I want my work to fulfill me. It’s a huge part of what I believe makes for a good life. So this has been what I’ve been reflecting on, and I’d like to share a few thoughts that have been circling around in my head this past week.

Here are three ideas that share how I got my current job, how I decide on my daily priorities, and the importance of being willing to fail.

I. How I got a job in the creator industry:

“How did you enter the creator industry and ended up in Circle Studios?”

I had a call a few weeks ago with who is a data scientist specializing in AI and machine learning for a consultancy.

He wants to start working for creators using his AI and automations expertise, but he doesn’t have direct access to potential clients nor does he have a clear path to the opportunity.

This was the same situation I found myself in about a year ago. I felt like I had outgrown my old job and while I had an intense desire to start doing work I’m passionate about, I had no idea how I could find a new job in the creator industry.

What I did at the time was create campaigns and write memos on how I can help a creator grow their business. I had learned from entrepreneurs like Alex Hormozi and Noah Kagan that this was how younger folks could get a creator’s attention: do valuable work upfront and for free. That advice didn’t work for me.

Despite burning out from working 12-hour days for a whole month, my efforts only resulted in rejections and no-replies.

Creators have very cramped front-door channels. When they post a job opening, there would be hundreds and thousands or people competing for one position. It’s tough.

What actually worked for me was finding way into the third door, a channel that reached the creator directly that almost nobody knows about.

In my case, was my third door.

After I recovered from the burnout caused by my intense job-hunting sprint, I started relying on other people instead of doing everything on my own. I reached out to some of my closest friends who I know had access to certain creators, even if they were just second- or third-degree connections.

Each one told me they didn’t know anyone at the moment, but they did say they’ll keep me in mind.

I didn’t hear back from them for a while. Then a month later, I had Will Mannon chat me on WhatsApp, asking me if I was open for part time work.

I remember jumping out from my seat when I got the text.

What the heck is happening?!

It turned out that Karena joined a focus group for Act Two, the new company Will and Dan were building. They were looking for somebody to help because they had their hands full. And what do you know? Karena remembered I was looking for opportunities like this, so she vouched for me and my name came into the conversation.

I’d been close with Karena ever since we met through Write of Passage in late 2023. We’d hop on a call to catch up every other month. So if you ask me how I got into Circle Studios, it wasn’t through a single game-changing move. It was a series of small moments that planted the seed for an unexpected opportunity.

I had been self-reliant for most of my life. It had always been my own skills, abilities, and efforts that brought me results. But as time went on, I learned that I’d been leaving so much on the table by not letting other people support me.

So my advice to Mikk, and to anyone who wants to attract new career opportunities, is to lean into your relationships.

Join communities and meet new people. Be courageous enough to ask support from those you already know. Prioritize people over product and productivity.

I’m very passionate about this topic because it took me sooo long to learn, and I had to learn it the hard way.

I have so much love for the people I’ve connected with over the years. They’ve created opportunities I couldn’t have ever imagined on my own.

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II. My New System for Planning My Day:

It’s been hard for me to focus lately because my priorities are often changing overnight. I’m based in Asia and my team is in the US and UK, so all of the action would happen while I’m asleep. That’s why whenever I wake up my Slack would be flooded with notifications.

In my previous job, I could determine my priorities the night before and so I could immediately focus the next morning. But now, my priorities are shifting and morphing into different species overnight. As a result, I’d spend the first two hours of my morning just trying to sort out what I even need to do for the day.

If I were a flashlight, I imagine having a tiny area of coverage but with a strong light source. Meaning I often go deep when I focus, but can’t switch contexts quickly.

So before I could start, I feel a need to sort out where to best place my energy or otherwise, I’d risk wasting my time on the wrong thing. So when Tasks A, B, C, D, and E are all competing with one another, I need to figure out which one is most important or whether I even need to do all of them that day.

To help me sort out the mess, I decided to hire a middle man who gathers the important information for me and compiles it in one document. That way, I don’t need to jump from one thread to another and I can quickly decide what I need to do today (a la Phineas and Ferb).

My middle man, so to speak, is a ChatGPT automation which runs every morning at 9am. Without me needing to prompt it, it automatically scans my Slack, emails, and Granola meeting notes to determine what my action steps are from the previous day, then lays all of them out on a clean document.

Once I have a list of next steps, I then look at TickTick, which is my to-do list app.

I treat my planning system like a funnel. The morning brief captures the new work that came in overnight, while TickTick logs the tasks which came in from earlier that week. Then I look at the whole picture and decide the few things I want to get done that day.

And finally, I write down the 3-5 most important things in an index card, and then I’m done.

I’m not sure why it works so much better to write down my tasks vs having them on my computer. But I’ve tried digital so many times, and I only ever feel focused enough when my priorities are on paper.

Early on in my career, I thought my main job as an employee was simply to complete projects given to me by my manager. As I grew and matured in my career, I realize the more important work is deciding what is actually important and putting that forward to the team.

Usually, as long as I complete the few important things, I can get away with delaying or skipping lower-priority tasks. This has helped me a lot with managing my workload and preventing burnout.

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III. Willingness to fail:

AI is extraordinary at what’s already known… Now the bottleneck is how fast you can learn something new, and that requires a willingness to fail.

— , “The New Inner Game”

I’ve been reflecting on what I really want out of my work and what I think is important for my team in the years to come. One of the biggest questions I’ve been wrestling with is: How will our work evolve and how can we thrive in the age of AI?

Everybody is already starting to feel the shift in the work landscape. There are scary headlines about massive job loss, and part of me is afraid myself. But I could also see the massive opportunity to reimagine the way we work into something more human, something more true to who we are.

One of the ways to do that is having a willingness to fail.

For most of our big projects, I’ve been using AI as a consultant for our marketing efforts. I can acknowledge that I still have a long way to go to become an expert in my field and the creator industry which I’ve just entered, so it’s been helpful for me to rely on a tool that has access to virtually all existing knowledge.

Working with Claude and ChatGPT has allowed me to create playbooks and strategies despite having limited experience. I can simply ask how the world’s greatest thinkers would approach the problem and I can decide which ones apply to our business.

However, frameworks have limitations. They don’t apply to all contexts and scenarios. Especially in a dynamic domain like business, the situation will always be unique and so there is never a one-size-fits-all solution. For example, an email launch sequence we crafted for one creator may fall short to another creator, simply because their target audience and the product we’re selling are different.

Well, what if we simply adjust it based on the scenario then? In theory, this is the right approach. But some of the most crucial information we need only reveal themselves after we try something out and see what happens. There is no way to accurately predict what will happen every time.

This means that we can only get access to certain types of knowledge, the kind that AI doesn’t even know about yet, when we bring ideas to reality and try things out. This is usually the root of all innovation, and as you can observe, it can only happen when a team is willing to fail and experiment.

Last week, I used GPT 5.6 Sol, an advanced AI model, to simulate a 45-day playbook the team is about to implement.

It felt unnecessary. We’re about to do it anyway, so what’s the point of simulating it?

My bet was that if this experiment surfaced at least one crucial gap in our freshly made playbook, then it would save us time and energy later.

It was intense to go through each of the 45 days and stress-test our approach, but in the end I found four important observations that we didn’t spot before. On the other end of that were 20+ other ideas that I thought were useful, but decided were irrelevant. The tradeoff seemed to be worth it.

I pitched the four observations to Will and Dan, and the team addressed them before we officially kicked off the project. It was possible that the experiment led us to nothing new, but because we were willing to fail, we gave ourselves the chance to come up with breakthroughs.

That’s why I’ve been thinking about treating experimentation as a core part of our work. Not just relying on what feels safe, like A/B tests or side projects we already know will work. Rather, I want to take on something that scares me a little bit. So now I’m committing to roughly one big-swing experiment per week.

The best part about all this is that I get to discover things I’d never seen before. I’d like to be bolder in my next experiments. To more potential failures and breakthroughs!

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Here’s a collection of ideas that have changed how I think about following the spark, making space to think, and working from devotion instead of fear.

3 Ideas From Others

I. How to become great (without burning out):

“Devotion pulls you forward. No one had to push Michael Jordan to practice. The people who get the most done aren’t necessarily grinding the hardest — they’re the ones most in touch with their obsession.

It’s the difference between working out because you hate your body vs. moving because you love what your body can do. Studying so you won’t fail, vs. studying because the subject pulls you in. Working late because you’re terrified of looking lazy, vs. working late because the problem fascinates you.”

— , Executive Coach

I’m weirdly proud to say that I’ve been working until 11pm for the past three months. The days have been longer, and I’ve never worked this hard in my life before.

I’ve also never felt this energized and excited.

Of course, not all days are great. Sleep has been a challenge, which is a topic for another day, but I love my work and I want to keep getting better at it.

In my old job, and quite frankly, even while I was a student, I often worked or studied for long hours. It was easy for me to burn out then.

The strange thing is that I’m working longer and harder now, and yet, I feel more energized and alive on a regular basis.

So what gives?

The difference, I think, lies in devotion. Unlike in the past, I’m not forcing myself to do anything out of fear anymore. The late nights I’d pull for work in my first job was to avoid disappointing my manager. The all-nighters I did as a student was to avoid failing a test. All of which were fear-driven.

Now at Circle Studios, my current company, the hard work I put in isn’t to avoid a bad outcome, but rather to move towards my desire to become good at what I do.

There is no pressure from my bosses to perform. If anything, they even encourage me to pace myself and take care of my rest. And yet, it just feels natural to me to keep doing what I do even if it means working longer than usual. There is no pressure for me to do that. It’s just what I really want to do at the moment.

As a result, I feel like I’ve been improving much faster than usual. I naturally do more reps (because I enjoy what I’m doing) and spend more time trying new things. This gives me more opportunities to make mistakes, learn from them, and make adjustments in the next iteration.

It’s this learning loop that I rely on to get better. I think it’s far more effective than passive learning (reading books, watching YouTube videos). The insights that stick the most for me all came from doing the thing and seeing what happens. Action creates information.

It’s kind of embarrassing to say out loud, but I honestly want to be world class at what I do—at growth & marketing, operations, and even writing. I don’t feel a need to strive for more money or prestige. At least, not anymore.

I simply want to have fun and be fulfilled with my work. That’s it.

II. Strike while the iron is hot:

“If you wish to read more, write more, draw more, hobby harder, or even just hang out with your friends more… take some time to yourself and think about what you feel like you should want. Then think about what it is you actually want and go in that direction. Stop worrying about consistency and tenacity and follow through: relearn how to be impulsive. Follow your heart. Do take your head with you, though.”

— , “How to do more and be happier about it”

Whenever I needed to make a decision, I used to always spend hours, sometimes days before finally committing to something. I just can’t choose right away.

I need to assess tradeoffs, think about what the best option is, and even consider if this will work at all. The overthinking can be such a pain in the butt.

For example, writing this newsletter post took me three weeks. The intention was to make it light and easy. But I couldn’t quite figure out exactly how to make it work for me. Each attempt at writing felt messy and hard and unpleasant. I kept switching strategies and formats, and discarded a handful of drafts because I felt like they suck.

One attempt I did was have Claude pull up my recent highlights from Readwise and Snipd, then pitch five topics for me to write about. In hindsight, this was a good experiment but a bad idea.

To me, writing is a way of bringing out what’s in my soul. It doesn’t make sense to delegate that to a machine.

What actually worked for me was to let go of structures and formats, and simply just start writing something on the page, pouring out whatever is inside of me and then taking a look at what shape it’s formed.

Instead of waiting for the right approach or idea, I acted on inspiration. The moment I felt like writing, I simply sat down and wrote. This was how I stumbled upon this idea of copying (read: stealing) James Clear’s 3-2-1 idea but putting my own spin on it.

And thus, you’re now getting 3 ideas, 2 life updates, and 1 experiment I’m trying out. It felt fun. The writing felt easier and more natural. I think I can stick with this in the meantime.

Strike while the iron is hot.

III. You need extensive breaks to thrive in the age of AI:

“- Deep Work 2 hours

- Break 2 hours

- Deep Work 2 hours

- Break 1 hour

- Deep Work 1 hour

Test it for a day and you’ll realize:

All $$$ are made during the ‘breaks’ because that’s when your subconscious is free to cook up breakthrough ideas/angles.”

— on Substack Notes

The best part about working remotely, and having teammates based in the US / UK, is that I have full autonomy on how I want to spend my mornings and afternoons.

The routine above is something I’m experimenting with out. I think there’s some good wisdom in it.

The age of AI will demand workers to shift the way they fulfill their roles. My vision is that in the near future, we no longer need to become execution specialists. Our job isn’t to do the thing anymore - writing reports, pulling data, running analyses, creating slides, etc. Our job would be to imagine what the ideal outcome should look like and turning them into clear directions that your AI coworker can execute for you.

I really dreaded the manual work that came from my old job – inputting data, manually handling spreadsheets, and tasks that didn’t require an ounce of creativity or analytical thinking. I found those types of work to be boring, and I couldn’t bring myself to care about them.

There was a time when I had to manually setup dozens of promo codes in a backend server. Copy pasting dates, descriptions, promo names, and SKUs. I hated it. But I had no choice but to do everything by hand at the time.

Today, AI models are smart enough to accomplish the same task automatically. I don’t even need to type anything on my laptop to do it (apart from the prompt I’ll give to Claude Code). The AI can literally just do the work for me.

Just the other day, I setup an automation to compile and triage all updates and messages from Slack, Gmail, Circle (community platform), and Front (customer support platform).

If I had to do this myself, I’d get scatterbrained jumping between platforms, trying to make sense of the information dump in front of me. But now, I can just let AI brief me so I know the updates on a high level and immediately have the list of action steps for me to take.

So now, in a world where AI is making intelligence and execution cheap, what remains valuable?

I think it’s judgment and clarity. Knowing precisely what to do next and making the right calls in tough situations.

AI cannot sensemake. It cannot determine how your boss is feeling, or see the direction the company is going by how people interact in a room. It cannot feel the subtle signals that tell you what your boss really cares about. And it cannot live your life for you, which is a vital source of ideas and inspiration.

It can do many things for you, but it can never tell you what you really want unless you already know it yourself.

Because of this, time spent in solitude is becoming incredibly important. This is the best way to make sure good ideas come to visit you. This is how clarity emerges. You cannot see the bigger picture when you’re too deep in the weeds working and jumping from one task to the next.

We’re now living in a world where we can let the machines handle machine-type work (finally!), and we, on the other hand, can focus on what we do best, the things that are innately human such as imagination, creativity, judgment, and sensemaking.

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2 updates from my life

I. Meeting new folks in BGC

Two incredible conversations happened last week.

One was with , a Write of Passage alum. We talked about health, AI, writing, and pursuing your mission.

