Dan Stocke
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danstocke.bsky.social
Dan Stocke
@danstocke.bsky.social
11 followers 11 following 72 posts
Writer, producer, entrepreneur, raconteur, gadabout, and ring leader of this magnificent circus I call my life.
https://danstocke.com
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danstocke.bsky.social
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
Leadership isn't about sending people in a direction without direction. Leadership is about being able to explain the benefits of achieving the goal. 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.
September 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
Sometimes the best relief for a chaotic world is a good hug.

open.substack.com/pub/danstock...
September 11, 2025 at 10:13 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
The amount of Amsterdam that can fit in the footprint of a Walmart is crazypants.

danstocke.substack.com/p/amsterdam-...
August 28, 2025 at 10:21 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
August 21, 2025 at 9:56 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
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...
August 14, 2025 at 10:11 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
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...
July 31, 2025 at 10:46 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
July 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
July 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
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...
July 7, 2025 at 8:12 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
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...
June 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
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...
June 12, 2025 at 4:44 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
June 5, 2025 at 11:14 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
May 29, 2025 at 12:16 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
May 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
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
May 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
Curiosity and the motivation behind that curiosity are positively correlated. So too are the amount of happiness and the amount of truth found in the answers curiosity reveals. Happiness positively correlates with truth.

danstocke.substack.com/p/in-truth-t...
May 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
I am totally cool with making a handshake deal, as long as that handshake is followed up with a contract that details everything we just shook on because (and this is important) contracts only exist for when things turn to shit.

danstocke.substack.com/p/handshake-...

#contracts #handshakes
May 2, 2025 at 7:12 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
In the interest of adding to humankind’s struggle to define happiness, I have decided to pile on with The Unified Theory Of Happiness: “Gephyric Happiness” fills the gap between short term all-about-yourself happiness and the long term always-for-others kind.

danstocke.substack.com/p/the-unifie...
April 24, 2025 at 1:34 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
It would seem that kindness and benefit of the doubt would provide a stronger evolutionary advantage over knee jerk reactions to perceived threats.

danstocke.substack.com/p/how-about-...

#happiness #happinessguy #evolution
April 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
Happiness may not be as trivial as one might think. Vive Le Bonheur!

danstocke.substack.com/p/i-am-not-d...
April 12, 2025 at 10:07 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
There are two philosophical concepts unique to the Netherlands that, together, go a long way to explain why the Dutch people are so damned nice: Gedogen & Poldermodel. I believe we can learn something here.

danstocke.substack.com/p/tolerate-w...

#happiness #happinessguy #gedogen
April 3, 2025 at 1:25 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
If Newton would have stuck with the more common reaction to being hit on the head with an apple i.e. “shit happens” and applied the same laws, he would have still been correct.

danstocke.substack.com/p/newtons-la...

#Happiness #SirIsaacNewton #ShitHappens #HappinessGuy
Newton's Law Of Shit Happening
March 27, 2025 at 4:49 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
The only thing you can control is your reaction and when you take control of your reaction you exert influence on what is happening. It's a Paradox.

danstocke.substack.com/p/the-reacti...

#happiness #reactionparadox
March 13, 2025 at 9:13 PM
danstocke.bsky.social
By the time you read this Amsterdam will be the city I now call home. Wifey-pants and I intend to live this life as citizens of the world and it starts now.

danstocke.substack.com/p/we-moved-t...

#Happy #Happiness #HappinessGuy #CitizensOfTheWorld
March 4, 2025 at 9:21 AM
danstocke.bsky.social
Finding happiness isn’t about getting lost in your own bubble. It requires Situational Awareness: a deep respect for the world around you and your place in it.

danstocke.substack.com/p/situationa...

#Happy #Happiness #HappinessGuy
February 20, 2025 at 5:02 PM