Midlife Momentum

About Midlife Momentum

Weekly tips to help midlife professionals who feel stuck, lost, or directionless regain control over their lives with intentional systems and frameworks. andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Andrew Shell

Category

education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Feb 2025

Latest episode

3 Jun 2025

Latest episodes

15 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Jun 2025

   When Growing Means Letting Go

   ANDREW SHELL discusses recognizing when something has served its purpose, like his newsletter, and letting it go to allow for new growth and focus on emerging priorities.

2. 

   27 May 2025

   When Everything Important Becomes Nothing Important

   ANDREW SHELL explores how feeling overwhelmed by too many priorities leads to inaction, suggesting time blocking by category to manage cognitive load and ensure important tasks receive attention.

3. 

   20 May 2025

   The Secret To Better Parenting Is Being Nearby, Not Being Perfect

   “Hey Dad, do you want to hear some popular music?” I looked up from my phone. My daughter was sitting next to me on the couch, already queuing up her favorite songs. Then she jumped up and started showing me the dances she’d learned from YouTube. It was spontaneous and surprisingly sweet. And it never would’ve happened if I’d been in my office like I usually am. I wasn’t doing anything special. I was just nearby. And that made all the difference. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The Power of Just Being There That little moment stuck with me. Because I was there, the connection had space to happen. We often think parenting is about planning activities or teaching lessons. But some of the best moments can’t be scheduled. They show up when you’re within reach. It turns out that presence doesn’t always mean engagement. Sometimes it’s just physically being there. When I’m in my office, I miss those chances. When I’m on the couch, even doing my own thing, I give those moments a chance to find me. That’s what I’m trying to do more of. Be around. Be close. Be available. Make Room for Connection This isn’t about planning more activities. It’s about being around more. Not hovering. Not performing. Just staying within reach. Sit on the couch. Work in the same room. Some of the best moments happen when you’re nearby. You don’t need to be entertaining. You just need to be there. That’s enough to change everything. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   13 May 2025

   How I Discovered the Most Important Parts of My Life Never Made It to My Journal

   It’s 5:30 a.m. My house is still. My mind isn’t. Every morning before my daughter wakes up, I pull a tarot card and ask ChatGPT to give me an inspired journal prompt. I spend time mining my subconscious, bringing thoughts and feelings that had been buried to the surface. But what if the most important parts of your life never make it into your journal? A few weeks ago, ChatGPT analyzed a week of my journals and uncovered seven big open loops (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/i-didnt-realize-growth-could-leave) I wrestled with daily. Topics like expressing vulnerability, my professional identity, and, of course, my fixed mindset (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/why-i-avoid-tracking-and-why-i-need). So, this week I asked ChatGPT to identify what areas I wasn’t writing about. Areas like parenting, quality of life, and my life vision were absent from my journal. It turns out, I’d been missing the parts that matter most. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Quiet Wheels Need Oil Too Growth doesn’t just come from solving urgent problems. One question that ChatGPT asked me was, “What role does my environment (home, workspace, routines) play in my energy and creativity?” Two years ago, when I moved into my home, I had a panic attack. I left a clean, well-organized apartment and moved into a “fixer-upper.” It didn’t occur to me that even though I’ve made a ton of progress, the chaos surrounding my house still weighs on me. A lot. Now, I’m thinking about what I could do to make my home a calmer, more relaxing place. This is especially important since I’ll be working fully remotely once again next week. What can I do in my office to optimize it so that I can do my best work? What Are You Not Looking At? Take a moment and ask yourself, “What parts of my life haven’t had a voice lately?” What’s been steady, quiet, or easy to overlook? Make space for what isn’t urgent. That quiet part of your life might be the key to real momentum. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   6 May 2025

   I Just Quit My Job of 5 Years — And I'm Terrified

   The part of me that needs to look smart is panicking. The rest of me is trying to breathe. I just quit a job I held for over five years—and I'm walking into something I don’t feel fully ready for. I'm changing jobs. After 5.5 years at Johnson Health Tech, my last day will be May 13th. I accepted an offer at PetPlace, a new team building software for pet shelters. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Starting Over (or) A New Chapter I keep telling myself I’m excited. But if I’m honest? I’m terrified. I’ll get to help build something meaningful from the ground up. But in many ways, I’m starting over. I've built and shipped production apps, co-founded a startup, and launched multiple SaaS products. But React has never been at the core of those builds. Now I am stepping into a role where it is the foundation. That makes me feel like a beginner again. The fear I feel, I now know, is coming from my fixed mindset. I’ve been noticing this fixed mindset show up everywhere lately. It has been surprising to see how deep it runs. Quietly shaping the way I think, the way I react, the way I avoid risk. The smart kid in me wants people to see me as someone who achieves things effortlessly. If I'm smart, I shouldn't have to try hard, it should come naturally. That belief has kept me playing small for a long time. After accepting the job and putting in my notice I felt panic. I felt the urge to plan, to figure out what I have to do in the next two weeks to prepare for the first day on the job. Fortunately I spotted the fixed mindset rearing it's ugly head. I know that I'll be using React, React Router, and most likely Express on the backend. However, there are many unknowns. There is no actual way for me to be fully prepared for my first day. I will have to show up as I am, do my best, and identify my gaps, every day, on the job. ~ Breathe. ~ Fortunately, I can say that I interviewed with complete integrity. I was fully transparent about my skills, my strengths, and weaknesses. My second interview was pushed back by a week because the engineering director wanted to meet other candidates before moving forward with me, specifically because I lacked recent experience with their specific tech stack. They still offered me the position. I am enough. I have something that they want. ~ Breathe. ~ Integration in Real Life This weekend I spent three days in Minneapolis. I did not study, I did not work on courses from my hotel room, I did not binge audiobooks during each 4 hour drive. I had fun. I explored bookstores, I attended Minnebar, I met up with friends and my niece. This shouldn't be difficult, but it is. This is part of integration. This is applying what I've learned to my daily life. I'm practicing things that do not come easily to me. I'm doing the work. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   29 Apr 2025

