- Walk into chaos. Make it legible. (Seek undefined spaces. Leave when the structure is built.)
- Perform. Make people laugh. Be visible. (This isn’t vanity. Honour the Leo.)
- Go deep with the few. Release the rest. (Message bankruptcy is not a moral failing.)
- Follow the energy. Not the “should.” (If you’re dreading it, that’s your answer.)
This isn’t a session, it’s just… using them for a month or two and seeing what happens. Then revisiting.
What I want, now I have 4 that seem pretty great and have survived a light stress test, it to now live my life somewhat differently.
I think there’s stuff to stop doing, and to start doing. What’s that framework?
- Stop
- Start
- Continue
- Optimise
Claude
Good framing — Stop/Start/Continue/Optimise is exactly right. Let me build this properly from everything across the four phases.
Stop
1. Messaging from obligation Everyone below your Tier 1 circle (the group chat + a handful of chosen people). The message bankruptcy project is the concrete action here — not just stopping, but actively communicating it. Draft something simple: “Hey, I’ve realised I’m bad at WhatsApp/Signal and it’s making me worse at staying in touch with everyone. Going to step back from it. If we’re close, you know how to reach me.” Then send it to everyone it applies to. This removes the guilt.
Could include a perma-link to schedule a call with me. And email it to people, get out of whatsapp entirely
At least two friends who I need to “break up” with. If we’re not gonna have regular in-person context in the next ~year then it just doesn’t work IMO. Gotta prioritise IRL people or people I’m super excited about
2. Events you’re dreading when you buy the ticket The nightclub test: if you’re buying a ticket and already having doubts, that’s your answer. Stop honouring sunk-cost thinking on social events.
Yep!
3. Emotional work practices not connected to a real need Specifically the VIEW conversations. You wrote: “sounds good, so I guess I’ll do it, but it’s not actually connected to any first principle.” That’s the tell. Stop doing things because the category seems good (post-rat healing practices) when you don’t have a specific thing you’re trying to resolve.
Similar to “2” really - don’t say “yes” to stuff if it doesn’t connect to something key
Start
1. The message bankruptcy project (this week) A proper project, not just a vague intention. Concretely:
- Write a draft message for WhatsApp/Signal
- List everyone it applies to
- Send it
- Set up some kind of friction for new message threads (maybe just not having WhatsApp on your home screen)
This is one of the clearest wins from the whole exercise — you’ve wanted to do it for months and the principles now give you explicit permission.
2. Get income, from first principles (urgent — £nk runway) This is the most time-sensitive item and deserves its own thinking. Applying first principles to the job search:
- Principle 1 says: early-stage, undefined mandate, chaos that needs crystallising
- Principle 2 says: needs a visible/performance element, not pure back-office
- Both together point toward: fractional ops/COO at an early-stage company, facilitation/workshop design, culture & knowledge roles at startups, or coaching
I also think, getting way more intentional at the EA Hotel…
The highest-probability path to something that hits both principles quickly: contact Brent and Ethan directly. Both have said they’d like to work with you again. Brent wrote an effusive reference and said “I believe he would be a uniquely great asset in any rapidly-shifting, operations-focused context.” That’s not a polite sign-off — that’s a warm lead. Email them this week, not to ask for a job but to say you’re looking and ask if they know anyone.
The second path: articulate what you want in first-principles terms before you apply anywhere. Write a one-paragraph brief: “I’m looking for an early-stage role where the main job is walking into mess and making it legible. I need some visibility/presenting element. I don’t want a role where the processes are already built.” Use this to filter quickly rather than applying broadly and ending up in the wrong thing again.
That’s pretty sick actually
3. A scalable performance outlet (this month) The EA Hotel presentations are great but the audience is ~10-20 people and you’re already bored making the slides. The Leo wants a bigger stage and you know it. What’s the next version?
