Ideas
Ideas & essays
Eight pieces on the questions people actually arrive with — written for this site, not lifted from the book.
These are the questions that get asked at 11pm: whether it is too late, what to do when nobody takes it seriously, how to pick something back up after years. They are answered here at proper length, and they answer to the same argument the book makes — that a dream ends when the reason for it gets outweighed, not when the odds get bad.
None of these are excerpts. The book’s own text is published in full over here.
How not to give up on your dream
How to not give up on your dream: why willpower is the wrong tool, how to make your reason concrete, and what to do on the days it goes quiet.
Read →How to find your why
How to find your why: five questions that surface the real reason underneath a dream, and how to tell a genuine why from a borrowed one.
Read →Why people give up on their dreams
Why people give up on their dreams: the six mechanisms behind it, why quitting is rarely a decision, and how to spot it happening to you.
Read →What to do when nobody believes in you
What to do when nobody believes in you: why other people’s skepticism is usually about them, and how to keep going without their permission.
Read →Is it too late to chase your dream?
Is it too late to chase your dream? Why age is rarely the real obstacle, what the question is usually standing in for, and how to answer it honestly.
Read →How to restart a dream you gave up on
How to restart a dream you gave up on: why returning is harder than starting, and a practical sequence for picking something back up.
Read →Comfort is the antagonist
Why comfort, not failure, is what ends most dreams — and how to move when nothing in your life is bad enough to force the decision.
Read →Books about not giving up on your dreams
The best books about not giving up on your dreams: Frankl, Duckworth, Pressfield, Dweck, Gilbert and more, with what each is genuinely useful for.
Read →Free download
The first chapter, free
The Introduction and Chapter 1 of The Unreasonable Why, as a PDF.