What doesn’t allow you to live the way you want to live is the belief that you “have” to accomplish what you’re “supposed” to do instead of following your genuine interests and curiosity.

Your “passion” emerges as a result of trial-and-error tinkering rather than predetermined desire or choice. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to aim at something.

The trick to a better life is to aim for things you can’t measure with numbers. Beauty. Elegance. Peace. Love. Friendship.

Outside-the-box thinking requires outside-the-box living.

Similarly, the symposium Plato wrote about entails only one “vice” and a ritual that needs to be respected. The greatest revenge against a culture that doesn’t know how to drink alcohol is not to give up on it altogether and “go sober” but learn how to integrate it into a lifestyle packed with love, friendship, prudence, and philosophy. One rule I

I learned that, by constantly setting goals, drafting plans, and committing to plenty of different tasks, you slowly kill your soul. Too much structure turns you into a boring machine. Once you learn to trust your curiosity—you’re no longer the driver but the vehicle. Curiosity takes the lead, like a divine force.

Both academics and the self-help industry killed philosophy. Academics managed to turn philosophy into the most boring subject on the planet; the self-help industry made philosophy “accessible” by getting rid of the values, rigor, and erudition required to properly produce a work of philosophy.

You won’t come up with anything original if you don’t take the time to study what’s truly timeless and perennial.

Optionality: I have both scalable and non-scalable sources of income. This gives me security and opportunity at the same time but also the capacity to set my prices according to the value that I deserve.