Hey Reader,

I turn 28 today. One inch closer to 30! I'm excited for the third decade. What about you?

To celebrate, me, Caroline, and the fur fam are at my buddy's lakehouse. Not sure if I brought enough bug spray or sunscreen (wish me luck).

Anyway, wanted to say thank you so much for being part of my community. Cheers to yet another year 🥂

Love you guys.

Now, let's dive into today's letter.

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If you’re not careful, life will sway you in directions that leave you feeling miserable and unhappy.

Sometimes it’s easier to say “to hell with all this” and settle with what you already have.

I’ll speak for myself because that was a habit I had for too long.

I’d take four steps forward and five steps backward by pushing toward something and self-sabotaging because I felt uncomfortable. The lack of noticing any progress didn’t help either.

But when this happens, we sacrifice the power of patience.

When we sacrifice our patience, we forgo the activities that would (actually) fulfill us in the end.

Only then are we prone to true suffering through life – seeing others achieve our own dreams – and wondering what could’ve been if we had just pushed through, no matter the “lack of external progress.”

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Get Uncomfortable & Get Used To It (If You Want A Meaningful Life)

If you spend your life avoiding discomfort, you’ll die with the most uneasy feeling of them all: regret.

“But I don’t want to think about death right now, Ashton…”

If you don’t face the hard truth that we will all die one day, my bet is that you’ll live a life that won’t fulfill you.

There’s a deep, deep purpose to contemplating death.

The sooner you confront the fear of it, the sooner you’ll live a meaningful life.

What’s crazy about human nature is that for some odd reason, urgency and scarcity are our biggest motivators.

Let’s say you’re a diehard Tesla fan.

Elon confirmed that production would begin for the Tesla truck back in 2019, but with “limited volumes.” The moment you hear that (and you have the budget to invest), you’re racing to pull out your credit card. That’s because you’re fearful of missing out. The limited volume inspires you to take immediate action.

Which is Tesla’s goal – to get you to take action.

If a deadline is coming up for a big project that your boss is counting on you for, you’re going to do everything possible to get it done. That’s urgency at work. Same reason why you’ve probably pulled an all-nighter for an exam (or tried to like me but could never make it through, even with Adderall).

Urgency and scarcity will get you movin’.

That’s why pondering over your own deadline is so beneficial. Avoiding it might make you feel comfortable in the present moment but at the cost of your true potential.

And you tell me… which is more scary?

Wasting your life away in comfort, pleasure, and temporary satisfaction?

Or facing the thought of death, accepting it, and using it to inspire you to make the most of what ya got?

Get uncomfortable.

Make the difficult choices.

Challenge your human potential.

And watch how much more meaningful your life becomes.

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Technology Tried To Choke My Ego

Every time my girlfriend and I have a music festival coming up, we do our research on each of the artists. Mainly due to our fear of missing out on a good set (guess that’s scarcity at its finest).

Before our trip to EDC Las Vegas in May, we discovered a new DJ by the name of Hot Since 82. LOVED the songs we heard during our research.

So, of course, we made our way to his sunrise set that Sunday morning on Day 3.

For some reason, his set stuck out to me the most. I just couldn’t stop dancing, even though I was absolutely exhausted from being on my feet the whole night (don’t even get me started on the lack of rest we had at camp).

The mix of his beautiful transitions with the perfect song choices made my weekend. I couldn’t stop reflecting on it, which reminded me of the only goal a DJ should have – to inspire people to move their bodies and have a good time.

After a month of being back home, he inspired me to create a similar DJ set with the goal of (hopefully) getting listeners to dance. Most of all, to stop and appreciate life for everything this chapter holds.

I spent weeks and the better half of my free time curating and organizing different tracks with a simple storyline:

1. Begin with a warmup
2. Buildup with a rising action
3. Ease into the climax
4. Then ease off the gas with a falling action
5. And end it off with a conclusion

While at my girlfriend’s family’s house for the weekend, I figured, what better place to film a summer mix than next to a pool? Caroline’s family had just invested in their backyard, so I took advantage.

After running through the mix for the third time, I was ready.

Saturday evening approaches. It’s the big night we’ve been waiting for. I set both cameras up on their tripods, set the frame for each with bug spray in hand, and had a nice glass of wine to suit the vibe.

All was well, until halfway through the mix (45 minutes in), my mixer freezes…

The f*ck?

This had never happened before.

