The Purpose-Focused Life

Purpose creep is a process of psychological aggregation that takes projects that are modest in scope and inflates them into the type of impossible, burdensome task that makes us balk and then retreat.

I always think of “inspiration” as an amateur word. Inspiration is being propelled to do something, or to think something, or to go somewhere, by some sort of external stimulus. And that to me is undependable.

But purpose—purpose is a white-hot fire inside of you, a self-delusion that keeps you coming back into the room to work decade after decade,... See more

Every morning, those are the first words I type.

How do I want to live today?

I’ve come to refer to this as “the living question.”

And holy shit. It’s hard to over-emphasize how meaningful this small shift has been for me. As someone who habitually escapes into grandiose daydreaming about my future, or wallowing in the mistakes of the past, this pra... See more

A philosopher-builder starts with explicit moral commitments, constantly examined and refined. For example, they recognize that human autonomy—people's ability to deliberate about their goals and pursue them freely—is essential to what makes achievement meaningful.

Franklin's approach reveals what distinguishes philosopher-builders from ordinary builders: the intellectual courage to question prevailing assumptions, the moral clarity to build for human flourishing rather than mere optimization, and the pioneering vision to shape the future rather than merely respond to it.

The principle “Life cannot be delegated” is simply a guidepost.5 It keeps before us the possibility that we might, if we are not careful, delegate away a form of life that is full and whole, rewarding and meaningful. We ought to be especially careful in the cases where what we delegate to a device, app, agent, or system is an aspect of how we expre... See more

Mumford’s claim is a provocation for us to consider what might be essential to a life that is full and whole, one in which we might find meaning, purpose, satisfaction, and an experience of personal integrity. This form of life cannot be delegated because by its very nature it requires our whole-person involvement. And by delegation, I take Mumford... See more

As the poet Jorie Graham said in a recent interview, “Speed allows you to bypass experience and that is probably the greatest desire of humans right now, that is, not to be touched by experience and just to be able to grasp, laugh, and to be entertained quickly.”