Optimise for vibes

Life’s not just about goals—it’s about the journey. Discover how to balance purpose and joy by optimising for vibes, creating a life that feels as good as it is meaningful.

Life is about finding a balance between impact and enjoyment. To truly make a meaningful difference in the lives of others, we need both—a focus on goals and a readiness to embrace moments that feel good—optimising for "vibes." This is not about being shallow; it’s about enhancing the quality of our journey so that it’s not just about the destination but about being fully present and joyful along the way.

My biggest goal in life is to affect others positively, not just in small ways, but in transformative ones. I want people to say at my funeral that I altered the course of their lives and they’re better for it. To achieve this, I strive to think, work, and speak with others’ best interests in mind. Giving good advice and being serious when necessary are all part of that pursuit. But I’ve realised this drive can make me a boring person. There’s also value in being someone who’s enjoyable to be around, and who brings a refreshing atmosphere. Not someone who always has a lecture or a Bible study in tow. Those have their place, but so does creating a feel-good atmosphere, even in serious moments. Be serious, yes. Build a legacy, yes. Change people’s lives and change the world—but don’t be a buzzkill. Learn to enjoy the moment, to be free, and to bring joy when the time is right.

In his book Die with Zero, Bill Perkins introduces an idea that stuck with me. He argues that many people waste their life energy—not frivolously, but by spending it all on acquiring things and building for a future they may not fully enjoy. It’s good to prepare for the future, but it’s just as crucial to enjoy life’s experiences when they’re most meaningful to us.

Perkins paints a vivid picture of what people value most when they’re on their deathbeds. It’s not the money they saved or the possessions they accumulated; it’s the experiences they had, the memories they made, and the moments they shared with loved ones. This aligns perfectly with the idea of optimising for vibes—not recklessly, but thoughtfully, by valuing experiences at their most impactful moments.

For example, it’s not ideal to save all your money to travel in your 50s, only to find that by then, your energy and enthusiasm for exploration have waned. Instead, why not travel in your 20s and 30s when those experiences can shape your perspective and add richness to your life? It might look like you’re squandering your retirement, but in reality, you’re borrowing from your future self to live fully today.

This doesn’t mean spending money you don’t have or being reckless. Perkins advocates for financial wisdom, planning for retirement, and caring for loved ones. But he also emphasises ensuring resources create the most joy and fulfilment when it matters most. To look back on life with pride, we need to maximise meaningful experiences at the right time.

Have you ever noticed how different people watch movies? When I watch a film, I often want to catch every piece of dialogue, focus on every plot point, and understand every nuance. My wife, on the other hand, just needs the general plot and resolution. For her, as long as the vibe is right, everything else falls into place—the details aren’t as crucial.

Maybe there’s something to be learned from that perspective. Sometimes, it’s okay to let go of obsessing over every minor detail and just enjoy the experience. And to be clear, neither approach is better or worse; they’re just different ways of experiencing the same thing.

Patrick Willems has an interesting review of the movie Tenet by Christopher Nolan that hits on this point. He describes how complex and puzzling the movie can be, yet also how it captivates with its energy and spectacle. Eventually, Willems concludes that Tenet might be a "vibes movie," one where the experience is more about the feeling it creates than about perfect understanding.

Christopher McQuarrie, director of the Mission: Impossible movies, made a related observation:

"Build character through action, screw the plot. Plot is merely why things happen. Character is why I give a shit that it’s happening. Bond’s structure, generally speaking, is a study in the irrelevance of plot. I cannot recall a single Bond plot in any detail. But I know WHERE Bond is going and WHY at all times (reasons). When it’s working, I’m never confused as to his IMMEDIATE objective."

Optimising for vibes is also about optimising for this feeling—where, in any given moment, you’re clear about where you’re going in life and why. There’s no confusion about the immediate objective. For everything else, if the vibe is right, then it’s good. This isn't to say there is no plot; it's there, just like there are goals, plans, and other serious things in life. But this is about how we enjoy the movie, and in context, it's about how we enjoy life. We don’t enjoy life by focusing on the plot details, but by being fully present and enjoying the current moment. There’s a time to work on the plans and goals, but as we move through the moments, we optimise for good vibes.

