Last Friday I sat on the high-speed train to Avignon, pastry in hand, reading a book.
Then — because it felt good — I pulled out my laptop. For an hour or two, I wrote about an exiled angel helping a barbarian god break free from chains of mortal servitude.
By the time we reached the station, I closed my laptop.
“Maybe I’ll write this weekend,” I thought.
But I didn’t.
Instead, in St. Rémy de Provence — the same village where Van Gogh checked himself into an asylum — I:
Watched a sunset from a rooftop with Irish coffee.
Ate the biggest chocolate soufflé I’ve ever seen.
Meditated in the cloister outside the monastery gift shop.
No writing. No “productivity.”
On the train back, I didn’t pull out my laptop either.
I read a thriller. I recorded a meditation video. I looked out the window and saw a MARSEILLE sign on the hillside, like Hollywood transplanted to France.
Once, I might have judged myself. “Am I working hard enough? Am I being optimal?”
But instead, I just ate a croissant and half an apple turnover.
And the very next day, I sat down at home, full of joy and rest — and wrote 8 pages of nonstop action and brilliance in one sitting.
So here’s my advice to my future self:
Don’t “work hard.” It only leads to endless striving.
Don’t “work smart.” It only leads to endless optimizing.
Do what feels good now.
It leads to contentment. To ease. And — paradoxically — to your smartest, best, most inspired work.
Love from the south of France,
Jack
P.S. If you want to know the 10 rules I follow to feel good every day — and align with the frequency of my dream timeline? Download The 10 Commandments of Bliss. It’s free, short and full of light.