What stood out to me about Jonny was how connected he is to his work. He’s building a health startup right now, and he feels it is his mission to help Filipinos stop suffering from the inadequate healthcare system in the country.

“Our healthcare is designed to treat disease instead of preventing it.” So he’s working towards finding a better way.

It’s quite rare for me to meet someone so driven to do their work, and I still can’t forget about how passionate Jonny was during our conversation. You could just feel it. He cares a ton about what he is doing.

I aspire to have the same fire as him someday.

The other person I met was a guy named Andre Lewis. It was an unexpected introduction.

I was in Fully Booked Mitsukoshi, a book store in BGC, Manila, looking at business books, trying to find a copy of Eric Jorgenson’s Book of Elon. While scanning the shelves, a random guy talked to me.

“What are you trying to find?”

Before I knew it, we had been chatting for over an hour, in the same spot, moving from one topic to another. Andre told me the story of how he moved from Jamaica to the US, working white collar jobs to make ends meet, until he finally delved into entrepreneurship. Today, he’s running a business where he helps Americans fix their credit score.

Andre taught me a great lesson, which is that every experience is never wasted. His life was changed by a woman who introduced him to a book, which led him to start his first business. He says he never would have met that woman if he wasn’t working at his old job.

It made me think about my own story, growing up as an (over)achiever, burning out from trying to be someone I’m not, and now slowly coming home to myself and feeling more alive than ever before.

He encouraged me to build something of my own. I said maybe not now, but I’m sure I will someday.

II. My girlfriend Eyang just graduated! 🌻

It’s also the first time I came back to my university in three years.

1 experiment I’m trying this week

Basically the goal is to have AI do 80% of my job, ideally making it autonomous so the system runs automatically.

For example, I’m helping the team write email sequences to sell paid programs for creators. This involves a multi-step process that requires gathering data, thinking about the write framing, what stories to pull, and how we’ll structure the campaign.

Instead of doing everything from scratch each time (which is very time-intensive), I’ve been working with Claude and Codex to build an automated system to create the full campaign, and my job is simply to provide the needed inputs, make decisions along the way, and review the final output.

There are a few good reasons to approach work like this:

1. I want to focus more on the fun stuff. You might think I’m doing this to free myself of the work, and you might be right. But my bigger aspiration is to lean more into good work, and doing more of it.

2. I want to have more space to think. I’ve really been more proactive with stepping back and thinking bigger picture. Before, I thought it was something only an executive should do. But now, I think everyone should do it. What I notice in the work landscape is that we’re all gonna become decision makers eventually, so I’ve been trying to sharpen my judgment as much as I can.

One of the things I love about AI is that it frees up my time to do more important work. I want to help Will and Dan build exceptional communities and live transformational programs. They changed my life and I want them to change the lives of others too.

I would happily let a tool do my routine tasks if it means I can think more about the human aspect of my work.

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Work with me:

I spend most of my time building growth systems, operations, and AI workflows for creators and small teams.

I’m opening a few time slots each week for anyone who might appreciate some help.

Book a time with me if you want to:

• Get help with a business / career problem (e.g. getting leads or clients, marketing your services, finding a job in the creator space, building websites or automations, etc)

• Chat about anything & everything about the creator space

• Get ideas about something you’re building

• Or to simply say hello 👋🏼

Why am I doing this? I want to experiment with helping others using my craft.

I’d love to help out for free. :)

Book a call with me

“This won’t cut it. The ideas are too bland.”

My boss gave me that feedback in one of our 1:1 calls.

I showed him my second set of ideas for a Circle community we’re building. It’s for an AI creator with over 500,000 email subscribers, and building the community was our first major project with him.

Getting this right would make us more credible, which will then help us land more dream clients in the future. So I wanted nothing more than to do my job well.

I spent all day thinking about the ideas. I’d been part of several communities before like Write of Passage, The Pathless Path, and Art of Accomplishment. I knew what a good community looked like, but I’d never actually built one.

The best way to approach this, I thought, was to first write down my thinking on paper, observing which elements of a community were important. It included member onboarding, community infrastructure, member engagement, live events, etc. Then I listed down the best communities I know and studied what made them successful.

I worked with Claude to do some deep research on these communities. After three hours of back and forth, I ended up with a document containing the final list of ideas. This originally had 40 tactics that I picked up from other communities, but I distilled it down to the 10 which I thought were best.

When I showed it to Will, I was excited to jam over the concepts with him. I was pleased with myself for doing well on the research. But when he read the doc, his face looked puzzled. A minute later, he gave me the feedback.

“These ideas aren’t good enough.”

I can’t forget the term he used. He said the ideas were boilerplate, which meant my ideas were all cliché. They’re too plain, too ordinary. Will held a high standard for our communities. He wasn’t satisfied seeing ideas that didn’t show a hint of innovation.

At first I got defensive. I thought I did everything right.

I spent three whole hours with Claude, and spent all day working on this! I worked so hard. How could my work not be valuable?

Shortly after, I realized where I screwed up.

Of course my ideas were boilerplate! I only asked Claude to research what other communities were already doing. There was no originality there. I didn’t think for myself what the community members really needed.

How could I have missed this?

I panicked. I usually avoid mistakes like this.

Oh God. What do I do?

I didn’t know what to say to Will. I wanted to leave the call, but I couldn’t because that would be rude. I wanted to apologize and tell Will that I could do better, if only he gave me another chance.

But I didn’t do that.

I’ve always been like this

I’m usually open to feedback. I find it helpful when others see something I’m missing.

Most of the time, I take feedback pretty well. I even ask for them proactively. But there are moments when I thought I’d be happy to receive feedback, only to end up feeling threatened by it.

I didn’t want to disappoint Will. In fact, I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

When I was in second grade, I remember placing 3rd in the class rankings after always being the top student since kindergarten. It came to me as a shock. I remember panicking, scared that my parents would get mad at me for not working hard enough. I thought they’d be disappointed at me for being such a failure.

My parents were never expressive. We rarely ever hug, and we usually never say “I love you.” The only times my parents made me feel warm and gooey inside was when I earned an achievement. They’d tell me they’re proud of me with their faces lit up, sometimes with a joyful tear in their eye.

I didn’t realize it then, but this was how I started defining what love was for me.

Love wasn’t something that came freely. It only came in when I was achieving—when I was smart, hard working, or remarkable. And when I was not, well, there was nothing.

That’s probably why I cried in third grade. And why 18 years later I got defensive when Will gave me tough, honest feedback. Because to me, it wasn’t just about the work.

If love only came in when I’m remarkable, then I’m not worth anything if I’m not doing things right.

Being loved as I am

Ever since I met my partner Eyang, I’ve started to discover other forms of love. Love that wasn’t tied to my achievements.

A year ago, when I burnt out from working 12-hour days for a whole month, I told Eyang I was losing my confidence. My performance at work started to suffer, and as a result, I kept missing the KPIs my manager set for me that quarter. Even after 11 different experiments in a span of four months, I still wasn’t hitting our targets.

Never in my life have I felt so ashamed of myself. Right before I hit my breaking point, I remember sitting on my bed with the lights turned off, hugging a pillow while my teeth were clinched.

I gave myself one last encouragement.

Come on, you can still do this. There’s no way you couldn’t. You always figure it out.

A week later, after running another pilot—my last and final attempt—the numbers still didn’t improve.

I had it. I finally gave up. I was so disappointed at my incompetence that I almost quit my job, even when my manager didn’t express any disappointment at my performance. I felt like it didn’t matter. The one who was most disappointed in me was myself.

It was in this moment when I started wondering if Eyang still loved me. She still treated me the same. But I felt like I wasn’t worth anything to anyone. She didn’t deserve to be with a guy like me, I thought.

One night when we were chatting, I asked her a question.

“Do you still love me even if I’m not competent like I used to be?”

“Of course I still love you.”

“Why do you still love me?”

“Because I will always love you… no matter what.”

I remember putting my phone down, not even able to reply as I started crying my eyes out. I felt a warm, bittersweet feeling that both held and crushed me at the same time.

All my life I’ve only ever felt loved when I was achieving. Love always had to be earned. Love only came in when I was excellent. But now, someone was loving me all the same even when I wasn’t doing anything remarkable. Even when I wasn’t remarkable.

It’s funny. Throughout my adult life, I strived to improve myself constantly. I worshipped self help books as if they were my bible. But nothing has ever transformed me more than simply being loved as I am.

When I felt accepted and no longer needed to become someone other than myself, I started to change. I stopped needing to be the guy who always has things figured out. I no longer needed to pretend to be someone I’m not.

Bit by bit, the parts I buried as a kid started coming back. The parts that didn’t feel welcomed or accepted by others were finally feeling safe again to come out. I was letting myself make mistakes, try new things, and be curious again.

My perfectionism started to evaporate. Turns out, I didn’t mind being wrong some of the time. In fact, I enjoyed making mistakes as a kid. Because then I would discover something new and my understanding of the world would expand further. There is wonder and awe in seeing that the truth is different from what I expected it to be.

It’s an incredible feeling to have this freedom. To not be afraid of failure, and instead embrace it as a space to learn and grow.

I can’t believe I forgot about something this important. But now, it has come home. Because I no longer need to be perfect in order to be loved.

Kid Linart took over

When Will said my ideas were boilerplate, Adult Linart was about to retreat in shame. But Kid Linart stepped in first.

Woah… I did NOT expect Will to say that!

Kid Linart became curious. Instead of cowering in fear, his eyes lit up with wonder.

What does Will see that I don’t?

What did I get wrong, and how could I do my work much better?

What other ideas are out there that I haven’t yet discovered?

Kid Linart was eager to listen, because he knew that Will spent many, many years in this line of work. He felt excited about learning from him, even after being criticized. Because he knew the fun is in the discovery, not in getting it right all the time.

The moment I became curious, I stopped seeing the feedback as a threat. Almost instantly, the fear was gone. After all, fear and wonder cannot exist at the same time.

“Will, you’re totally right. I can’t believe I didn’t see that.”

What followed next was one of the best conversations I’ve ever had at work. Because I was no longer defensive, I became open to new ideas.

Will taught me about hell states and heaven states, a framework they used at Write of Passage. Together, we imagined the gnawing pains that our community members were experiencing, then thought about how we could create moments of delight, surprise, or relief for them.

That meeting could have easily been a disaster. I could have wasted Will’s time by trying to defend my original ideas—not out of service to the work, but just to protect myself. But in that moment, I became a different person. I realized there was nothing I needed to defend.

Growing up, criticism always felt like a threat. It meant someone was disappointed at me, and love would be withheld as a result.

But this moment with Will taught me that things could be different. Criticism isn’t always an attack on my self-worth. When it’s done with kindness and honesty, it means someone trusts me enough to use it as a way to grow.

In the weeks that followed, I experienced many more moments like this. Not just with Will, but with my other workmates too. I’d present my work feeling confident, only to have someone point out two or three things I could do better.

On some occasions, the defensiveness would still show up. But when it did, I’d just let Kid Linart take over.

Before I could give my counterarguments, he would let me be curious about why the other person gave that feedback. I’d often end up laughing to myself and telling the other person, “Yeah, you’re absolutely right.”

Thank you so much to for helping me write this essay. I’ve been struggling with writer’s block before I wrote my drafts, but my calls with Michelle gave me so much clarity on what I wanted to write. And when I was doubting myself, her encouragement kept me going until I reached the finish line.

I highly recommend her as a 1:1 writing coach. If you’d like to explore the opportunity, book a free discovery call right here.

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If you’d like to read about how I left my old job:

I was in a terrible slump this month. But after 3 weeks, I’m finally back.

I screwed up my routines after traveling to Japan. When I got home, I was going to bed at 2am, waking up at 10am, and staying glued to my phone till 11am.

My work suffered, and so did my overall mood and energy. I was noticeably crankier as well, according to my parents. 😬

I knew it all boiled down to fixing my sleep and exercise. So here’s what I did (that actually worked):

1/ Wake up at 8am every day (even if it meant sleeping less at the start)

I used to think hours of sleep mattered the most. But it turns out that wake up time is more important than sleep duration (a quick Google search will show you studies on this).

The first week was brutal. But I stuck with it. After a week, I started waking up at the same time every day (usually before the alarm even rings).

My bedtime fixed itself too. Because I was waking up earlier, my body was getting tired earlier as well. Eventually, my circadian rhythm felt stable again and everything else improved as a result.

2/ Scale down the effort until it’s enjoyable

Enjoyment creates consistency. I tried doing tough workouts before, pushing myself to show up and crush it every time. But this always made me quit.

I knew I could run 5km, but I told myself if I really wanted to be consistent with running, I needed to scale it down to 3K.

This felt easy. Maybe a little too easy. But that’s exactly the point. I also slowed down my pace to 7:45/km so I wouldn’t feel gassed at the end.

For two weeks, all my runs were 3K (even on the days when I felt I could push to 4K). And it was only last week that I started increasing the distance again.

Result: 3 weeks of staying consistent (at least 2 runs / week).

I hadn’t achieved this in the past 3 years. Now, I’m always looking forward to the next run!!

3/ Set routines, but don’t be afraid to break them

I blocked time on my calendar for all my runs, but life often got in the way. Staying flexible has helped me keep going.

For example: I used to think I could only run at night or very early in the morning. Those were the only times I had no work pressure, and the weather wasn’t too hot (it gets really hot in the PH as early as 10am now).

But then I missed a night run and woke up at 8am the next morning. I didn’t want to lose my streak. So I ran at 9am. I thought the heat would melt me, but it was actually better than I expected lol.

As much as possible, I’ll stick to early morning + night runs because they’re more comfortable. But it’s helpful to know these aren’t the only options available!

I was reading a brilliant essay this morning, and I happened to stumble upon some ideas that really resonated with me. I don’t read a lot. I at least try to. So whenever I find something that hits me hard like a truck, I can’t help but talk about it. This is what this post is all about.

It’s not as polished like my old essays. If anything, it feels a little bit raw. But I feel good about sharing my honest thoughts around work, authenticity, and purpose.

"Differentiation is a moral obligation."

This is the most freeing line I've read in a while. It came from ’s essay on how your duty in this universe is to experience. And the only way to really do that is to live as yourself.

I know it’s a lot, so let’s try to unpack the idea a little bit. Differentiation here means living uniquely as yourself. And I see moral obligation to be equivalent to purpose.

So to live your own life, being your own unique self, with your own unique experiences, is your purpose in the world.

It’s not success or some ambitious goal or a grand vocation. It’s simply to live as yourself. Because only then could you offer something unique and valuable to the world. Something only YOU can experience, and nobody else.

I'm not sure if people realize how this is not only freeing, but also invigorating. Like wow... I'm good enough as I am AND being myself is actually my duty?

Meaning there is no need to chase after other people's success, or to shame yourself for what you lack, because what the world actually needs you to do is to do the things only YOU can do.