Options to actually choose between rather than letting this stay vague:
- YouTube again — you had genuine viewers from day 1 and quit on day 27 because of bad philosophy (overcommitting to daily)1. A lower-frequency, higher-quality format might be the right version. One good video every 2-3 weeks is more sustainable than daily.
A project of planning a return to youtube. Do I have time? Do I want to? What would it look like? E.g., aliveness for music is now gone.
- Facilitation/workshops — you already run the weekly EA Hotel thing. Could you design and run a 2-hour workshop externally? This is also income.
No!
- Writing for an audience — the Substack exists but seems dormant. You wrote that writing for an audience makes you think more clearly. Even monthly would be something.
Pick one. Don’t start all three.
4. Identify what’s still chaotic at EA Hotel and own it You wrote this as a live test for Principle 1: “what is still chaotic at the EA Hotel, and how can I fix it?” And things came to mind immediately. This is relevant both for Principle 1 (it’s your thing) and practically — if there’s genuine ops/culture work to do there, doing it visibly is good for Principle 2 too, and might have financial upside if the EA Hotel values it.
Getting more intentional about the EA hotel, what I do here, what I don’t do here, what I want to deliver in the next month, etc.
Note that an annoying thing about the EA hotel is that it’s not me making systems from scratch, it’s spaghetti code systems and having to navigate politics when you want to change things
5. I’ve started on an “improving my thinking” project. How does that fit into all of this?
6. There’s a woman who I’d love to date, and I think we could work together in a really special way. What to do about this?
7. Make flashcards from this whole thing - I should know off the top of my head, what my 4 first principles are!
Continue
1. The group chat — 1hr/day voice notes with your two close friends. Don’t touch this. It’s one of the most alive things you’re already doing.
2. The scrapbook — 315k words and counting. This is Principle 1 applied to your own inner life. Keep it.
3. The weekly EA Hotel presentations — even if the slide-making is boring, the performing isn’t. Keep showing up to it while you figure out the bigger performance outlet.
4. The first principles project itself — revisit in 6-8 weeks. Not as an intellectual exercise, but just: are the principles helping? Have any decisions been easier? Has any scrunching been caught earlier?
Optimise
1. The EA Hotel presentations You’re bored of making the slides (solved problem) but love performing. The optimisation: change the format so the prep is less boring. Could be more improvised, could involve other people, could be a different structure entirely. The point is to keep the performance element while removing the dead administrative overhead.
2. Team meals → bring structure Your annotation: “or, note — make them better!” This is the Principle 1 instinct: if something’s shallow, make it legible. Bring a 2-3 minute check-in question. You’ll do it once and it’ll stick.
3. The job search process If you end up doing this, optimise for speed of signal: apply to 3-5 things that perfectly match the first-principles brief, not 20 things broadly. Use the references from Brent, Ethan, Conor, and the Alvea manager — they’re genuinely strong.
wouldn’t want to rush into anything without discussing more with the EA hotel first. Is there a way to rapidise getting paid, now that earning money is feeling more pressing, and I may leave?
On money specifically
£nk with no income means roughly 3-6 months runway depending on your burn rate2. That’s not a crisis but it’s not infinite. A few things to think through:
The temptation to avoid: Taking the first job that appears because it pays, rather than filtering for first-principles fit. You’ve done this before (implicitly — roles that turned dead after 6 months). The filtering brief needs to be written before you start looking, not after you’re desperate.
The realistic options ranked by speed:
- Fractional/contract ops — fastest to income, highest fit with Principle 1, lower on Principle 2 unless you choose well
- A role via warm intro (Brent, Ethan) — slightly slower but much higher quality signal on fit
- Facilitation/workshops — slower to income but very high fit with both Principle 1 and 2
- YouTube/creative — genuinely not a near-term income source, do it in parallel not instead
The honest read: your fastest path to good income that doesn’t compromise your principles is a warm intro to an early-stage company that needs an ops generalist. You have several people who’d write that intro enthusiastically. Use them.