When I reached the position where money was no longer the primary thing I optimized for, the question became… If not for escape or survival, what are you playing the game for?
After spending some time listless, I saw the importance of basing goals on progress rather than set points. Progress is happiness.
Then I came by the idea of having a Flywheel Purpose Statement and made mine:
Achieve meaningful daily progress in personal agency, net worth and health — including exercise and nutrition — core relationships and projects and influence, while being grounded in mindfulness, engaging in continuous learning and ensuring time for recovery, fun, with time for regular reflection and constant, rapid experimentation.
Having a guiding statement is great but it’s what came next that made the difference. I pulled out each part; such as personal agency, exercise, nutrition and so on… Then added each to my daily review—as daily scorecard where I rate these.
There’s a 1-to-4 score for each category. If it’s less than a four, then I’m forced to answer “What would make it a four?” This takes a lot of brain power each day — but it’s worth it.
You’ll become more conscious of how things are going and if you need to make changes.
This forms a tight feedback loop. Which is the same reason why daily reviews are powerful.
