It's February 20th, 2025, and it's my 5,015th day on YouTube. I'm recording this for my autobiography channel, my vlog. I was feeling kind of down this morning, annoyed with a family member again, and just realizing that life is full of these emotional waves. Up, down, up, down. I think all of us go through that. That's just normal. That's just life.
I tried to think about how to help this family member, how to cut them a little slack. A lot of times we're hesitant to cut other people slack because we're afraid that if we do, we're going to let them hurt us. But in my experience you can set boundaries with people and still not constantly let them hurt you. Those two things aren't the same.
I've also started several new YouTube channels, and I was feeling kind of down about how tiny the viewership has been. Then again, I'm the one who chose to start a new channel. I started a crypto reviews channel, and I sent a message to try to get the channel approved for the advanced features. It told me I couldn't send another request yesterday, and the day before, and it did the same thing again yesterday. So I can't even set a custom thumbnail on this channel, which is annoying. But that's also a test, because I'm the one who chose to start three new YouTube channels.
I already have a channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, although most of those videos only get a hundred views. And I already have a crypto channel. But I've learned over the years that you almost never want to put more than one video a day on a channel. What happens is you get into this grind where you feel like you have to put up two, three, always more. So I've gotten into a grind on my channel. I ran a helpful poll yesterday, and the main thing people want to see on my crypto channel is ICP hype. So this is an ICP hype channel now. And these other channels, like this one, are just places to put up my old recorded videos.
Talking to my daughter about opportunity cost
I had a great conversation with my daughter Madeline in the car yesterday on the way home from school. We were talking about what I would call opportunity cost. She has this game, Little Kitty Big City, that she enjoyed playing on Xbox. About six months ago, maybe last year, I talked the kids into surrendering their tablets, their gaming systems, and the TV. So no devices anymore, except Madeline still has a Kindle. Her cousin mentioned that she's playing Little Kitty Big City, and Madeline said she gets jealous and feels bad because she can't play it and she wants to.
We had a nice conversation about that. To me it's that basic thing, opportunity cost, where you see somebody else doing something you'd like to do and you feel bad because you feel like you can't do it. I told her, Madeline, that's my whole life. There are girls besides your mom I'd like to go out with, but I'm not willing to give up your mom to go out with these other girls. I'd like to play video games too, but if I play video games, then I have to cut something else to make room. I still think it'd be fun to go play some Warzone, but what am I going to cut to have time for it?
I look back at my old gaming videos that I'm uploading, and I think it'd be fun to go play some zombies. But again, opportunity cost. If I go play zombies, that's time I can't do something else with. I told Madeline that's life. I have multiple neighbors who are knocking down their houses and spending probably five or six hundred thousand dollars to build, instead of a thousand-square-foot house, a two-story, three-thousand-square-foot brand new house. And I look over and think, I'd like to knock this house down too and have myself a nice big brand new place. I get it. I feel that way.
I think as a kid there are often fewer things you see like that. The more you keep growing, the more things you start noticing that you'd like to have. I'd like a brand new two-story, three-thousand-square-foot house instead of a sixty-year-old, thousand-square-foot one. The real question, though, is: are you willing to give up what's necessary to get it?
What I'm not willing to give up
I could date another girl, but I'm not willing to give up my wife for that. I could have one of these million-dollar houses next door, but I'm not willing to sell out my crypto channel and take twenty thousand dollars to promote garbage coin after garbage coin. I'm not willing to send my users to crypto exchanges and have them copy trade me. I could probably make enough money in a year or so to buy one of those houses in cash, but I'm not willing to do that to my audience, and I'm not willing to do that to my own heart. And I could play games, but I might have to take time away from music or tennis or yoga or my family or my sleep.
I'm glad I can give my kids that kind of honesty today. Yeah, Madeline, you feel that way about this video game your cousin's playing? I feel that way about fifty things a day. I see all these things in the world. It's a good reminder to ask whether you're really willing to pay the price.
Madeline also felt bad and said she couldn't do it. I told her, no, you could. Your mother and I would give you back your screens. We'd buy you an Xbox or a Switch. If you really, really wanted it, we'd get it for you. All we've done is put up some additional resistance to see how badly you want it. And sometimes in life, that's all life is doing too. It's putting up some resistance to see how badly you really want something. There's some resistance to how badly I want a million-dollar house next door. Not that badly. How badly do I want to play some zombies? Not that badly. I'm not willing to give anything up for it.
I told Madeline about my brother. When we were teenagers, he really wanted a Nintendo 64, and my dad put up resistance. My brother broke him. He asked over and over, day after day, and he would not take no for an answer. He left signs on his door when we went to school to catch dad alone and vulnerable. And finally my dad bought us a Nintendo 64. So I told her, if you wanted your tablets or your Xbox that badly, we'd get it. But the question is, what would you have to give up? Would you have to give up spending time with real friends in person? Would you have to give up playing soccer with your brother?
Giving these things up has given my daughter a better life. By not being on her tablet all the time, she does more in person. She reads. She draws. A better life because of giving that stuff up. So I'm so grateful to have these kinds of conversations.
A fixed amount of space in life
I also went over and spent time with my mom last night. My tennis got rained out this morning, so I came home, and I'm going to do the noon yoga today with one of my favorite instructors I haven't taken a class with in a while. Nobody's had a call with me in a week, which is the longest stretch where nobody has paid to schedule time with me. And it's funny how it goes. As the ICP price goes down, the calls dry up and a lot of the income dries up. When the price goes up, everything goes up with it. If you want to see more of how I think about coaching and these conversations, you can watch my YouTube Coaching playlist.
I'm really grateful for the chance to reflect on the choices I've made, because to me opportunity cost is one of the most important things to understand. Everything you choose to have in your life blocks you from having anything else in that space. In practical terms, we all have a fixed amount of space in our life that we can fill with whatever we want.
I feel very powerful today, like I could fill my life with whatever I wanted. I'd like to fill my mind with a little more gratitude and a little less criticism of other people. I'd like to fill my heart with a little more love and joy and a little less sadness. At the same time, the more joy I have, sometimes it gets harder to have empathy or compassion for those who aren't in that place. So I'm really grateful I could reflect on all of this today. And that's what the last day was like for me.