The title of this article, "Optimise for Vibes," was inspired by Rich Harris at a Svelte London Meetup I attended early in 2024. It was a tech talk, of course, but the point he made about optimising for vibes stuck with me. He said:

"People use Svelte because they like Svelte. They like it because it aligns with their aesthetic sensibilities. Instead of striving to be the fastest or smallest or whateverest, we explicitly aim to be the framework with the best vibes."

He went on to say, “While Svelte is fast, it’s not the fastest; it’s small, but it’s not the smallest. It uses a compiler, but it doesn’t do this as much as other frameworks. Often, someone will write a long detailed article highlighting all the ways they believe Svelte is disastrous on a technical level, but when you scratch beneath the surface, what they really mean is that they don't like the vibes. And that's fine—we don't have to try and win those people over, because in trying to do that, we risk ruining the things that made us successful. Vibes are hard to define; we can't enumerate the determining factors because we don't know them. All we can do is make good vibes an explicit goal of the project.”

I think this is true for many parts of life. Often, when you see a passionate critique of a film, book, or popular subculture—especially where no objective right or wrong can be determined—at the core it is someone communicating that the thing just doesn’t match their vibes. If we understood this, we could significantly reduce the number of passionate disagreements and arguments we have with others.

Not that I don't believe in objective truth. I do. Sometimes it's not that their experience doesn't align with ours, it's that objectively we are wrong or they are wrong. I know that. But here I am accounting for the fact that there's a significant number of times when it's subjective but we think it's not, and we hold to our guns and we fight when the issue is just that the vibes aren't aligning.

I loved this idea. It’s not always about being the fastest or the most efficient. Sometimes, it’s about creating something that resonates with people on a deeper level—something that just feels good to use or be around. This is how we should aim to be in life. No matter how smart you try to be, someone will always be smarter. You can aim to be very knowledgeable, but you won’t be the most knowledgeable. You can aim to be very accomplished, but you won’t be the most accomplished. And that’s all fine. People don’t choose us because we’re the most anything. Often someone will have lots of words to say about why we’re not the best or how we can do things better or be better, but usually when you scratch beneath the surface, what they really mean is that they just don’t vibe with us. And that’s fine. We should optimise for the best vibes but also know that will not be everyone’s vibe.

People are often drawn to activities, products, and experiences that align with their aesthetic sensibilities and emotional resonance. The idea of optimising for vibes is about focusing on what feels right, what resonates, and what makes life enjoyable. In a world where we're constantly bombarded with metrics, goals, and objectives, it's refreshing to align ourselves with what truly feels good. However, this doesn't mean vibes should be the sole guiding principle. Vibes alone can be misleading and aren’t always the best metric for determining what to do or which direction to go.

The foundational elements—like planning, setting goals, and being efficient—are crucial. They give us structure, purpose, and a clear path forward. Without them, we may drift, moving from one good feeling to the next without making genuine progress. But once those elements are figured out, there is a place for optimising for vibes. Vibes make the journey enjoyable, help us build meaningful relationships, and ensure that we are not just living for some far-off goal but embracing the present.

Instead of striving to be the fastest, the smallest, or the most efficient, why not aim to have the best vibes? Why not focus on creating moments that resonate deeply with us and those around us? Journey before destination.

Life isn’t just about what we achieve; it’s about the quality of the journey and the connections we make along the way. By optimising for vibes, we become present, enjoy our experiences, and create meaningful memories. Goals and efficiency matter, but so do joy and fulfilment.

Ultimately, life is a delicate balancing act—between striving for meaningful achievements and savouring the experiences along the way. Serious goals and productivity are important, but they should never overshadow the joy, connections, and moments that make life worth living. Optimising for vibes means integrating purpose and presence—making the journey as enriching as the destination.

So let’s build lives that feel good, and that others enjoy sharing. Let’s create impact and leave legacies, but let’s also embrace the joy of being fully alive. When we align our actions with what resonates deeply, we find that life becomes not just a pursuit, but a profound and satisfying experience.

My favourite fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, writes in The Stormlight Archive about the first ideal of the Knights Radiant: "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination." This reminds us that the journey holds intrinsic value. The experiences we gather, the relationships we nurture, and the moments we cherish make it worth taking. In 2025 and beyond, let’s honour that ideal by living fully, embracing the path, and optimising for good vibes.

Life before death: don’t just survive—live fully.
Strength before weakness: overcome obstacles for yourself and others.
Journey before Destination: strive for goals but cherish the journey.

Happy New Year, everyone.