the 80% lifestyle.

This week, I almost quit my job. The people I work with are great, the pay is amazing and it’s a job that allows me a lot of personal growth.

But it also comes with a stress. A lot of stress. The kind of stress that sits in the back of your head at 1 a.m. in the morning.

I ended up having a long meeting with my boss to explain to him where I was at, but luckily instead of brushing me off or telling me to go back to work, he instead introduced me to a different way of looking at work and life.

I call it the 80% lifestyle.

A lot of stress comes from trying to live at 100%. Perfect routines. Full calendars. Maximum output. It looks impressive, but it’s also fragile, brittle, and not subject to change.
One delay breaks the day.
One expense creates panic.
One bad night spills into the week.

The 80% lifestyle is choosing a pace you can sustain without constantly borrowing from the future. You leave some money unspent. Some time unscheduled. Some energy unused. Not because you’re lazy but because flexibility is important.

At 100%, everything is tight.
At 80%, there’s room to breathe.

Financially, it means your lifestyle costs less than you could afford.
Practically, it means doing fewer things, better.
Aesthetically, it looks calm.

You stop filling gaps just because they exist. The goal isn’t minimalism or discipline for its own sake. Which, in turn, leads to less burnout, fewer reactive decisions and more good days in a row.

You can always sprint when it matters. But you don’t have to live there.

Cheers,

Arteri