Life is short. Avoid BS.

I mean, we all are going to die at some point. Death is an abstract concept for the type of people privileged enough to read online blog posts: it’s far away and not important right now.

But it’s coming. And I’ve been thinking a lot about living the rest of my life more intentionally.

I never had a plan for my life. Except for a few big decisions (like marrying my wife, best decision I ever made), I just went with the flow. And although this (lack of) strategy has worked out well for me so far, I’m realizing that being intentional about the day-to-day matters just as much as the big moves.

We spend so much of our lives at work. And it's easy to get swept away in our jobs, because it's surrounded by noise. We talk more about doing work than actually working. Knowledge work is mostly theater: unnecessary meetings, sending messages, making slide decks, politics, bureaucracy, and reacting with emojis. I’m drained by the time I have to build something, the part of work I love.

Unfortunately, some amount of theater at work is necessary.

I want to replace as much performative work as I can with craft work. Work that matters. Work that improves lives. Life’s too short to waste on putting things out into the world you’re not proud of or excited about.

I recognize that working on things you love is a privilege. A lot of us are enduring just enough nonsense to earn a paycheck. But you can still design well the tiniest bits of what you do control.

Craft should be protected.

Because not designing your life means letting someone else design it for you.

And because time passes the same no matter what you do with it.

Avoid BS.

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P.S. This week's thought was inspired by Paul Graham's "Life is Short" and watch AJ&Smart's recent rebrand video. Go read/watch it. You'll have a lot less tolerance for performative work.

P.P.S. I think of this comic every year on my birthday and it gives me a good chuckle. I find it amusing that we celebrate people managing to stay alive for another year. It’s the bare minimum. But I do celebrate them. My grandfather had a tiny notebook where he jotted down every family member’s birthday so he could remember to wish them every year. I try to honor his tradition.

P.P.P.S. Birthdays are a time for reflection for me. This year, I’m pretty sure I’m past the halfway mark of my life. I wonder when my deathday will be. Will it be on a Friday? Will it be in the fall? Will I die in the afternoon? The time is scheduled. It’s just not on my calendar.

P.P.P.P.S. I actually love life. Remembering death grounds me (ha), and makes me appreciate every moment of life even more. So I believe in self-preservation: I take my vitamins, apply sunscreen, and wear my seatbelt. And if you’ve ever been a part of my life, I’d want you to preserve yourself too.