Okay, so what does that actually look like? Here's an example from my work.

I help build communities and live programs for creators.

For the most part, I've been doing things that people have already done before. It might be new to me, but most of my work already has a playbook. Search a little bit online and I could probably find how others were already doing it (and succeeding at it).

Being a young person at work, this is actually a good thing. This means I could learn whatever I need to learn online. But there's a drawback.

It can get pretty boring.

There's no part of me in the work, and I feel like I'm just a cog in a machine. I didn't like that.

I mean, I get it. Sometimes, you need to do what you gotta do. Maybe that's what the work demands of you.

But following the "best" way of doing things is not enough. It doesn't even mean they work all the time. There's so much context lost in frameworks and tactics. Every industry and scenario is different. Nothing could ever work 100% of the time.

So while it is good to learn from others, eventually you need to have your own stance.

What do you believe in?

Recently, I've been asking myself these questions:

• Is this how a community should feel like to its members?

• Is this how I want this product to be like?

• Is this what I think the world needs?

Tapping into that gives me access to a new kind of energy. Because then, I could start seeing there are better ways to do things.

We can do something more fun, more useful, more effective. My taste becomes an essential piece of the work. And even if I'm not an executive, it is my duty to voice out that taste. The rest is a dialogue between me and my team.

There are standard, proven ways to build communities. It doesn't mean we need to stick to them all the time. There is room to build what we want to build. What we believe makes a great community.

I want communities to transform its members. They should introduce you to people who could see you for who you are, and be there alongside you as you embark on your own unique journey.

I had that experience with communities like Write of Passage and The Pathless Path (). I think more people should experience the same.

I have no freaking idea how we're exactly going to do that just yet. But I feel like we can do it. That is what we owe the world!!

I plan my day in 5 minutes with a 3x5 index card.

What's crazy is that this used to take me 1-2 hours. 😬

I could only say this in hindsight, but my mistake was trying to apply every productivity hack I found online. The Eisenhower Matrix. Time blocking. The Pareto principle.

I'd try all these tools without understanding what actually works for me.

And so, I spent so much time prioritizing that I ended up not prioritizing anything in the first place.

After years of trial and error, I came down to a simple system I could do in four steps:

1/ Write the 2-3 priorities that need to get done.

I draw a square on the side which acts as my checklist. As long as these squares get done, I'm satisfied with my work for the day.

2/ Add the other deliverables, but draw circles instead of squares.

This signals my brain that this is a secondary task. They're usually admin tasks that need to happen, but are less important than the squares.

3/ Order them by energy.

The more challenging tasks (strategy work, writing, campaign planning, etc) go first. My brain is sharper in the morning so it's a great time for these tasks. The rest I would do in the afternoon or early evening.

Btw, I stole this idea from Noah Kagan, who also writes his top 3-5 priorities in an index card. Unlike him, I have more than 3-5 items. But it works for me.

Why not limit to 5 or less items?

I tried, but I prefer to see all the tasks I want to accomplish. At my role, it can't be helped to have more than three.

Isn't this easier to do on a google doc?

For sure, but it doesn't work for me. Yes, it's faster to type and easier to reorder stuff around. But writing it on paper makes the list exist in reality.

My brain could then trust I won't lose it. And I literally have it right beside me (instead of being hidden away in another tab). So I no longer feel the need to remember.

All that to say: Analog > Digital

I'm two weeks into Ultraspeaking and I already speak differently at work.

Before this, I was a monotonous speaker. I knew it too. Every time I'd talk in a meeting or explain something to Will or Dan, I'd focus on one thing: How do I say this in the most correct way possible?

Get the words right. Structure the thought. Deliver it clean.

And it kind of worked. People understood me.

But nobody was drawn in.

Ultraspeaking runs nothing like a typical course. There's almost no lecture. 80% of the time you're in a breakout room with two other students, playing games, doing one speaking rep after the next. You get feedback, you adjust, you go again.

There's one concept that blew my mind this week, which is this: energy leads, words follow.

I had it backwards my entire life. I always thought speaking started with knowing what you wanted to say, and then you channel the energy to say it well.

But it turns out you CAN start with the energy. Feel excited, or reflective, or frustrated, or curious. And then the words come out on their own.

I tried it during one of the games. I picked a topic, let myself feel what I really really wanted to say about it, and then just started talking.

And what do you know? My peers and coaches said they felt connected with my speech. They were drawn in. They cared about what I was saying.

And I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying while I was saying it. 😅

But what's interesting is that I actually learned the concept early on in the course. I already believed it would work. And yet when I showed up to work the next morning, I was still the same monotonous speaker. Still holding back. Still trying to get it perfect.

I knew the principle but my body hadn't learned it yet.

It took three days of doing reps, running them back to back to back in every 1-hour session, before I actually felt myself change.

Looking back, I think I already knew this as a kid, actually. I used to always lead with energy. But then the adults taught me to be more "refined." To say things properly. To be careful about what to say and how to say it. Now I'm relearning what young Linart already knew.

There's definitely more work to do. I want to get better with pauses, taking a breath, and ending strong. But the foundation is different now.

I don't need to speak perfectly every time anymore. I just have to show how much I care about what I have to say.

Funny how the goal was never to speak better. It was to stop holding back.

Last Saturday, I sat down to do my monthly review. Honestly, it had been a while. I was a bit scared and time-scarced.

The last time I did a review like this, I ended up draining myself with a long and complicated reflection process, so I was afraid the same thing would happen again.

But I found a way to complete it with lightness and ease.

I’ve been wanting to hold myself better lately. Maybe it’s from the growth I’ve had since last year, now able to show up as myself with more confidence.

This review felt like my way of becoming more poised and whole amidst all the noise going on around me. So I wanted to share how I did the process and what I got out of it. I’m hoping it might help anyone who would like to do the same.

I started the session by opening a blank Google Doc trying to answer this question: What am I grateful for?

I spent some time feeling the gratitude. Like actually feeling it. Before I’d just list down the good things that happened and that was it. This time, I actually spent some time letting it all sink in.

Some notable things that stood out:

• My dad helped me fix my watch without me even asking.

• I spent three weeks living in Manila last February, which gave me the conviction to move there in the near future (more on this soon). I made some really cool memories with my friends.

• I’ve averaged 2 breakthroughs a day last week doing inner work. Probably the most intense moments of my life, but also the most fulfilling.

Just writing all of that down felt good. Like recognizing what’s already here instead of chasing what isn’t.

Then I did my Wheel of Life. Rating 10 different life areas from 1 to 10.

I looked at the scores and was kind of surprised.

Everything was between 7 and 9. It doesn’t always feel that way day-to-day. In fact, my average score in 2025 was probably somewhere around 6 and 7. So it’s nice to see that when I sat down and looked at my numbers, things were actually more together than I thought.

The next morning, I went on to do my weekly review. I decided to start tracking metrics I cared about each week:

• Number of runs

• Days with good sleep

• Days where I read an essay or book

• How connected I felt with my work on a scale of 1-10.

I had the option to measure kilometers ran or hours spent reading, but I thought frequency mattered more than volume at this stage. That’s why I chose those metrics over others.

For instance, if I accomplished three 4 kilometer runs, I knew that would be a better achievement to me than a single 12 kilometer run. All subjective of course, but I think building the right habits is my top priority right now.

These were the metrics I ended up with last week:

Nothing too special about it. But here’s the thing…

In general, I actually feel pretty good about last week. A bunch of neat stuff happened. Like 4 out of 7 days with good sleep is actually pretty amazing. Despite the intense week I had, I think I did well trying to take my time to recover.

And the biggest realization? I saw myself do good work — even better work — when I let myself rest and give my body what it needs. This meant taking naps in the afternoons. Or taking mornings off to rest and working more energized at night instead. Or maybe sprinting at work from Monday to Wednesday and taking it slow the rest of the week.

I’ve learned that I can rely on myself to stay accountable. I know I inherently care about my work and I want to make use of my talents. This helps remove the guilt whenever I rest.

It’s pretty amazing how I could do that now. I could fulfill my promises while staying connected to myself. This wasn’t my normal way of operating last year. Usually, I would struggle to rest, always thinking my day isn’t fulfilled until I accomplish everything in my to-do list. Things have become a lot different now.

What remarkable growth since last year, huh?

There’s one line from my monthly review that stuck with me:

“I’m afraid that I won’t make progress if I don’t list it down. But usually, I make way more progress when I feel the want and I’m not making it a should.”

That’s the balance I’m learning to integrate right now. I’ll set up these systems to give me direction. But the actual progress comes from wanting to do the thing, not from having it on a checklist.

It’s pretty good to finally have these reviews in place. Having structure to reflect and think about where I want to be headed in my life. To recognize where I currently am instead of where I think I am.

I’m still figuring things out, of course. But having this kind of clarity around where I stand and how I’m doing feels really good.

Something I’ve been sitting with

“Balance is great as an annual goal, but terrible as a daily goal. Life moves in seasons.” — Jesse Itzler

I stumbled upon this quote while doing my annual review last January. At the time, I was going through an intense period at work.

We’re a three-person team at Act Two and I was owning the entire marketing function. Creatives, strategy, channels, everything. In my previous company, three different people handled all of that.

I kept trying to fit everything into every single day. Work, rest, anime, running, friends. And beating myself up when the balance wasn’t there.

But then then this line found me. And I started telling myself, “Lean into the season I’m in.”

Mondays to Wednesdays are naturally heavy. I’d have late night calls with the team because of the 12-hour time difference. So most of my day is spent working. But Thursdays and Fridays would actually be a lot more chill. And I could rest on Saturdays.

That’s the rhythm. There’s no need to force a balance life from Monday to Wednesday. Every day would have a different season. But as long as there is balance in the week, or even in the year, everything is fine.

I stopped calling it work-life balance. It’s more like work-life integration. My work is an important part of my life. I don’t need to separate the two. I work when the season asks me to. I rest when my body says it’s time.

What I’ve Been Up To

Planning to move to Manila. I’ve already made the decision, and I’m looking into some units this week. I want to be closer to friends, closer to Eyang, and closer to the city and all its opportunities. I’m working through the budget this week and figuring out when and where to stay. Really big move I’ve been wanting to do since last year, and it’s finally coming to life.

Started experimenting with flow state bursts. 45 minutes of focused work, then 5-10 minutes of doing nothing and just connecting with myself. The idea came from a Joe Hudson podcast. It feels really good after trying it out for a couple days.

Trying out something I like to call experiential reading. It’s basically analyzing case studies in an interactive way instead of just passively reading. I’d ask Claude to give me case-by-case scenarios and assess my judgment against how the author approached the situation. Way more fun, and it makes me more eager to read the whole case study right after.

20 episodes deep into Inazuma Eleven. This was favorite show as a kid. And man, I really missed the soundtracks. I also used to draw my own soccer moves in a notebook and try to recreate them in real life. Most would fail, but I always enjoyed it lol. I feel like a kid again watching the show.

Only 1 run this week, but hit a 5K PR. My body was exhausted in the early half of the week, so I took more time to recover. But when I did run, I felt more comfortable going at a faster pace. I guess consistency is paying off? So I’m prioritizing frequency over distance now.

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At some point we thought, why not just do this live?

So we did. We already have these weekly jam sessions. Why not just do it on the Internet and let people in? Nothing polished. Simply following wherever it goes.

That’s kind of the whole philosophy in our work, honestly. We believe in doing things live. We believe in real-time. We believe that raising the stakes, even a little, changes the quality of what comes out of you. So we figured we should practice what we preach.

I came into this conversation with a lot of questions I genuinely wanted to understand for myself. Like, what is it about the programs we build that creates these life-changing moments? Why does live matter so much? And what happens when AI ends up commoditizing information?

We started with Will’s Chinese learning journey. He’s been studying for 11 years, and does standup comedy in Mandarin (which is insane). And the thing that kept him going wasn’t a course or a textbook. It was that he genuinely enjoyed it. He anchored to something internal.

From there, we got into why most online courses don’t actually change people. Why AI is making information worth less by the day. Why the university model can’t keep up with domains that shift every few months. Will talked about a phrase he’s been thinking about lately: social technology.

Because what we build isn’t really a course. It’s closer to a new way of organizing people around shared goals, anywhere in the world, independent of geography.

I shared my own story too. I cold-emailed the Write of Passage team a few years back, while staying in Catbalogan, a small city in the Philippines. I asked for a scholarship I couldn’t afford, and got in. That one decision led to friendships across the globe, a coaching relationship that helped me launch my own tutoring program, and eventually a career I never saw coming.

Will has his own version. Two years with no income, turning down employee roles because he had this deep conviction that he was a founder. Neither of us planned to end up here.

We don’t have everything figured out. Honestly, that’s part of why I enjoy the journey we’re in. And that’s also why I enjoyed this conversation. We’re trying to answer some pretty big questions in real time, like:

What does it mean that AI can now produce Hollywood-level content?

What happens to the middle class of creators?

How do you spark real community, not just a Discord with a community manager, but the kind where people actually become transformed?

I think you can feel how these are still open questions when you watch our chat.

Will has this way of naming things I’ve felt but couldn’t articulate. Like how there’s a difference between a “comfortable” community and the kind of community where people actually become transformed. Or how the best programs don’t transfer knowledge. They pull out something that was already inside you.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated scrolling through AI-generated content, or wondered why so many courses don’t actually change anything, or if you’re just curious about what education could look like in the future, I think you might enjoy this conversation.

But then I started thinking about it.

After so many seasons of nothing but work and almost no (social) life outside of it, I kept asking myself the same question: What is all the work for?

I struggled to find a good answer.

When I was staying at home, I was focused. I could grind through a full day no problem. But the work felt flat. Like something was missing. Like I was just going through the motions without knowing what all of this was for.

Now it feels different.

I’m staying in a new city. I’ve been meeting up with friends to catch up, with some I hadn’t seen in three years! I’m trying stuff out and discovering things about myself I didn’t know before. And I notice that when I’m actually living my life, the work feels different. It picks up this color and flavor from my days that wasn’t there before. It’s starting to mean something.

I didn’t expect that as a side effect of my Manila trip. I always thought the way to do better work was to simply do more of it. Push harder, focus longer, cut out the distractions.

But it turns out the “distractions” could be generative. I experienced a surge in creativity, which helped elevate the quality of my work this week, especially the stuff that demanded divergent thinking rather than sheer focus.

For example, I wanted to think about the 12 favorite problems for LTL Studios, the B2B component of the business, and that required asking questions we don’t yet have answers to.

I struggled to think of good questions back at my condo, so I decided to move to a different environment. I ended up finishing the list of questions by 10pm at the 45th floor of the Marco Polo building. The ideas flowed in and out as I took in the view of the tall buildings and bright lights in Manila.

