I got naked.
My deep thoughts + My Own Work Framework
Hello everyone,
I hope you are all safe and healthy.
Today, I want to share two ideas/insights that have monopolized my thoughts lately, and maybe they will resonate with some of you.
The breakdown is the following:
What Do You Truly Want in Life?
Lessons from Mortality
The Guilt of Not Following Tradition
Embracing the Knowledge Economy
The Sky, Moon, and Stars Framework
#NeverStopExploring
I’ve been thinking a lot about why I do certain things with great pleasure and why I struggle to complete other tasks. Am I alone in this thinking?
My biggest question now is: What do you want in this life?
I envy people who know that answer with a smile. I truly do.
“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.” — Charles T. Munger
A couple of years back, I came up with a “What I Don’t Want in Life” framework. The whole idea was to screen down ideas and thoughts, decide what I don’t want to do or be involved with, and hopefully narrow my choices down to things I want. It worked. It made my life easier and led to “No” being my default answer. When I pitch this idea to friends, I often state that “I lost 200kg that I had on my shoulders.”
I think the main benefit of knowing what you want in life is that you have a clean framework to make decisions and protect your most valuable resource: time. And your most important asset: attention.
How do I see this working? Let’s assume you are clever and curious about many things in life. Nowadays, you can access pretty much any piece of information and knowledge you want and explore whatever is on your mind. We now live in the era of unlimited information and distraction—have you heard that our attention span is now shorter than a goldfish’s? It’s true. Scientifically proven. For the sake of my story, I want to highlight that we are overwhelmed with information and dots to connect; therefore, if you are not crystal clear about what you want in life, you can easily cruise through life without direction. If you don’t know where you are heading, you will never get there. The collateral damage of this? Anxiety. Depression. Jealousy of other people. Anger with the world. You are constantly blaming the universe for not being where you want to be.
In my mind, when people know what they want, they can apply a very simple hack to their life: How will this opportunity lead me to where I want to go? And if you can see how that one event will get you closer to where you want to go, you take the risk and go for it. You live your life to the fullest—an unpredictable experience. The other side of the coin is that if the event is nowhere related to your personal goal/direction and you jump on it, it will not lead you closer to your objective.
To illustrate: My dream now is to qualify for Kona 2026, the Ironman World Championship. It’s my main goal for the next 18 months. So, when a friend invites me to run a trail-running race with him, which I need to train for, I ask myself: Will this help me get to Kona? In this case, the answer is no, it won’t. So I pass. Because I clearly know what I want, I can always ask myself if that opportunity is aligned with my goal. If it’s not, I shall pass. “No” becomes your default answer, and when you say no to things that might take up your time, you free yourself to choose the things that actually add value to your life story.
If I can’t make my case, let me invite Oprah to help me out:
“The most important question you can ask yourself is: what do I really want?”
- Oprah
I’m still connecting the dots in my head, and this here today is version 1.0.1 of my thinking. I’m still scratching the surface of this.
Another piece that adds to this question of “What I Want in This Life” is the fact that I have been thinking a lot about my mortality. So when I say “in This Life,” I’m making a point that I’m here today, but I don’t know for how much longer.
I believe that we sometimes think and act like we will live forever or that we can control when and how this journey will end. But the truth is that we don’t have a clue. We are here for a short time—I think the life span now is around 80 years. When we think that Earth is a few billion years old, we see 80 years as nothing.
I think we humans go back and forth with the idea that we are at the center of the universe and that everything gravitates around us, while we are also aware that we are 1 in 8 billion people and, for most of us, our legacy won’t last two generations. I see this back-and-forth thinking as a positive one as long as you are aware of what’s happening.
Somewhere, I read a great, simple, but profound quote:
“Life is shorter than you think.”
Yes, it is.
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” — Steve Jobs
I’m now reading the book Die with Zero by Bill Perkins, and I highly recommend it to people contemplating their lifestyle and how immersed they are in the rat race—the endless pursuit of meaningless things that society values.
I’m also reading:
How to Know a Person by David Brooks (Bill Gates recommendation)
You are the Placebo by Joe Dispneza
If you want to give it a try in podcast form first, I recommend this one:
237 ‒ Optimizing Life for Maximum Fulfillment | Bill Perkins
Overall, I have changed my life’s denominator when it comes to analyzing risk and reward. I now much rather spend resources to create memories with my family than to save up and protect my future self. (Remember: I’m an entrepreneur—I’ve got no pension, no salary, no protection.)
Let me break it down:
Duda is now 14, and Clara is 9. I could get filthy rich, but I will never buy back time. They will never be kids again.
As much as I fear for my future and the possibility of not having enough money for a good life, I now treasure this moment in life with them much more than my fear of dying broke—because I have no idea when I will die. The only thing I can control is my decision to spend as much quality time with them as possible and to give 100% effort to whatever life throws at me. I will strive to come out on the other side as a better person and a winner. No BS here—I love to compete, and I love to win. What I don’t want is to compromise my time with my family to play someone else’s game.
Food for thought: We are here now, and that’s all we have. If that’s true, how do you want to live your mortality?
