I spend a lot of time making time, and then protecting that time. And through it all I fill my days with work based around return on investment. I don’t mean that coldly or even financially. I mean that in the context of — and I recognize this sounds a little crazy — respect for life itself. We are alive. We have consciousness. We are capable of a great understanding and empathy via creative and intellectual output.
So I ask myself regularly: Am I maximizing this so-called respect for my being alive or not?7 Does my work pay dividends in making me more empathetic, more curious, kinder, smarter? And the best way I’ve found to say ‘yes’ to this somewhat ridiculous question is to ask if the work, my day to day, moves my heart. And I’ve found the most reliable way to get there is by putting what’s in my head into words. Codifying an experience in a way to multiply the impact of that experience.