Once you have reached financial independence, location independence, you retire, and have ample free time and leisure, the question is this:

What is the best way to use my time and life?

Some thoughts:

1. Photography and art-creation

Your impetus to create artwork. The camera as your primary tool.

2. Read great literature and philosophy

My best ideas have come from the ancients. Horace, Virgil (Aeneid), Homer (Iliad and Odyssey) for poetry, great imagery, and great words.

My favorite philosophers include Diogenes, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Nietzsche, Nassim Taleb, Demetrius, Epictetus, Epicirus, and most of the pre-socratic philosophers (philosophers who came before Socrates) such as Heraclitus, Empedocles.

3. Powerlifting

Build your muscles, and physical strength. Tons of fun to constantly increase your ‘one rep max’ in deadlift, squat, and dumbbell press. Even make a game to see how many consecutive chin-ups you can do in one go.

For myself, seeing my body physically get more muscular has been phenomenal. Muscles and physical strength don’t lie (physics). Easier to track your progress in gaining physical strength, than gaining ‘wisdom’ or ‘artistic prowess’.

4. Allow yourself to engage in ‘degenerate’ behavior

Allow yourself to do stupid ‘degenerate’ behaviors! Go to the arcade and play nonsensical games! Read tabloid magazines! See silly stuff on the TV.

My theory:

If you want to be more ‘productive’ and generate more, perhaps we must also become more DEGENERATE in some aspects of our lives.

5. Write

Think much, reflect much, and meditate much — then distill your thoughts into writing.

We all write (consider how many text messages and emails you send everyday). Why not just channel this writing to your own blog?

I like to type directly on my wordpress.org blog, or use IA WRITER on iPad or my MacBook laptop.

Why write? To me, writing is one of the best ways to distill your thoughts and ideas, and to effectively share them widely with others.

6. Just write it!

Berlin, 2014

I think generally our difficulty of writing is this:

We have been scared by our teachers to write.

We have been punished so much for our ‘bad’ writing. Honestly, I don’t think there is good or bad writing. I do prefer writing when it is clear. But ultimately I prefer writing which I feel is authentic — in which the writer isn’t using big and fancy thesaurus-words to ‘flex’ how smart and literate they are. I prefer writing which is simple, strong, and I can get a sense of the character and soul of the writer.

LA, 2019

In other words, write how you talk (in ‘real life’). Keep it conversational, and ultimately your purpose in writing is to better reveal to yourself your own thoughts and beliefs. That is what an ‘essay’ is (an ‘essay’ as an ‘assay’ or attempt to better understand an idea). We must think BEYOND the ridiculous 5-paragraph “hamburger” essay we’ve learned in school.

Long story short:

Just write it!

Conclusion: Don’t take life too seriously (have fun!)

My thought about life:

Life is infinitely precious, yet at the same time, I think when we take life too seriously, that is when we start to get depressed and down.

Too much focus on external forms of success ain’t good for us. Aiming for personal success– this is the goal.

Have fun in life! Create a bunch of stuff! Share it! Have fun, smile, laugh, play, run and dance around, and share your thanksgiving of life, love, and companionship with the world!