I'll do it. Bet on it.

Jan 29, 2025

Here’s a little secret.

If I catch you in the elevator at one of my properties, I….will…chat…you…up.

Bet on it.

Yes, it’s a bit of stealth research because you don’t know I built that thing, so you’ll tell me everything you love. (Most developers don’t have long hair and a beard and wear Jordans :)

You’ll tell me everything you hate as well.

And I’m going to take mental notes.

But business isn’t my main motivation for looking you in the eyes and asking, “What’s up?”

I read an interesting study many years ago, the conclusion of which was essentially that you and I are really shitty at predicting what will make us happy. And, by extension, healthy.

Hint: It’s not more time scrolling on Tik Tok or mashing the “watch now” button on Netflix.

Sure, we all need a mindless moment (or hour) of just letting our brains melt in front of the TV so that we can forget whatever is ailing us.

But, like that third cocktail, it’s not good for us.

And despite that moment of awkwardness, what every cell in our body really craves is contact and community.

And so when I catch you in the elevator, I’m selfishly trying to satisfy that soaring chorus in my brain that’s singing at the top of its lungs:

Reach out!

Learn a new name!

Make a connection!

Why?

Because I need that freaking connection, dude.

My creative, entrepreneurial side needs to develop buildings.

But my soul needs community.

And there’s abundant evidence that this is the medicine our country needs (along with affordable healthcare, living wages, and childcare that doesn’t feel like a second effing mortgage).

We’re spending more and more time alone and less time engaged with others.

For example, the total rise in social isolation from 2003 to 2023 rose by 24 hours.

That number should make us all fall out of our chairs.

Imagine if our resolution in 2023 had been to be a whole day lonelier in the New Year.

Yeah.

No one wished for that.

But here we are.

Here’s another stat:

From 2003 to 2023, we’ve somehow arrived at the point where we spend 20 hours less per month with our friends.

Is Covid a big blip in the data set?

You bet it is.

But it’s 2025, and those numbers have not changed.

What’s a little loneliness, you might ask?

Here’s what doctors know:

Lacking social connection - lacking community - can be as harmful to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

It has a more significant negative impact on your health than drinking six alcoholic drinks daily.

Than obesity….

Than lung-choking air pollution….

You have a 29% increase in the risk of heart disease…

and a 32% increase in the risk of stroke.

Yup. All of that.

That’s what the doctors know.

And honestly, isn’t that what we feel?

The upside of course, is that while you have to be a public health expert to come up with those numbers, you don’t have to have fancy credentials to RESIST those numbers.

And that’s what I plan to do this year.

Resist those numbers.

And you should, too.

In 2025, I’m going to spend more time making connections – strengthening my community by adding more people to it.

We’re going to meet, you and I.

And we’ll be all the better for it.

Peace,