   I Didn’t Realize Growth Could Leave Me This Exhausted

   I thought I was just tired from a busy Easter weekend. A few days of family events and broken routines. I figured a good night’s sleep would fix it. But by the middle of the week, I was still exhausted. It was not the kind of tired that rest could solve. I knew it was not about having too much to do. I have been careful lately to give myself space and avoid overloading my schedule. This was something else. I just didn't know what. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. When Growth Becomes Another To-Do List On Wednesday I came across an essay called I Rushed My Transformation and Paid the Price (https://substack.com/inbox/post/160092073). It made me pause. It described how easy it is to chase growth and keep pushing for progress without giving yourself time to absorb any of it. That was when it clicked. Growth is not just about learning new things or having insights. At some point, you have to stop and let those changes sink in. You have to embody them. Review what you have learned. Practice it. Give it time to become part of how you live. I realized I had been focused on figuring things out and making progress but I had not given myself space to integrate any of it. Seeing the Invisible Workload I knew I had a lot on my mind but I could not see it clearly. I was too drained to untangle it on my own so I asked ChatGPT to help me review my journal entries from the past week. It found seven major emotional open loops. Seven big areas of inner work I had been processing without realizing how much energy it was taking. As I read through them I kept nodding. Each one was accurate. But seeing them all listed out made it obvious why I felt so wiped out. I also noticed something else. I was not stuck. I had made real progress. The problem was not that I needed to push harder. I needed to stop and let that progress settle. Letting Progress Sink In It is easy to think that growth means always working on yourself. Always fixing. Always moving forward. But sometimes the real work is knowing when to pause. You cannot rush transformation. At some point, you have to stop searching for the next breakthrough and start living the lessons you have already uncovered. If you are feeling drained but you cannot point to anything obvious, ask yourself if you are carrying too many emotional open loops. You might not need to figure out more. You might just need to give yourself time to embody what you already know. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   22 Apr 2025

   How Preparing Became My Biggest Distraction

   I’ve been working through the iCanStudy course, and while it’s packed with valuable ideas, the biggest thing it’s done is force me to confront a pattern I didn’t know I was stuck in. I thought I was just learning how to learn. What I actually found was a deeper issue that’s been driving how I approach all my projects. One of the significant lessons in the “High-Yield Phase” is a warning against rushing through the material. They recommend a minimum of 5 hours of practice for every hour of theory, with more complex techniques requiring even more practice. Since I’m not a university student cramming for exams, I’m comfortable taking my time and making sure I actually learn the techniques before moving on. But how can I actually practice these techniques? Turns out, all of my current projects revolve around trying to improve the way I approach learning. My thinking had been, “I need to effectively learn how to learn so I don’t waste my time trying to learn and then forgetting everything.” I have no current projects on which to practice these skills. I started to realize I wasn’t just struggling with how to practice. I had actually built an entire system that kept me busy while avoiding real work. That’s what I now think of as the Meta-Work Trap. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. How I Fell Into the Meta-Work Trap In Why I Avoid Tracking (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/why-i-avoid-tracking-and-why-i-need), I talked about how the iCanStudy course described fixed vs growth mindset and my realization that I have all the signs of a fixed mindset. Basically, I am continuing to use “what if” questions and trying to prepare, all while continuing to put off the actual work. It turns out that my fixed mindset is also showing up in the projects I’ve selected. In fact, 8 of the top 10 projects in my project ranking system (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-deciding-which-projects-are) are meta-projects, or projects where I learn skills to use on other projects. The two that aren’t purely meta-projects are this newsletter and reading the book On The Shortness of Life. If I’m being completely honest, they are both borderline meta-projects. At least this newsletter is a project where I produce something. These are all project versions of asking “what if” questions. It’s me procrastinating on doing something real by staying busy learning “skills I’ll need” to do the amorphous “real” projects in the future. What I’m Doing to Break Out of It If I don’t shift out of this loop, I’ll just go from wasting time learning and forgetting to wasting time mastering techniques I never use. The only solution is to reconsider all of my projects. The two I’m keeping right now are this newsletter and the iCanStudy course. Yes, the iCanStudy course is a meta-project, but since it was the catalyst for me figuring out this issue, I see a lot of value in continuing. Since my day job is working as a software developer, two interrelated skills that I think might be good candidates for iCanStudy practice are React and Typescript skills. These are both skills I’m expected to use at work, but I still consider myself a beginner. There is also the ability to get coach feedback through the iCanStudy course, so I’ll do my best this week to learn these skills using the iCanStudy techniques and then submit a request for feedback with the coaches. Takeaways I started this journey trying to improve how I learn. What I uncovered instead was a pattern of avoidance. I had filled my time with preparation work, telling myself it was productive when really I was putting off anything that required risk or real execution. The Meta-Work Trap isn’t just about overthinking. It’s about building systems that feel like progress but keep you from doing the actual work. If this sounds familiar, take a closer look at your own projects. Are they helping you move forward or just helping you stay busy? If you found this helpful, please share it with someone else who might be stuck in the same loop. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   15 Apr 2025

