I resonate with this. Coherence has been the hardest part of my recent journey. I spent the last year on tour with a production, seeing beautiful spaces but being completely out of sync with the world. I had no home, and I had not had one in a very long time. I was slipping away from my life, my people--not because I wanted to, but because I had to. At the end of the year, I made the call to exit out of many lives that I had formed bonds with--situations that asked for my silence in the midst of moral decay.
and it has been hard. Because in the silence of my life, no work, no phone calls, no hustle--there was only me and it felt like a thousand voices clamored to have a say, all of them variations on the theme of me. As much asi had passed judgement on others, I can to an understanding that I was in turn deeply judging myself. I had been so busy on my crusade missions, I had forgotten me, I had lost sight of my daughter, of the few key friends that truly mattered.
I'm on the mend. Doing well, all things considered. I've put the episode on my podcast listing list. Thanks.
What a powerful testament to what Arthur and I discussed. Coigating the 'moral decay' of a situation often requires a level of silence that eventually drowns out our own internal truth. Exiting those many lives is a massive act of agency. That judgment you feel is often just the old script trying to pull you back into the performance. I’m honored that this episode is part of your mend. Give yourself grace in the silence. It’s where the most important meaning is being handmade right now.
Discovering what is exciting. Finding those activities that allow dopamine to flow naturally. Then taking action without expectation of the result is a formula for success I’ve been leaning into. I love the take on boredom. It was a driver for great ideas that has been pushed out of human culture.
That’s a high-performance loop, Matthew. When we decouple the action from the result, we actually reduce the performance anxiety that kills natural dopamine flow. It’s moving from a life of default to a life of design. Nir Eyal and I actually dive deep into this expectancy in the episode prior to Arthur—specifically how our beliefs about the result shape our motivation to act in the first place. Thanks for sharing that formula!
Arthur brooks is fantastic. I've recently subscribed to him on Youtube, he's really getting some traction at the moment.
I feel like there's a strong relationship between meaning and difficulty of a task. I think a great example is how we get food now vs how we got food in our evolutionary past.
Uber eats vs hunting for food.
The former involves pressing a few buttons, the latter involves social connection, mortal risk, physical exertion, skill development, and countless other powerful human experiences.
In other words, the easiness of modern life is directly related to the crisis of meaning.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing your podcast with Arthur Brooks. Take care now
Spot on. The 'crisis of meaning' is often just the side effect of a life that has been over-optimized. We evolved for the mortal risk and social connection of the hunt, and a button-press on an app can’t replicate that dopamine. Meaning is handmade, and usually, it’s made through the things that are hardest to do. Thanks for this reflection.
I resonate with this. Coherence has been the hardest part of my recent journey. I spent the last year on tour with a production, seeing beautiful spaces but being completely out of sync with the world. I had no home, and I had not had one in a very long time. I was slipping away from my life, my people--not because I wanted to, but because I had to. At the end of the year, I made the call to exit out of many lives that I had formed bonds with--situations that asked for my silence in the midst of moral decay.
and it has been hard. Because in the silence of my life, no work, no phone calls, no hustle--there was only me and it felt like a thousand voices clamored to have a say, all of them variations on the theme of me. As much asi had passed judgement on others, I can to an understanding that I was in turn deeply judging myself. I had been so busy on my crusade missions, I had forgotten me, I had lost sight of my daughter, of the few key friends that truly mattered.
I'm on the mend. Doing well, all things considered. I've put the episode on my podcast listing list. Thanks.
What a powerful testament to what Arthur and I discussed. Coigating the 'moral decay' of a situation often requires a level of silence that eventually drowns out our own internal truth. Exiting those many lives is a massive act of agency. That judgment you feel is often just the old script trying to pull you back into the performance. I’m honored that this episode is part of your mend. Give yourself grace in the silence. It’s where the most important meaning is being handmade right now.
Discovering what is exciting. Finding those activities that allow dopamine to flow naturally. Then taking action without expectation of the result is a formula for success I’ve been leaning into. I love the take on boredom. It was a driver for great ideas that has been pushed out of human culture.
That’s a high-performance loop, Matthew. When we decouple the action from the result, we actually reduce the performance anxiety that kills natural dopamine flow. It’s moving from a life of default to a life of design. Nir Eyal and I actually dive deep into this expectancy in the episode prior to Arthur—specifically how our beliefs about the result shape our motivation to act in the first place. Thanks for sharing that formula!
Arthur brooks is fantastic. I've recently subscribed to him on Youtube, he's really getting some traction at the moment.
I feel like there's a strong relationship between meaning and difficulty of a task. I think a great example is how we get food now vs how we got food in our evolutionary past.
Uber eats vs hunting for food.
The former involves pressing a few buttons, the latter involves social connection, mortal risk, physical exertion, skill development, and countless other powerful human experiences.
In other words, the easiness of modern life is directly related to the crisis of meaning.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing your podcast with Arthur Brooks. Take care now
Spot on. The 'crisis of meaning' is often just the side effect of a life that has been over-optimized. We evolved for the mortal risk and social connection of the hunt, and a button-press on an app can’t replicate that dopamine. Meaning is handmade, and usually, it’s made through the things that are hardest to do. Thanks for this reflection.
Great response. Appreciate you