Phillip An
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Writings

Essays

Mostly written for myself, then shared. A working archive that started on Substack as "To my future kids" and is being moved here piece by piece — tightened where I could, kept honest where I shouldn't. Edited versions live here; the more book-shaped versions will eventually live at tomyfuture.kids. For interviews and press coverage, see Press & Interviews.

  • Dec 21, 2025

    Sunday morning thoughts

    On wanting things, getting them, and discovering the grass-is-greener effect doesn't quit when you cross to the other side.

  • Nov 28, 2025

    Some notes to myself from the past

    Scribbles from a year-end solo trip to Chiba. On freedom, structure, love, and the version of me beginning the next chapter.

  • Nov 22, 2025

    Be Water

    Bruce Lee's actual lesson, beneath the motivational poster. Five levels of questioning, from imitation to fluidity, applied to fighting and to life.

  • Nov 19, 2025

    On Leverage Points

    On the brilliant Chinese students whose potential is gated by an accent and a passport, and what leverage actually means.

  • Nov 2, 2025

    A Letter About Small Choices

    On the daily, quiet choices that compound into who you become. Ten keystone habits.

  • Oct 31, 2025

    Be a high agency person

    The parable of two brothers, the morning cold, and the quiet power of deciding what your circumstances mean.

  • Oct 29, 2025

    The Duality of Life

    On Type Two fun, switching lives with your heroes, and why the qualities that make people great are inseparable from what makes them difficult.

  • Oct 28, 2025

    Life Lately

    Notes from returning to an academic environment: discipline, mindfulness, friendship, and the quiet peace of alignment.

  • Sep 30, 2025

    好奇的生活

    On 好奇 (curiosity), the density of spontaneous interactions, and the three choices that determine 95% of your life.

  • Jul 22, 2025

    The Golden Years that didn't Feel Golden

    A song on the gym headphones, and the realization that the chapters you'll remember as magic felt like survival in the moment.

  • Jul 1, 2025

    A Manifesto (Rant) on Education

    On teaching kids AI in Hong Kong, the factory logic of modern schooling, and what to build in its place.

  • Jun 23, 2025

    Flying over Fragile Earth

    Notes from a flight back to Asia during a week the world cracked open again.

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Boston · Saigon