Making things.
Finding meaning.
Overthinking both.

Hey — I'm Rick Foerster, a ridiculously ambitious workaholic turned not-so-humble writer.

Once upon a time, I was a “Pretty Big Deal” (self-proclaimed, of course). I spent 12 years helping build a healthcare startup from nothing to a big public company worth several billion. It was the kind of career that’s supposed to fill the void and conquer all life’s questions. For some reason, it didn’t.

So I walked away.

I left behind that safe and warm and respected professional life to basically become professionally unemployed. I expected a feeling of freedom. Never-ending bliss. That kind of thing. What I got instead was a slew of inconvenient questions like: “Who am I?” and “What if I’m a nobody?”

Eventually, I found writing.

I started The Way of Work to explore my questions of meaning, identity, and ambition. Why we’re so desperate to matter. Why success so often disappoints. And what happens when the work stops working.

Then I got bored. So I decided: okay, time to write a novel.

And given my background, it of course made sense to write a post-apocalyptic psychological thriller about a bunch of orphans trying to survive a bleak and brutal world… wait, what?!?

Yeah, it’s called Forget This To Survive, and it comes out Spring 2027.

Across all my strange interests, I keep circling back to a few questions:

• What should we do with the time we have left?

• Who do we become along the way?

• How do we find meaning when there is none?

• And, most importantly, how do I remain the center of attention through all this?

Welcome to The Way of Work: the complicated work of being human.

What you’ll find here

Essays & Ideas

I’m tired of the same shallow answers the rest of work culture keeps recycling. Productivity hacks, 5-step frameworks, a bunch of motivational platitudes… Bullshit, in other words. So I write about work, meaning, and reinvention, without all that hustle-guru nonsense.

Fiction & Stories

The cool stuff. My debut novel, Forget This To Survive, and the stories that come next. Book updates, behind-the-scenes stuff, and occasional explorations of the stories and books that interest me.

Other Questionable Ideas

Creative experiments, projects, and anything else I decide to get myself into. Most are fantastic wastes of time and don’t matter whatsoever. I’m gonna do ‘em anyway.

Where to start?

If you like dark, pulse-pounding stories with a dose of existential dread:

Forget This To Survive — My debut post-apocalyptic survival thriller about the psychological cost of survival—and the lies we need to keep going. Think The Last of Us meets Chaos Walking.

“Holy crap… a serious page turner.” - Early Reader

If you’re questioning what you’re doing with your life:

What You Need is a Midlife Crisis — My personal favorite. Why a good existential crisis might be just what you need.

From Businessman to ‘Existential Explorer’ — Two weeks after walking away from my career, I broke down crying to my wife. This is my attempt to explain what happened after.

“His explorations about life remain terrifically interesting.” - Sara Pendergast, Artist

If you’re curious about meaning, identity, and ambition:

“FU Money” is Useless Without the “FU” — Maybe the most popular essay I’ve written. The psychological prison most people walk into after escaping the material one.

The Open Frontier of Meaning — My most ambitious essay. I wish more people liked it, TBD, because it’s the closest to the core of what I’m exploring here.

“Rick walks the walk. A lot of hard fought knowledge.” - Kris Abdelmessih, Founder, Moontower

If you’re here to see where I’m headed:

Well, me too. Let’s figure it out together, shall we?

Cheers,
Rick