WHAT I LEARNED IN 2025, OR ADVICE TO 25 YEAR OLD ME

Short version: Stop making 5 year plans. Get close to the problem. Talk to your “enemies”. Change does not wait on more money or fame. And the tradeoffs are usually smaller than they look.

This past year I went through periods of excitement, hope, happiness, frustration, and anger. I feel closer to the integrated life I want: one where my career, lifestyle, and sense of purpose line up.

For most of my career, I solved other companies’ problems for the highest margin, kept work separate from my personal life, and had no clear sense of purpose. Now I can tell what I want at any given moment, and that lets me steer toward particular themes.

What I Learned

1. Five year plans do not work for me

I tried them and failed miserably. I enjoy too many different things to put all my time in one place.

My advice: be open to experiencing things your own way, and Gaia/God/the universe will give you enough nudges over time to figure things out. My self from 10 years ago would hate that advice.

2. Live in the problem to find the opportunity

To spot solutions, I need to experience the problem up close.

Example: my power was shut off from 4 PM Wednesday, December 17, to 2 AM Thursday, December 18. Xcel cut power to nearly 100,000 Coloradans to keep high winds from starting wildfires. Why?

  • Shifts in the North American jet stream, caused by greenhouse gases released by past generations
  • Voters in my municipality unwilling to adapt the built environment
  • Updating electrical infrastructure is not profitable

Spending time in that environment over the last few years is how I can name all of this. Others have figured it out too: people will happily pay for svelte whole-home batteries to ride out increasingly common grid-destabilizing storms. Natural disasters are a good business opportunity. https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/april-1994/the-economics-of-natural-disasters https://www.munichre.com/en/insights/natural-disaster-and-climate-change/weather-disasters-in-industrialized-countries.html

3. Engage with your “enemies”

Being in the problem environment led to fascinating conversations with people I would have first called my enemies. How’s that for positive?

4. You do not need to be richer or more famous to make change

Every year I lied to myself that making change took far more wealth or notoriety than I had.

Meanwhile the US dollar has lost half its purchasing power over the last 30 years. Prices more than doubled from 1995 to 2025. You need to make at least double what your parents made! That gap helps explain why my generation’s priorities are different from our parents’.

Some questions I keep asking:

  • I understand the need to protect the environment. So why do the people who preach this live in single-family mansions?
  • I understand the need for a thriving business environment. So why do the people who preach this make tax and zoning codes so hard to navigate?
  • I understand the need to socialize. But who is paying to go to the golf club? Eh, that’s not a good one, but someone with the leisure time to reflect on this post probably is.

5. Frustrating and exciting are the same thing

I am not sure many people in earlier generations really feel what it is like to lose half the dollar’s purchasing power in 30 years. Or to not be able to count on the electricity. Well, my grandparents did. They grew up in rural Alberta, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana.

  • There is no safety net for my peers who get laid off.
  • The lack of investment in people holds back great entrepreneurship.
  • Social Security’s retirement fund runs dry in 2032, and after that it pays about 78% of benefits.

It feels utterly impossible!

Yet good opportunities exist. I know, because I went after them this year. I put the time I used to spend on memes back into my business.

6. Tradeoffs are mostly self-imposed

This is not an endorsement of grind culture, quite the opposite. I want a life where I can:

  • Work hard when I choose
  • Enjoy time with family and friends when I choose
  • Solve a wide variety of interesting problems
  • Help my global community while making a profit

Neither my wife nor I will sacrifice our personal growth to grow our family, and that is incredibly motivating creatively. I believe tradeoffs usually exist because we limit our time and creativity for no good reason, not because they are built in.

What Is Next

Working full-time for another employer probably won’t work in the next stage of my life. How am I going to figure this next one out? I will keep trying things.

Going into 2026 I will fully pursue my good life: balance, emotional depth, options, and spiritual interest. Everyone’s good life looks different. What will yours be?

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