Hero to Zero

As I was evaluating where to live, I was also thinking about how to actually achieve the ten lifetime goals I’d identified in my “Looking Back from 95” exercise.

At first, I tried doing a monthly check-in on each goal. It didn’t work. It felt scattered and inefficient—but I stuck with it until something better emerged.

Around the same time, I kept coming back to the idea of environment.

When I lived in Colorado, I was reintroduced to xeriscaping—the practice of using plants and resources suited to the local climate, rather than forcing something unnatural to grow. Think lush green lawns in the desert: possible, but costly and misaligned.

That idea stuck.

I started asking: what would it look like to apply this to life?

That’s where Zeroscaping began.

At first, I focused on location. Instead of “bloom where you’re planted,” I shifted to “move to where you bloom.” When an opportunity opened up in the Seattle-Tacoma area, I took it. That felt like progress.

But over time, I realized place was only part of it.

Zeroscaping became about removing friction—anything unnecessary, unnatural, or unhelpful. Gradually, this evolved into a simple principle: less, but better.

For a while, I was still fixated on finding—or creating—a real-world Rivendell. That phase lasted a few years. But near the end of it, I came across Joe Dominguez’s workshop on transforming your relationship with money.

One concept changed everything: the cross-over point—when your investments generate enough income to cover your expenses.

That was the missing piece.

I stopped focusing on arbitrary net worth goals and started focusing on freedom. Over time, this expanded beyond money to include health and possessions—three core areas to “free up” my life.

That’s when Zeroscaping fully clicked.

Not just where you live—but how you live.

Where do you blossom?

And what’s creating friction in your life right now?