On The Road Less Travelled
The story behind Fewer Better Things and why I’m launching a second newsletter, Unsustainable, on Tuesday
Over a decade ago I declined lucrative offers for product management positions at some of the largest tech companies and startups in the world. I was on a path towards financial richness and lots of stuff. But I said no.
The reason for joining the tech industry in the mid-90s were never about money or materialism, but about changing the world in a positive way. And I felt that the soul had been lost from that mission and what I was doing.
So I began to teach graduate students and executives around the world about digital, startups, and product development. In parallel I began to divest and dematerialize everything I owned to live a simpler and more sustainable life.
Since the mid-90s I had experimented with living and working from anywhere and loved the idea of spending more time in nature. When I didn’t teach on location, I spent time in the mountains or in the ocean with my sons.
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Steve Jobs
I felt I was getting closer to my original purpose: making a positive difference in the world while living on my own terms – a simple, mindful, and sustainable life focused on learning, personal growth, and nature. The infamous road less travelled.
I started Fewer Better Things while I was living as a digital nomad (2013-18), showing the world how you could live anywhere with just an iPhone, a passport, and a credit card. Plus, of course, a small backpack with the daily essentials. Then a revolutionary idea, today a well-known phenomena.
I spent the pandemic surfing and reading but also discovering that I had adult ADHD. The pieces started to fall into place: my hyperfocus, ease of distraction, restlessness, anti-authoritarianism, procrastination, obstinance, fearless risk-taking, deep search for wisdom, truth calling, and stubborn drive.
Once the pandemic was declared over, I divested everything in the surfshack I had been renting for a few years, sustainably furnished by stuff I had either found on the beach, the street (freecycling), or been gifted by friends and strangers alike. Except the bed mattress which came new from IKEA.
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela
I had decided to return to a revised and more sustainable nomadic lifestyle (necessitated by my neurodiversity but also passion for traveling), focus my hyperfocus on my life’s passions (journalism, traveling, wellbeing), and to make a small dent in the universe to save our planet.
I no longer personally care about titles, social status, or financial wealth (but don’t judge others that do). I’ve gotten rid of all the few rewards, diplomas, and honors I’ve ever been given. They became a distraction in forging a new path, in my personal reinvention, and in a future where everything is possible.
As I’m learning to manage my neurodiversity, I’m creating the newsletter Unsustainable, a provocation and reminder that sustainability and circular innovation is a process, not a goal. Everything we make is derived from and impact our planet, so let’s make and use less better.
Unsustainable: Every Tuesday you’ll get a deep-dive into one outstanding brand but also learn about sustainable and circular innovations, from materials, production, sales/resale, and new business models.
While Fewer Better Things is about living simpler, more mindful, and sustainable lives, Unsustainable is about helping brands to create better products that last. They are, of course, two sides of the same coin, a natural leap forward in a world of wasteful abundance.
“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” – Viktor Frankl
We have the opportunity to reinvent living, being, and doing on this beautiful planet. Just imagine what we can do if we weren’t contrived to existing models and conventions. Innovations and entrepreneurship is not solely about products and services but also everything we do to bring humanity forward, like designing new lifestyles and sustainable ways of living.
We are all artists, scientists, teachers, and actors when the sun rise and a new day begins. We have the opportunity to play and experiment, to fail and learn, to create and share freely with anything and anyone across the world. These two newsletters are my entrepreneurial innovations, my canvases to explore the world in new and better ways.
Feel free to join either of the newsletters to acquire an alternative perspective on life and work, driven by purpose, passion, and peripatetic curiosity, and a deep love for our planet, nature, and humanity.
Paid subscribers of Fewer Better Things get 90 percent off Unsustainable for a year: $25 instead of $250 (discount code below). Free subscribers get 70 percent off for a year: $75 instead of $250.
Also, I’d appreciate if you would repost my LinkedIn announcement to help spread the word. It’s a noisy world, so any support would help. :)
Per