In 2025, I will go deeper into this thinking, focusing only on things that get me closer to what I want in life—what I want, not what I think I need to show the universe.
Side note here: a very intelligent young man sent me a link to what he called “the best article on social status” and he wasn’t wrong about it. If you want to open your mind to how we humans have gone crazy about our status - social media treat - here is the article. It’s long but worth it.
“Figure out what you would die for and live for it” - Steven Kotler; The Art of Impossible.
Moving to the Next Topic…
Let me kick off with some context:
My dad has worked at the same place for 60 years. He started when he was 12 at his mom’s business and still leads it today. Yes, it has seen better days, but he managed to work hard, move up the social hierarchy in Brazil, and provide a privileged life for my brother and me.
My dad worked Monday to Saturday, 6 AM to 9 PM. I don’t think he ever attended one of my swim or football competitions. At one point, he didn’t even know where my school was—despite paying for it. No BS here—he literally worked as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen. (Hard work doesn’t mean he was smart about it.)
Mom started working when she was 12 as well. At 13, she was going to school at night and working during the day. By 18, she had bought an apartment for her mother. At 30, she quit working to take care of my brother and me. Over the past 30 years, she’s taken on multiple jobs and reinvented herself several times, eventually becoming a highly successful family therapist.
Both my parents are true warriors—born in the 1950s, hustling to build a better life in Brazil.
What do they have in common?
Poor upbringing
Started working young
Worked hard for decades to provide for their family
My dad’s work ethic matches Elon Musk’s—but not the ROI for hours worked ahahah.
Why did I share this? For many years, I beat myself up for not working as hard as my parents. I felt guilty because my dad sacrificed so much to provide for me and my brother, and yet my work ethic doesn’t match his intensity or time commitment.
At one point, I was telling people in my inner circle: I feel guilty producing XYZ financial result when my parents worked 2–3 times harder than me and the outcome was less than what I produce.
One Monday morning, I was at the beach having an espresso (my guilty pleasure) while Duda and Clara played nearby. Instead of enjoying the moment, I struggled with guilt. My dad never took Mondays off. I felt like I was failing him.
This guilt robbed me of joy—until two things happened…
First, I was at a retreat with founders and investors. During one exercise, we had to congratulate ourselves—literally salute ourselves by patting our own backs. In that moment, I saluted myself for the way I operate and achieve results. It’s not my parents’ way, but it carries their core values: work hard, respect others, be honest, take risks, dream big, and always give your best. That simple gesture unlocked something inside me.
I’m proud to say my parents are proud of me, too. I’ve come to terms with the fact that they did things their way, and I’m doing things my way.
The second realization came when I understood I’m playing a different game than they did. My parents’ world revolved around physical labor and long hours, a system where output was proportional to input. That was the industrial economy.
But today, we’re in the knowledge economy, where success depends on creativity, intellectual assets, and leveraging technology.
I asked ChatGPT the following….. What’s the Knowledge Economy?
The Knowledge Economy and How It Differs from the Past
The knowledge economy is a system where the primary driver of growth and wealth is knowledge, ideas, and intellectual assets rather than physical resources or manual labor. It represents a significant shift from the industrial economy, which was the dominant model of economic activity in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Industrial Economy
In the industrial economy, the focus was on manufacturing, agriculture, and infrastructure. Value creation was tied to tangible goods, machinery, and raw materials. Success in this model depended largely on the ability to produce and distribute physical products efficiently. For example, during the industrial revolution, factories that manufactured goods like textiles, automobiles, or steel were at the heart of economic growth.
The Shift to the Knowledge Economy
The late 20th century brought a revolution in technology, communication, and education, transitioning the world into the knowledge economy. In this new paradigm:
Ideas become the primary product: Unlike physical goods, intangible assets like research, innovation, software, and intellectual property take center stage.
Work focuses on creativity and expertise: Rather than repetitive labor, jobs now emphasize problem-solving, design, strategy, and other creative or analytical skills.
Global connectivity expands opportunities: The internet and technology have made it easier to share and monetize knowledge across borders.
Lifelong learning is essential: To stay relevant, individuals and organizations must continuously acquire and apply new skills.
Why This Matters to You
As a young creative professional or entrepreneur, the knowledge economy offers vast opportunities to create and thrive. Unlike in the past, where large factories and heavy machinery were required to compete, today you can build something impactful with just your ideas, a laptop, and access to the internet. Your ability to learn quickly, adapt to new trends, and turn your creativity into valuable products or services is the ultimate currency in this new world.
The internet, globalization, and advancements in technology have shifted the game. Now, your ability to adapt, learn, and create is the ultimate currency.
Side note: Warren Buffett reads six hours a day. Bill Gates reads 150 pages an hour. They compound knowledge to outplay everyone else.
Moving on from illustrating the context of this part of the story, I want to share how I see productivity for knowledge workers.
This is not an original idea. I will quote many people and books I have read over the years. The only thing original about this is that I connected my own dots—pay attention to this part: “my own dots.”
It’s a mix of high-performance frameworks like Flow State, self-help books, and a bunch of long and short YouTube videos and podcasts about how to hack your time management and explore insane levels of curiosity.
