What Are You Actually Optimizing For?

You can’t improve what you haven’t defined.

But that doesn’t stop most people from trying.

They optimize their morning routine.
Their calendar. Their diet. Their workouts.
Their gear, apps, tools, systems, spreadsheets, van build.

Endless upgrades. Constant tinkering.
Always tweaking for better, faster, smoother.

But here’s the question we’ve learned to ask on repeat:

Because without clarity—optimization becomes a trap.

We used to optimize for speed

How fast can we get through this task?
How efficient can we make our mornings?
How quickly can we scale this business?
How many locations can we see this month?

Speed felt like progress.
Until it didn’t.

Until we were burning through our days… but not experiencing them.

Until we realized we had built systems for performance, not peace.

Until we were accomplishing more—but feeling less.

That’s when we paused and asked the deeper question:

Optimization isn’t bad—it’s just incomplete without intention

The danger isn’t in refining systems.
It’s in forgetting why you built them in the first place.

Are you optimizing your life for:

• Efficiency or connection?
• Growth or validation?
• Output or alignment?
• Visibility or peace?
• Convenience or depth?

One isn’t better than the other.
But pretending they’re the same will keep you stuck.

The systems you build shape the self you become

Your calendar shapes your identity.
Your routines reinforce your values.
Your defaults create your direction.

You can build the most efficient machine in the world—
but if it’s moving toward the wrong thing, what’s the point?

What we’re optimizing for now

Nomadism helped us reset.
We stopped designing around speed and started designing around sensation.

We asked:

• What moments feel expansive?
• What rhythms feel sustainable?
• What decisions lead to peace—even if they’re slower?
• What systems support the life we actually live, not the one we imagined?

Here’s what we optimize for now:

• Presence over productivity
• Simplicity over stimulation
• Consistency over intensity
• Depth over novelty
• Freedom over friction

And everything else is built around that.

Optimization without awareness creates false freedom

It looks like:

• An efficient life that doesn’t feel alive
• A morning routine that feels like a checklist
• A schedule that’s full but misaligned
• Systems that serve your past self, not your current one
• Goals that make you anxious, not energized

You don’t need to work harder on your life.
You need to get clear on what you’re building toward.

A question we ask every quarter:

Sometimes we’ve outgrown our setup.
Sometimes our values have shifted.
Sometimes our lifestyle has changed—but our systems haven’t.

And that friction?
That’s not failure.
That’s your life telling you it’s time to redesign.

This Week’s Shift:

Pick one system in your life—and ask what it’s actually optimizing for.

Examples:

• Your morning routine
• Your budgeting method
• Your family calendar
• Your content creation rhythm
• Your workout schedule
• Your van layout

Then ask:

• Is this system producing the feeling I want more of?
• Is this system reinforcing the identity I want to grow into?

If not—tweak it.
Not for more output.
But for better alignment.

Because in the end, you don’t just become what you repeat.
You become what you optimize for.

—Indy & Kitty
​Nomadists