I Wasn’t Living My Best Life. I Escaped the Hamster Wheel.

How I stopped chasing success and started designing my life

March 17, 2026

Hey gang!

In my 20s, I worked from 7:30 to 5:00 every day to earn money for nice things that propped up my ego.

I thought If I have nice things, I’ll look successful.
If I look successful, I’ll attract what I want into my life.

My first business right out of college was a property and casualty insurance agency. Insurance wasn’t a subject I particularly loved, but I did enjoy building my own business.

I’m grateful that this business became the foundation. The passive income it produced allowed me to start taking risks, gain time back, and begin designing my days around how I actually enjoy living.

Here are some tools that helped me escape the hamster wheel.

Delegate, Automate, Eliminate

I started by making a list of everything I was doing that I wanted to stop doing.

Almost everything I was doing could be done by someone else, and often done better. I hired someone to run my insurance business. I set up call forwarding rules so I wasn’t glued to my phone as a customer service rep. I hired people and built systems.

This gave me time to design my days around what I actually enjoy doing

I began noticing the moments when I was completely present because I genuinely enjoyed what I was doing. Sometimes it was a conversation with another person. Sometimes it was an activity. Sometimes it was a skill I was working on or an environment I was in.

A lot of this clarity came between 2010 and 2014. Most of it came during long runs or long bike rides.

In my world now, which includes brand building, early stage investing, and content creation, I believe the most important skills right now are

Building relationships

Learning how to use AI to increase efficiency

Storytelling

Understanding the art of gaining and retaining attention


I feel I’m the living proof that anyone can reach their own version of success. Let’s reach it together.


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Wish yall the best,

Eric