The Way of Work | Rick Foerster | Substack

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Recent posts

The best work is work you’d pay to do

A counter-intuitive thought experiment for finding meaningful work

Feb 22 • Rick Foerster

How to be creative (when you're not a "creative person")

How practical people can create, without being creative

Feb 1 • Rick Foerster

A Diversified Portfolio of Work

What do you do when jobs stop doing their job?

Jan 17 • Rick Foerster and Iwana Johannsen

The joy of having zero New Year’s resolutions

It's a great time of year to admit you have no idea where you’re going.

Dec 14, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Series 05: Existential Explorer

The Fine Line Between a Calling and a Curse

And other rants about work & life you’ll probably disagree with

Nov 23, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Will you give it a second?

Oct 25, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Freedom is not the highest form of wealth

After 2 years of freedom, I have to disagree

Aug 17, 2025 • Rick Foerster

How to be successful and miserable

When you’re good at the wrong thing [Existential Explorer: Part 7]

Jun 29, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Make something that doesn’t matter

Why you need a totally pointless passion project [Existential Explorer: Part 6]

Jun 8, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Subscribe for the next series

Series 04: Not Obvious

Success is not a destination, it’s a debate

I’m successful, but still argue with myself about it [Not Obvious: Part 7]

Apr 13, 2025 • Rick Foerster

The Two-Party Trap (in office politics)

Are you an Idealist or a Schemer? [Not Obvious: Part 6]

Mar 30, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Fulfillment FOMO

And alternative paths to passion. What to do when “find your passion” fails. [Not Obvious: Part 5]

Mar 23, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Welcome to Management: Please Proceed With Delusions of Control

What the management gurus won’t tell you [Not Obvious: Part 4]

Mar 16, 2025 • Rick Foerster

You Will Never Feel Done

Why productivity won’t save you [Not Obvious: Part 3]

Mar 9, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Series 03: The Other Side of Enough

Get Rich Now. Find Self Later.

6 ideas on how to reach financial freedom faster [The Other Side of Enough]

Feb 16, 2025 • Rick Foerster

"Fuck You Money” is Useless Without the “Fuck You”

How to escape the psychological prison [The Other Side of Enough]

Feb 9, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Is financial freedom worth waiting for?

5 unconventional ideas from 'The Other Side of Enough' series

Jan 26, 2025 • Rick Foerster

When independence unlocks another level

A lawyer dares to reinvent herself with a unexpected mid-career move [The Other Side of Enough: Final Interview]

Jan 19, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Should you put off life for the future?

The evolution of an early retiree, with an OG of the FIRE movement: the Mad Fientist [The Other Side of Enough: Interview #9]

Jan 12, 2025 • Rick Foerster

Series 02: Don't Work

Are you climbing the wrong mountain?

A summary of the “Don’t Work” series: lessons from a year away

Oct 20, 2024 • Rick Foerster

When you don’t have a “calling”

How to find your work, when it’s not obvious [Don’t Work: Part 10]

Oct 13, 2024 • Rick Foerster

The very easy, not-painful-at-all, 5 super simple steps to changing your career

The definitely-no-pain-whatsoever guide to doing something different [Don’t Work: Part 09]

Sep 29, 2024 • Rick Foerster

Scale down, after scaling up

Coming back down to reality, after reaching the top [Don’t Work: Part 08]

Sep 22, 2024 • Rick Foerster

Diversified Portfolio of Identities

We would never put all of our money into one stock. But many of us put the entirety of our identity into one area: Work. [Don’t Work: Part 07]

Sep 15, 2024 • Rick Foerster

Series 01: Work in Progress

10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)

Summary reflections from a 10-part series on my 12 years at Privia Health, evolving as an early startup employee to $2B public company executive. [Work…

Jun 16, 2024 • Rick Foerster

Luck: Things worked out for me, so they should for you too

When reflecting back on our life, “was I lucky (or unlucky)?" turns out to be one of the most important questions to ask ourselves. [Work in Progress…

Jun 9, 2024 • Rick Foerster

On Quitting (when it’s unclear whether to quit)

When it comes to quitting, sometimes there are blaring red signs. But usually, there is a lot of gray… and your choice is unclear. [Work in Progress…

Jun 2, 2024 • Rick Foerster

How to stay out of their box (in your career)

The world is desperate to put you into a box and most of us are more than willing to comply. Here's how to stay out of their box. [Work in Progress…

May 26, 2024 • Rick Foerster

Early Stage Innovation: What it’s like at the beginning

Everyone tries to copy innovation after the fact. But the key to innovation is understanding the beginning, not the end. [Work in Progress: Part 07]

May 19, 2024 • Rick Foerster

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The Way of Work

When work stops working: you're successful on paper, but suspect work can’t deliver what it promised. Here, we're exploring meaning, identity, and ambition without the hustle-guru nonsense.

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