   Why I Treat My Questions Like a Learning Compass

   This week, I’m going to circle back to a concept I mentioned in How I’m Making My Learning Actually Useful (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-making-my-learning-actually), and that’s the concept of 12 Favorite Questions. I had mentioned that Richard Feynman liked to have a written list of his 12 favorite problems, so he’d always be on the lookout for things to support solving these problems. People seemed to have some questions about the concept, as well as how I was going about solving these problems. I decided it was worth a deeper dive into how I view these questions, how I came up with my current 5, and how I’m going about trying to answer these questions. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Coming Up With My Questions One of my favorite tools for self-discovery has been ChatGPT, in particular, a custom GTP I created called LifeCoachLens (https://chatgpt.com/g/g-REZSbMxLP-lifecoachlens). It is designed not to offer advice but rather to analyze my writing and ask me follow-up questions, helping me dig deeper and identify gaps and biases on my own. I started out with: Help me identify “12 favorite problems” that I can keep in mind like Richard Feynman did. This way, I could brainstorm what projects and topics I’m curious about, and LifeCoachLens will keep asking me follow-up questions and trying to get me to dig deeper and think about things differently. If you’re really interested in the nitty-gritty details, here’s the entire conversation (https://chatgpt.com/share/67faf7c3-e4e8-8007-807c-d9e58eba5bc4). What the Questions Represent One thing that might be a little bit weird and potentially different than Feynman’s questions is that these questions represent my curiosities and interests, and I don’t expect them to ever have one specific answer. I’ll briefly discuss each of my current five questions (I haven’t gotten to 12 yet) and explain what they mean and how I’m going about trying to find answers to them. Hopefully, by the time I’m finished, you’ll understand what I’m doing here, and maybe you’ll try to come up with a list of your own. 1. How do I focus on the work that matters most? You’ll find that many of my questions have several layers to them. This is no exception. The origin of this question comes from projects like my SHELL Framework (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-deciding-which-projects-are), where I’m ranking projects by different criteria to identify which are the most likely to generate a return on my investment of time, money, and effort. As I get older, and my perceived future time dwindles (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-trying-to-learn-before-its), I feel the urge to not waste my time on frivolous projects. I should have some idea of why I’m working on the project and what I hope to get out of it. That’s not to say that there isn’t value in chasing inspiration, but I need to be aware that when I do that, I need to time-box it and not let it take up tons of time without any objective. The other part of this is the “How do I focus” part. I am a fairly distractible person, and I need to develop discipline around focus. Some of my current reading projects have the benefit of helping me practice extended focus blocks, which is a skill I need to develop. So I’d connect to this question projects like “Follow the Well Educated Mind process while reading the first 10 chapters of Don Quixote” as well as the development of frameworks like SHELL, so I can feel some confidence that I’m working on something that matters. 2. How can I uncover and influence hidden systems shaping my life? On the surface, this connects with my lifelong interest in the occult (from Latin occultus ‘hidden, secret’), which can mean magical or mystical practices (e.g., tarot, pendulum divination, etc.) or real science behind many occult phenomena (e.g., reticular activating system, hypnagogia, default mode network, etc.) On a deeper level, this connects to a lot of my self-reflection. Trying to understand my own motivations and biases. Tools like LifeCoachLens are very much part of answering this question. 3. How can I build invisible bridges that multiply existing value? The origin of this question is that I like connecting people and connecting systems. I’ve founded meetup groups, participated in online communities, and enjoy federated wikis (http://fed.wiki/view/welcome-visitors/view/federated-wiki) and open formats like RSS and ActivityPub. A key component of my day job is building API integrations. I’m very driven to find existing groups and platforms and find ways to “multiply value” by connecting them, either socially, “Hey, have you seen this other person’s work?” or through technology (e.g., writing code that literally connects different systems), aka “invisible bridges” One example is the federated wiki (fedwiki for short) community. There are a bunch of solo wikis where people write about various things. However, tracking down or following what people are working on is hard. I also do a lot of work with RSS and news aggregation. My way of creating a bridge between these systems and writers was to build a platform (fedwikiriver.com (https://fedwikiriver.com/) and feeds.fedwikiriver.com (https://feeds.fedwikiriver.com/)) where people can follow and discover the interesting things happening across all the different wikis. This site is a bridge between people writing on wikis, as well as a bridge between the fedwiki platform and RSS/Rivers of News, which I’ve been involved with in many different ways. 4. How do I maximize the applied value of what I learn? This comes out of my frustration with reading books, listening to podcasts, and promptly forgetting everything I learned. I’m in the middle of the iCanStudy course, where I’m learning new techniques that will allow me to remember and integrate what I’m learning with my day-to-day life. Books like The Well Educated Mind and How To Read A Book are within the sphere of this question. Too much of my learning has been passive, so learning skills to make my learning more active and actionable are very important if I want to leverage what I’m learning in the future. 5. How do I design a meaningful life with momentum and alignment? This newsletter is very much an investigation into this question. It also ties together many of the other questions. Why should I learn anything? What’s the point? What do I want to get out of life? These are all pieces of this question. I want to feel like what I do is meaningful and not just a waste of time. I also want to feel like I’m building a flywheel where what I learn today feeds into the momentum of what I’ll learn tomorrow. This connects to my desire to study philosophy and read classic literature. People have been thinking and writing about the search for meaning for a very long time. I think even this exercise of trying to come up with 12 favorite questions is part of trying to understand what gives my life meaning, connecting to this question. Summary Hopefully, what you take away from this week’s issue is that it can be helpful to identify the underlying questions that motivate you. By reverse engineering what you’re curious about, you can start to connect seemingly disparate interests and threads in your life. As someone who would like to someday figure out “my passion,” I think this is a very tangible artifact. If you try out LifeCoachLens or take a shot at forming some of your own favorite questions, please share your results with me. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

9. 

