Dan Stocke
@danstocke.bsky.social
Writer, producer, entrepreneur, raconteur, gadabout, and ring leader of this magnificent circus I call my life.
https://danstocke.com
https://danstocke.com
Fulfillment comes from achieving what YOU want - other opinions be damned. Any one else’s definition of your success, even if they think you are the cat’s pajamas, is irrelevant.
danstocke.substack.com/p/run-your-o...
danstocke.substack.com/p/run-your-o...
Run Your Own Race
Strive to do is be the best person you can be, which means you just need to be better than you were yesterday. Just by a little bit.
danstocke.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Fulfillment comes from achieving what YOU want - other opinions be damned. Any one else’s definition of your success, even if they think you are the cat’s pajamas, is irrelevant.
danstocke.substack.com/p/run-your-o...
danstocke.substack.com/p/run-your-o...
When your first reflex is an amused sense of wonderment, you can find a lot of happiness in this world.
danstocke.substack.com/p/amused-won...
danstocke.substack.com/p/amused-won...
WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
If your first reflex is an amused sense of wonderment, you can find a lot of happiness in this world.
danstocke.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:15 PM
When your first reflex is an amused sense of wonderment, you can find a lot of happiness in this world.
danstocke.substack.com/p/amused-won...
danstocke.substack.com/p/amused-won...
When you discover that merely looking for what you’re looking for is what you’re looking for, it messes with your brain. I’m losing my mind over here!
#happiness #winning #thegame
#happiness #winning #thegame
Diamonds & Dirt: How To Win The Game Of Happiness
Happiness isn’t only a thing to be found, it’s also exists in the finding of it.
danstocke.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 3:46 PM
When you discover that merely looking for what you’re looking for is what you’re looking for, it messes with your brain. I’m losing my mind over here!
#happiness #winning #thegame
#happiness #winning #thegame
This world is filled with mystery, wonder, and surprise. So many people aren't willing to explore it because of their convictions.
What happened to curiosity?
Are we going to stand so firmly with our opinions that we can't let in a little mystery?
What happened to curiosity?
Are we going to stand so firmly with our opinions that we can't let in a little mystery?
September 27, 2025 at 9:14 PM
This world is filled with mystery, wonder, and surprise. So many people aren't willing to explore it because of their convictions.
What happened to curiosity?
Are we going to stand so firmly with our opinions that we can't let in a little mystery?
What happened to curiosity?
Are we going to stand so firmly with our opinions that we can't let in a little mystery?
People are going to weigh their effort against the benefits of not putting forth that effort. It’s up to you to explain why the benefit is worth it.
People Are Not Sled Dogs
Being a leader isn’t as easy as cracking a whip and yelling “Mush!”
open.substack.com
September 27, 2025 at 8:27 PM
People are going to weigh their effort against the benefits of not putting forth that effort. It’s up to you to explain why the benefit is worth it.
For people to actually want to get where you want them to go means explaining exactly where that is. If you don’t know where you are going they will question the effort needed to get where you don’t know you want to go.
People Are Not Sled Dogs
Being a leader isn’t as easy as cracking a whip and yelling “Mush!”
open.substack.com
September 27, 2025 at 8:25 PM
For people to actually want to get where you want them to go means explaining exactly where that is. If you don’t know where you are going they will question the effort needed to get where you don’t know you want to go.
Leadership isn't about sending people in a direction without direction. It's about giving your sled dogs (as it were) the tools to succeed and the language for them to explain the plan well for themselves and to others.
danstocke.substack.com/p/mush
danstocke.substack.com/p/mush
September 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Leadership isn't about sending people in a direction without direction. It's about giving your sled dogs (as it were) the tools to succeed and the language for them to explain the plan well for themselves and to others.
danstocke.substack.com/p/mush
danstocke.substack.com/p/mush
The story of how I messed up reading the word “asparagus” on national television.
#ReadingIsFundamental #ConstitutionDay
#ReadingIsFundamental #ConstitutionDay
Reading Is Fundamental
I was on the Today Show in 1975 - and screwed up.
danstocke.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
The story of how I messed up reading the word “asparagus” on national television.
#ReadingIsFundamental #ConstitutionDay
#ReadingIsFundamental #ConstitutionDay
September 11, 2025 at 10:13 AM
When any other industry’s product causes, or is even remotely involved in, the death of children, they move mountains to correct the problem. For the gun industry this is “intended use”. The mass murder of children is a feature not a bug.
It proves the effectiveness of guns over other devices.
It proves the effectiveness of guns over other devices.
danstocke.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:25 PM
When any other industry’s product causes, or is even remotely involved in, the death of children, they move mountains to correct the problem. For the gun industry this is “intended use”. The mass murder of children is a feature not a bug.