Of course, this mode of working isn't always helpful. I think deep focus periods are still the best way to go in most situations.

But the most interesting discovery I had here is that there are ways of working that could be more effective than simply sitting down in front of a desk and spending hours in front of a screen.

I’m still figuring this out as I go, but it’s so exciting to think about what else is possible!

I’ve only been staying for twelve days in Manila but I’m paying attention to this insight. There's a lot more experimenting to do in the months ahead.

My life completely changed when I traveled to Taipei.

First time leaving the country, first time traveling solo. I went there feeling satisfied with where my life was going, but I came back home with the decision to finally leave my job.

This wasn’t the first time I’d thought about resigning.

At the start of this year, I got assigned to a lower priority project at work. I found it weird and convinced myself that I was about to get laid off, especially after just a few months prior, the company let go of many employees, including ones who have stayed for three or four years already.

I couldn’t afford the risk of not having a job. After all, I needed to support my family. So I started job hunting in February.

In recent years, I’d seen how creators like Ali Abdaal built a business around their personal brand, and started hiring a team. I’d always wanted to work in the creator industry, so I took this as a chance to chase after my dream job.

At the time, Ali was looking for a growth lead, so I took my shot. Then I saw Izzy Sealey looking for her first hire, so I applied there too. Alex Hormozi’s team didn’t have any openings, but what the heck, let me send a cold application anyway.

In the end, none of the applications succeeded. I spent two months working nights and weekends to build my portfolio, tailor my resume, and even create super specific roadmaps. All I got from it were two rejection emails and no response from Hormozi.

I gave up the job hunt after feeling burnt out. But the anxiety wasn’t getting better, so I knew I had to talk to my manager. With my hands and fingers shaking, I sent her a Telegram message asking for a 1:1 chat about “my career.”

“Will I be laid off?” I asked her in our call, preparing myself for the worst.

My manager seemed surprised. She reassured me I was safe in my job and by the end of our talk, I realized I was just overthinking the whole fiasco. We started planning my next transition and where I can provide more value to the business, so I decided to stay.

I felt relieved. But I also felt frustrated. Looking back, it’s pretty silly how much energy I could have saved by just talking to my manager in the first place.

But hey, that’s how life goes. Nothing happens without a reason, right?

Later on, I’d find out what all of this was for.

I knew Taipei would change me

The few nights before my trip were pretty rough. I couldn’t sleep from all the excitement. I wondered what the whole experience would be like.

Would the plane be much bigger? What kinds of food do they serve? Do they eat as much rice as Filipinos do?

But while the trip would indeed be fun, it wasn’t actually a vacation. I’d been invited to an in-person meetup with twenty or so creators, a chance to finally meet some Internet friends in real life.

The day I arrived in Ximending, I was in awe. I enjoyed the vibrant colors all around the district. The artsy street designs, the anime gacha machines, even the Hello Kitty-themed 7-Eleven.

Being in a new country for the first time, I knew that my life would change the moment I stepped off the plane. I knew I’d inevitably become a new person. But I had no idea just how much things would change once the trip was over.

This was the plan

On the day of the creative meetup, I spent all Saturday night talking to creatives based in Taiwan - and I mean all night, nonstop, up until 10pm.

I remember the first time I went to a club with friends. I ended up sitting silently right in the middle of the dance floor, my social battery completely drained, while literally everyone else was dancing around me.

The creative meetup became a close second for being the most challenging moment of my life as an introvert. And yet strangely enough, I enjoyed every conversation I had that night.

As the event concluded, I walked back to my hotel with one of the event’s co-hosts. His name is , one of the founders of Act Two, a creative accelerator I joined last September.

I still had some energy left (which was a miracle), so we kept talking as we walked.

Will told me about their company’s vision, what they believe in, and what they’re excited to build next year. I loved their dedication to build a vibrant Internet community and help people find what makes them feel alive.

While we talked, I wanted nothing more than to be part of what they were building. Well, the truth is, I’d already been working for them as a part-timer for two months. But I never really saw myself as part of the team. Technically, I was just a freelancer.

Besides, I didn’t feel ready. I only had two years of work experience. With their impressive network, they probably knew tons of people who were way more exceptional at what I was doing.

But despite the occasional visits from Mr. Impostor Syndrome, I was confident in my ability to learn. My plan was to do whatever I could to be useful to them for at least a year. I’d read so many books, invest in a couple good courses, and even work hard at my day job so I could accelerate my learning.

I thought this was the right way to go. If I approach it like this, it would be unreasonable to not be valuable after a year.

I just had to be patient.

Life had other plans

It was half past 10pm. The streets were empty with no vehicles in sight. Apart from a few convenience stores, all the other shops were already closed, but the sidewalks were still well-lit. I enjoyed the cool breeze of Taipei brushing past my cheeks throughout the whole walk.

After chatting about Will’s company and his vision, we switched to a more personal topic. He asked me how I was finding my day job.

I tried to keep it formal.

“It’s pretty good,” I said. “I look up to the people in my team, and they’re thinking of moving me to a bigger role soon.”

Compared to the lay off scare in February, I felt a lot more secure about my worth to the company. But I couldn’t help but wonder why he asked me this question.

“Well, the truth is, I do want to transition eventually... I’m learning a lot from my job, but I just don’t imagine working for FMCG and eCommerce all my life.”

Things went silent for a moment, then Will responded.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about this with my co-founder for quite a while now…”

I held my breath.

“We want to bring you in full-time at Act Two.”

Wait. They want me to join the team? Now?

Is this really happening?

Hold on - I’m not ready yet.

I still have so much to learn. Am I even valuable enough? Why me of all people?

I was so sure I’d have to wait at least a year before I got a real shot at working for them. But here it was, already happening.

Remember the job hunt I did in February? I’d worked so hard to find a job in the creator industry, and all my efforts amounted to nothing.

And yet this time, I didn’t even job hunt. I didn’t send them my resume and I didn’t need to work 20 hours building roadmaps and onboarding decks to prove my worth. All I did was work for them part-time.

I didn’t think I earned my spot, at least just yet. And yet, they believed in me more than I believed in myself.

It was all hard to believe. But I was so happy to finally get the job offer I’d been dreaming about for so long.

Will saw how overjoyed I was, seeing me squat on the floor and place my hands on top of my head in disbelief. I chatted with him a bit more after that. And when we arrived at his hotel, I thanked him for the opportunity and asked for some time to think it over.

I knew what I wanted to answer, but this was still a big decision. He understood. We said good night, and parted ways.

When I got back to my hotel room, I felt so tired my body just dropped onto the bed. I continued to feel the excitement, but weirdly enough, it started to fade as time passed. Eventually, the joy was replaced with something else.

That night, I slept with a troubled heart.

The morning after

I woke up with more clarity around what I was feeling. I knew I was still happy about the opportunity, but I was also overwhelmed with another emotion.

I was afraid of disappointing my dad.

I’d made most of my life decisions with my dad. I’d always consult with him first before deciding on the big things, like when I chose which college to attend or what degree to take (occasionally, we’d debate over what I should wear to parties).

For the longest time, this dynamic worked really well. We both wanted the same things while I was growing up and my dad had more experience than me. But right after graduation, we stopped getting along as much.

He wanted me to make the most of my education and math background to excel in the corporate world, to reach the pinnacle of success that his generation had come to know. But I wanted something different.

Two months ago, when I’d just started working part-time for Act Two, my dad expressed his concerns about where my career was going. He told me upfront that he didn’t want me to work full-time for this new startup, even if they did offer me double or triple my salary. It’s just too much of a risk, he said, and there’s a good chance I’ll lose my job. He once more gave a not-so-subtle nudge that I’m better off working in coporate.

I wanted to tell him that’s not what I want, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to argue with my dad, so I just stayed silent, holding back on telling him what I honestly felt.

I wanted my dad to understand me

To some extent, I could understand how Papa was looking out for me.

The path he was suggesting worked great for him. In fact, it saved him. That’s what got him and our family out of poverty. But the thing is, we’re living a different life now. And yet, he’s still carrying beliefs from a world that no longer exists.

I wanted to work for smaller companies because I eventually want to build something of my own. Being part of a smaller team means more ownership in my work. That means faster learning and work experience that’s valued much higher in the market. This is what I wanted for my career, and I couldn’t really get that working in corporate.

For two years, I tried to make him understand the upsides. And for two years, he thought I was just wasting my potential.

And now, I got an offer from a company that doesn’t even have any employees yet. They’re in the early stages, so their capital couldn’t match that of a corporation. Not to mention the risk that all startups face of crashing out despite early success (remember Friendster and Myspace?).

I knew that if I told him about this offer, it wouldn’t matter how much I wanted to work at Act Two, or how much I believed in their vision, or why it made logical sense to take this risk for a chance at an exponentially high upside if it all worked out.

My dad got the security he needed by working in corporate. My desire to take a risky path wouldn’t make sense to him because we’re simply living with different worldviews.

And yet, I was still hoping he could understand. I started thinking about possible compromises. What if I contributed more to our family every month? What if I gave him a solid backup plan if things didn’t work out? What if I made a case around how this opportunity could 10x my income and make us financially free?

I convinced myself I could make it work. I always made it work. I could still find a way to get my dad’s approval.

In my last two days in Taipei, I spent hours brainstorming with Claude, an AI chatbot, to get ideas around how I could justify this decision to my dad (and even to myself). At one point, I literally asked, “What would make this decision exciting for me?”

I started acting like I didn’t already know the answer. Like I could outsource my thinking to an AI chatbot when I’d already made the decision deep down.

It was all just a way to avoid the truth I didn’t want to face: that maybe this time, there was no way to earn my dad’s approval, no matter how hard I tried.

I cried many times at finally realizing what this all meant. In my hotel room. At a random cafe in Taipei. Even in a vacant stall in the airport bathroom.

Sadness became my best friend, and she was doing all she could to keep me company. Still rocking that cozy turtleneck sweater, of course.

The courage to choose myself

For most of my life, I’d put others above me.

I’d work hard at getting good grades because I wanted to make my parents happy. When I’d start feeling tired reading a textbook, I’d channel my inner David Goggins and push even harder.

I’d play it small and reject compliments because I didn’t want other to feel intimidated. At least, that’s how I’d explain it to my therapist. But really? I was just scared of being smart-shamed and not fitting in.

I’d even force myself to be interested in stuff I found boring just so someone could like me. (I still regret all the times I didn’t talk about my favorite anime.)

This was how I lived growing up. But so much has happened this past two years. I’ve become a different person now.

I’m no longer someone who burns himself out to prove his worth. I’m no longer someone who holds back what he truly feels just to please other people. I’m no longer someone who wouldn’t work for his dream job even if it meant disappointing someone he loves.

On the night I came back from Taipei, Papa picked me up at the van terminal in Catbalogan, same as always. He helped me load my luggage into the car, and I sat beside him in the front seat, telling him stories from my trip.

After a while, we both fell silent. I’d run out of topics, and Papa was focused on driving.

I wanted to tell him about my decision.

Part of me thought about telling him stories about Act Two first—maybe try to convince him how amazing the company was, how much money it could potentially make, and how awesome it would be if I got to be a part of it. Prime him before dropping the news about the job offer.

At that point, I was holding on to my last glimmer of hope.

But I finally let go.

I took a breath. Then, breaking the silence, I finally told him.

“Pa, do you remember the startup I’m working part-time for? They want me to join their team full-time, and I’m deciding to take their offer.”

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If you’d like to read about the 5 weeks that changed my life:

This week looked like 12-hour work days on repeat.

I’ve always been prone to overworking, but this time felt different. September brought two opportunities I’d been chasing since July: a scholarship for Act Two (a cohort-based course on creative projects) and a part-time role to help a startup grow their community.

Just when I was ready to give up on both, they landed on my lap unexpectedly, and I couldn’t be any happier. The dots are finally connecting.

But such a reward comes with a price. My health, relationships, and personal life all took a hit. I’m offered more work than I could handle, and I kept feeling frantic and all over the place last week.

I literally just did this last month, but I thought it’s time to do another life reset.

So, I went on a Think Day.

What the heck is a Think Day?

Bill Gates is known for going on Think Weeks where he travels alone to a secluded cabin and would spend seven days just reading, writing, and thinking. Disconnecting from everyone and everything, this time alone would give him clarity on what matters most and would help him make big decisions.

Because I’m not a billionaire who can afford either the time or money required for such a ritual, I scaled it down to a Think Day instead: just one full day outside, with my laptop and notebooks, journaling through some big life questions.

The questions that hit me the hardest were:

1. What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?

2. What do I wish I could do more quickly? And what do I wish I could do more slowly?

3. What activities in the last month have energised me, and what activities in the last month have drained me? How can I do more of what energises me and less of what has drained me?

(Credits to and the Ali Abdaal Team for creating the Think Day guide and sharing it on YouTube. You can access the journaling questions and full framework here.)

The question that literally changed everything

“What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?”

I knew right away this is a big one. I like thinking about this question by feeling what scares me most when I think about doing it, but I know deep down is what I most wanted to do.

Three top answers came out while I was journaling:

1. Moving out from home and live somewhere new

2. Quit my job to do the good work that makes me come alive

3. Finally commit to making videos

Thinking about it a little more, I realized #2 might not be the right time to tackle right now since I’m not yet clear what my good work is. Plus, I don’t really hate my job so I’m good for now. Then with #3, I already have support from Act Two so I thought this is already covered. That leaves me with #1.

This one has been quietly growing in the back of my mind for months. The strangest excuse I’ve had for not following through is that “I’m not old enough for this yet,” as if age is somehow a requirement for living independently.

A classic exercise, revisited

The exercise that helped me think through this decision is something called fear-setting which was first popularized by Tim Ferris. The idea is to unpack the biggest fears surrounding a big decision and seeing all those worst case scenarios for what they really are.

Most times, as Tim said, the worst possible events are not permanent and you could actually find many ways to prevent or repair the bad things that might happen from making such a decision.

In my case, I could think of some pretty good reasons why moving out might be a bad idea. So maybe his framework doesn’t apply all the time.

Here’s my attempt at proving Tim wrong (and how I ultimately failed at doing so):

Fear #1: I don’t have enough money.

Surprisingly, this turned out to be untrue. But after seeing the math, I can’t look back anymore.

I once did a computation on how much it would cost to go on a sabbatical. If I’d live in a different country, the costs could go as high as ₱100,000 monthly ($1800).

But living in a different city in the Philippines? For just one month?

The numbers looked a lot different:

• Rent = ₱20,000 to ₱25,000 ($450)

• Food = ₱15,000 to ₱20,000 ($350)

• Laundry / Water / Household = ₱5,000 ($90)

The estimated total would be around ₱50,000 monthly ($900). Still a pretty high number and it could change based on different factors. But seeing the figures clearly, I realize this is more achievable than I thought.