   8 Apr 2025

   How I’m Trying to Learn Before It’s Too Late

   At 43, I’m not scared of dying. I’m scared of wasting time. Neil deGrasse Tyson says mortality gives life meaning (https://youtu.be/RxN5YdFCye4?si=kwfM9zhSLNJufzlF&t=84). I think it robs us of ambition. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. As I get older, I have less time left, and because of that, I can’t take the wild swings I would have when I was younger. What I prioritize to work on becomes much more important, and the feeling that if I’m going to work on a project, I need to “get it right” so I’m not wasting my limited time. There is also a growing list of things that I find interesting, but I’ll never do them because I don’t feel like there is enough time left to realize its benefits. For instance, as a software developer, I’ve thought it might be fun to create a point-and-click adventure game like Maniac Mansion. But at this point in my life, I think, “What’s the point?” I’m disillusioned with software development, and I have no experience with game design, either technically or creatively. It might be fun, but there are better ways to spend my time right now. I previously talked about my SHELL Framework (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-deciding-which-projects-are), where I score perspective projects on the basis of Speed, Heart, Effort, Longevity, and Leverage, and building an adventure game would score very low. * Speed: 1 - This is neither a quick project nor a long-term project with a minimal weekly commitment. * Heart: 2 - I’d have fun with the creative part, but the technical side would be tedious. * Effort: 1 - So much effort. Even if I used an off-the-shelf platform like Adventure Game Studio, there is a lot to learn. * Longevity: 1 - At best, I’d make one game. I’m not looking to turn this into a career. * Leverage: 1 - No relation to any other project or goal I have. In fact, there is a study that showed that “as future time becomes more limited with age, curiosity is less valued; hence, curiosity is negatively associated with the advance of age. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7925741/)” That’s right. As you get older and see the amount of time you have left diminish, you’re less interested in learning new things. It goes on to say that “older adults tend to prioritize emotionally meaningful goals over instrumental or knowledge-related goals.” But this is super depressing. I don’t want to lose my intellectual curiosity. I don’t want to turn into my mother, who has zero interest in learning new things. She’s perfectly happy sitting on her couch watching TV, waiting until she dies. My Good Fight I’m not ready to give up. I’m only 43, and assuming nothing catastrophic happens, I hope to have at least another good 40-50 years (hopefully much more) ahead of me. I have two big goals/projects that I’m working on this year: iCanStudy is a course I’ve mentioned that I’m currently enrolled in. My primary goal (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-making-my-learning-actually) in taking this course is “to overcome my sieve-like brain and learn quickly and effectively.” I have a very difficult time retaining anything after reading a book or taking a course. This is not conducive to using my remaining years effectively. Working through The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. My primary goal in working through this course (in book form) is to develop my ability to focus (especially when reading), tackle difficult texts, and actually digest and form new opinions from what I’m reading (as opposed to passively consuming). This focuses on reading classic literature in fiction, history, autobiographies, drama, poetry, and science. I’m starting out by reading Don Quixote. Additionally, my hope is that by reading classical literature (especially philosophy), I’ll develop not only knowledge but wisdom. Both of these goals score highly on the SHELL Framework. Not only am I very interested (Heart), but the ongoing weekly commitment and effort are manageable, and the long-term benefits and leverage are high. Learning to learn and read well will multiply all other future projects. Allegedly, Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever,” which seems like pretty good advice. I’m not ready to fade into routine. I want to keep learning, keep building, and stay curious for as long as I can. I hope I get more time. If I ever do end up living forever as a robot in space, I want to be the kind that never stops learning. If this hit a nerve or made you think about how you spend your time, please share it or let me know what you’re working on. I’d like to hear. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

10. 

    1 Apr 2025

    Why I Avoid Tracking (And Why I Need To Start)

    I bought a course to improve my study skills and time management (https://programs.icanstudy.com/). I block time on my calendar to work on the course, but I keep missing my study sessions. The irony? The first module of the course talks specifically about urgency trapping, which is exactly why I kept missing those sessions. Each time I set aside time to study, I ended up doing tasks that felt more urgent instead. The course suggests tracking distractions to help manage this problem. But tracking is something I've resisted my whole life. Only recently have I managed to start tracking my diet and finances. I'm already seeing benefits and I'm making improvements, but this resistance persists. Tracking means facing uncomfortable truths and having to make changes. I'm finally recognizing how this lifelong pattern of avoidance has kept me stuck. To break free, I need to confront not just the habit itself, but the hidden costs that come with it. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The Hidden Cost of Avoidance All of this avoidance doesn't actually eliminate the consequences, just delays them and magnifies their impact. That's why I'm now digging myself out of a mountain of debt and on a keto diet to lose over a hundred extra pounds. Procrastination is leading to a life of stress and anxiety. It turns routine tasks into urgent emergencies because I put them off for too long. There's an uncomfortable truth hidden behind all this avoidance. As someone who loves to learn, and spends an absurd amount of time on personal growth, I’m realizing I have all the signs of a fixed mindset. I'm someone that avoids failure, discomfort, and responsibility at every turn. The Identity Trap The tricky thing about a fixed mindset is that it usually takes root in childhood. While much of mine is a blur, there are a few memories that hint at when those seeds might have been planted. For as long as I can remember I was a "smart kid" although I'm not sure where this started. I recall stories of me reading the encyclopedia in preschool. We got our first computer when I was five and I remember helping my first grade teacher with computer problems. By fourth grade the fixed mindset must have been somewhat established because I remember cheating with my friend to avoid having to work hard memorizing my multiplication tables. In high school I leveraged my ability to program my calculator to succeed without needing to learn the underlying math concepts. I focused on things that were fun and easy. Fortunately for me, computer programming has historically been fun and easy for me. I've been able to have a successful career without that much effort. This pattern reveals that effort, risk, and the possibility of failure have always felt threatening. Being labeled as "the smart kid" created an identity trap where I was praised for natural ability, not effort. Challenges felt like evidence that I wasn't who everyone believed me to be. Because of this, I've always felt like a fraud, that one day people will discover that I've been tricking people all along and that I'm really a moron. This generates so much anxiety and has really eliminated my self worth. Instead of working hard and striving for bigger and better results, I take what I can get. I don't take risks because I don't want to be put in a place that would expose my inadequacies. Why can't I take my own advice? That question stuck with me. It made me realize I needed help figuring this out. Luckily, the iCanStudy course I'm working through doesn’t just talk about the problem. It gives me a place to start. Takeaways The course talks a lot about the difference between fixed and growth mindsets. Someone with a fixed mindset asks a lot of questions ahead of time to prevent mistakes, while a person with a growth mindset tries the best they can and asks "How did I do?" afterwards. One recommendation is setting aside several hours as a practice block, spend that time practicing and failing, then reviewing "how did I do?" writing down the errors I made, so I can identify trends. I'll need to figure out something I can practice in this way. Figuring this out is a challenge as I've avoided hard practice for so long. But if I want to move forward, this seems like the place to start. What's one uncomfortable truth you've been avoiding, and what would happen if you faced it today? Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

11. 