It proves the effectiveness of guns over other devices.
It proves the effectiveness of guns over other devices.
The amount of Amsterdam that can fit in the footprint of a Walmart is crazypants.
danstocke.substack.com/p/amsterdam-...
danstocke.substack.com/p/amsterdam-...
August 28, 2025 at 10:21 AM
The amount of Amsterdam that can fit in the footprint of a Walmart is crazypants.
danstocke.substack.com/p/amsterdam-...
danstocke.substack.com/p/amsterdam-...
If you have never read anything of mine, please read this. It helps explain the deep divide in today’s American discourse and may just be the most revelatory thing I have ever written.
danstocke.substack.com/p/horizontal...
#VerticalMorality #HorizontalMorality #ThatExplainsIt
danstocke.substack.com/p/horizontal...
#VerticalMorality #HorizontalMorality #ThatExplainsIt
August 21, 2025 at 9:56 AM
If you have never read anything of mine, please read this. It helps explain the deep divide in today’s American discourse and may just be the most revelatory thing I have ever written.
danstocke.substack.com/p/horizontal...
#VerticalMorality #HorizontalMorality #ThatExplainsIt
danstocke.substack.com/p/horizontal...
#VerticalMorality #HorizontalMorality #ThatExplainsIt
Once you have an actual thing in your hands, you can put it through its paces. You can test its functionality. You can find out if there is something superficial in its design. You can pick apart what can be stripped back and what can be improved upon.
danstocke.substack.com/p/make-it-so...
danstocke.substack.com/p/make-it-so...
August 14, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Once you have an actual thing in your hands, you can put it through its paces. You can test its functionality. You can find out if there is something superficial in its design. You can pick apart what can be stripped back and what can be improved upon.
danstocke.substack.com/p/make-it-so...
danstocke.substack.com/p/make-it-so...
You are uniquely you. Regardless of your strengths and weaknesses, you need make no apologies, concessions, or compromises for any of it. Don't let anyone push you off your mark. If anyone tries, give ‘em the ol’ Popeye with a heartfelt, “I yam what I yam!”
danstocke.substack.com/p/yar-what-yar
danstocke.substack.com/p/yar-what-yar
Y’ar What Y’ar
You have everything you need to be everything you need.
danstocke.substack.com
August 7, 2025 at 10:26 AM
You are uniquely you. Regardless of your strengths and weaknesses, you need make no apologies, concessions, or compromises for any of it. Don't let anyone push you off your mark. If anyone tries, give ‘em the ol’ Popeye with a heartfelt, “I yam what I yam!”
danstocke.substack.com/p/yar-what-yar
danstocke.substack.com/p/yar-what-yar
It is revealing the comfort people take when they are surrounded by a community that passes no judgement but nurtures the truest expression of one’s self - to not only find happiness in the happiness of others, but to actively support one another’s happiness.
open.substack.com/pub/danstock...
open.substack.com/pub/danstock...
July 31, 2025 at 10:46 AM
It is revealing the comfort people take when they are surrounded by a community that passes no judgement but nurtures the truest expression of one’s self - to not only find happiness in the happiness of others, but to actively support one another’s happiness.
open.substack.com/pub/danstock...
open.substack.com/pub/danstock...
My mother didn’t know it at the time, but she instilled in me the core tenets of kaizen: to actively make small improvements over time - to always leave it better than you found it.
danstocke.substack.com/p/leave-it-b...
#kaizen #happiness
danstocke.substack.com/p/leave-it-b...
#kaizen #happiness
July 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM
My mother didn’t know it at the time, but she instilled in me the core tenets of kaizen: to actively make small improvements over time - to always leave it better than you found it.
danstocke.substack.com/p/leave-it-b...
#kaizen #happiness
danstocke.substack.com/p/leave-it-b...
#kaizen #happiness
When I say “efficiency” I mean it in the truest sense of the word: maximizing output while minimizing input - not the DOGE “make smaller for the sake of being smaller” (or whatever the hell they are doing) definition.
danstocke.substack.com/p/efficiency...
#efficiency #employeeownership #DOGE
danstocke.substack.com/p/efficiency...
#efficiency #employeeownership #DOGE
July 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
When I say “efficiency” I mean it in the truest sense of the word: maximizing output while minimizing input - not the DOGE “make smaller for the sake of being smaller” (or whatever the hell they are doing) definition.
danstocke.substack.com/p/efficiency...
#efficiency #employeeownership #DOGE
danstocke.substack.com/p/efficiency...
