There is Only One Hack: Do it for a Decade.

Just Keep Doing the Thing

I’ve tried it all.

The Pomodoro Technique, time blocking, digital minimalism, waking up at 5 AM, and something called “monk mode” that involved deleting all my social media apps for a month while subsisting on meal replacement shakes.

Each viral hack is supposed to unlock a hidden reserve of focus and discipline. They each work for about two weeks before you find yourself back at square one.

I’m proud of my body of work — I look back on it and I know I’ve written enough, said enough, to have mattered.

But none of it was “hacked” by any measure. It happened in the boring margins, on unremarkable Tuesday afternoons when I opened my laptop and worked // Did the Thing.

We have a cultural obsession with optimization. Every successful person gets interviewed about their morning routine. As if their achievements depended on whether they meditate before or after their cold shower.

We dissect the habits of great artists and entrepreneurs, looking for the reproducible formula. Did they wake up early? Did they take walks? Did they keep a journal? Was it a bullet journal?

Surely there must be some trick, some leverage point that separates the wheat from the chaff.