What This Is (And What It Isn't)

Hi Reader,

At some point, many of us stop asking what we are building and start asking how to do more of it. Maybe you can name exactly when. Maybe it just crept up.

That's what optimization culture does. I want to be clear: I'm not anti-optimization. Making the best use of what you have? That's just smart. If a process can be improved, improve it. If a workflow can be simplified, simplify it. If a resource can be used more effectively, use it more effectively.

But optimization culture is something different. I see optimization culture as the working assumption that every corner of your life is a problem to be solved, a mountain to be conquered, a dragon to be slain. It's the grind that never ends because the goalpost never stops moving. And in the worst cases, it doesn't produce peak performance — it produces anxiety, burnout, and a quiet war against yourself.

The problem isn't optimization; it's when optimization becomes the goal. A life spent constantly upgrading without ever asking what we're building.

Spoiler: your life is not a dragon to be slain. It's yours to design.

Optimization answers the question: "How can I do this better?"

Design answers a different question: "What am I trying to create?"

Instead of asking how I can perform better, design asks "what do I actually want?"

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Vancouver

I learned this the hard way. The slow creep-up was my experience.

After years in Vancouver, something started to creep in. Not overnight. Not a singular event. Just a slow drift toward something that looked like self-improvement but really wasn't.

I became obsessed with my fitness, outward and internal. My skin, my weight, my appearance, my stamina. I cycled through dermatologists, naturopaths, personal trainers, swimming classes, weekly hikes, aestheticians. None of it cheap. All of it justified as an investment in my mental health.

Even then, I knew the gains were more mental than physical. What I didn't yet know was the problem I was trying to fix. And I didn't see that all these activities weren't getting me any closer to El Dorado; the elusive mental destination I couldn't even name.

Looking back now, I can name it so easily. So many things felt outside my control. My fitness was the one area where I could directly influence the outcome. Regardless of cost.

Well, it didn't work. The underlying issue remained, and I had added a significant financial cost to the equation.

What I was actually looking for had very little to do with my body. I wanted a greater sense of agency, momentum, and alignment between my environment and the life I was trying to build.

Those weren't fitness problems. They were design problems.

I wasn't optimizing for health. I was using health optimization as a proxy for things I actually wanted but couldn't yet name.

That's the danger of optimization without design. It can make you incredibly effective at solving the wrong problem.

I'm still in progress, but I know that I am arriving, not just constantly checking in against a moving goalpost.

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Design Is Not Optimization

The lesson wasn't that fitness doesn't matter. It does. The lesson was that optimization can only improve the thing you're pointing it at. It cannot tell you whether you're pointing at the right thing. It cannot tell you whether you're solving the right problem.

That's the job of design.

One is a method. The other is direction.

A well-designed life isn't necessarily the most productive one. It's the one that produces the outcomes that matter most to the person living it.

• For one person, that may be building a company.
• For another, it may be creating a slower life with deeper relationships.
• For someone else, it may be achieving financial freedom, raising a family, pursuing creative work, or serving their community.

The destination is personal. The design is intentional. And only after the destination becomes clear does optimization become useful.

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That's the idea behind this platform.

By Design isn't about optimization for its own sake or productivity as an identity. It's simpler and harder than that.

It is:

• Decide what matters.
• Design for it.
• Then optimize for it. On purpose.

Product thinking for me in this instance was building around my values, goals, and ultimately my version of a life that felt like mine. A destination not borrowed from someone else's highlight reel.

If that sounds simple, it is. It's also harder than any morning routine I've ever tried because it requires me to be honest about the problem (more on problems next week).

What have you been optimizing for, and have you actually designed for what you want?

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P.S. If any of this resonates with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Hit the reply button. Also, feel free to share this with anyone who you think might find it helpful.

Intentionally,

Dami