I might need to spend a couple months saving up for it, but I can’t let money be my excuse anymore.

Fear #2: My health would decline because I wouldn’t have home-cooked meals.

It’s unfortunate that I have to tell you I can’t cook. And as much as one solution might be learning how to cook, I doubt I’d be able to prioritize it with everything else going on. I’ll save it for when I intend to start a family.

One of the biggest reasons why I want to stay at home is my mom’s cooking. My parents are highly conscious about their health, so our meals are always homecooked and it comprises mostly of fish, vegetables, chicken, and pork. I’m extremely lucky that my mom cooks for the family, and my body has really been feeling healthier here at home compared to when I was in Manila for college.

When I think about eating fast food or takeout, I can already feel the sluggishness in my body. But then I remembered that meal prep services exist. Yes, they might be pricier, but there’s a solution.

Fear #3: I’m afraid of burning out from handling everything alone.

The only reason I can manage my current workload is that I don’t need to spend time doing many things other people do. I realize this is one of the biggest privileges I have staying at home.

My mom would always tell me to focus on my work instead of doing the chores (she’s the best). I don’t need to commute or travel. And for better or for worse, I don’t attend any social events since most of my friends are in far away cities.

I couldn’t imagine juggling my day job, creative projects, the courses I’m taking, and my new part-time work if I move out from home. Not to mention that I need to adjust to the lifestyle and do some packing too.

But you know what? I’ve always been afraid of burning out after I had my worst one last January. And yet, I never really let myself burn out again since then. Just this past month, I could recall two or three times when I was on the verge of it. The moment I sensed the usual signs of burnout, I took a leave or a day off to reset. In fact, that’s exactly what I did for my Think Day.

And when I think about doing chores and attending social events, they don’t really have to be obstacles for me and my work. If needed, I know I can make adjustments. I might need to pause my creative projects, for example, or stop taking courses for the meantime. Maybe I can even talk to my manager if things are getting too intense at work.

I was so used to my usual patterns of overworking that I didn’t realize I’m already showing up as a different person.

The person I’m becoming

This exercise made it clear that this is something I want to do.

Who you are is shaped by where you live. This chance to wander and explore something new is an opportunity I can’t pass off any longer.

Still, I’m curious to see how I’d feel a week from now when I revisit this decision, especially when fear comes crashing back in. By next week, I intend to start doing some more planning around the budget, and I might even start searching for an Airbnb already—some small steps to help make this decision come closer to reality.

I do want to mention that wanting to move out and live independently started several months ago. The seeds were planted maybe around March after gaining a desire to be part of a community. I love my home, but I know there’s a person I have yet to become by staying somewhere new.

Who would I be a year from now by living alone as a full-fledged adult for the first time? What will I learn about myself? How will I show up differently?

Even right now, I’m already changing just by how I made this decision. I wonder how much more I’ll change when I finally make the move.

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So… I’m posting on YouTube now 🎥

I made a one-minute video as part of my project for Act Two. The program has been incredible so far thanks to the work put up by and .

This would be the first time I’m hard launching my channel, and I want you to know about it first. Still early stages, but hey, we all have to start somewhere!

The video I made is for anyone feeling overwhelmed with many priorities. You can watch it here:

Watch on YouTube

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If you’d like to read about doing a life reset:

Ever notice how life has a way of forcing you to slow down when you least want to? Last week, the flu knocked me down right when things were ramping up at work. I found myself in that familiar negative spiral of frustration and self-criticism.

You know, the one where being sick makes you feel left behind, so you overcompensate by working harder the next day, but then you end up being sick again. (I can already hear my mom saying “I told you so.”)

But what I’ve learned about setbacks is that they’re great wake-up calls to get your life together again. Whether it’s getting sick, feeling overworked, or doomscrolling until 3am, these moments remind you to take better care of yourself and get your life back in balance again.

The key to making the most of these moments is having a reliable method for resetting your life. That’s where The Wheel of Life comes in.

🤔 What is the Wheel of Life?

The Wheel of Life is a visual checkup for your entire life. Think of it as a pie chart divided into 9 slices representing key areas like career, health, relationships, and personal growth. You rate your satisfaction in each area and by doing that, you can see exactly where your life feels balanced and where it's a little shaky.

Here’s the three-step process I like to follow:

1. Rate each of your life areas from 1-10 based on your current satisfaction level (I’ll share the complete list of life areas in the next section).

2. Reflect on the areas with low scores to understand why you gave that rating.

3. After reflecting, ask yourself: “What is one thing I could do to move this area closer to a 10?”

You can also do an optional fourth step where you reflect on the high scoring areas to see what’s been working well there. It’s always a good idea to keep doing what’s already been helpful.

To fully illustrate how this exercise works, I’ll be sharing how I did mine last weekend. I’ll do my best to give as much helpful detail as I can, but feel free to skip over to the parts that interest you most.

🌱 The 10 Life Areas

I usually like to start with three broad categories—which are Health, Wealth, and Relationships—then break them down into each of their three subcomponents. This gives me nine key areas and then I add a bonus component called Joy (inspired by Ali Abdaal).

Health

• Mind – how calm, clear, and mentally healthy you feel

• Body – your physical energy, fitness, and vitality.

• Soul – how connected you feel to your purpose, values, or inner peace.

Wealth

• Money – how satisfied you are with your income, savings, and financial security.

• Career – how fulfilled you feel in your work, growth path, and professional identity.

• Mission – how aligned your life feels with your deeper sense of calling or impact.

Relationships

• Family – how supported, valued, and connected you feel by family.

• Romance – how fulfilling your romantic life feels.

• Friendships – how nourished, trusted, and socially connected you feel by friends.

Bonus Area

• Joy – how often you experience genuine happiness, play, and moments of lightness in your life.

What’s the difference between Soul and Mission? This is something I was often confused about when I first did the exercise, but to put it simply:

Your Soul is about your inner world and personal values. It's feeling peaceful and satisfied because you're living in a way that feels true to who you are.

For example, if you value kindness, your soul feels full when you treat others with compassion. If you value creativity, your soul is nourished when you make time for art or writing, even if no one else sees it.

Your Mission is about your outer world and the work you do for others. It's how you contribute to your community and make a positive impact beyond yourself.

For example, a teacher's mission might be helping students learn and grow. A doctor's mission could be healing people from illness and improving their health. Your mission is the specific way you serve others and make the world a little better.

📌 My current “wheel” of life

I often struggle to draw a good circle (it often ends up looking like an egg), so I’ve been more comfortable laying this out as a table instead.

Yes, I know that means it’s no longer a wheel, but hey, it still works!

Immediately, I notice that most of my numbers are hovering around the 5-ish range. This likely explains why I’ve been feeling unmotivated lately.

Before doing this exercise, I might had a vague sense that “something feels off”, but now I can actually pinpoint where I feel depleted in my life.

After reflecting on my scores, I was able to get a better view of my current life landscape:

• My Body is a 6 right now because I just recovered from the flu. But I’m not too worried about it because I know I’ll eventually get back in shape.

• My Soul and Mission are my lowest areas, so this is where I want to pay most of my attention. I’ve been overworking lately so I haven’t really made time for my personal projects and experiments.

• All of my relationship scores are pretty decent. I would have wanted them at an 8 or a 9, but remembering they used to be a 5 on average last year, I’m actually pretty happy with the improvement.

Now that I’ve reflected on my numbers, I move on to my favorite part of the exercise.

⚡️ What is one thing I could do to move this number closer to a 10?

Here’s my current list of action steps from the exercise:

• Soul: Set a weekly journaling sesh every Saturday to check in with myself.

• Mission: Start teaching the most valuable lessons I’ve learned in the past 5 years by sharing them online (via Substack and main socials).

• Career & Money: Prepare for a job transition by reaching out to one person daily (ideally those working in the tech / education / info product space).

• Mind: Spend time reading one long essay or book at least once per week to intellectually stimulate my mind.

• Friends: Reach out and call a friend I haven’t talked to in a while.

• Joy: Block out time in my calendar to watch anime every night.

I only set one action step for each life area because of two reasons:

1. I want to avoid overwhelm, which stops me from following through; and

2. I want to challenge myself to really consider what moves the needle most.

Notice that I also didn’t set action steps for all life areas. Usually, I only focus on the ones that really need the intervention.

For example, I already know that I’ll get back to workouts eventually, so I don’t need to worry too much about my Body.

💭 How do I choose the right action step?

My rule of thumb is that it should either feel like: (a) something you actually want to do, or (b) something you know you need to do, even if it feels a little scary. Don’t force yourself to do something you’re not ready to do. But do challenge yourself if it feels exciting.

What I love most about The Wheel of Life is that it doesn’t just help you go back to your old life. It realigns you to the life you actually want to live.

In my wheel of life, notice that I’ve given myself some challenges in the Mission, Career, and Money areas. These have been areas in my life I haven’t paid as much attention to in the past 6 months, so I’m taking some bold steps to get closer to where I want to be.

None of these feel forced because the ideas have actually been planted as early as January. I’ve only decided to take them on now because I finally feel ready to commit.

So trust your gut. Don’t force yourself to take big steps if you don’t feel good about it.

There was a time two months ago when my Money area felt low after I completed my tutoring programs, and I decided to be bold and start a new program. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to do it because I wasn’t genuinely interested then. So now I always check in with myself before I make a commitment.

The purpose of the life reset is to increase your overall life satisfaction, so choose hard things out of determination rather than coercion. In my case, I feel no major resistance to my current plan and I’m confident they’re manageable on top of everything else, so I see it as a good sign.

How to get started

I personally recommend doing the exercise on pen and paper, but if you want a more convenient way to get start, try taking the Wheel of Life quiz created by Ali Abdaal.

You’ll need to answer some questions and then you’ll get your results via email with a chart and short analysis.

Take the quiz

(Disclaimer: You’ll need to subscribe to Ali’s newsletter to get the results. But you can always unsubscribe any time.)

Like with any tool, you can use the Wheel of Life any way you like—whether by doing it online or on paper. I mean, I didn’t even make a circle despite “wheel” being in the title, so do what feels right to you.

My hope is that after reading this, you can set 10 to 15 minutes of your time to reflect on your own life areas. And ideally, you can take even just one action step to get you closer to a life you love.

That’s it. If you enjoyed this guide, let me know what else you’d like to learn next time:

Suggest a topic

Have a great week!

Linart 🐢

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If you’d like to read about awakening your genius:

When I first joined the company, I was recognized as one of the promising candidates because of my academic background. It didn’t take long for me to treat being a high performer as part of my identity. For two years, I’ve maintained this self-image of being a hard worker who can figure anything out. But recently, I've been struggling. I couldn't keep up anymore, and I couldn't bring myself to admit that I'm actually stuck.

Something needed to change—not just at work, but in how I show up for myself.

I can only say this in hindsight, but feeling stuck turned out to be an early sign of burnout. The demands of my job have been pretty heavy these past two months after transitioning to a more challenging workstream. I was also still managing old projects, which made my workload much heavier than usual.

As a result, I spent three nights last week working overtime, going until 10pm even though I was already working the whole day. I was also sleeping as late as 2am despite waking up early most mornings. I was completely sleep-deprived.

But in the middle of all that chaos, I started to wake up.

“Why am I working this hard?”

None of it made sense. I felt my anger stepping in. Not the destructive kind, but the kind that’s protective. The kind that wants to advocate and stand up for me.

That’s when it hit me: I wasn't watching anime anymore. I had no time for my creative projects. I wasn't spending time with family or my partner, Eyang.

I realized that working harder wasn't the solution. I needed to become the defender of what actually matters to me.

In this week’s newsletter issue, I want to share three ideas that helped me step back. These ideas helped me declutter my mental space and get clarity on what deserves my attention the most. Because sometimes, the most important thing we can do is to remember what we’re actually working for.

How I prevented burnout

I wrote a Substack Note while being in the mess of the semi-burnout:

“Wait, where can I find this note?”

The note turned out to be more dramatic than I remembered, but I can understand I was having a hard time last week. What I’m proud of though is that I mustered up the courage to finally talk to my manager about it.

During our weekly 1:1 meeting, I asked her if she could help me manage my workload. At first, I was afraid to admit that I couldn’t handle all the stress. There’s still the part of me that wants to protect this image of being a high performer, but to me, it became clear that my health mattered more than some image I don’t even understand.

So I told her I was struggling.

Here’s what worked for me: Instead of ranting about my frustrations, I laid out exactly what projects I was handling and how much time I spent on non-priority work. Then I recommended which projects I’d want removed from my plat so I could focus on my top work priority.

It worked pretty well. My manager saw I was juggling five projects at the same time, and understood that churn prevention (my top priority) needed more of my time and energy, especially since we’re doing a strategy plan for H2 2025. There was a chat-based ordering projects that no longer made for me to handle, so she talked to some team members and helped get me off it.

This helped me out a lot. I didn’t just gain back time for my priorities, I also got back the space I need for myself and my relationships. I’ve been calling Eyang almost every night now and I’ve been able to watch the new anime episodes of The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity.

I also started to context switch less often, which helps me think more clearly at work. Surprisingly, I regained my energy for work too. I enjoyed having space to think about strategy and experiments. Turns out my job can be energizing when I’m not on the verge of burnout.

And of course, one of the best parts about this change is that I’ve been able to make time for creativity again. This is why you’re reading this newsletter.

This is a lesson I keep learning time and time again: Life always gets better when I communicate courageously.

You don’t need to wait to get started

I was reading ’s “Steal Like An Artist” and got hooked in one of the early chapters. The title said: Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.

“⁠If I’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started ‘being creative,’ well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are. You’re ready. Start making stuff.” —Austin Kleon

Being a beginner in the creativity space (I like calling myself a “baby creator”), I spend too much time trying to figure out who I am before creating. It’s as if knowing myself is required before I can start. Most of the time though, this just becomes an excuse to procrastinate.

It’s also turning into mental clutter. Instead of using my mind to play around with ideas, I’ve been using it to think about questions that take a lifetime to answer. Now that I’m writing about it, it feels kind of silly to think I can figure out who I am in a couple journaling sessions.

Here’s what I’m starting to realize: Creation doesn’t come after I’ve finally discovered who I am. It is by creating things that I get to know myself.

As an example, when I made my first YouTube playlist, I thought it would immediately excite me. My YouTube feed is full of playlists, I spend a lot of time listening to soundtracks everyday, and I remember having fun with Spotify playlists in high school. But this didn’t happen. I felt drained and tired by the time I uploaded my first playlist on YouTube.

At first, I thought I didn’t enjoy making playlists. Maybe it just wasn’t the right art form. But when I looked closer, feeling drained was a result of overthinking all the minor details not related to music, like what software to use or how to create my own visual effects. I ditched all of that in my next playlist. I decided to use CapCut as my video editor and still images as my video background to keep things simple. I focused more on the curation of music, which I had loads of fun with.