    25 Mar 2025

    How I Channeled Unfocused Curiosity Into Clear Insight

    Curiosity is desirable and powerful, but when fragmented, it becomes a liability. Every time you mindlessly consume content without context or an objective, you’re building a mental bottleneck. However, you want to make room for serendipity and be able to follow rabbit holes even if there lacks evidence of a connection to your goals and work. How do you balance following curiosity without falling into cognitive overload? Last week, I discussed the importance of having a clearly defined “Why?” (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-making-my-learning-actually) before starting a project and the need to create a plan that details the scope and deliverables before starting. Otherwise, how will you know that a project is finished? I fully intended to have an example plan to share with you this week so I could explain the components to include, but life had other plans. This week, I’m bringing you a behind the scenes look at my actual process of chasing curiosity while trying to minimize fragmentation and cognitive overload. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. What Is the Project? When I created a spreadsheet of potential projects and ranked them according to my SHELL Framework (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-deciding-which-projects-are), I gained enormous clarity. It showed me which projects would provide me with the highest return on investment. But this week, when I reviewed this list, I realized that many of these “projects” should actually be components of other undefined learning projects. For instance, one project I listed was “Read On The Shortness of Life by Seneca,” I absolutely want to do it, but why? I’ve been a subscriber to Ryan Holiday’s newsletter for quite some time, and what little I know of stoic philosophy seems to resonate with me. I also have an interest in reading classic literature to deepen my understanding of the world and life in general. I actually don’t remember how On The Shortness of Life got on my radar and why I chose it over Meditations or Letters From a Stoic. I think it was because there was a newer translation that is supposidly more accessable and it’s fairly short. I thought it would be a good place to start. But what am I specifically trying to learn? What is the actual learning project that would require reading this book to complete? What would the deliverable be? I don’t know. So, for right now, I’m choosing to not move forward with reading this book. If I want a project to have a clear why and deliverable, I’m going to need to reconsider what a project is. It’s clear to me that “Watch this video” or “Read this book” is insufficient. A Real-Time Case Study Here’s how this played out in real time this morning. I was on YouTube and saw a clip from a TED talk by Manoush Zomorodi about boredom and how it activates something called “default mode.” I was about to click through to watch the TED talk, but I stopped to ask, “Why?” I then opened my notes (in Obsidian), created a new document under projects titled “Reading & Watching List,” and created a link to this TED talk. Under this link, I started explaining my why: I always tell Piper about how it’s good to be bored, and I know that when I’m bored and not filling my mind with stimulus, I have interesting thoughts. This video might give me pointers to primary research and evidence I can use in my broader picture of personal development. Then I thought, “Does this relate to any of my favorite problems?” My gut told me it related to “How can I uncover and influence the hidden systems shaping my life?” But why? So, I linked to the page for this question (you gotta love backlinks) and continued to think about how this is linked to hidden systems. Well, it reminds me of something I initially read in the book Contact Modalities by Grant Cameron, so I hopped on Perplexity and asked: In the book Contact Modalities, Grant Cameron mentions how setting an intention before sleep can give you the answer when you wake. He also mentions how Thomas Edison would sit in a chair with keys or ball bearings in his hand, so when he reached a certain level of consciousness, he’d drop the keys and wake up, and this was when he would have his answers. Please share any keywords or phrases about this phenomenon, including the brain frequency during this level of consciousness. It comes back with an interesting result (with links to sources) explaining that the phenomenon described involves leveraging the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep (hypnagogia) to access creative insights or solutions. Cool! Now I wonder if this is related to “default mode” that was mentioned in the clip about boredom, so I ask Perplexity, “Is there a connection between hypnagogia and “default mode”? It turns out the term is actually “default mode network,” and yes, they share a functional connection. Additionally, I recall that Bob Proctor mentioned Thomas Edison's story when discussing the topic of “Creative Imagination” in contrast to “Synthetic Imagination.” So now I write in my notes: I’m interested in leveraging the default mode network and the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep (hypnagogia) to access creative insights or solutions. Now we’re getting somewhere. Instead of spending 16 minutes watching a video with a vague idea of “this seems interesting, maybe it will be useful,” I now have new data. I discovered that boredom connects to the default mode network and hypnagogia, and this is interesting to me because it seems like a hidden system where ideas materialize from thin air. I don’t know about you, but this seems like a way more productive use of time than passively watching YouTube. In the past, I would have just clicked through to the video, watched it, and maybe I’d take away an interesting fact. But I’d have nothing to show for it. Even though this process wasn’t a predefined project, I could follow my curiosity and use it to develop clarity around my interests and build connections between them. What started as fragmented curiosities are now tied together in a common thread. I didn’t plan for this to become anything more than a curiosity checkpoint, but it feels like the start of something bigger. That’s where the idea of “Project Seeds” comes in. Project Seeds There is a concept in knowledge management called “Digital Gardening,” where you write little notes and ideas (seeds), and over time, you revisit them, improve and expand on them, and connect them to other little seeds, which grow and develop into mature work. I could easily see how these ideas might develop into a full project someday, but it wasn’t quite ready. So I opened another note in my projects folder called “Project Seeds” and wrote: This is where I allow project ideas to germinate. I don’t want to create projects willy-nilly and then waste a ton of time on dumb projects. So, how would I connect the dots if I created a learning project around these topics? Creative Imagination Project Bob Proctor talks about creative imagination, which involves pulling from infinite intelligence to create things that have never existed before. An example of this is how Thomas Edison would sit with a problem in mind and fall asleep with keys in his hand. When the keys dropped, he’d wake up with new ideas. This state between wakefulness and sleep is called hypnagogia and is somehow connected to the default mode network, which is activated when you’re bored. How do these states work, and how can I leverage them to tap into creative imagination? I’m interested in producing original work and feel like creative imagination is something I’d need to leverage. Maybe I’ll embark on this project, maybe not. It will most likely evolve into a completely different project at some point. I don’t feel like I’m ready to jump in, and I haven’t defined the deliverable for this project. This is good enough for now. The process I’ve been through has left me feeling energized. I feel like I’ve actually engaged with the learning process and actively learned about a few new concepts. Takeaways I hope this process of “showing, not telling” was helpful. I don’t want this newsletter to be a boring repository of theory, but rather a snapshot of the processes I’m going through as I try to become a more active participant in my life. Curiosity is amazing and should absolutely be cultivated, but in a deliberate way. When you filter it through reflection, link it to deeper questions, and track it with intention, it becomes fuel for meaningful progress. This isn’t about killing wonder. It’s about harnessing it, turning drift into direction, exploration into momentum, and curiosity into meaningful creation. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

