When you play a “wrong note” while taking a solo, it’s only wrong because you had a different note in your mind. You’vefocused your attention so tightly on that one note that you’ve blocked yourself from hearing all the other options. Meanwhile, the audience, who wasn’t anticipating anything specific, hears your note without attachment. In context. Often, I’ve come off stage and had someone say, what was that thing you played? That was so interesting. They actually liked it. Because in that moment, they heard it as part of the full musical experience. They weren’t attached to what I’d intended. So they received what actually happened.

I’ve come to believe we’re born into a field of endless possibility. Anything is truly possible at the start. But then life happens, and with every negative experience, we lay down a brick. One experience says “don’t do that again.” Another says “protect yourself here.” And over time, without even realizing it, you’re living inside a fortress you built yourself.

So for me, optimism is about seeing past the walls and not laying another brick.

I was in a steam room the other day when a friend told me a story about his nine-year-old son.

His son had just finished a hockey game. The team lost 3–2. As the boys came off the ice, some of them were crying. They had given everything they had, and it hadn’t been enough.

I’ve been noticing something.

Not just in AI.
Not just in business.
Not just in music.

Everywhere.

We move fast.
We optimize.
We polish.
We make things cleaner, smoother, more efficient.

And then, almost without realizing it, we start craving the opposite.

I had just celebrated my 19th birthday and was 200 meters from the highest summit outside of Asia when something shifted.

Two hundred meters.

Close enough that I could almost feel the story I’d tell when I got home. Close enough that the ego starts rehearsing the line: “I made it.”

And then I realized something that stopped me in my tracks.

I remember when MP3s first came out.

I was deep in the music world at the time, and the reaction from musicians and producers was almost universal: frustration. Disdain, even.

The sound quality was objectively worse than previous formats. The dynamics were gone. The peaks and valleys, the very things that made music feel alive, were flattened by compression.

In an age obsessed with optimization, speed, and machine answers, it's easy to forget what has shaped us more than anything else: our stories.

Stories are how we make sense of the world, build connection, navigate challenges, and ultimately decide who we are.

While meditating today, I experienced a place where I could observe my thoughts as they came into being. For a brief, illuminating moment, I saw them as they were born—emerging and shaping themselves. And in that realization, it became strikingly clear how my thoughts completely shape my reality. I was far enough removed to simply observe them, detached and unclouded.

Since I was 15, I have loved lifting weights. I love pushing against the resistance and the explosive energy it can take to lift something heavy. Some bodies are better suited to certain activities, and it doesn't take effort to stay consistent when you find what is right for you. I love the thrill of the outdoors even more. I've kayaked white-water rapids, climbed mountains, ventured into caves, and walked through dark woods. Sometimes, getting close to the edge of my limits. These moments have always felt deeply aligned with my nature.

I find it interesting that some people see opportunities everywhere, and others have difficulty seeing any at all. It's as if some are wearing horse blinders and cannot see beyond what is in front of them, or when what one person might consider a "sign" of opportunity, another says, "Show me another sign!"