Exile Lifestyle

As you learn about a topic or achieve proficiency with a skill, it can become intimidating to utilize that skill or learn more about that topic. I was an art student when I arrived at university, and spent my first…

I’m a big believer in the value of maintaining a beginner’s mindset. This concept can mean different things to different people, but to me, being a beginner means the unabashed embrace of the unknown, the frustration of things you can…

There’s a decent amount of evidence that geolocation—where we are any any given moment, physically—influences our state of mind. Our location in space can also stimulate our capacity to remember things. This effect is so potent that many champion memorizers…

For just about any industry you can imagine, there exist semi-formal trend cycles that seem to be sort of accurate at least part of the time. Fashion is probably the most visual and well-known of these cycles, with garment-professionals planning…

Perfect self-knowledge is a dot on the horizon that’s always in view but seldom seems to get any closer, no matter how rapid or ardent our pace. Unusual moments in time tend to amplify our propensity for navel-gazing, but for…

Growth is a process, not an act. Cultivation, too, is defined not by what we accomplish in any given moment, but how we iterate over time. Reminding myself of this, I find, helps me progress past the countless imperfections in…

Automation, outsourcing, and identifying and utilizing shortcuts are legitimate and—at times—marvelous means of achieving cumbersome goals. Some tasks can be unloaded onto software, triggered by if-then tripwires, and completed with the same or better quality as a human being could…

Today’s circumstances won’t last forever. Who we are, the way we live, the things we do—they’re all impermanent. The transient nature of everything can be panic-inducing, but there’s power in temporariness, even when it’s not always obvious or the first…

I’m not the best podcaster in the world, but I’ve produced nearly 250 episodes of one show and about 85 of another over the past four-ish years. I’m not the best writer in the world, but I’ve published a few…

What do I hope to achieve, here? Whether I’m traveling or holding still for a while, asking myself why I’m where I am and what ambitions I have for my time in that place helps ground me and reminds me…