12. 

    18 Mar 2025

    How I’m Making My Learning Actually Useful

    I’ve spent hundreds of hours reading books and taking courses, hoping they would help me grow. But most of the time, I finish and can’t remember a single thing that matters. There are no big ideas, no change, just a hollow, frustrating feeling that I wasted my time. I knew something had to change, so I started experimenting. What I’m trying now feels completely different. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Background I’m curious. I always want to learn new things, and I dream about all the ways my life will change by reading this book or taking this course. However, I’m a busy guy, and the piles of content keep growing. I first noticed a problem back in 2020. I had all these audiobooks and podcasts I was excited to get through. I filled every moment of downtime with audio. Going for long walks, shopping at the grocery store, or in the car. Brian Tracy notes that listening to audio programs during car rides can provide the equivalent of a university education each year, as it offers practical and condensed wisdom. My audiobook and podcast queue kept growing, and I listened at 2x speed to crank through as much as possible. However, I noticed that my brain couldn’t always handle it. There were some days I could listen to audiobooks with no problem. On days I found books hard to concentrate on, I’d downshift to podcasts and music if that was too hard. Only as a matter of last resort would I downshift to silence if my mind was too scattered to absorb anything. The problem was that even on audiobook days, I wasn’t absorbing anything. At the end of the month, I couldn’t even remember what books I listened to, let alone any important takeaways. This was a bit of an existential crisis for me. I’ve always attached myself to the identity of a lifelong learner. My undiagnosed but likely autism lends itself to my ability to rattle off all sorts of weird trivia about subjects I’ve focused on through the years. I was so busy trying to get through all this content, and then, on the other side, I realized it was all a waste of time, and I was no better off than if I had just sat and watched TV the entire time. The Problem Around this time, I discovered Tiego Forte and his Building a Second Brain live cohort course. This had to be the solution. If my first brain was failing me, maybe I just needed a second brain to pick up the slack. It did help a bit in the short term. I really focused on it and took a lot of handwritten notes, and I can honestly say I’m still applying what I learned in that course today. However, it didn’t solve my problem. Most of my content consumption was audio because I was so busy with work and my daughter that I never had the time or ability to sit down and focus on reading words on a page (or screen.) This, of course, also meant I wasn’t taking notes to put in my second brain. The few courses where I was in front of a computer and took notes did make a minor impact on my life, and I still go back to reference notes from some of the Jesse Elder courses I took during that time. But I’m still not satisfied with my results. What I get in terms of real-world impact from the hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars I spend on education is embarrassing. I actually feel humiliated when I look at how much debt I’ve accumulated “investing in myself,” while having nothing to show for it. The Idea When I signed up for Building a Second Brain, I did so through Timothy Kenny’s affiliate link. I figured if I was going to spend $2,500 on this course, I should maximize my value, and he offered bonuses if I signed up through him. I purchased many of Timothy’s courses (on Udemy) and even hired him as a coach for a while. Much of his material is beyond me, but his ideas stick and eventually work their way into my daily practices. Most importantly, Timothy doesn’t teach the same stuff as everyone else. Even if it’s the same subject, his approach is always unique. One idea he put out there was creating a “One Pagerr” plan for each project. He has a whole structure to include in this plan, but I want to focus on one aspect today. The Method In a project one pagerr plan, it’s recommended to list a primary goal in the summary, then list goals, questions, and deliverables later in the plan. I think this is a key part that I’m missing. I’m hoping to learn things by reading books and taking courses, but I never take the time to define a learning project. My experiment is to define what I expect the outcome to be as precisely as possible before I take a course or read a book. I’ll define each learning project’s goals, questions, and deliverables. This will help me determine whether the book or course is something I should be doing. If I can’t formulate a goal, maybe I shouldn’t waste time on it. Once I have a goal and questions, I can identify if the material answers them and helps me achieve the goal. Then, what will I produce as a byproduct of completing this project? Am I just creating notes or a report so I can review them as needed in the future? Should I create spaced repetition cards to help me commit things to memory? Is there a skill I’m hoping to develop so I can do something that I can’t do yet? Maybe I need to create content for my newsletter? Having a deliverable will help focus my studying. Everything I read or watch will filter through the lens of “Does this answer any of my questions? Will this help me ship my deliverable?” The last thing I plan on bringing to this practice is an idea shared early in Building a Second Brain. It’s to have a list of 12 favorite problems. This was something Richard Feynman had. By having a list of 12 favorite problems or questions, you’ll always be on the lookout for things to support solving these problems. I envision creating top-level projects around each question I come up with. That way, when I’m defining a learning project, I can ask, “Does this support one of my favorite problems?” I haven’t come up with 12 favorite problems yet (only 5), but here’s what I have so far: * How do I focus on the work that matters most? * How can I uncover and influence the hidden systems shaping my life? * How can I build invisible bridges that multiply the value of what’s already there? * How do I maximize the applied value of what I learn? * How do I design a meaningful life with momentum and alignment? Next Steps Even if you don’t plan to create your own one pagerr, I think it will be very helpful to define ahead of time what you want to get out of something before you spend a bunch of time on it. I haven’t created my first one pagerr yet. Perhaps next week, I’ll share a plan and explain the pieces more closely. If you want to ensure you don’t miss my plan, please subscribe. I’d also appreciate it if you shared this article with someone who might appreciate it. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

