one, if someone is yelling at you…just duck.

Things Break. Be Ready:

The first time I ever went sailing at UT, a few members managed to break a sailboat in half. Somehow, I was convinced that this was the group of people I should learn to sail with.

We’ve had numerous parts break on us at inopportune times. Sometimes it’s just poor luck and sometimes it’s our own incompetence (hint: it’s usually the latter). Instead of fretting and freaking out, you quickly learn to calm down and figure out how to improvise until you can fix it (or duct tape over it until the next person finds it).

Find a Sport:

As someone whose athletic claim to fame is scoring on my own soccer team in fourth grade, I never really understood the appeal of sports-ball competitions. I never understood how people bonded over flailing balls and pucks at each other.

After getting involved with J24 racing (the type of boat we race) it finally clicked. I understood how sports build camaraderie. The shared spirit of wanting to accomplish something. The coordination required to do something as simple as tack (turn) into another direction. The panic when things go wrong, it all just made sense.

I’ve probably inhaled just enough fiberglass while working on Jolly Bevo (our beloved J24) to shave a few months off my lifespan (how’s that for dedication), woken up sore every morning for a week after a regatta, and spent a too many hours in cold water, but somehow it all makes sense.

I have found a newfound respect for athletes and for my fellow professional Netflix connoisseurs, maybe give another sport a try.

What my parent’s think I do when I say I’m sailing.

Everything Makes Sense. Except When It Doesn’t:

When I began sailing I floundered around in the water. Pulling on the mainsheet (the line that controls the sail) and messing with the tiller. More often than not I found myself in the water with the boat upside down. I didn’t understand what was going on and decided that sailing is essentially magic.

In the past year, I have learned more about sailing that any sane person should know (the amount of sailing knowledge I have has gone from nothing to being well informed, and has now peaked at nerdy). Generally, things make sense. I can read and react to the wind. When things go wrong, I can ascertain what I should look for. Once you know what you’re doing, sailing becomes a lot less like magic and a lot more like science. It’s a nice reminder that behind all the things we take for granted, there’s a lot more happening behind the scenes. At least for me, it has led me to become even more inquisitive (this was probably my elementary school teacher’s biggest nightmare).

But every once in a while, things just do not make sense. You can be sailing next to an identical boat doing the exact same thing as you and they still manage to surpass you. In those cases, I have decided to accept that sailing is still magic.

Bonus – Boat Puns Are Great:

I haven’t a clew where this fits in, but I have a newfound appreciation for boat puns and dad jokes. Maybe I’ve been pier pressured into appreciating them or maybe it is aboat time I started growing fond of them.

That is all.

End Notes:

One year in, I’ve been grateful that I somehow got roped into sailing. If you ever want to sail (regardless of whether you’re a pro or have never sailed before), let me know and I would love to get you out on the water (please note, you will be subjected to boat puns).

One of the first things I was told once I moved into the 21st Street Co-Op was “This place will eat you alive and you’re going to love it.”

But let’s take a step back. How did I end up here in the first place? While always adventurous, my housing experience had always been pretty traditional. I’d spent most of my first 18 years living at home and then proceeded to live in a dorm my freshman year. After landing an internship in Austin over the summer, I needed to find a place to stay until I moved into my apartment in the fall. And that’s the start of how I ended up in the belly of the dragon.

For those of you do not know about the 21st Street Co-Op, it is the first structure built to be used as a cooperative living space, which is about as accurate a description as saying Brittney Spears is a wholesome (side note: is Brittney Spears still culturally relevant, because she’s still the only music I listen to)

In reality the co-op is cesspool of filth, drugs, and alcohol who use the ideals of communal living as a means of discovering and expressing themselves.

It really is a place where you get to see the best and worst of human nature. At the co-op, you see the power of democracy when structures are built in a day and you see the pitfalls of democracy when something as simple as purchasing a first-aid kit takes hours of debate and weeks to implement. Every day, the structure of the co-op is pushed to it’s limits and miraculously it manages to get by every time.

So to answer why I am at the the 21st Co-Op, the answer is simple. I don’t know when the next chance I’ll have to meet strangers and experience the human condition in their raw state (both figuratively and literally). Now that I’m here, I’m sure I’ll be a 21st MF for life.

A while back I watched Paper Towns, a movie which I would have loved had I been a 16-year-old girl. This is a fact that can be validated by the fact that I watched it with a friend, who believes that it is socially acceptable to have a Hello Kitty case on her iPhone, who seemingly enjoyed it a fair bit more than I did.

For those who have not seen the movie it is set within the last few weeks of high school and the adventures that ensued. I could go in more depth about the plot, but I think for our purposes any mental image you construct will suffice.

At the conclusion of the movie I started to realize that that whole chapter of my life is over; the experience of being called a soccer-mom for driving around an old minivan, the anxiety of finding a prom date had been experienced, the post-graduation road trip across the country had happened.

I also realized that I was probably one of the oldest guys in the theater. That is when it finally hit me that I was no longer a kid in high school anymore and that chapter of my life was over. It is a weird feeling and I don’t know quite how to describe it.

And then last night I saw Ferris Bueller’s Day Off once again, which for those of you who don’t know is  a heartwrenching tale of how a gorgeous Ferrari 250 GT meets its fate.

I realized that on various occasions I had missed school to do every single one of the things that Ferris does on his day off. Maybe I did get what I was supposed to from High School after all.