Hello Reader,

Thanks to the TimeCrafting Trust Book Club, I’ve been spending time with Meditations again.

Not reading it straight through, but returning to it—letting certain passages meet me where I am, rather than trying to extract something from it all at once.

Three ideas have stayed with me.

These three ideas don’t feel new. In fact, they feel familiar in a way that’s almost unsettling—like they’ve been quietly shaping how I think and work long before I could name them clearly.

1. You don’t control time, events, or outcomes—but you do participate in where your attention goes.
2. The state you bring to your actions matters more than the actions themselves.
3. Most of what we carry—mentally, emotionally, even behaviourally—is unnecessary.

Taken together, they form something simple, but not easy: Direct your attention, show up well to what’s in front of you, and let the rest fall away.

What struck me this time is how closely these ideas align with the work I’ve been doing for years—often without realizing I was circling them from a different angle.

Yet if I’m being completely honest, it’s the second one that feels most prescient right now.

Not what I do. Not how much I do. But the state I’m in while doing it.

As I continue to lean into this shift—from productivity to productiveness—that distinction feels less like an insight and more like a calling.

Not to do more, but to become someone who can do what matters… well.
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— Mike
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​P.S. Marcus Aurelius reminds us to focus on what’s within our control—especially where we place our attention. Tomorrow, I’ll be exploring that idea in a live conversation with Mark Manson, looking at what we choose to care about and why that matters more than doing more. You can join us here.​