13. 

    11 Mar 2025

    The Discipline of Doing Nothing Helped Me Get Clarity

    The trail was covered in ice. Where people had walked, the snow was compacted and slick, and I was heading downhill over a lot of rocks. It’s easier to be present when you’re just trying not to slip and crack your head open. This weekend, I conducted an experiment. I headed to Blue Mound State Park, grabbed a notebook, and left my phone in the car. I wanted to step away from the constant stimulation and see if anything interesting surfaced. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I spent four hours in nature, alternating between tromping through the elements and sitting and writing in my journal. The physicality of it was challenging as I’m an overweight, out-of-shape computer nerd. There were a lot of hills, which by themselves would have been challenging, but slipping and sliding in ice and mud made it even more of an ordeal. The weather in Wisconsin was pretty good for March. The temp got up to around 55 F but it was windy which at times was pretty uncomfortable. I enjoy walking and being in nature, but this was really difficult. I wasn’t able to zone out and let my mind wander like I’d typically do on a long walk. I really had to be present, focusing on my footing. My hope going into this would be that I’d get some amazing download from the universe but I think the results were more subtle than that. Insights My journaling surfaced with some interesting thoughts. Busy-ness vs. Productivity I have a tendency to overcommit and then burnout, which leads me to feel guilty, so I start more projects, which starts the cycle all over again. I also have this conflict between feeling overwhelmed and wanting a simpler life and the idea that I need to grow and develop as a person. This will be something I need to spend time thinking about to really unpack. I think in the short term, I have several projects that I discussed in How I’m Deciding Which Projects Are Worth Pursuing Right Now (https://andrewshell.substack.com/p/how-im-deciding-which-projects-are), but I need to keep my list of open projects short. Additionally, I need to make one of my “projects” to take time to disconnect and spend time doing nothing. I want to be clear on what I mean by doing nothing. Technically, we’re always doing something. I can sit on my couch and watch the paint peel, but that’s still “something.” So, in this context, I mean specifically not reading, listening, or socializing. I should be alone with my mind and give my brain the space to think. Burnout Recovery This aligns with my desire to make space for “doing nothing.” However, it has a different spin. I attended a workshop recently where the host claimed that rest is not sufficient to recover from burnout. Specifically, there were three strategies to reverse burnout. 1. Vagus Nerve Stimulation 2. Dopamine Recalibration 3. Cognitive & Behavioral Techniques So, I will investigate options for all of these. I know spending time away from stimulating devices and activities will help with what is described as a “dopamine detox,” so that’s good. My therapist suggested a few practices like breathing exercises and humming that should help with vagus nerve stimulation. Feedback Would you consider disconnecting and spending time in nature with nothing but your thoughts and a notebook? Do you have experience with reversing burnout? Please comment or send me a DM. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

14. 

