Analog / A book by Chris Schultz
Don’t run harder in the wrong direction.
I spent five years writing Analog around a simple conviction: achievement is not the same thing as a life well lived. The path you choose matters as much as the perseverance you bring to it.
How to Love Your Work and Not Wait for Retirement to Live the Good Life
It began with two promises.
When my father died just before he could enjoy retirement, I promised myself I would build a life I loved sooner rather than later—and help other people build companies and lives they would love. A forest fire years later gave me the space to finally write it down.
The whole philosophy comes down to three things.
01 / Agency
Put your hands on the wheel.
Stop living by somebody else’s expectations. Trust your judgment, take the smart risk and design your work around the life you actually want.
02 / Joy
Don’t postpone the good life.
Joy is not the prize waiting at the end of the grind. Make room for family, music, nature, friendship and the work that restores your energy now.
03 / Meaning
Build what is worth building.
Meaning comes from within. It grows when your work aligns with who you are—and when it helps other people create agency in their own lives.
Analog in an accelerating world
Use technology. Don’t let it use you.
The march of technology is inexorable. Pretending it isn’t coming won’t help. The opportunity is to focus on what machines can’t replicate: deep human connection, original thinking and the creativity that comes from lived experience.
Use technology for creation, not consumption. Create enough quiet to hear your own instincts and imagine your own coulds—not just react to everybody else’s shoulds.
You can either program or be programmed.
First believers matter.
The book also names the role I’ve played at my best: first believer. Not a cheerleader. A problem solver who sees possibility early, tells the truth and helps make it real.
The book is the philosophy. The advisory is the practice.
I don’t tell people to follow my path. I help them see their own more clearly—to choose the right race, act with agency and build success that leaves room for joy and meaning.
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