Author: Steve Ainslie

Ever since I my painting purge a few weeks ago, I’ve had no desire to do any drawing or painting. I made a few half-hearted attempts at sketching and searched for online tutorials of new techniques but nothing captured my interest. I guess it’s over. I’ve had this feeling before. I did impressionistic oil paintings…

My life today is quite spartan and restricted. After spending most of my life following traditional societal norms, I now make intentional choices to minimize what I own, what I eat, who I interact with and what I do on a daily basis. It works for me. Still, I have fond memories of other times…

Many years ago when I read “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris, I was turned off. At the time, I was in the early phase of my tech sales management career dealing with the challenges and rewards of working for a startup during the dot-com boom. I was striving to become a multimillionaire…

When I started to rebuild my life and identity as a single man after my wife died, I stumbled across the Solo podcast and community. Many of the episodes and posts were enlightening and encouraging. I heard about single people who were happy, intelligent, thoughtful and cool who lived fulfilling lives as solos. Over the…

Yesterday afternoon I was able to stand for a few minutes without gasping in pain. Today, I was able to get out of bed without having to slide out backwards and crawl on the floor. For the first time in two days I walked around the block with the dogs. I took a shower. I…

For several years spanning my middle school through high school, we did not have a clothes washer. Ours has broken down at some point and instead of getting a replacement, my mother sent my sister and I to the laundromat every two weeks to do the family’s laundry. Before my sister could drive, we’d have…

I have low expectations of the Trump administration because he is filling positions with lifelong politicians and rich guys. You already know what I think about politicians. As for rich guys, I don’t think they can relate at all to the struggles of normal Americans. People like Trump, Elon, Vivek, Thiel and Rogan and other…

My back has been stiff and sore for a few weeks now. I figured it was from the combination of awkward positions I was in while doing various projects around the house, violent unexpected twisting when my dog lunges suddenly during walks and maybe even swimming butterfly. I’m not sure but am trying to apply…

As someone who doesn’t enjoy negotiation, I try to avoid situations where high-pressure sales tactics are common. But, once I’ve decided to buy something like a house, car, windows, or a service, I’m ready to go. It’s only then that I’ll go offline to engage with salespeople and service providers to determine what to buy…

If you’re counting on the government to solve your problems, you’ll be waiting a long time. I’ve become acutely aware of this phenomenon over the past 20 years. By the time the government acknowledges that a problem exists, people have been living with it for years (or decades). Then, if the government creates a solution,…