Here’s a picture from March 31, 2021 – excited to start my first day of work at my new job after graduating college.
But after that first week of trainings and daily team zoom meetings, that excitement quickly began to fade.
I vividly remember asking myself… is this it?
Is this life?
I’d just landed what anyone would call a “good job.”
Solid company. Solid pay.
I was making more money than my parents made at my age.
I truly had nothing to complain about.
But somehow something felt… missing.
I looked around at my new coworkers. Nice people. Some had been there 20, 30+ years. Started right after college, just like me.
Typically low turnover is a sign of a good workplace, but for me that idea was terrifying.
Not because there’s anything wrong with working somewhere long-term.
But because I could see myself following their exact footsteps, slipping into this… comfortable mediocrity.
You know what I mean? That space where things aren’t terrible, but they’re not great either.
Just… fine.
And “fine” felt like a death sentence.
I realized I’d been following the pack my entire life.
Elementary to high school to college to job.
Just doing what everyone else around me was doing, trying to “fit in” as I always had.
But suddenly, for the first time in my life, fitting in was the last thing I wanted to do.
That’s when I knew I had to take my life into my own hands.
To stop waiting for someone else to give me the next set of instructions.
I was done following the rules.
So I decided to join the mafia...
Just kidding, it was much worse than that.
I got obsessed with productivity.
I don’t know what started it – probably some Ali Abdaal video (thanks Ali… I guess).
But in my head, being more productive seemed like the answer to my problems. Work harder. Optimize my schedule. Build better habits.
You know, become one of those people with color-coded calendars and Notion dashboards.
And at first it felt like it was helping. I quickly got the hang of my work, earned high performance ratings, promotions, etc.
But every period of intense “productivity” would be met with an equally intense period of feeling completely unmotivated..
The good habits would fall apart. The bad habits would creep back in.
I’d look for opportunities to drink on weekends because it made life feel more enjoyable for a brief moment.
Why didn’t increasing my productivity solve my problems?
In retrospect, the answer seems obvious.
I was being productive for the sake of being productive — “pseudo productivity” as some call it.
What I was missing was the other half of the equation: purpose.
You can’t just have productivity without purpose. That’s like driving a really fast car in the wrong direction.
But you also can’t just have purpose without productivity. That’s just big dreams with no execution.
You need both.
That’s why I’m building something called Purposeful Productivity.
Not just another productivity course.
Not just another “find your purpose” program.
It's a complete system that helps you figure out what you actually want to do with your life, then gives you the tools and tactics to actually build it.
Even when you’re tired.
Even when the world is pulling you back toward “fine.”
Even with that one excuse your brain usually tells you.
If you’re sitting there thinking “there has to be more to life than this”… join the waitlist here.
I’m putting together something that could change everything for you.
Talk soon,
Miles
P.S. I still look at that photo from time to time. Not as motivation, but as a reminder of what happens when you let the world choose your path instead of choosing it for yourself.