The results were pretty great and I started enjoying the process. It feels good to declutter my head and focus more on the doing rather than the thinking. I don’t yet know if making playlists is really “my thing,” but at least I now know what’s fun about music for me.

On choosing your ambition

I’ve been studying through her essays and podcast guestings, mainly to absorb what she’s learned about agency. On the Pathless Path podcast, she shared a question I can’t stop thinking about.

When asked how she defines ambition, Cate said:

“[That’s] interesting. I was asked a related question recently which was in the context of a job discussion. The question was, ‘How do you decide what things are ambitious enough for you to do?’ And my answer was [if] it’s something [that has] a greater than 1% chance that, when I look back on this in 10 years, I [can] decide that it’s the very best thing that I could be doing based on the information I have now.”

“I want to watch the pod, too!”

She explained that the 1% seems like a small number, but it’s actually a really high standard to meet. “Almost no jobs in a decent period of time that I was looking met the criterion,” she said.

I really like the question she posed, and have been asking it to myself a few times this past week: “What is something that has a > 1% chance of being the very best use of my time and energy when I look back on it 10 years from now?”

I haven’t been able to find an answer yet. But I don’t I think this question is meant to help you find the one thing you should commit to for the next 10 years. Rather, I find that it works better as a filter for what’s worth spending time on.

For instance, if I ask myself whether my current job fits this criterion, like Cate, I can’t find a single reason to say yes. Sure, my current company is growing and I like working with a great team. But this being the very best thing I could be doing? Clearly not.

This question now grounds me when I work too hard at the expense of health and relationships. It reminds me that while work feels urgent, it's not the most important thing in my life right now.

Interestingly, I do find the question to be a great compass. I don’t have an answer that meets the 1% criteria, but I have a gut feeling about what comes closest based on the context I have now:

1. Launching my own cohort-based course

2. Creating YouTube videos (again)

3. Looking for a remote job with a company based abroad

The third one feels closest, so I’ve been trying to pay attention to it. It’s also the one that scares me most because I was job hunting when I got burnt out in February. But maybe this is exactly why it’s worth considering?

There is a lot of uncertainty I’m facing in my life right now. But despite the occasional discomfort, I’m no longer desperate to have everything figured out right away. I know this will take time. It’s a journey, after all.

Even if I don’t yet know who I am or what I’m meant to do in my life, I know it will all turn out well—as long as I continue making space for what truly matters to me.

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It’s Linart. I’m back.

The last time I wrote for my newsletter was back in May. At the time, I just came back from a break and I was hoping to regain some momentum. But while I wanted to keep writing, it seemed like life had other plans for me.

I was applying for a new job last June and got an offer. While I was getting ready to move to Manila, I decided to change my mind and decline the offer. The emotional weight of that decision required me to take another break, one that lasted for three months where I spent some time reflecting while living my usual life.

Now that I’ve recovered, I found a new kind of energy that’s inspiring me to create again. I want to go back to sharing what I’ve been learning as I try to live a good life in my 20s.

A new kind of success

These past few months really made me reflect on who I want to be. I realized I don’t want to be someone who is successful in the traditional sense, chasing prestigious titles and impressive awards. I’m not aiming to have a fancy house and a fancy car, wearing fancy clothes made for fancy people. The kind of person I want to be isn't defined by achievements, but by how much I enjoy what I'm doing, how well I show up for others, and how authentic I’ve been living my life.

So I’ve been moving away from the default path and have been exploring a new one.

When I graduated two years ago, I took a marketing role despite my background being in mathematics. This opened my eyes to new ways of living that I never thought of before. I kept reading stories from people who carved their own paths, particularly 's "The Pathless Path.” I was inspired by how much freedom and discovery came into his life once he left his consulting job in the US and moved to Asia. He did admit that he was making much less money than in his previous job, but he now has more space to experiment, wander, travel around the world, spend time with his daughter, and write his newsletter, which he says is work he genuinely enjoys doing and would want to continue for a long time.

To me, that is a life more appealing than the usual promises of climbing the corporate ladder and achieving financial success.

It’s not about the money anymore

I've always been skeptical of the status quo because it's shaped entirely by culture and society, not by what I truly want deep inside. I don't want to work hard just for the sake of making more money. Running my tutorial programs last year helped me earn about ₱80,000 per month if my earnings are combined with my salary. But I honestly didn’t feel like my life was drastically different because of it. I loved how earning money allowed me to support my family better and occasionally travel to meet friends. But at the end of the day, I know there is something else I want that can’t be fulfilled by a number in my bank account.

I can't deny I still desire money and recognition sometimes, but I won't let them take control of my life anymore. I'm more interested in living a life where I get to decide my own goals and ambitions.

I think the ultimate goal for me really is to find my good work. The kind of work that makes me feel alive. The kind of work that I’m willing to do even if I’m not rewarded with likes, money, or subscribers. Right now, I have no idea what that is. I often find myself feeling lost.

Sure, I might have time to explore, but what exactly should I do with this time? What is the plan? What should be my next step?

I’m prone to overthinking things, but I’ve learned that I can't figure things out just by thinking. Even if I don’t know what my good work is yet, I just need to keep trying things out.

Trying out creative experiments

My current strategy is simple: follow the trail of curiosity.

After two months of trying this approach, I still haven’t found a definitive answer to what my good work is, but I’ve already learned so much about myself. I now know that I love discovery, and I remember that as a kid, it’s the one thing that has always lit a spark in my eyes. I enjoy the energy of finding out what could happen if I try this or that, like the time I mixed eggs with Milo, a kind of chocolate powder, because I thought it would be cool to make chocolate-flavored eggs. The outcome didn't turn out so well, but that experiment tells me exactly the kind of person I am. I’m learning to cultivate more of that energy as an adult.

This philosophy of “follow your curiosity and try things out” has led me to experiment with creativity and different ways of living.

I recently committed to a publishing challenge on Substack, posting Notes every day for the past 34 days. You can find my brain dumps and thought journals here as I look forward to continuing the challenge this August:

"Let me see your ideas"

I find that this challenge is a good stretch for me because I’m forced to lower the bar for my writing. I think this helped me go back to writing this newsletter.

I also had a recent conversation with , former Head of Commercial Operations for Ali Abdaal. We nerded out on the creative economy and our personal projects. Eventually, we talked about the challenges we want for August: me going back to writing my newsletter and Bhav joining the publishing challenge.

I felt nervous about the challenge and at the same time excited because I knew I wanted to go back, but always feared that I’m not yet ready. Bhav initially gave me time to think through it, but before our call ended, she literally gave me 15 minutes to decide whether I'd write for my newsletter again. “No overthinking,” she said.

I was like, "Oh my God, 15 minutes is crazy.” But I felt it was a good kind of pressure. Ten minutes later, I told her I’m gonna do it, and that’s the main reason you’re reading this post. She also committed to the publishing challenge, so we’re now keeping each other accountable.

I've tried out other experiments too. Lately, I’ve been doing my daily logs again to record some reflections at the end of my day. I simply ask myself three questions: what went well, what didn't, and what would I do differently next time. I also switched from digital to pen and paper. Since writing takes more time, I'm forced to only capture what’s most important.

I’ve also been creating YouTube playlists of anime soundtracks from shows I love. I made one with my favorite OSTs from Haikyuu, and I’ve been listening to this playlist while focusing at work or during tough workouts. Right now I’m working on a relaxing playlist featuring music from Your Name, Your Lie in April, Quintessential Quintuplets, Teasing Master Takagi-San, and One Piece. This project got me revisiting anime scenes I haven’t watched in a while, so I found that to be a nice bonus.

Treating my creativity with the respect it deserves

I'm learning to treat my creative acts more seriously because I feel that this is the kind of work I actually want to do. I don’t see them as mere hobbies, but as important work that helps me live a richer life. I'm not always sure if I want to commit to a specific type of creating—whether that’s writing, making playlists, or something else—but I'm determined to keep experimenting to see what sticks.

All of this exploration has brought me to a place I never expected. I’m much happier here, but it’s far from perfect. I still have old patterns shaping my actions and familiar desires nagging at me.

For one, I still wish I could make more money. I wish I could travel more. I wish I already figured out what is the work that makes me feel most alive.

I'm making less money now compared to last year because I stopped my tutoring programs, and my salary has only increased by 7.5% since I started at my company. But what’s interesting to me is that beyond the finances, I’m actually more satisfied in most areas of my life. I’ve gained so much from my personal projects and the relationships I’ve been nurturing over the years. I find this to be so valuable that it outweighs any frustrations I might have about money or other things I wish I had. Sure, it would be great to travel anytime I want or double my salary, but I think I'll be fine as I am now.

A new ambition is awakening inside of me and still slowly growing. I’m motivated to follow this energy and create something with it.

Man, it feels really good to be back.

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If you’d like to read about learning to love yourself:

These are the big decisions I’m thinking about: Should I quit my job? Should I go on a sabbatical? Should I try scaling my tutoring business?

I spent the last few weeks trying to make sense of these decisions. The best way to do this, I thought, is by asking, “What is the need I’m trying to get from these decisions?” The answer came to me during therapy. As surprising as it may sound, what’s actually behind this desire to blow up my life is my fundamental need to feel seen and loved by my father.

I want to quit my job because I don’t feel like I’m being seen at work. Since I’m working remotely, I’m the only team member who doesn’t go to the office and so I started feeling isolated. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy my work.

I want to go on a sabbatical because I want to leave home. Not because I’m mad at my parents, but because I want to be my own person and be less dependent on them for my needs, both physically and emotionally.

I want to scale my tutoring business because, well, I want to earn more money. When I ran the numbers, I found that I’d need ₱350,000 ($6,300) budget for a 3-month sabbatical.

These realizations made it clear to me that what I actually want is to move out and learn to live independently. Ideally, I want to be in a place where I’m surrounded by a community who could make me feel loved and appreciated.

While this sounds more simple, it still isn’t easy. I find myself asking more questions, like: How do I find the income to sustain living somewhere else? Where do I even live? And how do I find work that I can enjoy doing?

I started feeling stuck again. I don’t feel happy with where I am, and each passing day is quietly draining me more and more.

So what could I do?

How to reframe for a better life

This is what I learned from Derek Sivers: For every story that you tell yourself, there is always another version.

Back in high school, I used to think that all the girls who left me were bad people. I believed they liked me, so when they suddenly ghosted me, I couldn’t understand why. I started telling myself that they were just emotionally immature people. But now that I’m older, I realize I was pretty immature myself. Framing them as bad people was just my way of protecting myself from feeling hurt.

So what’s the lesson here? Our stories, memories, and beliefs are not always true. The mind likes to pick single moments and extract only what’s relevant to tell the stories we want to tell ourselves. This might sound like a bad thing, but I think it can actually be useful.

In a recent session, I told my therapist how heavy and difficult my current situation is. And maybe that’s true. But she also reminded me of the wonderful things in my life right now.

I have an income that allows me to go on a solo trip to see my friends. My brother is finally graduating next week. And I can be proud of this milestone because I helped support his education.

I’m living a good life and a hard life. Both can be true at the same time.

I find it silly how I was only focusing on the struggles. But now, I have a perspective that feels more inspiring. So I started wondering, what if I could also reframe my other beliefs into a version that’s more useful to me?

Here’s an experiment I tried to achieve this:

1. Write down beliefs you deeply believe in or hold closely as part of your story.

2. Choose one that you’d like to reframe.

3. Reflect on these questions:

   • Why do I believe this is true?

   • How might this not be true?

   • How can I reframe this in a way that is useful to me right now?

   • If I believed in this reframe instead, how would my day/life look like?

You can do this as many times as you like. In my case, I chose three that resonated with me:

• My most important need cannot be met while I’m living at home.

• If I’m not in the mood to do something, doing it won’t feel fun.

• It will take me a lot of time and effort to write a piece I’m comfortable publishing.

I picked the first because it’s related to my big decisions. The second was blocking my personal projects. And the third felt important because I want writing to feel lighter and more enjoyable, so I can share more of my stories.

Here’s how the experiment went for me.

1/ My most important need cannot be met while I’m living at home

Why do I believe this is true?

• I learned from therapy that being seen and loved by Papa is still my number one need of all time. I’ve started seeing him express his love in the ways he knows how (buying me food, helping me solve problems, driving for me when I travel), but I’m still trying to accept that he can’t express it in the ways I need him to (words of affirmation, emotional presence).

• Part of how this need can be met is by being surrounded with good friends. The problem is that most of them are not in Catbalogan, so I don’t really see them a lot. And thus, I believe I can’t have my needs met while I stay at home.

• I feel the pain of isolation and loneliness while I’m staying at home. The deep yearning to connect and feel seen by others is real.

How might this not be true?

• Actually, I remember during the pandemic I was able to connect with friends despite staying at home for two years. Why was I okay back then? Because I was always finding ways to connect with people. I was chatting with batchmates about homework, problem sets, and exams that make us wanna rip our hair off. There were online communities that were active at the time, so I get to interact with my friends regularly.

• Most of my friends are not in Catbalogan, but it doesn’t mean I can’t make friends while I’m staying here. I can meet and talk to new people.

• Yes, it’s hard to make friends without organic communities (e.g. active group chats, social events, online classes). But there are communities I can try joining that I haven’t explored yet. Maybe I can try attending the writing sessions with Write of Passage alumni? Or maybe I can explore Discord groups? Or join a cohort-based course?

• I haven’t yet tried being more proactive in connecting with my friends. Before, I used to have 10+ messages in my inbox every morning because of classes and orgs, so I get to interact with all kinds of people. What if I start reaching out more often?

How can I reframe this in a way that is useful to me right now?

• No matter where I am in the world, there are people who can make me feel seen and loved.

If I believed in this reframe instead, how would my day/life look like?

• This might mean I’d chat with friends more often. I might send kind messages when I remember someone I appreciate.

• I would try calling the people I’m closest to more often. I’d be making the effort to connect with them instead of only doing it every once in a while. I could have fun and meaningful conversations despite the interaction being online. I might even try scheduling regular catch up calls if they’re open!

• I might try volunteering in my city to interact with more people. I might find a community I can belong to while I’m staying here. What if I apply as a part-time intern at a local business, even if I have to work for free?

• I would express my needs more openly to Eyang, so she can help fill my cup.

• I would spend more time bonding with my siblings and having more conversations with them. Trying to make the effort to get to know them like I would a friend.

2/ If I’m not in the mood to do something, doing it won’t feel fun

Why do I believe this is true?

• I have a history of pushing myself to exhaustion. Even when it feels incredibly difficult or the task is starting to feel painful, I’ve been able to keep grinding and still get things done.