I stood there in complete awe that it stopped working. A sense of unease rushed through my body and my thoughts started racing a million miles per hour:

• Do I try turning it off?
• What if I unplug the cord?
• How will I continue the mix?
• Does this mean I just wasted the last 45 minutes?

…

What the f*ck?!?!

I tried pushing the power, but it was so glitched up that the button had zero response. So I ejected my USB drive (what you use to play music and record the mix) and plugged it into my laptop to see if, at the very least, it recorded those 45 minutes.

It did.

Whew. I was so relieved.

I figured, okay, let’s just plug her back in and finish the mix. And I’ll edit out the mishap in post.

I brushed off the discomfort, started back where I left off, and finished the mix. By the end of that night and that glass of wine, I was feeling pretty damn good about myself.

… until I pulled up that USB drive again on my laptop.

The second half of the mix was recorded, but now, for some reason, the recorded file of the first 45 minutes (that was previously visible) disappeared. In other words, I only had half of the mix on file.

I felt my ego sneak up…

Are you kidding me?

How could technology do this?

Did I just waste two hours of my f*cking time?

Now, what…?

​

The Only Way To Overcome Discomfort

I can’t say I didn’t feel angry. Nothing pisses me off more than wasted time.

When nothing seems to be working, it’s much easier to throw in the towel.

However, when life smacks you in the mouth, what happens next is ultimately your decision.

Do you want to repeat the negative pattern or do something useful about it?

This is when avoiding discomfort starts to sound real sexy.

Ain’t nobody got time for this shit.

To hell with this mix – let’s just throw it in the garbage and watch Netflix to lift the mood.

But what if I told you that each time you sit with discomfort, you begin to stack up undeniable evidence that you deserve whatever it is you want?

It all boils down to your willingness to sit in discomfort and avoid running away from it.

But here’s the catch:

While it’s important to sit in discomfort, it’s more important to choose your discomfort.

When I graduated from college and sat in a room full of other graduates interviewing for a Financial Advisor position, I felt nothing but discomfort. On that drive back home, I immediately knew this path wasn’t for me. And in that case, discomfort is equally useful, because it points us away from a direction that’s not meant for us.

So the question becomes, what are you willing to suffer for? What are you willing to push through resistance for? What will make you feel proud after achieving it? What will make you feel like you spent your time wisely, regardless of the outcome?

I, for one, don’t want to deal with any sort of discomfort a Financial Advisor has, but I’ll fuck up an entire mix and wake up before sunrise the next morning to do it all over again.

Choose your discomfort, accept that achieving your goal will be uncomfortable, then become relentless about it.

​

The Path to Meaning

Have you ever experienced a friend, family member, or loved one go through something painful that doesn’t even make sense?

“Why are you dealing with this bullshit job if you don’t even care for all that money, Cameron? Wouldn’t you be happier somewhere else doing something you love, even if it means half the paycheck?”

When this happens, there’s a misalignment in values.

Cameron might be living a life that someone else painted for him. But why waste your precious energy on a life-sucking job that doesn’t fulfill you? Especially when the only way to deal with it is by spending all your money on material items, just to validate your career choices?

I heard a hearsay quote from a billionaire after being asked what was the secret to his success. His answer was, “the number one thing that made me successful is something we all share in common, but don’t take enough advantage of: time.”

His secret? Staying in one business for 61 years.

What is your ONE thing?

Start asking yourself now, while you have time on your side.

You and I both know there’s something out there that is bigger than you. Something that you can’t stop thinking about on your commute. The thing that, no matter what life hands you, you always resort back to.

The question is not whether or not you will suffer (you will either way). The question is what are you willing to suffer for? Then, filling it with so much purpose that it becomes flooded with meaning.

So, I challenge you to:

1. Write your values
2. Reflect on your life choices
3. Discover what is worth suffering for (and why)

Then, get after it.

And when shit gets tough (because it will), remind yourself of your why.

When you plant these seeds, your garden of potential will blossom into a beautiful future.

By holding your promise, confidence will become your best friend.

And through perseverance, you will continue to prove to yourself (and those you inspire) how you are the creator.

Not the victim.

Your success is inevitable as long as you set the intention, remain mindful, and keep getting back up regardless of the circumstance.

I believe in that statement so much that I’d be willing to die for it.

And I bet you would too.

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Cheers,

A

P.S. Here’s that mix you just spent the last 5 minutes reading about.​