How a Weekend Trip to Asia Changed My Life and Work

Why I've relocated to Balaji's Network School

In this new clip, I articulate why exactly I moved to

Balaji

’s Network School (NS) on an island near Singapore—something I’ve been asked to explain dozens of times by people shocked by my sudden decision. What began as a simple plan to attend the Network State conference in Singapore this October quickly turned into something unexpected. After hearing thinkers like Andrew Huberman, Amjad Masad, and Balaji Srinivasan, Parker and I took a tour of NS for a weekend.

The place instantly felt electric: deep conversations about consciousness, technology, and spirituality; a community obsessed with health and fitness; and hundreds of people doing innovative remote work in the same shared environment. NS is essentially an internet-first, land-second community—a few hundred digital nomads, founders, creatives, and thinkers all living in the same building, training together, writing together, learning together, and exchanging ideas constantly. After talking to a few people who supported us bringing the podcast here, the decision to stay—originally just a few weeks, now a year locked in—became a surprisingly easy one.

What made the choice even more meaningful is how it aligned with where I was personally. After years of solitary deep work—writing, reading, podcasting, and navigating the psychological fallout of COVID-era isolation—I reached a point where I needed real community again. 2020–2023 was productive but lonely: long days in the basement, friendships dissolving, and very little real-world connection. This year I made a decision to rebalance my life: more human connection, more fun, more embodied experiences. NS turned out to be the ideal place to do that. It gave me friendships with people from Syria, Portugal, Romania, Canada—people I’ve laughed with, trained with, stayed up late talking about consciousness with. One social highlight of the year recently came in the form of helping organize a stellar NS Halloween party with my Romanian friend David (who I’m co-creating NS Magazine with!).

For the first time in years, I feel both deeply engaged intellectually and nourished socially. My productivity dipped at the start (as many newcomers report) as I was able to finally express myself socially after all these years of isolation, but in the last few weeks it has surged again as Parker and I focus on building the next phase of the podcast (which I explain in this clip). Two months in and NS has already reshaped the scope of my work, creativity, and sense of social connection.