#efficiency #employeeownership #DOGE
For historic parallels to lavish spending and avoiding taxing the rich you have to look to Versailles. Specifically to the guy who built it: Louis XIV, and to the guy who lost his head over it: Louis XVI.
danstocke.substack.com/p/gilded-wil...
danstocke.substack.com/p/gilded-wil...
I Visited Versailles And Came Back With a Theory
I highly recommend a visit to Versailles, a microcosm of what wealth concentration looks like before all hell breaks loose.
danstocke.substack.com
July 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
For historic parallels to lavish spending and avoiding taxing the rich you have to look to Versailles. Specifically to the guy who built it: Louis XIV, and to the guy who lost his head over it: Louis XVI.
danstocke.substack.com/p/gilded-wil...
danstocke.substack.com/p/gilded-wil...
Champion is a wild word because it has two meanings that can be used opposite themselves:
- Be the best you can be (I am the champion).
- Support the other guy (I will be your champion).
The word is its own oxymoron.
danstocke.substack.com/p/be-a-champ...
- Be the best you can be (I am the champion).
- Support the other guy (I will be your champion).
The word is its own oxymoron.
danstocke.substack.com/p/be-a-champ...
July 7, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Champion is a wild word because it has two meanings that can be used opposite themselves:
- Be the best you can be (I am the champion).
- Support the other guy (I will be your champion).
The word is its own oxymoron.
danstocke.substack.com/p/be-a-champ...
- Be the best you can be (I am the champion).
- Support the other guy (I will be your champion).
The word is its own oxymoron.
danstocke.substack.com/p/be-a-champ...
Don't wait for permission. Don't ask for anyone's approval. Don't let anyone tell you you're not doing it right. Your happiness is yours and yours alone.
danstocke.substack.com/p/the-ultima...
danstocke.substack.com/p/the-ultima...
June 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Don't wait for permission. Don't ask for anyone's approval. Don't let anyone tell you you're not doing it right. Your happiness is yours and yours alone.
danstocke.substack.com/p/the-ultima...
danstocke.substack.com/p/the-ultima...
The canals of Amsterdam have shaped the city in more ways than just its picturesque-itude. They have also forged a cacophony of murderous traffic patterns.
danstocke.substack.com/p/death-defy...
danstocke.substack.com/p/death-defy...
June 12, 2025 at 4:44 PM
The canals of Amsterdam have shaped the city in more ways than just its picturesque-itude. They have also forged a cacophony of murderous traffic patterns.
danstocke.substack.com/p/death-defy...
danstocke.substack.com/p/death-defy...
There’s nothing to be embarrassed by if we all have something to be embarrassed by. We should all feel comfortable talking about the things in the world that we enjoy.
danstocke.substack.com/p/whats-your...
#smalltalk #playthegame
danstocke.substack.com/p/whats-your...
#smalltalk #playthegame
June 5, 2025 at 11:14 AM
There’s nothing to be embarrassed by if we all have something to be embarrassed by. We should all feel comfortable talking about the things in the world that we enjoy.
danstocke.substack.com/p/whats-your...
#smalltalk #playthegame
danstocke.substack.com/p/whats-your...
#smalltalk #playthegame
I have rebranded my newsletter. If you want to know why, you should read my newsletter.
danstocke.substack.com/p/my-circus-...
#happy #circus #monkeys
danstocke.substack.com/p/my-circus-...
#happy #circus #monkeys
May 29, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I have rebranded my newsletter. If you want to know why, you should read my newsletter.
danstocke.substack.com/p/my-circus-...
#happy #circus #monkeys
danstocke.substack.com/p/my-circus-...
#happy #circus #monkeys
Future me just showed up and proclaimed, “the future is here!” I had to explain to myself that that’s a really dumb joke because how am I supposed to know I’m from the future? I am very disappointed in myself.
danstocke.substack.com/p/ramificati...
#happy #timetravel
danstocke.substack.com/p/ramificati...
#happy #timetravel
May 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Future me just showed up and proclaimed, “the future is here!” I had to explain to myself that that’s a really dumb joke because how am I supposed to know I’m from the future? I am very disappointed in myself.
danstocke.substack.com/p/ramificati...
#happy #timetravel
danstocke.substack.com/p/ramificati...
#happy #timetravel
Every time I walk into the living area from the hallway I say, “Hi, Francis!” This is the reason why.
danstocke.substack.com/p/a-bronze-b...
#Happy #Francis
danstocke.substack.com/p/a-bronze-b...
#Happy #Francis
May 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Every time I walk into the living area from the hallway I say, “Hi, Francis!” This is the reason why.
danstocke.substack.com/p/a-bronze-b...
#Happy #Francis
danstocke.substack.com/p/a-bronze-b...
#Happy #Francis