Rewind the clock to 2016.

I was 23 years old.

Adriana and I just bought our first house and had our first baby — Hailey.

At the time, I was on a real high broptimization kick.

[brop-teh-meh-zay-shun]

Noun • The process of over-optimizing every stupid detail of your life until you’re utterly miserable simply because some bro-dude on twitter told you to lock in or die.

Creation • The slamming of two words together, “Bro” and “Optimization”

I’d wake up at 4:45AM.

I had my morning routine dialed into 20 minute segments.

Pray. Bible. Journal. Run. Shower. Breakfast. Meal prep. Watch broptimization youtube videos. Cold plunge. Sauna. Red light therapy. Drink AG1. Skincare routine. Work on my side hustle (I was building a guitar gear company at the time).

By 9AM, I’d accomplish more than 99% of idiot loser adults who will never be anything in their lives.

I was a winner.

A machine.

Unstoppable!

Then I’d go to work.

At the time, I was working at P&G doing marketing & operations for the Mr. Clean Car Wash division.

I’d put in a solid 8 hours there.

Then come back home. Take pictures of guitar gear for my company. Post it on Instagram. Answer messages. Write email campaigns. Call my business parter who built all the gear. Have a little dinner. Play with Hailey. Then sit in bed with my wife while I read my broptimization books so I can inject my brain with more genius ideas to become even more unstoppable!!!

I did this for a little over two years.

I remember my wife distinctly saying, “I really think you should give yourself a break… you’re gonna burnout.”

You know what I said?

I’m 100% not making this up.

I said:

“I’M A MACHINE 🤖”

Not lying.

I would legit told her I don’t need to slow down.

People need to catch up!

Looking back, I can now see what I was doing.

I was overcompensating for growing up without mentors or guidance.

No one taught me about finance or health or business or habits or anything.

My parents were Romanian immigrants.

The only thing I knew was that my parents always fought about money and that being broke sucked.

The only thing I wanted out of life was to not be broke or be a loser.

So when I got married at 19, I started reading books to broptimize my life:

How To Win Friends & Influence People. The Power of Habits. Total Money Makeover. Four Hour Workweek. Deep Work.

UNTIL…

I became utterly and ruthlessly burnt the freak out.

The books were life changing but my immaturity in how to implement them was embarrassing.

I can’t believe I kept up that intense lifestyle even that long!

All the memories I missed with my daughter while trying to be a machine….

I still think about it.

It’s one of the reasons that Older Wiser Unc Status El Copy Goat (Hiya!) has a much different life today.

I wake up at 6AM, not 4:45.

And I don’t do jack squat for the first hour and some change of my day.

I make an espresso, stare at my green grass and dabble through some books — Bible, newsletters, biographies, classic literature. Whatever I’m feeling.

Basically…

I LIVE LIKE A HUMAN!

Not a machine.

This whole broptimization culture is not for me.

I can’t stand the endless news cycles, new routines, new products, new AI agents that can do this and that for you.

BRO.

I.

DON’T.

CARE.

I wanna read books, write emails, touch grass, love my family and fit into my Medium t-shirts.

That’s it.

Which is exactly why I created Orange Book Club.

A Skool community for where you can rewire your brain by replacing your social media timeline that’s full of p*rn, politics & propaganda with a book club filled with smart people, obsessed readers & happy vibes.

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After your free trial, it’s a measly $10/mo.

Cancel anytime. Or enjoy forever.

Click that button above to hop in!

You’ll see some great people in there already =)

Your friend,

Alin “Not A Machine” Dragu