We need both means and meaning

To realize the amazing present and future we want, we need both means and meaning. More generally, the greater our means, the harder it may be to find meaning. Why? There is a thrill in striving. Purpose in striving. Even those who have put in decades of work are overcome by a sense of melancholy when they finally achieve their aim. The idea is that technology creates means, but that we shouldn’t expect it to create meaning. That’s up to us.

The most meaningful things in life

The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed. Try to press on a creative task, and you become less innovative. Try to force yourself to fall asleep, but you stare at the ceiling, awake. The most meaningful things in life take a long time to build, which is precisely why they’re so meaningful. If you got dropped at the top of the mountain, you'd pass out from the altitude. The climb physically and mentally prepares you for the summit. Never seek to do fast what is meant to be done slowly.

The time must come from somewhere

It is common to think about what you would like to accomplish. It is less common to think about what must be discarded to make space for your new endeavors. The time must come from somewhere. What do you need to give up to make space for what you would like to achieve?

Next play mentality

Take great care to avoid mistakes when the decision is hard to reverse. But! If you make a mistake that is hard to reverse, there is no sense beating yourself up about it. Your responsibility is to make the best next choice given your current position. You must always make the most of the situation you are in.

Every ordinary moment

It doesn’t matter what position you find yourself in right now. What matters is whether you improve your position today. Every ordinary moment is an opportunity to make the future easier or harder.

We fear our highest possibilities

We fear our highest possibilities. We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under the most perfect conditions, under conditions of great courage. We enjoy and even thrill to the godlike possibilities we see in ourselves in such peak moments. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, awe, and fear before these very same possibilities. So often, we run away from the responsibilities dictated, or rather suggested by nature, by fate, even sometimes by accident.

Are you doing your best?

Doing your best is not a weakness. It's a sustainable strength. It's showing up with the best energy you can bring today. It requires honesty and integrity. To look in the mirror. To tell yourself the truth. So, the next time you catch yourself feeling like you aren't doing enough, pause and reframe it: Are you doing your best? Because if you're doing your best, you're doing enough.