About beyond/default
Most of us are living on settings we never chose.
What success looks like. How much is enough. What’s realistic. What a good life is supposed to be. We absorbed these from family, school, friends, and the internet long before we thought to question them.
beyond/default is about noticing those settings and changing them on purpose.
Don’t settle. Not because you should never be satisfied, but because you deserve to be satisfied with something you actually chose.
Who I am
I’m Kal. I live in New Zealand.
For years, I chased money without knowing what it was for. Lawn mowing, agencies, SaaS, dropshipping, print on demand, rank and rent, ecommerce. Every time something didn’t work, I blamed the business model and moved on to the next one.
I’ve read the books, done the courses, and spent more time in tutorial hell than I’d like to admit.
Eventually I realised the problem wasn’t the model. I had never defined the life I was building toward.
Now I’m starting with the life first. I recently moved to a new city with no job, no running business, and no clear plan, just a clear idea of what I want my days to look like.
I’m not writing from the finish line. I’m writing from the middle of it.
What I write about
Anything that helps you notice, question, or change a default.
Life and work: designing days, careers, and businesses you’d actually choose
Money: making it serve your time, energy, attention, and options
Health and energy: moving your body and protecting what fuels you
Relationships: the people you choose to build a life around
Creativity and technology: tools, ideas, and building things
Thinking: questioning the beliefs you inherited
Some pieces are personal essays. Some are practical frameworks. Some are just me thinking out loud.
Honest ideas, lessons from building, and what I learn along the way. No hype.
Start here
The beyond/default manifesto: what I believe and why
The Tuesday Morning I'm Building My Life Around: what I'm building toward
Why subscribe
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If you’ve ever felt like you’re living a life that was designed for someone else, you’re in the right place.
— Kal