    4 Mar 2025

    How I’m Deciding Which Projects Are Worth Pursuing Right Now

    I know I want to focus on foundational skills and habits to help improve my day-to-day, but there are so many different things I could work on. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Do I improve my software development skills? If I need to switch jobs, I should really study data structures and algorithms because that will be needed for higher-paying jobs. I haven’t needed it so far in my 20-year career, but I’m not getting any younger, and I need to compete with younger folks. However, I don’t want to drill LeetCode. That sounds boring. Besides, do I even want to stay in this career? I’ve signed up for many courses through the years. There is a lot I’d like to work on. But there are also a lot of books I want to read. Several of my side projects, not to mention this newsletter, need attention. I get so overwhelmed I don’t work on anything. Sometimes, I can do something, but it’s whatever I feel like doing at the moment, probably not the best thing to work on. I need to figure this out. Ideally, I’ll have a list of everything I’m working on or want to work on and score them to identify which projects will give me the biggest return on my time & money investments. You’ve probably seen some existing frameworks out there. A common one is the Eisenhower matrix, where you group tasks on whether or not they are urgent and/or important. In the project management space, there is a great acronym, RICE, where you score each project based on Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. However, these aren’t metrics that matter for personal projects. The SHELL Framework I headed to ChatGPT to help me brainstorm what a personal version of RICE might look like. Well, the acronym we came up with wasn’t quite what I expected going in, but I’m sharing the first draft of the SHELL framework with you today. I’ve already found a few limitations of this framework, but it’s a good starting place. SHELL stands for Speed, Heart, Effort, Longevity, and Leverage. Let me explain each in the context of this framework. Each metric will be given a score of 1-5, and then you multiply them together and sort the list by this total score. Speed Initially, I thought speed would be how long it takes to complete the project, but when I started scoring my tasks, I realized it should be more like a “Time Commitment.” If it’s a major time commitment, it gets a 1, and if it’s a minor time commitment, you give it a 5. I have several long-term projects that might not require much time on a weekly basis. Should these be scored low because they will be ongoing long-term projects? Should they be scored high because they don’t take up much time every week? I’m choosing to score projects 5 if they have small weekly commitments, even if they are long-term projects. Heart Heart represents how much this project juices you up. Are you excited and motivated to do it, or does this feel like a “should” that you think you need to do? This is important to consider. Effort How much effort will this project require? Is this an easy or difficult project? Give it a 1 if this is a super difficult project. Give it a 5 if it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. Longevity Now, it’s not good to only prioritize quick and easy projects. You also need to balance long-term benefits. Give longevity a high score if completing this project will make your life better far in the future. Leverage Leverage should be scored high if completing this project will make your other tasks & projects easier or unnecessary. It doesn’t have to only help other projects on your list. You could score this high if it’s a fundamental skill like learning public speaking. One trick I’m using is if the project has prerequisites, I score it 0 for leverage, so the whole row is zeroed out because I can’t start it yet. Downstream Benefits The biggest problem I see with the SHELL framework (which might be okay) is that an ideal score should consider the downstream benefits. Leverage is an incomplete way to measure this. If I have a project that is a prerequisite for a bunch of high-value projects, should the score reflect this? I don’t want this to become some crazy Gantt chart, so I think it’s okay to ignore. It’s just an extra piece of data you can look at when deciding what to work on now. Implementation To try this out and see if it was helpful, I created a spreadsheet and brain-dumped 28 projects that I’ve either started or would like to start. Quickly, I realized that it’s helpful to consider scope. Many of my projects were “Read this interesting book.” Sometimes, that might be a higher time commitment (lower score), but then I remembered something we do at work. Instead of just creating a ticket for a particular project, we might create an investigation ticket. This is where we’ll take a week or two to figure out the real scope of the project. Are there any prerequisites or blockers? Is this a much bigger project than we expected? So, I change some of my projects to “investigation” projects. In the context of books, it might become “Skim this interesting book,” which is less effort and quicker. Then, I can decide if the book requires a deeper dive, which I can put down as a new project. The result of doing this exercise is I discovered that I should spend my time right now completing two quick Timothy Kenny courses about specific learning skills, as well as the year-long iCanStudy program because I know if I invest in skills around learning and note-taking, all of my other projects will become more valuable. I already struggle with getting value out of and remembering what I read (even worse with podcasts and audiobooks.) So, if I can postpone all these books until I’ve figured out new skills to try, they have a better chance of impacting my life. What I also discovered is that, as of right now, it’s probably not the best use of my time to study algorithms and data structures. Yes, they scored high for longevity and mid for leverage, but it would be a major undertaking in both time and effort, and frankly, my heart isn’t in it. I’m looking forward to using this list as an ongoing planning tool where I add projects (especially courses) to see if it makes sense for me buy and start. This alone, should help shrink my education budget category. Over the next few weeks, I’ll keep adding projects as they come up. I know there are a bunch of ongoing coding projects I haven’t added yet. I like that if I put something down and it gets a low score, I can tweak it (change the scope) and see if there's a better way to approach it. Feedback What do you think? Does this help you? Any suggestions for tweaking it? Please comment and let me know. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

15. 

    25 Feb 2025

    Think You Can’t Turn It Around in Your 40s? Read My Story

    In September, I stepped on the scale, and I felt like I would puke. I clocked in at 307.1 lbs, an all-time high. All year, I had been hovering around 300, which was frustrating because I was trying to lose weight. In May, I walked 6,500 steps every day, and in August, I had a grilled chicken salad every day for lunch. Why wasn't I losing weight? Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work The donuts. It was probably the donuts. Back in January 2023, my intuitive reader suggested I investigate Virta. Virta is a medically supervised online keto program. At the time, I had GHC for health insurance, and Virta wasn't covered, but a year later, my company switched to Quartz. I decided to try it, so I filled out their application form and waited. I talked with their triage staff, shared my medical history with their physicians, and had a blood panel taken. When my lab results were posted, I saw that my hemoglobin A1c was 5.8. I'm pre-diabetic. I started my diet on October 28th, the Monday before Halloween. I guess I didn't need all that candy anyway. I controlled myself and made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving. On November 30th, I weighed 280.8. Wow, I had lost 26.3 lbs! I couldn't believe that this was actually working. I know it will take a long time to lose all the weight. For a "normal" BMI, I need to weigh less than 185 lbs. I just focus on the milestones. On Christmas, I weighed 270 lbs. Now, I'm not good with finances. I spend recklessly and have accumulated far more debt than I'm comfortable with. Over the last few years, I've used YNAB to track my spending. Notice I didn't say "to maintain my budget." Yeah. It wasn't intended to be used every couple of months. I was unprepared to see how much I spent between Black Friday and Christmas. Puke! I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but January 1st is as good a time as any to start budgeting. Much like losing weight, reigning in my spending habits and paying off my debt will not happen overnight. But crafting a budget and reconciling it daily seems like a good place to start. So far, I'm pleased with my progress. That leads us to today and why I'm writing this long-winded essay. I'm 43 years old and feel unmoored, like a ship without a rudder. My life is good, and I've had success, but I feel it's more from being in the right place at the right time or pure coincidence, not from a deliberate plan. I have a 10-year-old daughter. Retirement isn’t some abstract concept anymore. If I don’t take control of my life now, I could be one illness, one layoff, or one bad year away from a future I don’t want. That’s urgency for you! My wins with weight and budget have motivated me to keep going and see what else I can improve. I could benefit from some focus on time management, organization, and that little thing they call "finding meaning in your life." You know, no pressure or anything. Mid-life crisis? Maybe. I don't see any sports cars or young models in my future, but I wouldn't turn away Cara Delavigne if she showed up on my doorstep. Lol. I’m planning to write about what I'm going through. The challenges I’m facing and the experiments I’m running. I'm not sure if anyone will read it or find it interesting. Hopefully, it will be more action and less navel-gazing. If this sounds interesting, shoot me a message and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading Midlife Momentum! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewshell.substack.com (https://andrewshell.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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