For context I studied mechanical engineering and have been a founding employee at two successful tech startups one mobile payments another a multinational dev r

For context I studied mechanical engineering and have been a founding employee at two successful tech startups one mobile payments another a multinational dev recruitment marketplace - and a few others with mediocre success or exits over the last eleven years. I’m currently on a career break and travelling in South America. It’s been worrying to step away from my career and out that gap in my cv but it’s something I did think about for pretty much all 11 years I was working and so I’m not going to look back when I’m 80 and wonder what if. And it’s been deeply restful and helped me to build confidence in who I am as a person, without hiding behind a job title. Best investment I made was quitting drinking and drugs and getting an addictions counselor. I had taken myself to 0 financially and health wise. Doing the AA program and exploring that community helped me immensely- I love communities and I can take from programs what I need and leave the rest. Life changing book in this space to grok addiction IMO is The Biology of Desire. Not just opinions, actual neuroscience and field investigation combined from a PhD. 6 years later I have 3-4 years of runway and possible 20+ years runway in equity (at current valuations). I’m pretty fit and hike, surf and rock climb regularly. I also have amazing friendships and family relationships that I’m deeply grateful for. Another great investment was getting a tennis coach who had broken tennis down into a cheat code of 7 rules after watching 1000s of hours of pros playing. I learned so much from his deep work making a simple “tennis principles for noobs” class. Just 7 lessons. I have done therapy for two years recently which has felt more advanced and vague. In some areas of my life I’ve had fundamental changes in thinking that my therapist has really helped me to persevere with, without which I just wouldn’t have had the energy to keep working on. I’m still waiting to see how impactful it is - but it’s been quite a lot harder to navigate than quitting drugs because I don’t have a clear problem other than I am looking for a new direction in life. I’ve read a ton of self help books and I’ve gleaned many principles to carry away with me. I only really return to a few of them: specifically Untethered Soul, The Courage to be Disliked and The Courage to be Happy - as does a close friend who is en route to billionaire. Finally the best self improvement you can do is to spend time travelling, working with, socializing with or playing games with smart and driven people who are also kind, mindful. We learn fastest through experience and mirroring others and there’s no substitute from running alongside a master in something else - and sharing your experience together.