I started with the following question: How do I work today, and how can I get better?
I wanted to productize my work process so I could take it to market.
I don’t like to give all the credit to one book because I believe that a book is most powerful when the time is right, and you have the foundation to receive its message and connect the dots. In my case, I had been reading about leadership and Flow State for years, and when I read two books—simultaneously, funny enough—I was in the right state of mind and knowledge development to connect my dots:
The two books are The Art of Impossible by Steven Kotler and Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey. I can honestly say I was never the same person after reading these books. They freed me from feelings of guilt, allowed me to embrace my working model, and gave me a clear path for improvement and growth.
So, I developed my framework, and here’s how I see it now.
Before I start, have you seen Naval Ravikant on Joe Rogan, talking about the lion metaphor? If not, please watch—it’s all connected. Naval’s book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is in my top five books of all time. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. (Pro tip: Meditate during the days you’re reading it—you’ll connect with the message even more deeply.)
Naval on being a 🦁 in life!
The Four Stages of the Framework
Stage 1: Emptiness Stage (Rest)
The emptiness stage is exactly what it sounds like: empty. You embrace a non-productive state and allow your mind, body, and soul to recover. In high-performance athletics, this is the equivalent of full recovery mode. Some athletes play video games, while others simply sleep.
The idea is to avoid thinking too much about anything challenging. It’s like a beautiful sky with no stars or moon—just pitch black.
It took me a while to accept this stage because I constantly felt guilty if I wasn’t being productive. I’m still a bit uncomfortable with doing nothing for days, but I use my triathlon experience to remind myself that recovery is part of the process. I can push harder and go further when I’m fully recovered.
Think of this stage as a “thinking holiday.”
Stage 2: Accumulating Dots Stage (Learning)
I love Steve Jobs’ analogy of connecting dots. Much of my work framework revolves around creativity, and being creative is essentially the act of connecting dots that were never aligned before.
During this stage, think of each dot as a star, and imagine building up a sky full of stars. It’s the time to accumulate knowledge and information—explore your curiosity and gather high-quality data, whether it’s related or unrelated to your goals.
You might read a new NYT #1 bestseller, listen to podcasts, watch documentaries, or have coffee with someone who has valuable insights to share. This stage is all about expanding your portfolio of ideas.
I love this part. In the past, I focused on specific topics, but now I prefer going broader. I might research AI, chat with founders, listen to podcasts, or read about WWII or the history of jazz. History, I believe, teaches us a lot about the present.
Little hacks for this stage:
Kindle: Highlight your favorite passages as you read and revisit them.
Ask questions: Find experts and ask them where they go to learn more about a topic.
Podcasts: Switch from music to podcasts during exercise. I get 10+ hours of knowledge weekly this way.
Notion: Use it to organize your thoughts and information.
Skip social media: It’s too shallow. Focus on in-depth content.
Surround yourself with smart people: Ask them questions and absorb their stories.
“History is a narrative. Every subject is a voyage of curiosity.” — Steven Kotler
Stage 3: Connecting the Dots Stage (Creativity)
Orgasm.
This is the fun part—when the stars align.
If I give you a challenge and you tell me, “Give me two hours, and I’ll come back with ideas,” you’re in the dot-connecting phase. It’s where you organize and align your knowledge to create solutions.
Your dots for solving a problem might look like this:
Chat with Robert
5 minutes from Podcast X
Chapter 11 in Book Y
Your personal experience
A final call with Anne to validate assumptions
The result? A pitch to solve the challenge.
This stage demands bandwidth, critical thinking, and creativity to connect disparate elements. Flow State is perfect for this because it enables you to process vast amounts of information and identify patterns. It’s like building Lego with a detailed manual.
Connecting dots is vital for innovation and value creation—especially in entrepreneurship.
Going back to the sky analogy we now have a a Syzygy. In Astronomy (/ˈsɪzədʒi/ SIZ-ə-jee; from Ancient Greek συζυγία (suzugía) 'union, yoking', expressing the sense of σύν (syn- "together") and ζυγ- (zug- "a yoke")) is a roughly straight-line configuration of three or more celestial bodies in a gravitational system.
Stage 4: Full Focus Stage (Execution)
Now comes the gold-medal race.
This stage is where you block out distractions and dive deep into executing the solution you’ve created. It’s time to deliver your best work.
For knowledge workers, this could mean finalizing a presentation, pitching a new strategy, or, in my case, writing this text. I spent 5–6 hours across 2–3 days, locked in a room with no distractions, listening to Pearl Jam’s “Black” on repeat.
The job is done.
Closing Thoughts
As I write these final words, I smile. The job is done.
I wish you all an amazing 2025. I’ll work harder to share more often and add pieces and bits to people.
I love you all.
#NeverStopExploring
Daniel Silva
I like ❤️ my own work.
What a powerful text. Honestly, I feel like hitting middle age forces everyone to take stock of their life. I really want to finish my second book by August 2025, but since it’s not part of my “daily to-do list,” I keep pushing it aside—and that just leads to more frustration.