Derek Sivers
from the book “How to Live”:

Here’s how to live: Fill your senses.

2021-12-03

See it all.
Touch it all.
Hear it all.
Taste it all.
Do it all.
Appreciate this wonderful physical world.

If you knew you’d go blind tomorrow, how intensely would you look at the world today?
If you knew you’d go deaf tomorrow, how intensely would you listen?
Fill your senses as if this was your last day on Earth.
One day that will be true.

Maximize your inputs.
See all the places.
Eat all the food.
Hear all the music.
Meet all the people.
Kiss all the beauties.
Be insatiable.

Life is short.
How to experience it all?
Here’s the key:
Here’s your mission:
Nothing twice.
Never eat the same food twice.
Never go to the same place twice.
Never hear the same thing twice.
Everything only once.

Be systematic.
Follow guides.
“Top Places You Must Visit”
“Greatest Movies of All Time”
“Best Restaurants in Town”
Go through them all.
That’s the optimized way to experience the most, without repetition.

Always forward.
Never back.
Push yourself.
Always be a stranger in a strange land.
But don’t rush.
Savor every aspect of everything you take in.
Notice the nuances.

Find places that bombard your senses.
India.
Burning Man.
Festivals.
Museums.
Celebrations.
Funerals.

Skydive.
Scuba dive.
Run with bulls.
Swim with sharks.
Float in space.

How to pay for this wonderful life?
Only two choices.

The bad choice is a travel writer.
Looks glamorous and easy, so everyone tries it.
May be possible, but every rich kid does it for free.

The smart choice is sales.
It will always be valuable.
Learn to sell, and you can go anywhere.
You’ll be paid well at any age.
Always in high demand.
Get a job on the road.
Always talking to strangers.
That’s what you need.

Simple decisions help avoid repetition.
Don’t have a home.
Never sleep in the same place twice.
No kitchen.
No cooking.
Every meal somewhere new.
Never go down a road you recognize.

Simple systems help force change.
Every month, get rid of your existing clothes.
Get new clothes in a new style.
Do this while traveling, so one month your clothes are from Morocco, next month from Italy, next month from Japan.

This is good for you.
The variation in diet is good for your health.
The new situations are great for your brain.

Never have the same thought twice.
Keep nothing on your mind.
Just take in what’s around you now.
Have no expectation of how something should be, or you won’t see how it really is.

How amazing that everything you’re doing is both the first and last time.
The thrill of the first.
The sentimentality of the last.

There will be things you’ll love so much you’ll want to stay or do them again.
But no.
Remember your mission.

Experience pain, anger, sorrow, and more.
Don’t judge them as bad.
Notice how they really feel.

Practice seduction.
Be with a different person every night.
Every lover is different.
Don’t allow relationships.
Remember: no repetition.

But after decades of this, you’ll need something radically new.
Stay in one place.
Be with one person.
Buy a home.
Raise a baby.
It’s terrifying, but if you don’t, it will be the one experience you never had.