why i created Aevum (and how it changed everything)
how I designed a personal operating system that creates automatic progress
What if our lives unfold not in vulgar time but in aevum—where a single moment might contain eternity, and where what seems merely sequential might be experienced as simultaneous?
— Jorge Luis Borges
Most people live their lives on autopilot.
And I was no exception.
For years, I was living the life everyone seemed to agree on.
In school, I was a mediocre student. Never last, but never one of the best.
When I noticed it, around the age of 14, it didn't bother me. It was my norm—the main priority was not to attract attention.
However, I had this conflict.
A burning pain deep inside of me that I would take with me, wherever I was going.
The pain of feeling like I had to do better. That I was meant to do something greater than going to school, getting a job, letting the days pass by like I am only watching, and then someday die with regrets and the question of why I never acted on my ideas.
For years to come, I suppressed that pain because I didn't know where to begin, and to be honest, I was scared to start. (read more about limiting beliefs here)
My mind at that time was scattered.
All I could think about was gaming and my next gym session.
Everything else seemed to be of lower priority.
This had consequences that I couldn't grasp at the time, but someday, I realized that I’ve been running into a trap.
The invisible trap of mediocrity and dead-end paths.
I numbed the pain inside of me with cheap dopamine and proceeded to follow the path that had been laid out for me by someone else for two reasons.
because it was the easiest thing to do
and because most people go about their lives in the same way.
So it couldn't be that bad, I thought to myself for years.
But my burning desire to do something great grew so strong that I couldn't help but stop everything.
I reviewed where I started and what my life would look like in the next 5, 10, or 20 years if I kept going as I was.
It f*cking scared me.
My anti-vision (school, job, letting life pass by, die) came back to me in a flash and never left me since.
Before, I always thought I had enough time.
Enough time to change, adapt, and transform into a man capable of achieving things I dreamed of as a 14-year-old.
But this moment would never come if I didn't do something about it. There was no one coming to save me.
This was the first time I actively recognized that I was living by default. I was following someone else's footsteps, operating in someone else's operating system, and I had to actively find and build my own path to get where I wanted to go.
Otherwise, I would end up like most people—unhappy, unfulfilled, depressed, and broke.
At that time, I was 20 years old.
The Default Path
Living by default has its benefits.
Like not worrying about how to reach the life you dreamt of.
But it comes with a price — your fulfillment.
Tricky, isn't it?
The costs will be the biggest you've ever going to pay.
And you will, because it's one of those price tags that follow you everywhere you go, just like it did with me.
The problem is that these costs are hidden.
No one is going to tell you that every day you follow someone else’s footsteps, you will drift further away from your roots and your uniqueness. That it will pull you away from finding your purpose, mastery, and fulfillment.
So we stay on the default path.
Following it as the standard set in stone. A standard that must be good; otherwise, why would so many people follow that path?
That's one question I've asked myself for years because I don’t understand how no one else has spotted the flaws in our system and the world we live in.
How can so many people repeatedly relive the same miserable day without taking action?
Why is it not the norm to strive for personal fulfillment, but rather to do what someone else thinks is right?
It seems that this standard (going to school, getting a job, letting the days pass by, and someday dying without any personal achievements) is the golden standard.
The golden standard of a rigged game you and I didn‘t choose to play.
A game we were put into, and we were only handed 50% of the instruction manual.
The first half which depends on you striving for a job in a dead-end career.
Because the other half, which is about finding your mission and working on your Life’s Task, rather than working for someone else's, got lost before it reached you.
In fact, it got lost a long time ago.
That’s why your parents and grandparents probably followed the first half of the manual as well.
But why not get yourself in the limelight? Why work for someone else when your personal fulfillment has to take a hit? Why stop learning? Why keep playing a rigged game you didn‘t choose to play?
The Problem With Borrowed Operating Systems
Aevum stands to eternity as time does to aevum. Eternity has neither beginning nor end; aevum has a beginning but no end; time has both beginning and end.
— Boethius of Dacia
When you borrow something, you owe someone something in exchange.
If you borrow money from the bank, you owe them their money + a hefty amount of interest charges.
Same goes for borrowing someone else's operating system.
If you don‘t take time to find out
your inclinations
your personality type
what truly matters to you
what intelligence you are wired for
you probably will run in circles for the rest of your life.
That's the hidden cost of following the default path and borrowing someone else’s operating system.
If you stay within these traps, if you follow along like 80% of people, if you drown the voice that is telling you to achieve greatness, then you will never reach your maximum potential.
The sweetspot where everything is aligned.
Your work, your body, your mind, your spirit.
It all works towards something greater.
And to me, reaching this point is a challenge I happily take on every single day. Because it gets me away from the named trap so many fall for, and away from
mediocrity
unclarity
pain
I personally think that we all have a mission—a life task that is unique to us—and that the universe has to take a hit if we don’t work towards our own greatness.
This is the reason I‘ve created Aevum.
To help you and me find ways to maximize our potential through systems, striving towards greatness and mastery, adding more and more to our celestial achievement board.
And here is how it‘s done.
How I Built a Life That Actually Works
You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
— James Clear
As mentioned earlier, the problem most people face is that they try to improve their lives with random tactics instead of a complete system.
They read productivity books, download habit apps, and make New Year's resolutions—but these scattered efforts rarely stick.
What I discovered was a framework I call the Aevum.
