Did you know we pay a stupidly high price for doing nothing?

Because by default, everything drifts toward entropy. Translation: if we don’t actively pull things back, it doesn’t just get messy. It self-destructs.

Quietly. Politely. Like your Netflix recommendations.

Ever seen an abandoned house after 10 years? Now imagine 30. Nature doesn’t pause. It moves in.

I saw this up close in Chernobyl, 29 years after the disaster.

Not in a dramatic way. In a boring, brutal way.

Forest pushing through roads. Weeds swallowing stairwells. Buildings still standing, but the fight was over.

A perfect reminder: if nobody keeps something together, it comes apart.

And that pattern is everywhere.

Clean clothes don’t multiply. Dirty clothes do. Chaos has a better growth strategy.

Your schedule doesn’t stay stable. People reschedule, kids get sick, traffic shows up, the internet dies, and your coffee runs out. My life runs on coffee, so when it’s gone, everything gets worse.

Also new messages appear by themselves. Inbox Zero does not happen naturally. Like dust, it’s never “done.”

So I stopped pretending I can “stay on top of life”.

I can’t.

I can only set up small guardrails that keep the mess from getting a mortgage.

Here are my two favorites:

Teeth do not “self-floss”. Do nothing and you get cavities.

Stop training and strength fades. Muscles are “use it or lose it” in physical form.

You don’t magically become calm at 3:17 pm. Your brain wakes up and chooses mild panic just because it can.

I believe my wife mistakenly thinks I enjoy working out.

Wrong.

I pretend to enjoy the moment after the workout is complete.

Starting it is the hard part.

Also, you mostly hear motivational stuff from the people who finished the workout.

The ones who quit during the warm-up are face-down on the mat, drafting an apology to their future self.

You adapt fast.

The thing you wanted so much becomes normal.

Then boring.

Then “why am I like this” and you sell your PlayStation.

That’s the trap: your brain adjusts, then asks for the next shiny object like it’s a subscription.

(One exception: my marriage (almost forgot this legal disclaimer here, phew)).

And while we’re here, even good change loses to inertia.

We keep old identities like “I’m not a morning person” long after jet lag proves we are.

Add uncertainty and your mind turns into a 24/7 forecast model. Overthinking is just chaos with a spreadsheet.

I wish I had a clean fix for this.

I don’t.

If you find one, please forward it to me immediately.

This might be the most painful part of my life that still wins way too often.

If nobody initiates, everyone becomes a “we should catch up sometime” person.

If you don’t say what you mean, their brain will guess. Then it will get mad at the guess.

When we moved into our house, after a week we invited our American neighbors over for dinner.

For the next three years, we were almost invited back.

“We should have you for dinner. Last time was so great.”

Of course, nothing changed, except they stopped mentioning it around year four. So. Progress.

Anyway, zoom out.

Here’s the annoying part: my entropy doesn’t look like a disaster at first.

It looks like “I’ll do it later”.

It looks like “this week is busy”

It looks like “I’m fine”.

Then one day I notice the mess isn’t messy anymore.

It’s normal.

Not because I chose chaos.

Because I didn’t choose anything.

And we adapt fast, in the reverse order too, by the way.

First, the unacceptable shows up.

Then it becomes the new normal.

Then you defend it like you personally invented it.

So yeah, doing nothing is expensive.

And none of us are that rich. Yet.

Till next time.

How to be happy with what you have – and avoid the trap of comparison - 5 min read.

If “someone else has more” instantly makes your “what I have” feel like garbage, read this. This breaks down why comparison keeps the hunger alive and how to rebuild happiness around what you control.

How to be more agentic - 8 min read.

“Agency” sounds like a LinkedIn buzzword. This article makes it concrete: do the annoying things other people avoid, and suddenly you have options.

19 ways to improve your life - 8 min read.

Here’s the vibe: “Well, at least make things a little easier.” It’s not magical thinking, it’s practical psychology - 19 ideas you can steal, test, and keep only the ones that survive contact with your actual life. For me, it’s “binge vacationing”.

This is a bunch of true stories from a genius who refuses to act normal. It’s funny, fast, and weirdly useful - you’ll learn how to think clearer and spot nonsense faster.

Should I switch the section title to “The View I Envy” and call it a day?

Laptop-Shutoff Boundary: She keeps email and Slack off her phone, so when she shuts her laptop she actually tunes out instead of “just checking one thing” for three hours.

Sleep Calendar Accountability: She’s used a physical calendar to tick off days she gets at least 8 hours of sleep, turning “I should sleep more” into a visible streak.

Five Minute Journal Reset: She’s used the Five Minute Journal daily to steer her attention before work tries to steer it for her.

Morning Social Pulse Check: A regular morning habit has been checking Canva’s social accounts to see what people are saying and spot problems early.

Write It Down Thinking: She’s said writing helps her have more conscientious thoughts, instead of letting ideas drift through her head unprocessed.

Delayed Launch for Quality: Early on they delayed launch by more than a year after user testing showed people wandered, struggled, and left dejected, which is the opposite of retention.

Feedback at Scale: She’s said Canva has collected over a million pieces of customer feedback, and a dedicated team reads it and feeds it back into product teams.

Small-Teams Model: In late 2015 Canva shifted to “small startups” inside the company, with teams of three to six people owning their own goals and plans.

Rejection as Data, Not Drama: She’s talked about getting rejected by 100+ investors and using each “no” to tighten the story and improve the pitch.

“My Pitch Is Inadequate” Reframe: Instead of “I’m inadequate,” she framed rejection as “my pitch is inadequate” or “I haven’t found the right person yet,” which keeps ego from hijacking iteration.

Rituals to Prevent Burnout: She’s leaned on small rituals like five-minute journaling, time in nature, and consistent bedtime and wake time as a way to protect energy for long-term decisions.

If you’ve been using AI like a magic 8-ball, this 18-minute clip will roast you (gently) and then hand you a better way: use AI to think, not to outsource your brain.

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