The Important Things To A Good Life

It’s been a minute since I’ve written here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to live a good life.

The funny thing about a good life is that no two people define it the same way.

So my interpretation might reassure you as to why you’re subscribed, or it might be the reason you stop relating.

That’s okay.

A good life requires ongoing education.

Not necessarily formal education. Just learning.

Learning a language. Learning to cook. Learning how to repair something. Learning technology. Learning an art form. Learning how to communicate. Learning how to listen.

Past generations understood something we’ve forgotten. Everywhere you looked there were apprentices and journeymen. Mentees and mentors. People who knew things, and people humble enough to admit they didn’t.

Somewhere along the way, we lost that.

And when people stop learning, they start performing.

We hide behind carefully curated identities because admitting we don’t know something feels like weakness. But pretending to know everything is exhausting.

A good life also requires adversity.

Not the kind you create for yourself by playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes.

I mean the kind you didn’t deserve.

The unfair moments.

The times you held the door open and got shoved on the way through.

The betrayal.

The misunderstanding.

The disappointment.

Not because suffering is noble, but because pain has a strange way of teaching empathy, compassion, and emotional intelligence to those willing to learn from it.

A good life includes strength.

You don’t have to go to a gym.

But you should be strong in some capacity.

Strong enough to carry your dog.

Strong enough to help your parents.

Strong enough to move furniture.

Strong enough to recover when life gets heavy.

Strength isn’t vanity.

It’s capability.

A good life includes good food.

Not the latest restaurant everyone is lining up for.

Good food is someone making something they love from real ingredients and handing you a container to take home after you’ve already shared a meal together.

Good food is rarely rushed.

Good food is usually accompanied by conversation.

Good food is presence.

And a good life requires teamwork.

That’s the trickiest one.

Everyone cheers for a team.

Very few understand why teams win.

Talent matters.

But talent alone doesn’t.

Sometimes a team full of stars keeps falling short.

Not because they’re missing skill, but because somebody everyone listens to isn’t willing to change.

One person refuses to adapt.

One person insists on doing things the way they’ve always done them.

Everyone else adjusts around them.

Coaches get fired.

New systems arrive.

Players come and go.

People wonder how a roster full of talent can’t seem to put it all together.

And eventually, someone notices the problem wasn’t a lack of talent.

It was ego.

The irony is that the most individually successful people are sometimes the ones holding the entire group back.

Not because they’re bad people.

Often they’re generous, loyal, and deeply loved.

But being a good person and being teachable aren’t always the same thing.

The best teams aren’t necessarily made up of the best individuals.

They’re made up of people willing to put their own biases aside for the good of the group.

People willing to say:

“Maybe I don’t know everything.”

“Maybe there’s a better way.”

“Maybe I need to change.”

Environment matters.

Culture matters.

Humility matters.

People often wonder why someone changes teams and suddenly has the best season of their career.

Sometimes they didn’t become better.

Sometimes they simply found an environment that allowed them to become who they already were.

And I think that’s what we miss when talking about a good life.

On paper, a good life looks like a big salary, a good buzz, and always being right.

But I don’t think that’s it.

I think a good life is simpler than that.

Learn continuously.

Become stronger.

Share meals.

Accept adversity.

Be a good teammate.

Leave people better than you found them.

And whatever you do, try not to leave a path of destruction behind you.

Even when the people in your path deserve less grace than you’d like to give.

Because at the end of the day, being right matters a lot less than being useful.

And building something worthwhile matters a lot more than winning an argument.