always smile
It's the only thing that keeps you in the game
July 15, 2026 · 563 words · 3 min read · essay, tech, philosophy
mintlify’s cofounder wrote an article about why you should “remember to not smile ”. I’m sure han is a fantastically optimistic guy. you can’t build a company without infinite optimism. while the gist of his article is directionally correct (do hard things), his punchline just points at a dystopian future where people are just grinding on b2b saas while not smiling. and that is a future that even SF techbros don’t want.
This sounds like a uniquely SF thing. To wave suffering as a symbol of progress and being grounded to the world. Even when it is not really. I always assume, this is technologists way of signaling to the capital guardians1 that they will work Extremely Hardcore2 to get the best return for money.
But this is by no means the reality. If you’re having to suffer so much, you’ll never get there. almost every genuinely impressive people in my life do things with their heart, because if not they will never have the stamina to go at the problem with that much vigor. without enjoying the suffering that comes with growing, it really is impossible to continue the grind.
The prime example han gives is also completely flawed
here is Kipchoge in the last leg of the first human to cross the <2hr marathan.
here is Alyssa Liu doing a gold medal winning performance after coming out of a burn out.
The goal is to gain mastery and build something meaningful. it is defintely not to grindslop or do performative work, if it helps you to signal grind and advance your mission good luck with it. But there is no way you are getting anything meaningful done. because to speed run the idea maze you cannot keep grinding before you start burning out.
As a leader you only get a handful of decisive shots, before your followers lose faith & interest in you 3 4. startups & life are endurance runs interspersed with burst of extreme focus. if there is no conception of endurance but only the grind, then you end up coming to a crashing halt either because the team is burnt out or, you or your body 5 are tired of the stress. Ideally You want to be around long after your competition is tired of the grind. and that is only possible if you force yourself to smile and take it in the chin and go another round.
keep smiling more. and be the reason why someone smiled a little extra today.
portfolio managers, VCs and other guardians of capital who get to decide where capital flows ↩︎
“extremely Hardcore ” is something elon musk pushes employees at his companies do. ↩︎
“‘My brother,’ I said to Sobukwe, ’there is nothing so dangerous as a leader making a demand that he knows cannot be achieved. It creates false hopes among the people.’” - Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom ↩︎
“Although I had the reputation of being a firebrand, I always felt that the organization should never promise to do more than it was able, for the people would then lose confidence in it. I took the stance that our actions should be based not on idealistic considerations but on practical ones.” - Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom ↩︎
accelerated aging due to stress. ↩︎
Only the disciplined are free in life. If you are undisciplined you are a slave to your moods. ― Eliud Kipchoge