The Currency.

Yes, we live in absolute informational chaos.

There are moments when I genuinely miss my undergraduate studies in physics. Yes, it’s a complex field — but at least the laws of physics don’t change. Whatever you learn remains valid unless it is falsified, and the knowledge stays with you for life.

In contrast, the same cannot be said about today’s human capital landscape: the job market, talent intelligence, and people management. It’s all a moving target. You’re constantly sliding, and the more you try to learn, the less you feel you truly understand.

Hence, the value of peace of mind.

But how to achieve REAL peace of mind? Very few people ever get there.

Extraverted or introverted, neurotypical or neurodiverse, sociable or aloof – every brain is different. In consequence, everyone has their own definition and specifications for what peace of mind really is and what it requires.

For me, peace of mind is the most expensive and time-consuming thing in this world. I know I know…

All the best things in life – sunshine, walking in the forest, a smile, or the wind on your face – are free of charge. Well, all but the peace of mind.

Silence & Agency.

To my mind, peace of mind comes from a combination of two things: silence AND agency.

Silence allows you to ventilate your head and maintain mental hygiene.

Similarly, agency allows you to resolve any problems that arise. 

For example, just imagine scenarios in which you lose one of these two qualities.

Scenario #1: High silence, no agency. 

Just sell everything and leave for the mountains to breed proverbial goats. That gives you a high level of silence and a low level of agency. You are happy in daily life, but poor and vulnerable.

If you encounter a serious issue — for example, if a family member becomes vulnerable or gravely ill — you may suddenly find yourself in real trouble. You have no resources to fall back on if you are robbed, suffer a serious illness, have an accident, or if a crisis such as war breaks out. Yes, everyday life may offer beautiful landscapes, sunshine, greenery, friendly people, and a lot of love — but this comes at the cost of security and predictability.

As a result, if something truly serious happens, your fate may end up in the hands of strangers. And you have no reliable means of responding or solving problems, beyond hoping and praying that things turn out well.

Similarly, you have no resources to get on a plane and visit your family living on another continent. Nor can you fly to a Buddhist temple once a year to recharge and grow, or do anything else that supports your personal development.

Your everyday life becomes the same routine — simple, predictable, unchanging. But in the long term, “simple” can become too simple.

Scenario #2: High agency, zero silence.

On the other hand, you can become highly active and powerful — reaching a high level of agency by becoming a politician, a social or media personality, or an influencer. Meanwhile, as someone with many levers to pull and a broad sphere of influence, you gain the ability to shape reality in your direction and achieve your goals.

But the trade-off is profound: you lose all silence.

Consequently, as a public figure, you must represent certain interests, speak on behalf of specific groups, and constantly appear in public. You are required to consume vast amounts of information, stay in touch with reality, follow the news, meet people, attend events, and maintain diplomacy when needed. Your life becomes a sequence of obligations — things you must or should do — and genuine calmness is almost nonexistent.

Is There a Third Way? 

OR, you can:

In the long run, both of these scenarios would be a nightmare for me. But I believe there is a third path — one of high silence and high agency. Indeed, it’s a subtle path, one that not many people notice or choose to follow.

Let me explain.

What if I told you that you can live in a peaceful, green place? And what if you could still remain within commuting distance of the center of the world? It’s a place where things happen, where innovation is built, where decisions are made.

And what if, at the same time, you could surround yourself with powerful friends who can change the world and solve real problems?

There is a way — a way to live with both high silence and high agency. But there are a few barriers you must cross: the barriers of consistency and consequence.

A. The Cash.

You need to become exceptionally good at something — so good that you are both valuable to powerful people and able to monetize your expertise. Without monetization, reaching that level of freedom simply isn’t possible.

Just consider the real costs of positioning yourself in such a space. To anchor yourself in a quiet, beautiful location within commuting distance of the Bay Area — a place where everyone secretly wants to live — you need a proper home in a proper neighborhood. That alone is at least 2–3 million dollars, paid upfront.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, San Francisco home prices have climbed more than fivefold since the mid-1990s. As a result, a multimillion-dollar price tag is now the norm for property anywhere near the region. To earn that amount in cash, you would need to generate around 5 million dollars in income.

Furthermore, that is just the beginning. Property taxes in the Bay Area are so high that you typically need a second property to rent out, just to offset the tax burden on the home you live in. That means generating another 5 million dollars in income.

A peaceful life near a powerful ecosystem must be close enough to participate, yet far enough to enjoy silence. To secure that, you need to cash out at least 10 million dollars from your business.

