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To the obsessed,

Here are your weekly Ten Bullets. A list of ideas I can't stop thinking about- to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession.

1. On fear:

"If you’re not scared, you’re not pushing:

In the summer of 2020, in the midst of some pillow talk with my wife, I confronted the existential dread I had towards the leap of faith I was about to take by starting Varda [his company].

I thought, why would I do this to myself, starting a company is a miserable experience. Thankfully she reminded me this is my life’s work and is worth the dread. If you don’t proactively take on some existential dread every few years, you probably aren’t pushing yourself hard enough."

- Delian Asparouhov (Founders Fund, Varda Space)

Great thread of 30 lessons from 30 years.

2. On intellectual obsessions:

"What you should be doing when you're creating a startup, is not 'what space is hot', or 'what resources can I bring to there.' It's what knowledge do I have? As Peter Thiel says- what is a secret, what is a thing that I believe to be true that other people don't- that I have an intellectual obsession around. If you've been obsessed with the space for sometime- for whatever reason. It was a hobby, you couldn't look away, you were really fascinated by it, you figured something out.

And because you figured something out, you can bet on that with deep conviction."

- Naval Ravikant on wealth (h/t Michael Hewitt)

3. On The Obsessed Self:

Nothing I write is from ‘me.'
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Since I started my Instagram, almost five years ago, it’s been from one person.
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​The Obsessed version of myself.
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I haven’t been always been ‘them’, but they’ve always been there.
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In The Dark Place. Quiet.
Whispering.
And, on rare occasions, shouting.
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Telling me what I need to do.
Saying what I need to hear.
Pushing where I need to go.
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And sometimes, you become that voice.
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On a hard run, like this marathon. In a hard workout. In a hard moment. They take control for a while.
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You’re just a passenger.
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Watching, as you do something you’ve never done before.
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When I hear that voice, I write it down what they say. And post it here, on Twitter, etc.
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​I owe everything to them.
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They kept me on the right path.
They kept me following obsession.
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If you have this voice, harness it. Hear it. Control it.
If you don’t have it, push yourself to find it.
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That's all I’m doing- trying to get closer- to that true, extreme, authentic part of me. With no limits. No compromise. No ceiling.
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I’ll never get there. And that’s the point.

[View on Instagram]

4-6. On curiosity:

"Curiosity always involves risk. You can't satisfy your curiosity without accepting some risk. Curiosity didn't just kill the cat."

“'The way I see it,' Menshiki said, 'there’s a point in everybody’s life where they need a major transformation. And when that time comes you have to grab it by the tail. Grab it hard, and never let go. There are some people who are able to, and others who can’t.'”

“That's why I go all out in whatever I do. I want to stretch myself as far as I can, to see what I'm capable of. I have no time to be bored. That's the best way I know of keeping fear and emptiness at arm's length.”

- Haruki Murakami, Killing Commendatore​

7. On obsession vs. discipline

"Obsession is the opposite of discipline. The truly obsessed don't understand the word.

They don't force themselves to start.

They force themselves to stop."

[Share on Twitter]

8. On intensity:

"I’ve been called intense for as long as I can remember. There have been multiple occasions where within 10 minutes of meeting me, someone has told me “you’re the most intense person I’ve ever met.” Is there something wrong with me? Probably. But I have grown to love my intensity—it’s what makes me me. I figure: we’re all going to die one day, so why not ride life like a fast horse? Being fully transparent, I also have no clue how to rein in my intensity, so it might be one of those things you just learn to love, like an odd birthmark you used to loathe that became your signature feature.

I think about who I’m most drawn to, and it’s always been those that exude intensity. People with a unique ability to get consumed by something. Maybe that’s some flaw in my system—to be drawn to intense, obsessive people—or maybe I am predisposed to noticing outliers. Because pretty much every outlier is obsessive, whether we’d like to admit it or not. The obsessed do more, work harder and fall deeper into their zones of focus. Is it always healthy? Definitely not. It’s probably rarely healthy. But obsession is intoxicating. And anyone who has been obsessed knows that. Obsession pulls you in like quick sand. It immerses you. And the most startling part is that you go willingly. If you wanted to resist it, you could. But there’s that moment, that line, where you let yourself fall into it. It’s a kind of beautiful surrender—letting it take you. Scary, but seductive, and most of all: intense.

The depths you can tap into when you’re enthralled by one thing—when isolation and the object of your focus are all that exist—is mesmerizing, addictive, and certainly dangerous. But dangerous in a thrilling way, like all dark things are."

- intensity [substack], by @isabelunraveled​

Highly recommend this piece on intensity and obsession. Isabel is a fantastic (and obsessed) writer.

9. On the pain cave:

"As we climb steadily through pine trees with views of 14,429-foot Mount Massive, we talk about her experience with pain. 'I don't think pain is a bad thing,' Dauwalter says. 'I think things can be fun and painful at the same time. I think having fun doesn't have to look like laughing and smiling the whole time. When I'm in the pain cave, that's fun for me. Exploring that is really cool.'"

"I ask her if the pain cave she refers to so often actually feels like a cave. 'That's just the visual I've built in my head,' she says. 'I picture putting on a hard hat and grabbing a chisel and seeing what happens. I don't know if eventually I'll reach an end of chiseling, or if I won't be able to mentally convince myself to go chisel more, but for now it just keeps getting bigger.' She doesn't know where the limits are or what they'll feel like. But when it stops being fun, she won't go back anymore."

"It's not a place I'm scared to enter. It's a place I'm excited to find the entrance to."

- Courtney Dauwalter (Ultra runner) via Polina Pompliano​

10. On belief:

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Stay obsessed,

Zach 🏴