Real Work

Work to do less. Work and focus on that which allows you to do less in the future. Continuously minimize obligation. This is the real definition of work. Real work is whatever reduces future frictions. Energy and movement is life, and obligation and friction is not that.

There will always be some phenomena that will come in to complicate the environment. It’s more likely these days to be mimetic than natural. It will probably come from other humans - like political strife, a rumor or economic disruption. Rather than an act of god or nature like a hurricane or earthquake. There’s always going to be something. And it will be messy.

Complication like this has a multiplicative property to it. It builds on itself and grows exponentially when it isn’t managed.

Why is debt and deception so awful? From a practical perspective, it’s because it demands more time and attention in the future to manage and untangle. Time and attention that may be in short supply later on.

It may not be apparent right now. The moment may feel quite casual at the moment. The sun’s out. The coffee’s still warm. But there’s going to be some whopper that’s going to come along and sod everything up. Something you forgot about. Because you just can't account for everything. Every so often, this proves to be the case in dramatic fashion.

It’s not something to be paranoid about. Just you put some time in each day to prevent complication and clarify. Create space for the unknown; containers for chaos. Put the work in now, so you don’t have to mop up the old chores while your hair's on fire.