the margin · on attention

Stories are the operating system

Humans run on stories—it's how we remember and how we're moved. So start from the story you'll want to tell over and over, and work backward.

Humans run on stories. They're what drive us—how we remember, how we're moved, how we reflect our own experiences back to ourselves. We're powered by them.

Even art works this way. Stand in front of a Rothko and it's just a block of paint, until you know the story behind it—then it means something. Meaning is what you add to what you're exposed to, and it's what gives life its flavor.

So think upstream. Ask what story you want told about your life—the eulogy question—and live backward from the answer.

4 strokes · first noted june 2026 · lives in on attention
see — taste is collected dots · experts hoard, leaders teach · ask, don't hand over · make them relive it

a thought from the margin · 4 returns · back to the room