In the Pursuit of Truth with Brad Balukjian, Entomologist and Journalist

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In a weird way without realizing
it doing a PhD on Tahitian bugs.

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Prepared me to write a book
about professional wrestlers or

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baseball players, what fuels, a
multi passionate life, I'm

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Jessica one.
And in this podcast, I interview

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people who straddle two,
completely different worlds, I

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call them ampersands and we are
collectively designing.

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The Ampersand manifest, I'm
thrilled to be talking with Brad

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Bullock Jian entomologist and
journalist.

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He studied journalism and Island
biogeography at Duke University

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and earned his PhD in
environmental science, from UC

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Berkeley grad, founded the
natural history and

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sustainability program at
Merritt College where he teaches

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today in 2020.
His first book, the wax pack

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reached number seven on that Los
Angeles Times.

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Best seller list and was named
one of em.

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Aras, best books of the year is
now working on a new book, The

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six-pack to be published by her
shet in 2024 about myth versus

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reality, and shifting identity
in the world of professional

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wrestling.
He's written for National

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Geographic, Smithsonian, slate
Rolling Stone.

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And many other Publications
Brad.

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Welcome to the show from one a
sin to another.

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Thank you very much Jessica.
I'm thrilled to be here and

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thrilled to see that on your
list of A Sands from past.

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Guess there's a lot of a lot of
singers and a lot of music.

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And so I thought, okay, it's
good that we have an

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entomologist in the mixer,
you're actually the first

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entomologist I've met and
definitely the first

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entomologist and journalists
that I have met.

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I'm curious when you think back
to Brad as a child, what were

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some early signs that you might
be leading the life that?

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Lead today.
Well, it's funny.

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I went when you said that, I was
thinking it's like, kind of what

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a psychologist or therapist will
say like what would their first

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signs that you were a little bit
off?

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Because that's kind of the truth
is I, when I think back I was a

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weird kid and in a way that I'm
very proud of, I grew up in

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Rhode Island in a pretty rural
area.

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Really interested in the
outdoors and nature.

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I was the kid that was going in
the backyard and putting bugs.

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In jars.
So I could observe them and

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wanting to know what they were.
And it's kind of funny.

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Now at age 42, I realize I'm
still out going outside and

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putting bugs in jars and trying
to identify them.

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So there's definitely a
consistency in a through line in

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my passions and my interests,
they go all the way back to

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Childhood.
I also was the kind of kid

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growing up that was always
wanting to document everything I

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would insist if our family
Watched a movie that everybody

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rate the movie and have know how
many stars you give it.

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If we went on vacation, I had to
take notes of everything that

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happened and evaluate every day
and so it's no surprise that I

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also have obsessive-compulsive
disorder and I don't say that

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like glibly, I really do.
I've been diagnosed and I've

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been to therapy and all that and
it doesn't really disrupt my

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life too badly anymore, but it
definitely is a tendency that

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also seeps into my professional
work.

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Your cultural background is
Filipino, Armenian and Western

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European.
How do you think your multiple

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identities and cultural
upbringings affect how you see

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the world?
Well, actually, to be honest,

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growing up, I probably saw the
world very culturally white.

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I grew up in a town and very
little diversity, my mom's from

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the Philippines, she would cook
Filipino food and she taught me

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certain words and Tagalog and
all that.

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But it wasn't like I grew up
feeling like I was that Filipino

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and I think it wasn't until I
moved to the Bay Area and

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especially after graduate
school.

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I went to Cal, which is
ostensibly diverse.

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You know, you look at the actual
statistics of diverse University

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but I didn't find it to be
particularly diverse in walks of

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life.
Ways of thinking, I found it to

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be kind of homogeneous in many
ways and it wasn't till I still,

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I started teaching at a
community college at Laney

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College in Oakland And now
Merritt College in Oakland, and

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I truly had a diverse in every
axis of identity.

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Had a truly diverse population.
I was working with that, I

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started to understand my own
privilege a lot better and also

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to get in touch or to at least
appreciate my own, multiracial

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identity a little bit better and
for me I really I enjoy being

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such a strange mix.
You know, there's not a lot of

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Armenian Filipino Western
Europeans out there.

