Status: Just throwing down notes and things

“and when you’re on such a path, no one asks”Why are you doing this?“”

You work hard, but get laid off anyway. You have the perfect life on paper, but no time to enjoy it

Committing to this goal gave me a mission, which also helped me ignore the growing anxiety about the transition from school to the “real world”

With so many options it can be tempting to pick a path that offers certainty rather than doing the harder work of figuring out what we really want.

Presige is a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy.

Instead of thinking about what you want to do with your life, you default to the options most admired

What was I really living for? What did I really want? How did I want to look back on my life when it was my time to go?

But along with greater freedom and self-determinant came the anxiety and insecurity of

The ultimate way you and I get lucky is if you have some success early in life, you get to find out early it doesn’t mean anything - David Foster Wallace

Realized that despite his external success, he had become a “passive participant” in his life

List of words that remind him of what he values that popped up on his calendar every morning - health, relationships, fun & creativity, and career.

Creativity requires faith. Faith requires that we relinquish control. - Julia Cameron

Your life is too short and too valuable to fritter away in work.

Viewing compensation as the sole measure of self-worth

“If work dominated your every moment, would life be worth living?”

9 principles that embodied through career then grade. Humility, humor, not too serious, learning, think independently, and create memorable experiences.

He urged me to apply regardless. I decided to come up with terms that I would say “hell yes” if they agreed.

This kind of approach, focused not on being brave, but instead on eliminating risk , is common for people who take unconventionial paths.

Experiment with different ways of showing up and making small, deliberate changes, we can open ourselves up to unexpected opportunities.

If I don’t do this now, I might regret it.

I have a suspicion that a whole bunch of energy will get unlocked. I’ll just start doing thing, and creating, and talking to people.

Callard defines aspiration as the slow process of trying on the values that we hope on day to possess.

Learning to exist with vagueness is vital

Ambition doesn’t repclude aspiration but consumes efforts and doesn’t expand value horizons

Write down the changes, list the worst outcomes, identify actions you can do to mitigate those

What could some of the benefits of an attempt or partial success? What is the cost of inaction?

5 regrets of the dying

Non-doing, wu-wei. Less and less of forcing things and then doing the thing that feels most natural. “If it is right, it happens. The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. “Nothing good gets away, as long as you create the space to let it emerge”

Second, curiousity re-emerges. When people have time, they try new activities, revisit old hobbies. I find myself writing notes and thinking more freely.

Fixed point is a non-negotiable goal that you plan to achieve no matter what. Identify unique fixed points with what bring us alive

People need to embrace individuality and perform “experiments in living”

Embracing a unique fixed point can be an on-ramp to the pathless path. (Ex. not setting alarm to prioritize health and sleep)

“The secret to doing good research is to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.” - Amos Tversky

“What is your rich life?”

A person is successful if they have followed their own interests and talents to be the best they can at what they care about most.

Arrival fallacy of happiness

“When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else or a community, you surrender your own integrity”

“Play long-term games with long-term people”

“A field guide to getting lost”

Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.

“Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? isn’t that enough?”

“If we don’t define enough, we default to more”

“talked myself into project in order to calm fears rather than excited for”

Money is one shortcut we use to “prove” our worth

Favorable conditions never come.

Humans don’t mind hardship, in fact, they thrive on it. What they mind is not feeling necessary.

One you figure out who you intend to serve, you can go all-in and focus on what it takes to become great.

Write a description of the person you don’t want to be then brainstorm actions that might create that outcome.

The challenge is not to find work to pay the bills but instead to have time to keep taking chances and exploring opportunities to find the things worth committing to long-term.

Escape from Freedom Erich Fromm

it will even out when we’re dead

coming alive over getting ahead

david foster wallace quote on real, no-bullshit value of liberal arts education is to keep from going through your life dead and default

If the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it. Create your own.

Wrap up: question the default, reflect (daily reminder of four priority and leadership aspirations ), figoure out what you have to offer, pause and disconnect, go make a friend, go make something ANYTHING, give generously, experiment (embrace different fixed points), commit. Find things worth committing to that make life meaningful. Be patient, this is your life’s work.