This mini-episode from my lastest Substack article is a quiet gut punch and a wake-up call. A single Christmas photo opens the door to the moments you never realize are the last ones, the traditions that end without warning, and the time we unknowingly trade away to screens, noise, and busyness. It’s not about doing more, achieving more, or optimizing your life, but about noticing what actually matters before it’s gone and asking a simple, uncomfortable question: what moments are you choosing to create while you still have the chance?

All that in more in my latest Substack → You are not lost. You are just asking the wrong question.

When you're done, I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.

If you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed, and if it feels like all the effort you've been putting in this year is not leading to the results you want, then I invite you to learn a little bit more about this thing called the plateau of latent potential, a concept from James Clear's Atomic Habits that I talk a whole lot more in today's Hot Seat with one of the students in the Arnold Academy, Rob Tovey.

After that, Rob and I shift gears to discuss how he can prioritize and clarify what his goals are for 2026, defining specifically what is that scary goal in work, and in life. We also explore how to prioritize attention from everything he could be doing to the things he should actually focus on.

Want to learn more about working with me and having your own Hot Seat session?

→ Click here to learn more about The Arnold Academy coaching & mentorship program

What if the reason you feel stuck, burned out, or off course isn’t a lack of effort but the fact that you’ve been blindly walking in circles, absolutely convinced you were moving straight ahead?

Using the science of walking blindfolded as a metaphor for modern life, this episode "You are not lost. You are just asking the wrong question." unpacks how linear career paths, industrial-era education, and the question “WHAT do you want to be when you grow up?” train us to chase the wrong goalposts, confuse motion with progress, and sacrifice our creative soul. We explore why life is cyclical rather than linear, how Mark Manson’s Four Stages of Life better reflect the messy reality of growth, why transitions between stages suck ass, and how reframing the question from WHAT you do to WHO you want to become can help you stop walking in circles and start moving toward work and life that actually matter.

I’m curious...WHO do you want to be when you grow up?

→ let me know here in the comments

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.