Discoveries #25 | Where Fulfillment Actually Lives
Welcome to Edition 25 of Discoveries where I share inspiration on design, product building, and what's next.
Where Fulfillment Actually Lives
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about fulfillment and happiness. Like… really thinking about it. And I think I may have accidentally stumbled onto the secret. Stick with me for the dramatic reveal.
I’ve been reading a book called Inner Excellence, which suddenly started popping up everywhere after a bunch of NFL players and coaches were spotted reading it on the sidelines. Naturally, I got curious.
The book explores something I’ve been obsessed with most of my life: mental resilience. It looks at Olympic athletes, pro sports legends, and high performing business leaders, trying to understand what actually enables greatness, not just success on paper.
The big idea that hit me hardest is this:
The pursuit of extraordinary performance and the pursuit of a meaningful life are basically the same path.
Inner excellence isn’t about grinding harder or chasing some external trophy. It’s about learning to be whole hearted. Walking through life with more love than fear. Becoming more yourself over time. When that happens, everything else improves almost as a side effect.
You become a better athlete, a better parent, a better teammate, a better leader. You’re more present. More aware. Slightly less annoying in meetings. Hopefully.
As I’ve been reflecting on this, I realized my own version of happiness seems to come down to three simple things:
- Working on something big, challenging, and meaningful
- Working alongside people I genuinely admire
- Feeling like I’m improving, even just a little, every day
If I had to summarize it casually, it’s just this:
Building with friends.
When I look back, most of my happiest memories share that same pattern.
Building a treehouse with my neighborhood crew as a kid.
Playing a new song live with my college band and hoping we didn’t completely butcher it.
Staying up until 3am in architecture school making models with classmates fueled by caffeine and poor decisions.
Weekend product sprints with friends where the ideas felt bigger than us.
And now, building a company with people I genuinely love working alongside.
Whenever I get caught up in stress, or ambition, or that endless voice saying “more, more, more,” I try to zoom out and remember something simple:
I’m already where I want to be.
I’m building with friends.
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This week’s newsletter is dedicated to my dad, who we lost a few months ago, far too soon.
My dad lived his life the same way I’m only now learning to fully appreciate. He built everything alongside people he loved.
Tinkering on old cars with friends in the driveway. Chasing powder on long Sierra ski trips. Turning house projects into group efforts that somehow lasted all weekend. Running a business for more than 45 years surrounded by friends and family who believed in him.
Looking back, I realize he was never really chasing some abstract version of success. He was simply building a life with people who mattered to him.
And the more I reflect, the more I see how much of him still lives on. In me. In the way I work. In the people he brought together and the stories they still tell.
Turns out, the thing I thought I was discovering might have been right in front of me the whole time.
What I'm Reading
🔗 Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule
Our days are now filled with nonstop Slack pings, AI copilots, and full calendars. This piece feels more relevant than ever: some people run on meetings, others run on momentum.
Makers still need long, quiet stretches where ideas can actually breathe, something modern work keeps accidentally stealing from them.
Maybe the real challenge in 2026 is not moving faster, but protecting the space where real thinking can happen.
Product Inspiration
I’ve been using this tool every day and it’s ridiculously simple. Drop in a rough, “lazy” prompt and it transforms it into a highly detailed version you can plug into any LLM you like.
Other Finds
Claude's most recent ad campaign: 10/10.
Thanks for reading,
Blake
P.S. What brings you fulfillment? I'd love to hear.
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