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And I've come to really enjoy
that identity as being being a

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real mashup of cultures and
seeing how that plays out in

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different parts of my life.
Let's dive into the wax pack.

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So you posed a question is there
life after baseball and you

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ended up taking this solo trip
spanning over 11,000 miles

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through 30, states to find all
these former Oh, baseball

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players from a pack of cards in
1986.

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An amazing premise.
So when this idea came to you,

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how did you know that you had to
follow through with it?

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Yeah, that question kind of gets
at the root of my professional

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motivation.
I think which is passion.

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And the fact that I remember
when I was struggling early on

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trying to get this project off
the ground and I was

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considering, do I even do this?
And a friend of mine said, This

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book is inside of you, it has to
come out.

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It doesn't matter whether it
does, well, financially, or any

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of the details.
It's like a story that you need

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to tell for yourself that
provided some clarity about

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needing to follow through that.
I think part of it is I've

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always prided myself on being a
doer and that I have a lot of

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ideas and I think it's important
for me to actually execute Them,

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it gives me a sense of
satisfaction to follow through

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and so I knew it was a good
idea.

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Everyone, I told was that, oh,
that's a great idea.

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And even after it came out, a
lot of people were like, oh, I'm

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so jealous.
I wish I had thought of that.

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And my thought what I hear that
is yes, but it's the follow

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through.
That makes the difference.

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That's it's easy to have good
ideas.

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It's hard to make them happen.
How do you think this

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follow-through comes up for you
in your work as an entomologist?

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And as a professor.
So I finished my PhD at Berkeley

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in 2013, and my research, my
dissertation was on 17 species

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of insects that I discovered
that live in Tahiti and

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describing them and what makes
them unique and documenting

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their existence.
And when I finished graduate

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school, I made a very conscious
decision to get off the what I

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call the bullet train of
Academia which is that when you

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do a PhD, especially in a place
like, Cal the Ian is okay.

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Now you go on and get a postdoc
and then you try to get a job at

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a prestigious research
University, where your tenure

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track professor and I said, no,
I don't want to do that.

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I'm going to completely Go a
different direction where I

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wanted to be in an environment
where teaching was prioritized

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over research.
And so I started teaching you a

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community college and what I
made that decision.

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It basically meant that any
professional incentive that I

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had four Actually publishing my
PhD research, went out the

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window because when you write a
PhD you don't have to, actually

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have it.
Peer-reviewed and published.

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And so, for the last 10 years,
this this project has sort of

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loomed in the back of my head
and something that I wanted to

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finish all those hundreds of or
insects who gave their lives for

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me to do my research, like their
their, their desk could not have

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been in vain, right?
It has to get documented.

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And so, Slowly but surely over
10 years.

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I have chipped away at that and
just this past month, submitted

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the paper for publication to a
scientific journal and if all

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goes well that will come out
sometime this year.

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So that's sort of the ultimate,
you know, ten year lag in in

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follow-through but I never could
let go of finishing that

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project.
Your Love of Oakland comes

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through a lot in your book.
What is it like for you being an

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ampersand in Oakland and in the
Bay Area?

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How does it inspire you?
I think Oakland is a great place

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for a Sands because it's an
incredibly creative.

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There's a lot of Creative
Energy.

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There's a lot of outside the box
thinking that goes on here and

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There's a lot of people that I
think are attracted to that

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energy of not being labeled as
one thing and so you're among

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the like-minded people who
appreciate that, you don't have

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to fit narrowly into the kinds
of boxes that most of the

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society likes to try to put us
in whenever I think about

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leaving here because you know,
there's downsides, there's an

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insane cost of living and so
forth.

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I'm always like, well, I could
do that, I could probably have a

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house in most of the country,
for what I paid, for my

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one-bedroom apartment, but I'd
be sitting in a house surrounded

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by people.
There probably are not a

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sentence Oakland.
It's also within the ecosystem

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of the Bay Area, to me is
attractive because it's sort of

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the underdog to San Francisco
and that's another common theme

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in my work.
Both is a journalist and an

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entomologist is I am always
drawn to the the thing that

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everyone's not interested in or
talking about or maybe they are

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in, they will be interested.
If you can tell the story in the

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right way, what has your
creative process been like for

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the six-pack?
And how's it been maybe

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different from last time?
Yeah, the six-pack is much

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harder.
So much harder book than the

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wax.
The by fact was hard.

