What should I never allow ordinary life to crowd out?

1. Feeling fully alive.

This comes before work.

I think of being on top of Alta or Snowbird, skiing or hiking. My energy and charisma are 10x higher on a mountain than inside my house.

This makes environment + movement + nature absolute necessities in my life, not recreational bonuses.

A life that is intellectually productive but physically flat is the wrong life for me.

2. Extraordinary people and deep connection.

I don't need hundreds of friends. I want certain people: builders and seekers, physically alive, spiritually curious, capable of going deep.

I want to make genuine, lasting friendships with people I truly like, respect and enjoy.

My writing, coaching, groups, projects and public presence aren't merely ways to reach people. They're mechanisms for finding my people.

Community isn't secondary to my mission. It is an essential part of the mission.

3. Bringing people to life.

I often sit at my laptop trying to create something that can bring other people to life or connect me more deeply to them.

I am most called to serve people who desire to help themselves.

I don't want to fix humanity one reluctant person at a time. I want to notice the person who is already reaching, see something they can't quite see, and provide the question, idea, encouragement or opening that lets the spark catch.

Think: catalyst, not rescuer. (If #3 resonates with you, let’s talk.)

4. Using my mind (and heart) to find the simple thing underneath the complicated thing.

There’s no single word I’ve found to describe what I do for others. The closest I’ve come is a formula: seeing + synthesizing + communicating

Building on other people's creativity. Magnifying their talents. Simplifying complex ideas without making them simplistic.

I notice something, often a relationship other people haven't noticed.

Then I express it in a form that another human being can actually use.

It might become an essay, conversation, framework, book, gathering or something we haven't invented yet.

The form is secondary. The act is the thing.

5. Exploring reality beyond its conventional boundaries.

I cherish intuition. I entertain guidance from sources conventional culture sometimes dismiss. I want head and heart, analysis and mystery. Our perception of separateness is fundamentally mistaken.

A life consisting solely of sensible, evidence-based, practical activities would eventually feel suffocating.

6. Putting my attention toward what I want to create.

Attention is my scarcest resource. Not money, subscribers or ideas. I have an almost unlimited supply of ideas. My danger is allowing fascinating, urgent or frightening things to consume attention that belongs somewhere higher.

I am trying to construct a life that keeps me maximally alive, surrounds me with remarkable people, keeps me physically vigorous and open to mystery, and gives me repeated opportunities to awaken something in other people.

My work should serve that life.

My life should not be sacrificed to the work.

I have five non-negotiables:

ALIVE
Am I regularly doing things that make me feel intensely alive?
PEOPLE
Am I surrounded by people I like, respect and want to know deeply?
BODY
Am I living in a way that makes me stronger, younger and more capable?
CREATE
Am I using my gifts to create things that illuminate, connect or awaken?
MYSTERY
Am I leaving enough space to notice what life, intuition and the universe may be trying to show me?

P. S. I developed these answers after a conversation with Ikigai Explorer.