Follow Energy, Not Money
Optimise for what energises you to find effortless, sustainable output over the long game
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 80%
Millerd argues that because our world clearly values money, analytical people over-index on 'things that turn into money' and get trapped optimising a local minimum, missing unknown opportunities that only emerge from exploring and saying no. The alternative is to follow energy: notice what genuinely energises you and ride that wave, because you literally can't reach the level Ali or Paul have without being energised by the work. Energy is also a competitive advantage: the person who enjoys the work outlasts the one chasing money. Crucially, this reframes ambition as speed, not destination; you can be ambitious over a three-to-five-year horizon rather than crushing it in three months, which is both more sustainable and, for many, more fun.
Origin
This is the core concept of Ali's own book on effortless, sustainable productivity, elaborated with Millerd on the episode: the secret is figuring out what energises you and going towards it, playing a 'slower and stupider game' you can sustain.
Core principles
- 01You cannot reach mastery in a field without being energised by the work itself.
- 02Over-indexing on money traps you in a local minimum and hides better opportunities.
- 03Energy-fuelled work is a competitive advantage because you'll simply outlast others.
- 04Ambition is really a question of speed; you can be ambitious over a longer horizon.
- 05Protecting the naturally-energising work matters more than monetising it fast.
How to run it
- 1
Detect energy vs drain
For each activity, notice whether it energises you or feels like a chore. Use small experiments to gather this signal deliberately.
Watch out Don't confuse status or money appeal with genuine energy; they feel different.
- 2
Refuse the money-first trap
Resist optimising only for what quickly turns into money. Early over-monetising short-circuits the exploratory mode that finds your durable path.
Watch out Chasing money too early can stop you reaching the phase where you can commit.
- 3
Protect the energising work
Guard time, autonomy and freedom for the work that naturally pulls you, even before you know how to monetise it. Millerd protected his writing at all costs.
Pro tip If a naturally-energising activity disappears from your life, treat it as a signal something has gone wrong.
- 4
Reframe the draining work
For a day job that drains you, find an approach that makes it more of an energy source and less of a drain rather than abandoning it outright.
- 5
Play the long game
Optimise meaningful output over a 3-10 year horizon, not a 10-day one. Let ambition decide your speed and leverage, not whether you pursue the thing at all.
Pro tip A slower pace on work you love still compounds, and is often more sustainable than a frantic one.
In the wild
Ali noted that someone making YouTube videos purely to make money will quit before seeing momentum, while he keeps going because the work genuinely energises him. That intrinsic energy is a durable competitive advantage over money-motivated competitors.
→ Sustained output that outlasts money-chasing rivals.
Drawing on Cal Newport's 'slow productivity', Ali described optimising meaningful output across a ten-year horizon: spending more time deep-working on his book rather than forcing out two YouTube videos every week just because that's short-term productivity.
→ Prioritised needle-moving, energising work over frantic weekly output.
Common mistakes
Optimising the local minimum
Chasing only what obviously turns into money keeps you optimising a small comfortable peak and blind to bigger unknown opportunities.
Monetising before exploring
Rushing to make money early short-circuits the exploratory phase and stops you finding the energy wave you could ride for years.
Is it for you?
Best for
Early-stage creators and career-changers deciding what to commit to.
Not ideal for
Situations demanding immediate income where survival trumps exploration.
From the transcript
“you can't actually make it to where you are now without actually being energized by what you were doing”
“the secret to effortless and sustainable productivity is to figure out what energizes you and go towards that”
From the episode
The Pathless Path: How To Recreate Your Life And Career In 2023 - Paul Millerd
Paul Millerd