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So that's telling you something.
And yeah, I always tell people,

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the hardest thing I've ever done
is still writing that

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dissertation.
And I, It will always be the

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hardest thing I'll ever have to
do.

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But the six-pack is harder
because it is more ambitious in

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the sense that in the wax pack.
It was a very linear narrative.

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Like, hey, here's you going on
the road with me for 60 days and

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kind of what happened every day
with me.

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Interspersing flashbacks, and
it's part Memoir.

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So, I talk about my personal
life and my dating Misadventures

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and Adventures, and what is it
like being a single guy in my

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mid 30s?
Who thought I would be married

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and kids?
AIDS and all that, you know, I

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think, unless you're like
incredibly vain you can only

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kind of do that once it's not,
you know, it's not like my life.

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Is that interesting?
That seven years later, I'm

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going to go talk about my Tinder
dates on the road again.

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I mean I could do that but to me
that's not serving a purpose

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that I want to have in this
book.

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So this book will be similar to
the wax pack in that.

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I tell the backstory and the
human stories of these pro

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wrestlers and there's another
level.

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Of Engagement because these
wrestlers live these fake

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identities when they were in
character.

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And so it's a truly unique and
bizarre subculture in which

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these guys were expected to
almost live their character

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24/7, like, Hulk Hogan would go
out in public and you would

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never be able to take the
costume off right here.

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His real name is Terry Bollea,
but no one would ever call him

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Terry, if they saw him and
there's no other Analog to that.

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You know, if you're Harrison
Ford no one's going to call you

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Han Solo on the street, right?
I'm really interested in

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investigating what that does to
a person.

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The sort of more personal Memoir
part that occupied a certain

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amount of real estate in the wax
pack, is now going to be taken

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up by telling some of the
history of how this weird art

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form of wrestling came to be and
how Vince McMahon and the WWE

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became this Wall Street Empire.
And that is a lot more research

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historical documents.
So having to do this huge body

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of research, detective work, and
then synthesize that with the

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actual reporting from being on
the road and being with these

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guys and their living rooms and
all of that, just like I did

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with the wax back.
How does it feel now to be a

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writer in your 40s as opposed to
being 34 and Going on this

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adventure.
How do you think you have grown

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as a writer in a person?
Yeah, I've been thinking about

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that because when I stop and
realize oh yeah, that mean 34

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242 is not trivial that's an
eight-year difference.

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And I think maybe some of my
disinterest in doing the

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personal stuff.
Is also a factor of getting a

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little more mature or getting a
little bit older.

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My the circumstances of my life
haven't changed that The I'm

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still single and don't have kids
or anything like that, but I

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think that I feel more
sure-footed as a writer, which I

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think is good.
I think there's this recognition

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that if a writer can be said to
kind of have their Prime that I

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feel like I'm there in sense of
like this is where the the sort

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of that perfect intersection of
relative Youth and experience

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come.
Together and an acute

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understanding that his temporary
by definition.

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It's not going to last forever.
So I have this feeling of really

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wanting to enjoy this time and
work on these projects but I'm

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liking where I am right now.
And in terms of my command and

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my voice in my writing process,
let's take a moment to reflect

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on this question.
Are you in your mix between

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Youth and experience outside of
Hosting this podcast?

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I partner with leaders in the
workplace as they rise up.

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Perhaps you've gotten a
promotion landed, a new role or

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00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,500
taken on a lot more
responsibility and you need a

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00:15:14,508 --> 00:15:18,000
trusted sounding board to
support you as you support your

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team.
I coach individuals and

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Leadership teams to Rise to the
challenge with my Ampersand

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00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,200
blend of analytical and
creative.

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If any of this intrigues, you
reach out to me at Jessica

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00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:37,400
one.com.
Now, back to the show, you shirt

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that in all of your projects
whether it's a book, an article

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00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,200
or teaching a class, you try to
combine both sides of the brain

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and embrace both and thinking in
your book, you describe how your

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skill for research, LED you to
pursue She and journalism as

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well as tracking baseball stats
and what other connections do

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you make between these worlds of
Science and writing?

