On a single morning dog walk, I heard two different hosts repeat the same line within forty minutes: “I Don’t Have to Work Another Day in My Life.” It’s a catchy line. No wonder it’s become the go-to phrase for so many successful creatives, writers, advisors, freelancers—and even the lady running the laundry shop in my neighborhood (one shirt, washed and pressed, for eight euros… really?)…

A slow, balmy Sunday. Creams, golds, rusts, mighty teals. Aged. Forsaken. Unseen by the eye. True to the soul. Long, steady tones in D minor…

I had never heard of Seth Godin until June 15th. He’s the author of 21 worldwide bestsellers, translated into 36 languages (I can’t even name 36 languages), writes a blog with over a million readers, hosts a top-ranked podcast with 200+ episodes, and—lest anyone think he only talks—has built and sold multiple multi-million-dollar companies. The joke was on me.

My first journal entry is dated November 15, 1979. I was born on December 19, 1979. Yes, my journal starts a month before I was born: a photograph of my mother, nearly nine months pregnant. And… trust me, I’m definitely in that photograph.

A few years back, I added a small atomic habit to my to-do dashboard: on the first of each month, I pick up a book from the library of those I’ve read and chosen to keep (roughly one in three makes the cut), and flip through all the pages I previously marked with one of my trusted Stalogy sticky flags.

This week was in a category of its own. Something happened in my life—my family’s life—that called for a moment of silence. I won’t go into the details, because I don’t feel comfortable doing so. But I’ll say this: I considered pausing my weekly post…

The bad news first. Entrepreneurship is not a finite game. There are no goalposts to tell you how you're doing, or how far you’ve come. Succeeding once—or several times—is no guarantee of a rerun. Failing once—or several times—doesn’t say much about whether this is the right path for you…

Barely a month ago, on June 16th — the one-year anniversary of this blog column — I published a post recounting the origin story of this very website. That piece explored how it all began, and how, through iteration after iteration, I arrived at what I then called Website 3.0 — the third complete overhaul, evolving in step with my own transformations. Well… here is Website 4.0…

Once more to London. Once more to see a show. The last time was March 15th, when I went to see Mr. Wynton Marsalis at The Barbican. This time, it was Michael Jackson. Well — he wasn’t there, of course. But Jamaal Fields-Green showed up in his stead…

Whenever we talk about self-renewal, it's impossible not to talk — explicitly or implicitly — about aging. If self-renewal is about change — not just in our behaviors, but in our identity — and if it’s true that self-renewal is never fast (because it takes time to truly understand what no longer fits in our life, and just as much time, plus trial and error, to reimagine what should take its place), then the question…

Yesterday marked the official launch of Jam Nation — in Milan, and, in spirit, anywhere else. It was the first event of its kind. I’ve written before about my journey with Jam Nation — when I chose it as my next adventure, upon the one year anniversary of its launch, and upon the recent realization that the launch wasn’t about proving anything — it was about celebrating the work.

My first website — version 1.0 — went live on November 29, 2020. It was little more than a digital photo album: a homepage featuring a single image I’d taken early on, soon after buying a camera — the day I realized photography was going to become something meaningful in my life. Alongside it, a quote.

Last Monday, I spent an entire day running an airtight background research operation. My target: a YouTuber who has no idea I exist — and likely never will…

Yesterday, May 31st, after several days of introspection and research, I found myself at my desk — working, creating, thinking, reading, journaling, and watching inspirational videos — when I had a moment of clarity…

Last Thursday, Milan was drowning in rain like it hadn’t in ages. At 4:30 p.m., I had to pick up two large-format posters from the printer — the kind that will soon guide guests and catch eyes at the music festival I’m organizing on June 21st…

Richard Linklater would make for an awful TikTok content maker.

Early on, I realized how easy it is to forget our own experiences — what we’ve been through in life…

July 8th, 2022, 8:07 pm. Shanghai. I went in for a salad and a shake, I came out with one of the most irrefutable principles of living: One Day Or Day One. You Decide…

In the early years when I was living in China — say, ten to fifteen years ago — air quality was bad…

Last year, on February 12th, I wrote a letter to my future self—ten years ahead—when I’ll be 54. The letter was titled "On Renewal", and—as the title suggests—it was part of a broader process of self-renewal I was going through.