• Doing this for over 5 years, I kept burning out. It isn’t fun, and I don’t want to experience it again.

• I struggle remembering a time when grinding felt enjoyable. It felt relieving at the end because I made progress, but the fact that I feel relief and not aliveness is saying a lot.

How might this not be true?

• I don’t need to grind or push myself to the brink of exhaustion. I can just try doing something for like 15 minutes and I can stop when it doesn’t feel good by then.

• There was a time I tried an experiment to activate flow on command. Rian Doris, a flow researcher, suggested starting a task within a minute of waking up. So one morning, I began writing right away. At first, I felt groggy. But I kept going anyway. After about 15 minutes, I got into a rhythm. The words started to flow naturally, and it actually felt pretty fun.

• Back in college, I had to wake up earlier than usual to attend morning classes. The grogginess would always get to me, and I couldn’t pay attention well enough even if I wanted to. It didn’t feel good, and all I wanted was to go back to sleep. But in some math class, my teacher would present a theorem with an interesting perspective. I remember feeling my eyes light up every time. I was eager to know the proof.

• Writing this essay wasn’t fun at the start. I was feeling a bit sleepy after walking under the hot sun to arrive at King Bean Cafe. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to write, but after listening to a Derek Sivers podcast and just writing a couple words, I discovered something interesting while writing. It was a new perspective that made me go, “Wow, I never thought of it that way before.” I had an alarm set for 25 minutes because I treated it as a pomodoro session, but I kept going even after the alarm rang. I got into a flow, and writing felt fun.

• I never know what I might find when I do something even when I’m not in the mood. This is a great motivator for me because I enjoy discovering something I’ve never seen, heard, or thought of before.

How can I reframe this in a way that is useful to me right now?

• When I do something even if I don’t feel like it, I always discover something fun or interesting.

If I believed in this reframe instead, how would my day/life look like?

• I would start doing things more often. I will try doing something for a couple minutes and it might suck at first, but I will stay long enough to see something interesting arrive.

• I feel like if I follow this belief, I can actually find more joy in my work. Because I get to discover more things. For example, doing this exercise and writing this essay has shifted some beliefs I hold onto for a long time.

• There may be times when I do something for a couple minutes and still feel the suck. When that happens, I would just quit. By the end of it, I would have learned something anyway. I wonder why I didn’t enjoy it this time? How do I want to change my approach in the future? In that way, I never really lose lol. The game is rigged in my favor.

3/ It will take me a lot of time and effort to write a piece I’m comfortable publishing

Why do I believe this is true?

• Every time I’ve tried to write before, it always took me more than a day. Usually, it might take a week to get a good piece of writing out, one that I can be happy and satisfied with.

• All of the times I tried writing for the sake of publishing were painful and hard. I don’t remember a time when it felt fun and easy.

• My initial ideas aren’t good enough usually, and I usually criticize my work because of it. Because of this, I have to spend a long amount of time polishing my work.

• All the other writers I know spend time writing and so if they have trouble with it, I probably would too since I’m not a pro writer.

• The things I say, especially at the start, don’t feel compelling or valuable enough so I feel like just deleting it and rewording and restructuring the writing.

• When I read the essays I like, they all feel like they were crafted with care. Every word seemed polished. And the longer somebody wrote a piece, the higher the quality of the writing.

How might this not be true?

• I’ve never tried publishing much shorter than I would have liked. All my essays seemed to be filled with big ideas and they’re often more than one.

• Whenever I chat with friends, what I say isn’t usually polished and I tend to go in tangents. But they always pick up something valuable anyway. What I’m saying is useful because I’m sharing what feels true to me at the moment.

• I know Ali Abdaal doesn’t spend much time in writing his newsletters before. He was just sharing what felt most useful and relevant to him at the time.

• I very much enjoy reading Ali’s newsletter posts even if they weren’t as polished because they feel more human and honest.

How can I reframe this in a way that is useful to me now?

• My writing is most valuable when I offer only what is honest to me right now.

If I believed in this reframe instead, how would my day/life look like?

• This might mean I can write whatever I want, whenever I want. There is no pressure at all to share something valuable, just something honest.

• I start valuing the here and now. When I write about what is present, I don’t look for anything outside of my current capacity. I don’t need to do research, or write about a topic where I don’t have much to say. I can only offer what I can give right now. And that feels more freeing and more inviting to me because there is no need to impress or pretend to be somebody I am not.

• My writing becomes more valuable to me. When I share exactly what feels honest and true, I get a view of what my inner world actually looks like. What matters to me. What resonates. I get to cultivate my taste, and see it for what it is. I get to recognize myself more, which I do think is important.

• On the other hand, I’m pretty sure some subscribers will go away. I might lose people who are not that interested. But hey, I think the people who have been following my story would love a less filtered view of my life. I personally would like that for the other writers I admire. Getting to know someone, and seeing them for who they are. I think the world would be a much better place if we express more of who we are.

It’s useful to notice

The reframes I created are not necessarily true. That’s the point. Reframing isn’t about being right. It’s about choosing a perspective that’s useful.

Take my second reframe, for example: “When I do something even if I don’t feel like it, I always discover something fun or interesting.” It’s not always true. But it’s useful to me because I tend to do the opposite (not doing something when I’m not in the mood).

There’s a risk that I could slip back into the hustle culture route if I push myself too much. And if that happens, the reframe might stop being useful. But that’s okay. I don’t have to hold on to it forever. I can just reframe it again if I want to.

What I love most about the experiment is that it’s already helped me. I was able to publish again. Lately, I’ve been having trouble with writing, mostly because I feel scared about burning myself out again, like I did after writing 33 weekly essays and needing a 6-month break. But this time, I was surprised to see it doesn’t have to be so hard after all.

And then in my career, I’m currently in the final stages of applying for a consulting role. There are many factors I’m considering, and one of them is the cost of moving to Metro Manila. When I asked some of my friends, I found that it would likely incur an additional P20,000 to P40,000 ($350 to $700) in monthly expenses. I’m not sure if the job offer could cover that, so I started worrying I might not be able to move out soon.

That’s why reframing my current situation as “I can have my needs met no matter where I am in the world” is incredibly useful to me. It gives me comfort that I’ll be okay even if I stay at home. I think I do still want to move out, but I don’t feel the same pressure and urgency anymore.

That said, I had a lot of fun doing the reframing exercise. There are more beliefs I‘d like to challenge, but I feel satisfied for now. After all, I got to publish this piece and I feel myself changing already.

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The idea behind this essay came from Derek Siver’s latest book, “Useful, Not True.” I bought myself a physical copy because: 1) I love Derek Sivers, and 2) I value the idea of reframing especially at a time when it’s important to adapt to changes.

If you’d like to buy the book, you can buy your own copy here (not an affiliate link): https://sive.rs/u

Thanks for being here!

• 💌 Send me an email if you’d like to reach out or ask a question. I make the effort to reply to every message.

• 💙 Share this post to friends who might enjoy reading this.

• 🌱 Book a call to connect with me. The world would be a better place if we can learn from each other: https://calendly.com/linart/connect

If you’d like to read about another experiment:

📰 Where to Live by

• “I cannot tell you where to live because—aside from only living in one place myself—I do not know what you value.”

• “But it is worthwhile to think of your ideal life, what you want and when, and work backwards from there, and thinking of it often.”

  The Map is Mostly Water

  Where to Live

  disjoint thoughts…

  Read more

  6 years ago · 73 likes · 5 comments · Simon Sarris

📰 Reflections by Sam Altman

• Sam Altman and OpenAI started ChatGPT in Nov 2022. The product started to boom sometime around early 2023, which tells you how fast the company has grown. This puts a lot of perspective on how fast developments may happen in the future in the AGI world. They had to face a lot of ambiguity, and Sam even got fired.

• To me, what resonates most is how Sam talked about the struggles and how they dealt with uncertain times. For example, on a Friday afternoon, he said seven things would already go wrong by 1pm.

• The price for greatness and legacy is high. How much are you willing to pay?

Sat, May 3

🌱 Hosting my own webinar

• This felt like a big project when I first had the idea, but surprisingly the whole process felt light and easy. I really took my time doing this. Not forcing anything. Following only what feels right to me.

• Ran a survey before and still paid attention to what felt right to me, even when my audience had a different preference.

• I felt a lot of resistance along the way. Like I wanted to work on it, but my body didn’t want to. I realize I just needed to stay in integrity so I can keep going.

• Lesson: Do what feels right. Don't force yourself even when you need to leave opportunity on the table.

• I gained high energy working on the webinar because I delayed doing it. And when I did it, I didn't do what felt sucky.

• I approached it the way I want to approach it. Even when posting on FB, I worked with ChatGPT to figure out what I truly want first instead of giving a sales-y self-promotion post. The result made me feel good.

• I think if I stick to what feels good, I might be okay even if no one shows up. Sure it might suck to see that, but I think I’ll be okay knowing I followed what felt fun to me.

Fri, May 2

🌱 Posts #3 and #4 on Facebook, For Limitless

• Did some more light editing today with cuts on pauses (learned from Ali's Part Time YT Foundations), and I sped up the video by 10%. Might keep a bit more silence in some cuts for emphasis.

• I refined the captions as well and I think they're a lot better now.

• Ideas flow in once I have an iteration, so I think the goal for me is to just keep them coming.

💼 Third Interview, Consulting Associate role

• Third interview where I was just being myself, and it went great again! No pressure to perform, wasn't trying to achieve a specific outcome.

• Ended up having a genuine and curious conversation with the director — even managed to learn a ton because of it.

Thu, May 1

🌷 Discovering the unconscious in therapy

• Talking with my therapist helped me realize I unconsciously avoid confronting authority figures, making it hard for me to express my needs. We recognized it's tied to Papa always being mad when I expressed my needs as a child.

• Interestingly, I unconsciously forget my memories sometimes about being upset at authority figures because of fear (and choose to direct my attention to other people instead).

• And today, the resistance and uneasiness I was feeling was actually coming from avoiding any anger towards Papa — because I'm now starting to feel his love more openly unlike before. And I wanted to protect that.

🌱 First posts on Facebook page

• Finally created my own Facebook page for Limitless. Posted 2 videos on how to solve problems.

• My belief is that a business thrives when it gives more to its customers than when it asks.

• Keeping it simple for now. I just took clips from session recordings and posted them with little to no editing.

• The important thing at the start, is simply to just start.

🌱 Three Lessons I Learned

1/ Skip the parts you don’t enjoy. My cousin skips episodes when watching a TV series. Sometimes, she’d go right at the end just to spoil herself. “Wow, and that works for you?” I asked her with surprise. She said it’s what makes her enjoy the story more.

Finishing a book in chronological order is how I learned to read. But this week, I tried reading only the chapters I found exciting, and completely skipping the rest. While reading “Good Work” by , for example, I thought the first few chapters on embracing the unknown were less relevant to me. So I jumped straight to Chapter 9 because the title, “Do What Feels Right”, felt intriguing. And I was right. You might even say I did what felt right. Paul talked about a stage in his life that felt closely synonymous to mine. I think it’s what inspired me to start writing again here.

This approach also feels a lot more nourishing to me. By giving myself permission to skip what I don’t enjoy, I’m freeing myself to explore and learn whatever captures my interest. And as a result, reading became more enjoyable. I no longer feel pressured to start (and finish) a book knowing I can only choose to read what feels good to me. I ended up spending more time reading books and essays.

2/ How can I enjoy this 10% more? There are tasks I hate doing, but have no other choice but to complete them. Every Monday, for example, I need to manually credit loyalty points to customers as part of my day job. It’s a manual task that’s repetitive and dull. And sometimes, I’d much rather stare at a wall than work on it.

There’s an experiment from Joe Hudson that I really love: Try to enjoy this moment just 10% more. You can even try it now if you like. Just feel it in your body, and allow yourself to enjoy this very moment just a little bit more.

If you’re like me, you might be surprised to notice that you can actually let yourself feel more joy, even if nothing changes externally. I’ve been doing this more often when I’m resisting something (like a task, a thought, or an emotion). This helped me notice that I hold a lot of tension in my body, and that’s probably why I feel a lot of resistance in the first place. This practice helps me ease and relax that tension.

Another thing I learned is recognizing what part about the task I can learn to love. Sometimes, no matter how I feel about the work, it doesn’t change the fact that I still need to do it anyway. So I’m choosing to enjoy it more often. As much as I dislike the manual task of crediting loyalty points, I do like the challenge of finding ways to make it easier for myself every week. That’s the part of it that I can enjoy.

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3/ Study the greats. I believe we’re now living in the age of infinite education. Anything you want to learn is now accessible online. Not just information, but incredible resources rich with knowledge and wisdom from remarkable people. Whenever I want to learn how to do something, I lean into searching for individuals who have done it well before. And then I carefully study what they did.

For example, I’m planning to relaunch my UPCAT test prep program this year, and I had this idea of running webinars to attract more students. When I launched the program last year, 70% of the sign ups came from a free session I hosted. It only made sense to me to double down on it this year, especially because it’s a marketing strategy I actually enjoy doing. The challenge for me, however, is how I can level up from last year.

I saw that Gagan Biyani and his company, Maven, are doing exactly what I envision for the webinars. They call it Lightning Lessons, and having joined some of these webinars, I personally enjoy the way they designed it. It’s free. It’s short—usually just 30 mins. And they teach lessons I wish I had learned earlier in my career. I spent one night watching a talk by , taking notes on what I love, what I hate, and what I wished to have seen in the session. Then I watched a few more afterwards. After the third episode, a pattern started to emerge, and I started seeing what makes their Lightning Lessons great.

💡 Two Curations I Enjoyed

1/ A week in the life of Daniel Dalen (h/t ). After pausing all my goals and projects last month, I’m beginning to feel ready to step out into the world again. I’m not feeling as motivated as I was before, so I’ve been borrowing inspiration from others in the meantime.

A great source of energy for me are the early vlogs of Daniel Dalen. He’s in his 20s traveling the world and building a business he’s excited about. He’s with a great team who he can have fun with. And… he has really good music taste. Not gonna lie, this is probably what drew me in.

2/ How to learn complex topics 10x faster with NotebookLM by . Learning on your own works great, but the experience is better when you have a companion. In the age of infinite education, you want to be able to cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. NotebookLM has helped me make that happen.

My favorite way to use it is compiling podcasts, books, and essays from someone I want to learn from, and I just ask it a bunch of questions to help me dive deeper. For example, I’ve been learning how to be more emotionally intelligent through Joe Hudson. In one podcast, Joe mentioned it’s important to enjoy what you do, in contrast to doing what you enjoy, and I was intrigued by the idea. I wanted to learn more. So I compiled several other podcast episodes, hoping Joe would talk more about the idea there. Then, I asked NotebookLM to search through all the 10+ episodes and focus only on the concept of “enjoying what you do.”