It doesn't rely on motivation or discipline.
Instead, it creates automatic progress through smart design rather than constant struggle.
Let me walk you through the 4 parts that make this system so powerful:
Step 1: Finding What Actually Matters
Most people live their lives on autopilot.
Society tries to make us all the same, like pawns on a playing field, looking and acting alike.
I spent years chasing achievements that impressed others but left me feeling empty inside.
Everything changed when I realized I was living by someone else's values and acting by someone else's operating system, not my own.
I was pursuing status, money, and recognition because I'd absorbed these priorities from my environment and social media, not because they truly mattered to me.
This is why we have to dig deep and get to the core of who we are.
Find out what you're really made of, and you'll know where to go.
The easiest way to do this is using my purpose-finding prompt that helps you uncover your true direction, so you can work with your natural interests and skills, not against them (learn more about it here).
Through this process, I discovered that creativity, impact, and freedom were my real values, not the external markers of success I'd been chasing.
Once these values were clear, every decision became simpler.
After completing this values work, craft an anti-vision that pushes you toward greatness.
The anti-vision clearly defines what you'll say NO to in order to protect what matters most.
You can use my free Refuse & Rise Guide to help with that.
Step 2: Making Focus Inevitable
Three years ago, my productivity was a joke.
I worked long hours but accomplished little that mattered.
My attention was scattered across dozens of tasks, and I mistook being busy for being effective.
Everything changed when I created a system for deep work—the kind of focused, distraction-free concentration that produces real results.
I know this is easier said than done, because most people are stuck consuming more than they're creating.
My deep work system isn't complicated, but it works incredibly well:
Protected Time Blocks: I schedule 60 to 90-minute chunks of uninterrupted deep work, treating them as non-negotiable appointments with myself. These blocks happen during my best thinking hours (5:00-8:00 AM).
Environment Design: I created a dedicated workspace that signals to my brain it's time to focus deeply. No phone, no notifications, no distractions—just the essential tools for the work at hand.
Starting Routine: I follow the same preparation routine before each deep work session: a specific instrumental playlist, and writing down exactly what I plan to accomplish.
This approach eliminated the need for motivation because it created a situation where focus became automatic.
Soon, I was accomplishing in three hours what previously took entire days.
I've created a mini-course called ECHO that helps you become a builder/creator rather than just a consumer, using these exact methods in your daily routine.
Step 3: Taking Back Your Attention
My wake-up call came when I realized I was spending nearly five hours daily on my smartphone.
Five hours!
That's 1,825 hours per year—the equivalent of 228 eight-hour workdays lost to mindless scrolling.
Digital addiction wasn't just wasting time; it was rewiring my brain for distraction and instant gratification.
I couldn't focus for more than a few minutes without reaching for my phone, and my creativity had dried up.
My solution was simple but necessary: a 30-day digital reset.
I deleted all social media apps, turned off notifications, and set strict boundaries around technology use.
The first week was brutal—I felt phantom vibrations and constant urges to check my devices.
But by week three, something amazing happened.
My attention span grew, my mind felt clearer than it had in years, and I rediscovered the joy of deep thinking.
After the reset, I created permanent rules for my digital life:
Social media only during scheduled 5-minute blocks
Phone kept in a different room while working
Email checked twice daily instead of constantly
No screens after 9:00 PM
Get rid of distractions—not by relying on willpower, but by designing your environment to make distraction impossible.
The mental clarity and creative energy this freed up became the fuel for everything else in my system.
Step 4: Building for Exponential Growth
The final part of the Aevum System uses the most powerful force in the universe: compound growth.
Most people live linear lives. They trade time for money, putting in roughly the same effort each day for roughly the same results. But a select few design compounding lives, where today's efforts create assets that continue working for them forever.
I rebuilt my entire life around this principle, ruthlessly cutting out linear activities in favor of compounding ones.
Leverage your skills and your output by focusing on high-impact activities in three key areas:
Knowledge That Compounds: Instead of random reading, I built a note-taking system (inside of Kortex) that transforms information into connected knowledge assets. Each new idea links with existing ones, creating a growing web of insights.
Skills That Compound: I identified key skills that unlock multiple opportunities at once. For example, clear writing improves marketing, product development, and networking abilities, making it worth mastering.
Relationships That Compound: I shifted from surface-level networking to building genuine relationships with remarkable people. These connections created cascading opportunities that would have been impossible through direct effort alone.
The results speak for themselves.
In my first year of linear effort, I made small progress.
In my second year of applying compound principles, my results increased by 7x—not because I worked harder, but because I worked differently.
Putting It All Together
Aevum isn't about working more hours; it's about building a system where each part strengthens the others:
Vision Protocol creates clarity about what matters, which directs your focus
Execution Engine generates quality output that builds your compounding assets
Distraction Firewall protects your attention, making deep work possible
Impact Multiplier transforms consistent progress into exponential results
This integrated system exists in Aevum—beyond the limitations of ordinary time.
While others remain trapped in reactive patterns, you'll build a life that compounds and expands toward your authentic vision.
Start by implementing just one part this week.
Begin by uncovering your uniqueness to ensure everything that follows aligns with what truly matters to you.
The difference between where you are and where you could be isn't more information or more motivation—it's a complete system designed for automatic progress.
Aevum has transformed my life.
Now it's your turn.
— Chris