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Well, I think that there's
actually an incredible overlap

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between the entomology in the
journalism where the science and

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the writing in that they're both
ultimately driven by Deep

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curiosity and a undertaking, a
certain process somewhat Stomach

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process or systematic process,
to try to find truth or answers

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in science and in journalism,
you are Guided by some question.

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You want to answer?
You have some inkling of a

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hypothesis.
You go out there and you collect

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data and you feel the work to
try to test that hypothesis then

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you synthesized at all.
And you come to some conclusion

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about whether or not you accept
or reject that hypothesis and

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why write that scientific method
really underlies?

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Is what journalists do.
And so, in a weird way without

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realizing it doing a PhD on
Tahitian bugs, prepared me to

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write a book about professional
wrestlers or baseball players

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and that's the beauty of a PhD
is that it is teaching you how

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to think, deeply and critically.
And I always thought it was.

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So myopic of academics to say
that.

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If you didn't go on and become a
professor in Academia with your

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PhD, you somehow works for
wasting or squandering your Or

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education.
And it's like, no, getting a PhD

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00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:29,000
isn't about producing more.
People like your advisors.

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It's about teaching people to
think deeply and critically

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about the world.
In this era of fake news and

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Distortion.
This notion of the truth is at

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the Forefront of lots of
people's minds.

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How does one get to the truth?
When there's always a person in

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this case you at the helm of
telling that story, I also I've

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00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,300
been thinking a lot about this
notion of Truth as an aspiration

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and a concept because journalism
is I think about trying to get

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truth and science is also about
trying to get truth.

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And yet what I've Realized being
both a journalist and a

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00:18:07,108 --> 00:18:11,500
scientist is are the limitations
caused by being human.

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Our own Humanity on our ability
to 100% ever get to truth.

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I mean, I do believe that truth
exists out there in the world

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00:18:20,300 --> 00:18:23,900
independent of humanity.
I know that like if I'm trying

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00:18:23,900 --> 00:18:28,500
to understand how many species
of insects are in Tahiti and how

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they evolve, there's a there's a
real hundred percent answer that

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explains all that.
But when I go out and even if I

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spend seven years, Years
collecting insects, and doing

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00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:39,500
all the analysis.
There's no way I looked in every

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single place on those islands.
There's no way that I didn't

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miss something.
And so what I am concluding is

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my best effort at truth but it's
going to come up short somewhere

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and that's the beauty of science
is that it's iterative.

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Now someone else comes around,
they have more funding and more

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data and they can improve on my
approximation to truth.

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00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,500
But even there the probably
never going to get to 100%.

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It's even more.
In journalism where yes I'm

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going out and I'm interviewing
these wrestlers, I'm trying to

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00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,600
tell my reader.
This is what this person's life

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was all about this is what
motivates them.

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This is who they are.
But everything I'm saying is

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00:19:17,900 --> 00:19:23,400
through the lens of one person.
One 42 year old mixed race man,

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right?
So there's all timidly

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00:19:26,500 --> 00:19:30,300
distortions that are going to
happen as objective as anyone

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00:19:30,300 --> 00:19:33,600
tries to be when they were a
journalist it's like you're

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00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,600
never able to look at That thing
without some lens, that's going

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to slightly alter the reality of
what you're seeing.

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And so and all of that I
realized ties in beautifully

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with professional wrestling.
This wrestling is always been

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about myth versus reality.
They're projecting.

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This thing is wrestling fake or
real and and the reality is in

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00:19:57,300 --> 00:20:00,200
wrestling.
Just like in in everything else

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I'm talking about it's somewhere
in between there is no 100%.

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Truth that we're going to get to
and that's okay.

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People like to politicize this
and attack it.

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Say well if you can't say
something is 100% true than it

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should be doubted, right?
But that's the I think me an

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00:20:16,100 --> 00:20:19,600
unsophisticated way to look at
this issue of Truth.

