We live in a world that, in many ways, says, “Well, if you want to be liked and if you want to fit in, make sure you have a lot of people around you and your life is layered with lots of complexity and shiny toys and bells and whistles.” Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician said something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “Most of man’s miseries derive by his inability to sit quietly in a room by himself.”
Tranquility is the new luxury. I’m going to repeat that again because it’s so important.
Tranquility is the new luxury. Most people in the world right now are so addicted to distraction, there’s so much going on, they’re exhausted. So one of the single best moves you can do to get your best thinking done, to get your best insights, to be more intentional as you go through your days, to amplify your productivity, creativity, and prosperity is this: make more time to be alone, and to go even deeper, make the time and develop the ability to like yourself more. .
You are the only person who will be with you your entire lifetime. We’re going to lose loved
ones. People come and go. You are the only person that will be with you as long as you are alive, and so why not build intimacy and fluency with you?