B. The Skill.

To be truly safe and to have powerful friends, you must be able to offer something. People should leave every interaction with you feeling inspired, enriched, or positively challenged. Otherwise, even wealth won’t secure meaningful relationships.

So, cash is only an entry ticket — a prerequisite, not a guarantee of a wonderful, peaceful life. To have the right connections, to stay relevant, and to be “in the know,” you must build a powerful network. That means doubling down on developing your skills and making sure you can be genuinely useful.

C. How Do You Build the Right Network?

How do you gather the right people around you?

The older I get, the more I rely on intuition. I used to hold on to relationships far longer than I should have, simply because I wanted to be unfailingly loyal. However, I didn’t realize — at least not in time — that I was changing, my friends were changing, and we were all moving in different directions.

Nevertheless, I now try to approach this more rationally and accept that most people don’t stay for a lifetime. They often take separate paths, pursue new challenges, and welcome new ambitions — and new friends — into their lives.

You, too, have to keep building your network slowly and intentionally, and be selective about the people you let close. With most of them, synergy is not guaranteed. According to Granovetter (1973), though, even loose ties carry real value: they are where new opportunities most often come from.

Likewise, you shouldn’t be afraid to move forward and meet new people as you evolve. It sounds simple, but it’s something I am still learning.

In addition, to reach a state of genuine peace, you also need to train your nervous system. For me, one helpful method is writing on social media every day. As my following grows gradually, I become less overwhelmed by visibility.

Thus, with steady exposure, I learn to remain calm despite the increasing number of people who watch, read, or know about me. It allows me to expand my sphere of influence without additional stress or pressure. 

Lastly, What Does Peace of Mind NOT Depend On? 

1. Age.

I used to believe that growing up would naturally make you more confident. I believed the demons from childhood would fade and the monsters under the bed would disappear. I thought you’d become more self-assured, more outspoken, more at ease in the world.

But now I see that adulthood doesn’t magically erase shyness. You still have mental barriers.

In fact, there are still things that are hard to say, hard to admit. Your heart still races every time you need to step up, speak for yourself, appear in public, or negotiate something important.

I certainly don’t feel that peace of mind arrives automatically with age. Life doesn’t become less stressful. Whenever I’m under pressure — from time, or from people expecting something from me — it’s not any easier now than it was when I was 15 or 20.

So if you hope that age will heal you from all your fears, you are totally wrong.

2. Money (it’s just an entry ticket).

With enough cash, can you feel perfectly at peace? Well, not exactly.

If wealth comes too easily — for example, by becoming a sudden Bitcoin millionaire — it can do more harm than good. I know many people who became rich overnight and ended up mentally unstable, even hospitalized, because they developed completely distorted beliefs about the world.

It’s the worst possible combination: lottery winners who believe they are self-made.

According to a long-run study published in the Review of Economic Studies, sudden lottery wealth boosts life satisfaction. However, it has little measurable effect on happiness or mental health. That’s evidence that money alone rarely delivers peace of mind.

But they are not self-made. They didn’t create value; they were simply in the right place at the right time.

Moreover, because they never built any real skills, they have nothing meaningful to offer others — no expertise, no insight, nothing that makes a conversation truly interesting. And, the fountain of cash can dry out at any moment — what then?

3. Others.

Whatever people may say, no one can give you peace of mind but yourself. No matter how much others appreciate you or enjoy your company, you will always remain inside your own head — and no one else can bring you into a truly peaceful state.

According to Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, and Schkade (2005), a large share of lasting well-being depends on intentional activity rather than circumstances. It depends entirely on your ability to avoid self-destruction, to stay focused on what matters, to maintain balance.

Still, you have to ignore the narratives the media tries to sell you, tune yourself into your real mission, concentrate on your strengths, and disregard the constant pressure of what society tells you to do. That said, although we all need other people, you must also learn to be independent of their opinions. It’s a difficult balance: you need to be both useful and assertive.

Ultimately, no matter how many compliments or affirmations you hear from others, your sense of peace will always come from within — never from the outside.

How Do I Find Peace of Mind in Practice?

Whenever I seek peace of mind, I deliberately walk away from cell phone reception — to force myself to be alone for a bit. In the movie below, a wonderful day spent by myself in the mountains just a few days back.

What a wonderful day it was! That’s the best emulation of the peace of mind I can get at the moment. 

In the movie: I just spent a Sunday on my own high uphill, in –20C; the closest to the peace of mind I can get at the moment.