That’s what commitments are—alternatives to self-obsession. Commitments free us to dedicate ourselves to something bigger than ourselves—to something beyond our shells. The French philosopher Jacques Maritain said that the meaning of life is “self-mastery for the purpose of self-giving.” This is the challenge of growing up—to turn the corner from s... See more

The commitment connects you to the future when you must take the action. The action connects you to the past when you made the commitment. You will begin to experience past, present, and future as part of one continuum. It is impossible to grant time its proper respect without this sense of flowing continuity. Without it, life is a meaningless seri

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On our run I tell J: the unhealthy version of myself used to abandon things just because they got painful or inconvenient. The healthy part of me finds joyfulness in persisting in something for a very long time. In hindsight it sounds really obvious but it genuinely eluded me for a really long time: the mark of overall healthiness in spirit is bein... See more

Commitments become easier when you realize that, after enough wandering, the grass is unlikely to be greener, pursuing novelty has diminishing returns, and continuous optimizing comes at the cost of compounding—and nearly everything great compounds