Funnels and Distillation

Concentration, refinement, intensity, and freedom

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

A child befriends everybody. For them, it’s all about the quantity of experiences. An adult doesn’t; in their interactions, they play a game of intensity, not extensity.

I have many subscribers, but not all of them read my letters. I have come to deepen interactions with those who do, conversing on a range of issues, many going beyond what I write on here.

Some readers pay me, something that I’m truly grateful for. They read, they love what they read, and they say, “I want to see even more of this!”

We start by doing many jobs, and then we narrow down to the stuff that checks the boxes we find really crucial. Age tends to bring clarity regarding what boxes these are. Time elapses, and we start worrying about the end, and we become increasingly clear on what we want our lives to be about.

Personally, I want four things in a job: time, money, ownership, and flexibility. No job deserves too much of my time. If I’m good at something, pay me for the time I take to do it. I won’t produce what I won’t own; I don’t want to be an obscure entity in your organization. Yes, I want my name on what I create, and I’m not shy to say it. Lastly, I won’t add two hours of commute and attend a pointless meeting for what I can do in my living room; I won’t come to the office for what I can do at home.

Unlike many people, I am willing to reject the money if the job isn’t what I want and how I want it. I’ve never asked for anything I wasn’t worthy of, and I understand the costs of all my requests, and I’m always more than ready to bear them.

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Understand: you don’t look for ten things to have ten things.