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00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:24,500
This is fascinating and it gets
me thinking about just what is

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00:20:24,500 --> 00:20:27,800
the truth, right?
Just even coming from a piece of

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00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:32,600
music or a piece of art, how
would you even answer that

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00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,800
question what has filled you?
You to keep going as both an

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00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:42,000
entomologist and a journalist
never stopping learning while

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still being able to pay my bills
yesterday as I'm writing and

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00:20:45,900 --> 00:20:48,800
researching this book I'm
sitting there in the writers

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00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,300
Grotto in San Francisco watching
wrestling clips from 1984 on

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YouTube and I'm like this is
what a lot of people are doing

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00:20:56,100 --> 00:20:59,800
procrastinating in their cubicle
when they should be working and

335
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,900
I'm doing this, this is my job.
I get to actually watch this for

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00:21:02,900 --> 00:21:07,000
my job, I really is great.
Right now called 4000 weeks,

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00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:10,300
which is a, which I don't have
you heard of that, I've read it.

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00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:11,200
Yeah.
Okay.

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00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:12,500
Men.
Yes.

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Great book because it's the
premises, you only have like,

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4,000 weeks in your life which
is actually way fewer than most

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00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,200
people would ever guess.
If you ask them to guess, how

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00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:22,600
many weeks are in their
lifetime.

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And what I love about this book
is its emphasizing the value and

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00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:32,300
the wisdom of limits which is
not something we're accustomed

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00:21:32,300 --> 00:21:35,500
to doing, I think as we go.
Actually, when we were younger,

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00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:39,600
we like to think of infinite
opportunity and doing whatever,

348
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,700
you know, seeing it all doing it
all making more time.

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00:21:42,700 --> 00:21:48,600
And to me, it's been more
valuable to realize that we can

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00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,200
never do it.
All, we can never have it all

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00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:55,400
that limits, impose a healthy
structure in our lives.

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00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,800
And that it's about letting go
of not being able to do it all.

353
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And so while there are all these
projects and things that I would

354
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,000
love to do, Career.
I'll never do anywhere close to

355
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:13,500
all of them and so I just want
to be able to pick the ones that

356
00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:17,800
are the most inspiring and just
continue to do that as long as I

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00:22:17,808 --> 00:22:21,800
can and make a living off of it
because there's no shortage of

358
00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:23,600
things that I want to learn more
about.

359
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,000
What advice do you have for
people who are pursuing or

360
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,100
thinking of pursuing the
Ampersand life?

361
00:22:29,300 --> 00:22:34,400
I teach a class on environmental
careers at Merritt College about

362
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,300
how To get a job in the
environmental sector and I use

363
00:22:38,300 --> 00:22:41,700
this concept that's very similar
to the A and I call it hybrid

364
00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:47,000
Vigor and biology hybrid, Vigor
means when two individuals from

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00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,300
different species interbreed and
their hybrid, Offspring actually

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00:22:50,300 --> 00:22:55,000
are more fit than either parent
because mixing genetic

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00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,700
diversity, produces more fit
individuals from World fit

368
00:22:59,700 --> 00:23:01,700
Offspring.
And the idea is that you don't

369
00:23:01,700 --> 00:23:07,000
have to just do one thing, you
can combine My advice to people

370
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,100
that are interested in that
would be to be honest about the

371
00:23:11,100 --> 00:23:13,600
pros and the cons of choosing
that life.

372
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,900
If you are pursuing multiple
passions, you might have to give

373
00:23:16,900 --> 00:23:19,300
up a little bit of Financial
Security.

374
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,100
So, be honest with yourself
about some of the shortcomings

375
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:29,900
and then I think, you know,
don't let society's expectations

376
00:23:29,900 --> 00:23:35,500
or dictums dissuade you from
choosing that At life because

377
00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:38,700
it's an unconventional path.
Think people that do this are

378
00:23:38,700 --> 00:23:41,600
often, do you know they're
Guided by their passion so just

379
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,700
continue to prioritize the
passion.

380
00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:48,100
What do you think should be in
the Ampersand Manifesto?

381
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,000
It's the same advice that I
would always give when writers

382
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:57,400
contact me about their projects,
which is before I give advice a

383
00:23:57,500 --> 00:24:00,300
specific advice on how to go
about any given project.

384
00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:03,400
The first question I asked
somebody is what is your

385
00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:05,700
motivation?
What is your goal?

