I can’t strongly enough recommend setting off 20 hours a week to work on a project that forces you to learn and grow and meet new people

You don’t have to do things others do, or have things they have, at the expense of the deeper things you want. You really don’t. Almost everything is an option. You have full permission to ask yourself what really matters to you—whatever that is—and then optimize for that in all hard tradeoffs of life. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices... See more

I walked out to Johanna. She was in the vegetable garden, picking aphids off the artichokes. The children were playing with the soil between the planting beds. Halfway through telling her how much money I could make, Johanna broke me off, saying, “But why on earth would you accept that?” She was genuinely confused. She brushed some grass from her... See more

I can’t strongly enough recommend setting off 20 hours a week to work on a project that forces you to learn and grow and meet new people. Most of us are awake some 110 hours a week, so 20 hours is not impossible. But it adds up in a surprising way if you keep at it for 3 years. I feel like I've grown into my body. I feel fifteen years older. In a... See more

What is the opportunity cost? If I do this, if I go on this vacation, if I get this car, what am I turning down? By asking yourself this, and then consistently aiming to pick the thing that optimizes for what you most deeply value—it adds up. It makes life rich.

You don’t have to do things others do, or have things they have, at the expense of the... See more

You don’t have to do things others do, or have things they have, at the expense of the deeper things you want. You really don’t. Almost everything is an option. You have full permission to ask yourself what really matters to you—whatever that is—and then optimize for that in all hard tradeoffs of life. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices... See more

What is the opportunity cost? If I do this, if I go on this vacation, if I get this car, what am I turning down? By asking yourself this, and then consistently aiming to pick the thing that optimizes for what you most deeply value—it adds up. It makes life rich.