The writer Ryan Holiday, in a post titled “The Definition of Success Is Autonomy”
Today, I don’t define success the way that I did when I was younger. I don’t measure it in copies sold or dollars earned. I measure it in what my days look like and the quality of my creative expression: Do I have time to write? Can I say what I think? Do I direct my schedule or does my schedule direct me? Is my life enjoyable or is it a chore? In a word: autonomy. Do I have autonomy over what I do and think? Am I free?
For my entire career, I’ve made decisions based on what I now call optimising for optionality, the ability to pick and choose what I want to spend time, money, attention on.
That means avoiding and eliminating long-term commitments, thinking very carefully about what to commit to, but then committing to those fully.
This means disappointing people, not least myself, and letting go of relationships. But I’m in control of my time most of the time, which is what’s important to me.
And autonomy is optionality by a different name. It’s why I get instinctively what Holiday’s talking about.
I’d recommend having a solid optimisation function for your life. And revisit it every year.
(via Jeannette)