Hmm... why are you here?

If it's because of a bug, please let me know! [email protected]

So you want to get better.

You want to be more productive. More consistent. Less distracted.

You've read the books, watched the videos.

You're all-in for slow, quiet, incremental, 1%-better-each-day progress.

That’s good. That’s great actually… honestly rare to find people willing to put in that kind of work.

But here’s the thing.

There's a reason why you keep slipping up. There's a reason why you always seem to take 1, maybe 2 steps forward... but then 87 steps back.

And it's not what you think. It's not because you're fundamentally broken or lazy or lacking in self-control.

No. It's because no-one ever explained to you the actual goal of self-improvement.

No-one ever made it all crystal clear.

The stakes.What there is to gain. What there is to lose.The real price of progress and success.

Without that sort of clarity, you've had nothing concrete to orient your decisions. Nothing to make it easy and automatic to say “NO!… I don’t want that basic crap. I want this instead".

So here it is. Here's what you've been missing.

The Two Paths

In life there are two paths you can take. You can take the White-On-Black (WOB) path or the Black-On-White (BOW) path.

The WOB Path features an abundance of white dots... little gumdrop moments of pleasure and distraction from the worries and stresses of life.

And who wouldn’t want that? It’s what we choose by default.

But the backdrop is black. It’s dark and dismal. Often miserable.

When you’re on the WOB path, and when you’re not urgently inserting food in your face or refreshing Reddit... you'll notice that background refrigerator hum of unease.

Or else it's regret, longing, sadness, or just... something else.

That's because there's no actual substance to gain there.

The White-On-Black path leads to a life of stagnation and mediocrity—a reverse nightmare that begins only when you snap awake from your latest doomscroll.

And yet… it’s not so bad.

'Cause you can always relieve the misery with another dose of instant pleasure.

Now, Black-On-White path is, well... it's the opposite.

It’s got that tranquil mental backdrop we all seek.

A clear and content headspace. A calm and peaceful temperament.

On the BOW Path, the destination is not having this nor is it getting that—it’s not even succeeding or enjoying the many fruits of your labor—although that may very well be an eventual result.

It’s simply the blissful absence of wanting.Of being okay with what is in the here and now. Of just being... happy.

There are, however, unavoidable black dots scattered along the HD Path.

This is discomfort.

If you choose to take the BOW path, you have to learn to expect pointed moments—or “dots”—of discomfort.

But the good thing is—and this is why the Yin and Yang symbol was modified: the contrast softens over time. The dots of discomfort will fade.

As you grow into the habit of letting it arrive, or even seeking it out, and observing it mindfully... it runs its course. It passes.

And with enough time and repetition, you get used to discomfort.It stops being such a big deal.

Making The Decision

Look. We all have background pain in our lives. From regrets about past mistakes, to anxieties about change and inevitable loss.This, we might say, is the grim and inextricable part of the human condition.

Then, there’s what we might call “optional” discomforts: the hard stuff you do that inches you towards a better life.

Showing up to therapy... pushing yourself when exercising... stepping out of your comfort zone...

As kids, we learned to avoid the optional kind, and relieve the mandatory kind through vices. These have become our habits.

So choosing the Black-On-White path is not easy.It's going to take some work. It's going to take time for any benefit to show. It's going to be, well... uncomfortable.

The point, though, is that you can’t have both white components of the symbol while avoiding everything black.You can’t have endless background happiness and peace of mind, free of all discomfort, plus limitless dots of pleasure.

That’s a fantasy. It’s also the reason your self-improvement journey keeps stalling out.

Because you can’t keep chasing pleasure, gratification, and escape... while simultaneously expecting yourself to work hard and build better habits. You just can’t. Not when you’re depressed, unmotivated, and lethargic—when nothing has the chance to stick.

So at some point, you really do have to make a choice.

You can either continue on the White-On-Black Path, with its moments of pleasure against a backdrop of chronic misery…

Or you can commit to the Black-On-White path, with its moments of discomfort against a backdrop of happiness.

There’s nothing wrong with choosing the first—with choosing easy pleasures over subtle happiness. In fact, given how given how abundant and effortlessly gratifying today’s vices have become... most people do.

But I can promise you this: committing to the Black-On-White happiness path is a thousand times better than the alternative.

It won’t feel like it at first. But it is.

For starters, you’ll be directly targeting the root cause of your constant lack of drive and motivation (I go deeper on this in the free part of my Tapbook).

But beyond that, well...I just can’t overstate how much better real, enduring happiness is compared to fleeting pleasure.How moments of discomfort pale in comparison to the misery and hangovers caused by vices.

How much more satisfying it is to live well and contribute—to stop living solely for me, myself, and I, trapped on a hamster wheel of endlessly gratifying base desires—instead living for something larger than yourself. A life with meaning. With purpose.

And yes, on this path there will still be good feelings. Plenty of them.But they’ll be the real kind. The earned kind. Not the hollow, vicarious kind doled out by vices.

It’s just a better life.And I sincerely hope you choose it.- Simon D.

P.S. Making the choice is step one. Steps two through nine hundred and ninety-nine are about living that choice—sticking with it over the long term. And that’s not easy.What is easy is slipping back into old ways. Old habits. Then regretting it all and beating yourself up afterward.

That’s what my book is really about. What to do after you decide to pursue the Black-On-White path—after you decide to take on a Tech Sober identity, as I've come to call it.It’s about how to live that choice day after day. How to turn a decision into a lived reality.