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You've felt this.

Looks like progress from the outside. Feels like a cage from the inside.

A daily newsletter about what success actually costs.

Pin the ones you've lived.

  • Last message4 days ago You hadn't talked to another adult in four days.
  • DashboardTuesday The number will be flat.
  • Today The day is clean and frictionless, and you cannot remember it.
  • Chicken$19 Total$19 You can afford the salmon.
  • You moved somewhere new and then sat wondering why the hell you did.
  • Painting class You've thought about it for three years.
  • Group chatMuted The work friends who used to be actual friends.

4 of 7 sound like you. Put your email below.

Last step: open the email that just arrived and tap the confirm link. Tomorrow's letter goes to that address.

Free, every day, signed by Jose.

Competence is a great employee and a terrible god.

-- Jose

A few first lines from the letters.

Surf The Hustle

I told the same story for ten years and didn't notice it was a story.

You know the one. The dropout who bet on himself.

-- Jose

The last three letters

Every letter

Jose Ortiz

I built the wrong thing first, and I'm willing to say so.

  1. 19 19

    Dropped out of college. I thought I was smarter than the system.

  2. 20s 70hour weeks, for a decade

    Built a logistics company. Missed birthdays and skipped vacations.

  3. The sale Mid-six figures

    Sold the company. Felt nothing.

  4. 35 35

    Back in my childhood bedroom in Southern California, delivering Chipotle orders.

  5. Now 2hours of work a day, max

    Lisbon, Bali, Mexico. I surf when there are waves.

You built something that needed you every hour and called it success.

P.S. The next one opens with something I'd rather not admit. They all do.

Last step: open the email that just arrived and tap the confirm link. Tomorrow's letter goes to that address.

You pay nothing, and leaving takes one click at the bottom of any letter.