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Morning—Clay here.
We live in a world that celebrates the highlight reel:
The title. The corner office. The hustle.
And for a while, I wanted that too.

Not because I actually liked the idea of back-to-back meetings or high-stakes decision-making… but because I thought that’s what success looked like.

Turns out, the things I thought would make me feel successful were the very things pulling me away from what mattered most.

🔥 Here’s what I learned. Let’s dive in.

The Grind Looked Good on Paper

I used to have this vision that I could be a C-suite guy—or at least one of those “high achievers.”
You know… the hustle. The grind.

The kind of guy who stays late at work, keeps pushing harder, and grinds through most weekends for good measure.

I told myself it was ambition.
Drive.
Vision.

That’s what everyone wants, right?
Everyone is climbing.
So I’d better be climbing.

And if I’m honest, I probably fooled myself into believing I had it in me.

That if I just worked a little harder…
said yes to a few more projects…
crushed a few more deadlines…

Eventually, that kind of success would start to feel like fulfillment.

But It Never Did

Instead, it felt like:
Disconnection.
Misalignment.
And time I was never getting back.

It took a hard reset—one I didn’t choose—to realize I was chasing a version of life that was never really mine to begin with.

❌ I didn’t want more pressure.
❌ I didn’t want more meetings.
❌ I didn’t want more hustle.

✅ I wanted more time with my kids.
✅ More quiet mornings with my wife.
✅ More days that felt full—even if they looked simple from the outside.

Alignment Over Achievement

Today, I measure success differently.

Not by the title… but by how present I am.
Not by how much I’ve achieved… but by how aligned I feel.

And I’ll take a life that feels aligned
over one that just looks impressive…
every single time.

Break Out of the Bubble

As much as we like to think everyone else is living in a social or political bubble… The truth is, we likely are as well.

Tangle is here to burst those bubbles and help you understand the opposing view.

Every day, Tangle will drop into your inbox and unpack a highly visible and often contentious issue in the news by providing the most thoughtful points from the left, right, and in-between for nearly 400,000 readers across the political spectrum (including our founder, a long-time Tangle fan).

Sign up for free and get a major news story broken down fairly and clearly in just 10 minutes.

Start reading.

Becoming a Legendary Father: Insights from Larry Hagner’s New Book

I recently had the chance to sit down with Larry Hagner from The Dad Edge—one of the most respected voices in this space. You can watch or listen to our conversation here .

Larry’s also got a new book coming out—The Pursuit of Legendary Fatherhood —which I can’t recommend enough. If you want a practical, heartfelt guide to leading well at home, preorder your copy today.

Until next time—
keep the fires burning.
– Clay

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