Topic
Freedom
Essays on freedom, time, and building more of your own life without blowing everything up. I left high-growth startups because I wanted my time back. What I didn't expect was how hard it would be to figure out what to do with that time once I had it. Freedom isn't just leaving a job. It's deciding what you want your days to look like, and then building the discipline and the income to protect them.
Small enough to see.
When life gets wider, paying attention to the most important people gets harder.
Freedom. Sort of.
What if the freedom you quit your job for isn’t really freedom?
Get out.
We squeezed into two bar seats on Valentine's Day without a reservation. When the bartender handed us menus, I noticed something that changed how I think about business.
Small by design.
A tiny Champagne bar in Healdsburg seats twelve people and there's always a line. They have no plans to expand. On purpose.
The case for anti-scale.
A consultant at a mastermind was doing $1.3M a year and wanted to 'scale.' The room's advice surprised him.
You'll never "find time" to rest.
My wife and I just got back from two weeks in Tokyo. The trip taught me something about rest that productivity advice never will.
Why I drink coffee at 10:47 AM on Thursdays.
Last Thursday at 10:47am, standing in a coffee shop line, it hit me: this is what freedom actually looks like.
Lifestyle inflation kills freedom.
My friend makes $500K a year and still feels trapped. Lifestyle inflation is the silent killer of freedom.
The anti-VC playbook.
When I started, my only goal was to avoid having a boss. Then doubt crept in: am I thinking too small?
The luxury of doing less
Five years ago, shutting my laptop at 3pm would have felt like wasting time. Now I consider it the whole point.