Run your own life

Every hour at a desk, on a call or in a meeting is an hour that no longer belongs to you. You get money in return, and the money unlocks options. Most people never question the chain. They inherit the list of upgrades from advertising and social comparison, and work harder for it.

Select where you want the best. Let the rest be good enough. Protect what cannot be bought back.

The trap is precise: you accumulate upgrades and lose the capacity to use them. Some of the most constrained people OG has met were wealthy, poor in time, health and presence. Some of the freest people he met across 67 countries were living simply, by choice.

The same logic applies to companies and to careers: nobody outside should decide your trajectory for you.

• Ask what the work is for, not only what it earns.
• Design what your Tuesday morning should look like in ten years.
• Count the invisible upgrades: a morning without an alarm, time with no agenda, presence.
• Keep a financial, professional and practical way out, so you can say no.

OG has travelled to 67 countries, from global stages and three-star Michelin tables to remote places where a bodyguard was part of the plan. Beyond controlled environments.