386
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,200
What is, what is underlying this
so?

387
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,800
And then whatever that is be
honest about what that is.

388
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,400
So if you're somebody that is
going into something because you

389
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,600
just want to make a lot of
money, then, okay, then be

390
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:24,300
honest about that.
If it's about your ego, okay?

391
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,700
Be honest about that.
If it's about your passion,

392
00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:32,400
okay, be honest about that.
Being able to identify what it

393
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,100
is.
Why it is that you're

394
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:35,800
interested?
Add in whatever it is, you're

395
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:40,900
pursuing, is really critical
there and I think not again in

396
00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:46,800
terms of the manifesto, don't be
discouraged by having two things

397
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,600
that are so disparate no one,
you know, entomology and

398
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,300
journalism.
They don't overlap in many Venn

399
00:24:52,300 --> 00:24:56,200
diagrams probably but there is a
lot of overlap actually between

400
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,500
those worlds if you really dig
into it.

401
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,700
So Embrace that passion that
creativity, that's fueling those

402
00:25:03,700 --> 00:25:04,800
two different things.
Yes.

403
00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:07,200
Brad.
It's been such a pleasure

404
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:11,000
talking with you today, folks.
You can check out Brad's work at

405
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,800
Brad, baluch Jian.com and
there's a link in the show

406
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,900
notes.
If you liked this show hit,

407
00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:20,800
like, subscribe and share with
your friends and fellow

408
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:24,000
ampersands.
I had a chance to listen back on

409
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,800
my conversation with Brad and I
wanted to share a few key.

410
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:34,600
Takeaways one rods Quest For
Truth manifests itself in both,

411
00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:38,600
Journal and internal ways.
It drives his work as a

412
00:25:38,608 --> 00:25:43,400
scientist and journalist, and
it's also an internal honesty

413
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,600
about what he wants.
For example, prioritizing

414
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,700
teaching over research, when he
got his Ph.D, he didn't take the

415
00:25:50,700 --> 00:25:55,700
quote-unquote expected, track it
primarily saw his Ph.D as a way,

416
00:25:55,700 --> 00:25:58,700
to develop deep critical,
thinking about the world.

417
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:04,200
I really admire the strong
values that Brad has about his

418
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,600
work.
And why he does it.

419
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:12,500
To there's a theme of tenacity
and follow-through, not letting

420
00:26:12,500 --> 00:26:15,700
go of ideas that might be right
eventually.

421
00:26:15,700 --> 00:26:18,300
Even if you're not sure that,
they're right for right now,

422
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,600
Brad's description of the
10-year project for his PhD

423
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,500
research.
Reminds me, a little of Lear

424
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:26,900
owns Book Project a few episodes
ago.

425
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,600
The idea if it grabs you, it
doesn't let go even if that

426
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,800
might move from the back burner
to the front burner and Back

427
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,300
Again.
Actually, if we take this

428
00:26:36,300 --> 00:26:40,300
kitchen and Elegy even further.
How delicious is a stew that

429
00:26:40,300 --> 00:26:47,200
simmers for a long time.
Three, I'm so intrigued by this

430
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:52,000
idea of hybrid Vigor.
As applied to one's career, I'm

431
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,800
not a scientist myself.
So when I googled this I just

432
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,700
related it to an idea as a dog
lover.

433
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,500
Generally mixed breed dogs are
healthier and have fewer health

434
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:07,600
problems than purebred dogs in
the business world, we can think

435
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,500
of this as pursuing multiple
passions actually making you

436
00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:17,000
stronger healthier and Building
more resilience, I wonder if

437
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,200
there is a certain level of
physical or mental Fitness in

438
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:26,100
here to listener, if you have
read or research, this drop me a

439
00:27:26,100 --> 00:27:28,600
line.
Super, super interesting.

440
00:27:29,700 --> 00:27:37,100
If I had to I guess summarize my
professional goal or what guides

441
00:27:37,100 --> 00:27:41,600
me and even personally really
the pursuit of truth because

442
00:27:41,700 --> 00:27:44,700
it's a recognition that it's
always Process.

443
00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:48,600
You're always chasing it and you
may never get it and that's

444
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:49,100
okay.