It shared snippets of what Joe actually said from different podcasts, and did it in only a few seconds, when normally it would take me hours to complete such a task. I thought that was really cool. And if that wasn’t cool enough, it could even create its own podcast episode focusing only on what you’d like to learn about. You even get to join in on the podcast!

I discovered NotebookLM thanks to . His essay describes other use cases and exactly how he applies them. I recommend checking it out if you’re interested.

🌷 One Thing I’m Thinking About

What if I stopped doing what I don’t enjoy? This year has been transformational for me. After working harder than I ever did last January, I burnt out and realized my ambition is no longer serving me. The discipline. The drive. They all served me in the past, especially as a student, but they turned into unhealthy habits that no longer fit the kind of life I want to live.

Part of this journey is discovering new ways of living I’ve never seen before. One of which is seeing that it’s possible to do good work without pain and struggle. The realization came to me while reading “Good Work.” Talking about his writing process, Paul told a story about writing for 30 minutes and feeling stuck along the way. I thought he would push through the struggle. After all, he cares about the craft and he’s good at it, too. But instead, he simply decided to stop writing. “I’m done for the day!” he declared as he got up from his seat.

This is different from my belief about meaningful work. When I’m focusing on a personal project, I’d often force myself to push through the struggle, especially if I see the work as something that’s important to me. That’s why I kept writing for 33 weeks last year, even when the writing felt painful. And that’s also why after the 33rd essay, I couldn’t bring myself to write again until 6 months later.

I missed the whole point of good work. My good work should serve me, not the other way around. So I started experimenting with this new mindset of not forcing myself to do things I don’t want to do, and to make more space for what I feel naturally drawn towards instead.

As much as the Lightning Lesson idea felt exciting, I decided to take my time with it. Taking just small, incremental steps to make progress. And I’m not even working on it everyday. This might mean missing out on some opportunities, and taking longer than I would have liked. But at this point in my life, I feel like this is the right thing to do.

Thanks for reading!

Some final notes from me:

• 💌 Send me a reply if you’d like to connect or ask a question. I do my best to always respond, and your message would make my day!

• 📊 Are you familiar with consulting work? I’m currently interviewing for a consulting associate role (😬) and the work sounds interesting, but I’d like to see the full picture. What’s fun about it? What sucks? What’s a typical day or week like?

• 💙 I want my writing to help me find others on similar paths. Did any of my stories resonate? Is there anything you’d like to share? I’d love to chat and learn from each other.

Final session of Limitless 2025

• Students did better than expected in the final mock exam. We had some mistakes in the questionnaire. A bit upset I wasn’t able to check properly because the workload was too heavy today at my job. But overall, everything still turned out pretty well.

• Exit survey showed students are happy about the tutorial program (received a 9.8 NPS from 60% of the class). Felt really proud of how much from the past 8 months paid off.

• Gave a final message during the session: 1) showing up is impressive, 2) you don't need to love math, and 3) you're capable of so much more than you realize.

• Learning: It's okay to own up to the mistakes. Students still felt satisfied in the end. We just needed to do what’s right. Aligned with my assistants, Nathan and Kenneth, to work on the corrections.

Tue, Apr 29

Talking to my manager about my struggles

• Was able to open up to my manager about how I feel at work: feeling like I don't belong, my work seems meaningless, I feel like they're disappointed.

• Instead of being disappointed, she helped me see how much we've actually progressed over the months. Even if we're not getting results yet, we are learning. And this is normal on a new project that’s not proven yet.

• I felt like I belonged afterwards. She made me feel like I’m important to the team (this is probably what helped me most). She also shared how she experienced something similar before in her early years, and that gave me a lot of perspective.

Sun, Apr 27

• Work anxiety kept creeping in this week, occupying my headspace almost constantly. Sleep was bad. My mind and body felt exhausted.

• Showed up for my tutorials anyway. Enjoyed the energy of the students, and I felt much calmer after. Can good work help cure work anxiety?

• Caught up with tonight and we both allowed each other to rant about our jobs. I felt so much better after. I felt seen, and less alone.

• A conviction I’m having: Connection could cure all problems.

Sat, Apr 26

• Published BM35. Enjoyed writing it because I wasn't forcing myself.

• Visited the first art cafe in Catbalogan. Looking at art is a meditative experience.

• Felt anxious about work again, and was contemplating about moving to a new role. I opened up to my parents about it, and Papa gave me advice to talk to my manager first. He's right. And I know this is the important first step.

Fri, Apr 25

Interview with Consulting Director

• Completed my 2nd interview and I passed the screening to proceed to the next one.

• Had to solve a business case: "Suppose the Head of Supply Chain is consulting with you. He's from an FMCG company, and wants to ensure their deliveries are on time with products in perfect condition. How would you handle the case?"

• I've never done consulting, so I didn't know how to approach it at first. I took 10 mins to come up with an answer, and felt good about it.

• Unlike most interviews I've had in the past, I didn't feel tense here. I wasn't trying to appear impressive nor was I trying to achieve a particular outcome. I was just being myself. Fully present in our conversation, and being honest about what I really think. Who knew being present would work way better than preparation?

Thu, Apr 24

Recognizing my courage

• I told my therapist what happened this week about me feeling burnt out at work. How scared I was about my managers being disappointed in me. And how I still did the work that needs to be done despite feeling scared.

• She told me that took courage, and was impressive.

• I didn't realize this could be seen as impressive. I think I don't recognize my courage enough. My therapist would give me such kind words before, but I always struggled to receive them. I'd usually deny compliments, but this time, I took a moment to receive.

Spent the morning rereading The Pathless Path

• “According to Callard, people on aspirational journeys, , or what I call the pathless path, are ‘characteristically needy people.’ Because their worldviews are incomplete and evolving, they are dependent on the support of other people.” (Ch. 6, Loc 1127)

• I thought of the idea that writing could be my way of finding the others. It's making me think more deeply about what writing means to me, and what kind of writing feels right. It’s giving me a new kind of energy for continuing these daily logs as well.

Grief over what's to come

• At lunch, I felt myself tearing up a bit as I talked to Papa, and Mama was preparing food. I felt myself already grieving this life, anticipating the moments with my parents that I might have to let go of if I make a big decision to move out.

• This is the first time I felt a strong conviction to finally start a new life. Although I don't know whether I need to leave home or not, my body is already telling me a change is bound to happen. Feeling grief is probably how I'm letting myself prepare for what's to come.

Wed, Apr 23

Funnel Analysis, Report to CEO

• Presented a report I spent 3 days working on in only 15 mins. I think there's room to improve for me. Spent most of my time doing analyses on parts that are less relevant to us.

• Might have been better if I began with the outcome we wanted to achieve, then work on the framing of the story to present.

• Also could have focused directly on the core decision points while presenting since we’re out of time when I started. No need to present all the insights.

Tue, Apr 22

• Felt a heavy dose of burnout. Worked overtime until 11pm because I need to finish a funnel analysis to be reported the next day.

• Note to self this is something I never want to do again.

Sun, Apr 20

• Personal Thought: Read only what's interesting. Finishing a book even if I didn't read all of it.

• Limitless: 30 sessions. 30 Weeks. 8 months of teaching Calculus.

Sat, Apr 19

Started doing Daily Logs

• I was reading Austin Kleon’s “Show Your Work” and I think it was the final push to help me get started.

• I was thinking of starting this tomorrow since it’s 9:30pm now, but I read a passage from the book which said, “Don’t say you don’t have enough time.” And that hit me pretty hard lol. Like there’s actually no reason I couldn’t start tonight if I want to. So I opened my laptop, found inspiration in how other people are doing their logs, and here we are…

• I’ve been wanting to document my work for many weeks now. There’s definitely a part where I’m doing this to build a community or gain a following and all that normal human stuff. But there is also this desire to simply capture what I’m thinking and feeling over time. When I’m a little older, I imagine I’ll thank myself for giving me the chance to remember all this.

Explored Auren as an AI coach / therapist / emotionally intelligent friend

• Auren is a pretty cool AI app. Feels a bit dystopian, but I’ve been enjoying playing around with it. It got me really curious about how AI apps will evolve over time. It definitely feels more human than most AI apps (even ChatGPT couldn’t match it) and it works as a great companion, but it doesn’t replace human connection by a long shot.

• It works great as a sparring partner, and it’s helped me step back when I’m getting too deep in my thoughts. For example, instead of providing me accurate answers, it was able to recognize that what I needed was simply to allow what is here. It was definitely what I needed to remember.

• Will try to keep exploring when I have ideas or thoughts I need to get clarity on.

My hands are sweating as I write this note, nervous about how it will be received once it’s sent out. But then again, just being able to share this essay and learning everything I learned while writing it is already its own reward.

So thank you for considering to read my work. May you find something you can carry with you as you move forward.

“Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.”

—Marcus Aurelius

The problem with self-care is that it’s often portrayed as doing what feels good. As if the best way to take care of yourself is by lighting scented candles, going on vacation, or ending work early to watch a feel-good movie.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to relax or do what you enjoy. But I’ve come to realize that real self-care isn’t about feeling better. It’s about becoming better. And that takes discipline.

Discipline to consistently do what you know you need to do. Because that, in itself, is a form of self-love. Love for the person you are becoming, and love for the person you are meant to be.

Loving yourself, then, might look different from how our culture often portrays it. It’s not always fun, and it’s not always easy.

Loving yourself might mean getting up early even when you don’t feel like it. It might mean pushing through a workout even when you’re already tired. It might mean putting in extra hours on a side project after an exhausting day at work.

Loving yourself is choosing the hard thing today so that tomorrow will be easier.

Marcus Aurelius makes a great point in the quote above: You can only love yourself when you learn to love your nature and what it demands of you. And for us human beings, that means fulfilling our duties to others and to ourselves.

But what does fulfilling your duty have to do with loving yourself?

It is the foundation of self-love. Because that’s how self-respect is formed.

Respect always comes before love. You can never truly love someone if you don’t respect them first. Before you can say you love your parents, you must know deep down that you respect them. The same goes for your friends, your siblings, your significant other. And the same goes for yourself.

Self-respect is earned by doing hard things consistently. There’s a reason we admire Olympic medalists, bestselling authors, and Nobel prize winners. They set out to do what most people wouldn't, and they worked at it harder than most ever will. They made the difficult choices, and in return, were rewarded with respect, both from others and from themselves.

In contrast, it’s difficult to respect someone who always takes the easy way out. I didn’t realize how little I respected myself until I admitted all the ways I had chosen the easy path in life.

I’d stay warm under my blankets instead of starting my day. I’d answer messages instead of working on my projects. I’d watch YouTube videos instead of completing a tough workout.

I thought avoiding the struggle was my way of taking care of myself, but I was really just protecting myself from the pain. Like a father who won’t let his son experience the world because he’s afraid he might get hurt. But we all know the lesson that Nemo’s dad had to learn. I just didn’t realize I had to learn it too—long before becoming a parent.

So how do you actually develop self-respect? By consistently keeping your promises. I recently read a beautiful essay by that captures this perfectly:

“[Self-respect] requires that we honour our commitments and uphold our moral principles practically. It requires that we repeatedly do what we say we will do.”

She further explains:

“You develop your self-respect when you say you’ll wash the dishes, start to wash the dishes, and observe yourself finish washing the dishes. You develop your self-respect when you say you’ll do the assignment, write the assignment, and observe yourself submit the assignment. You develop your self-respect when you say you’ll spend more time with the kids, set out the time to play with the kids, and observe yourself play with the kids.

This is why self-respect is not something that can be granted to us by others—it is built through action, and a deep and personal accountability to oneself.”

Respect comes before love, and self-respect is earned by honoring your commitments. Maybe self-love isn’t just about being kind to yourself. Maybe it begins simply by keeping the promises you make to yourself.

How I’m Taking Action

The approach I'm currently taking is rather simple, and is connected closely to the final sentence of my essay: Be consistent in keeping the promises you make to yourself.

Here’s an example. This year, I set a goal to become the strongest I’ve ever been. This requires showing up three or four times a week for a real workout. Not just yoga or stretching, which I’ve been more comfortable with. But an actual full-body workout.

I knew I didn’t need to start out strong, as ironic as it may sound. The promise I made to myself was to keep showing up first. To develop the habit and start seeing myself as someone who regularly works out. Because before I can be strong, I first need to be someone who makes the effort to become strong.

Knowing myself, though, I expected that I’d struggle to follow through when life got in the way. There might be a big project at work or maybe I’m just not in the mood to sweat it out. This is exactly what happened last year when I tried the same thing. And it happened again last month.

I tried all kinds of hacks and techniques, from designing my environment to planning an ideal weekly routine. None of it seemed to work for me. What did help, however, was giving myself more accountability. And I’ve been doing it in two ways.

1/ The accountability mirror

I got this idea from reading Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins. Basically, you place sticky notes on your mirror to remind yourself of the goals and promises you’ve made.

At first, I didn’t believe in it. It seemed silly, and I wondered what my mom would think if she saw my bathroom mirror covered in post-its. But I eventually gave it a shot and tried it out for a week.

And it worked.

Seeing those reminders first thing in the morning sets the tone for my entire day. Having a small nudge helps clear my mind of distractions and keeps me focused.

Looking at my goals, and then at myself, also reinforces the commitments I made. It’s hard to break a promise to yourself when you can see where you are now and imagine where you could be if you just keep going.

2/ Progress Trackers

I’m a big believer in data tracking. And no, it doesn’t have to be high-tech or complicated. I’ve been using physical trackers since 2021, and nothing has made it easier for me to monitor my progress.

Now that I got more comfortable with tracking, I started doing Focus Logs on a Google Sheet. This idea was inspired by Ali Abdaal, and you can watch him talk about it here.

Basically, whenever you work on an important task, you log it in a sheet and record how long you worked on it. This doesn’t include meetings or replying to email or any sort of admin work.

This works well for me because it reveals how much time I’m actually dedicating to meaningful work. When I first tried it last month, I was surprised that I was logging less than 4 hours a day despite feeling like I was working from morning until night.

Seeing my metrics keeps me accountable and helps me stay grounded in reality. I can’t make excuses when the numbers are right in front of me. The only thing I could do is adjust my actions to get better results.

🌷 what i’ve been up to:

• I got my PR in focus hours this week (36.2 hrs), but I think I overworked myself… it’s about time to dial things down a bit.

• Finished reading Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins (gave it a 4/5 review). Skipped the final two chapters because it started feeling less relevant. Sometimes, you just need to recognize when to give up on a book.

• Started reading Shoe Dog again. Phil Knight is an amazing storyteller.

• I could never stay consistent with workouts last year, but now I’m on a 3-week streak!

🌱 quote i’m thinking about:

Pixar’s number one rule of storytelling:

“You admire a character for trying more than their successes.”