I've tried to figure out what guides all my choices in life. If you ask my friends and family, they would likely say anxiety.If you asked me, I'd  agree.
The one caveat: whatever I do to deal with my anxiety must be good because I've done a good job so far in life. 

So what causes my anxiety?  And how do they inform my bigger challenge in life?

I jotted down some examples of things that trigger my anxiety, from the smallest, to the biggest.

Small things: 

• an uncorked wine bottle.  You might see the wine bottle as a whole, but i see the cork, which makes me worry about having a corkscrew, which is why I always buy screw-top wine.
  -a big paperback.  You might see something relaxing to read at the beach. I see an extra 3 lbs in my bag.
  -a large pizza. you see fun food, i see the stress of trying to throw out a flat greasy box that doesn't fit in my kitchen trash. The stress of a pizza box is too much for me.

There are medium sized things
.-there's a party for your coworker on friday. it sounds like fun.but you have to buy a gift, and you don't have time. And you gotta go upstate. And wearing a mask in a car makes you nauseous.  and you really wanted to just get high and watch a movie.
-a concert featuring your favorite band! you envision great music and good times.  I see the drive to the venue, the obnoxious stupid crowds,  waiting in line to get drinks, the hassle getting out and home. you could really just get high and watch a movie.

There are large things.
But they don't count because we share all those anxieties. Job, kids, life, death.That anxiety is fat and palpable. I'm more interested in the larger fluid anxiety behind everything you experience.

Everything that creates anxiety, from small to large, is what I'll call friction. Therefore, the origins of my anxiety is anticipation of friction - which sometimes never comes.  As we arrive at the airport Tom Shillue will anticipate the lunch we'll have beyond the security checkpoint;  but i will anticipate - and therefore dread - the line (however small) at the TSA scanner. No matter how light the line might be, my brain always says, "it could be lighter."

So. life is full of friction.
And if you feel anxiety all the time like I do, it's because you can see that friction everywhere -- from a cork in a wine bottle to a trip across the globe. For me, friction is everywhere:  I don't even like tying shoes! I prefer anything but them. I hate neck ties for that reason. and it's also why I prefer zippers and velcro over buttons!Less friction! 
I like revolving doors over the pull/pushers.
If the packaging for any product is complex, I wont buy it. And that means you, Imodium. 

If a process requires one more step than necessary (lets say I'll need to go in person to renew my ATM card, according to TD bank), I won't do it. Optimum, our cable company - misspelled my name on my account, and the only way to fix it is to go to one of their offices, which is miles away. So i just leave the misspelling, which means I can't pay the bill ever, with my credit card.  Friction keeps me from doing such things. Optimum is able to exist because they feel no friction from their mistakes. 

My anxiety is born from a desire to reduce friction.   And by dealing with that anxiety, my life gets better and easier. But often it creates unnecessary dread.
Think about all the advances in life - they're all based on reductions on friction.

 Amazon is the key example:  you can have everything short of sex work and opioids, delivered to your doorstep.  Amazon's success is based on a reduction of key frictions: driving to the store, waiting in lines, carrying bags, paying for parking, returning stuff, getting mugged in a public bathroom.
GrubHub removed the frictions in most food delivery systems.
Telemedecine is reducing friction of seeing a doctor (except in getting good drugs).
Peloton eliminates the friction of the gym (driving there, changing clothes in the locker room, having to wait for your machine, making small talk with inane trainers).
These are all friction-reduction businesses. And once you look at them through that prism, you will start looking at everything as potential for friction reduction. Think about the hassles that still exist - What are the frictions? the obstacles that would be removed, making life better?

I jotted some down.
 -Travel: I've mentioned this potential idea before; to make travel easier, a company should pick me up and drug me, then send me on my flight.. The next time I wake up from my home, I'm already in Hawaii,Lake Tahoe or the Bahamas.  I missed everything because I was unconsciously taken from point A (my place) to point B (my destination). The plane would be nothing but stacks of hospital pods. And we'd never know that they look like inside.
-Drugs. if you wanted a drug, you should be able to type into your phone, and press "send."  and it arrives, and you get billed through a pay app.   the illegality of drugs should only be based on harmfulness, which would be based on the individual's ability to use it, as well as the true deadliness of a product. We don't do that right now. The legality of substances is currently based on urban legend, fear, and profit.
-Divorce.  Should be done in a week. No lawyers.  Just sign a document that splits the stuff. The friction begins when lawyers intervene and think they can do or get more. But if couples simply agree to split shit, there should be an App for that, no?think about all the lawyers that would have to find other work.
-Haircuts.  a barber- app should be available. ping them, they drive to you. you go to their van, and get it cut. 50 bucks. done. 
-college. it's a process full of friction, in the form of money and bullshit. The easiest solution is to look at Peloton, and adapt their model. The way Peloton eliminated the gym, is how we should eliminate college.

SO: My entire life is about reducing friction.
Small and large. And within this process is the philosophy I will now coin as "Gutfeldism." Gutfeldism views life as a choice: if you cannot reduce the friction of an endeavor, do not do it. But if you can reduce the friction enough to ease your anxiety, then go forward.

The philosophy of Gutfeldism: anything is possible, as long as you reduce the frictions that make you anxious enough not to do stuff.   There is a fascinating byproduct of gutfeldism.  Success. My life has been a series of choices that have brought me here. almost all my employment decisions and life choices were based on reducing friction.and each one made me slightly wealthier every year over 30 years.  and that helped me manage the reduction of friction.
Gutfeldism forced me to do better financially, in order to reduce friction - and anxiety in my life. 

Do i endorse Gutfeldism?  Yes.  But many people believe that the pleasures of life cannot be enjoyed without the trials and tribulations of the struggle. I do not agree. If i could snap my fingers and be at a pool in Maui, I would take that over flying 11 hours from NYC to do it.

 My wife is in Moscow right now dealing with the horrible process of a parent suddenly dying. If I could snap my fingers and make all that go away I would. And I bet if we thought about it, we could. Fact is, all progress is based on that initial thought.  How do we make life easier for the suffering?  How can I help a grieving woman settle the accounts and paperwork for her deceased father? No one thinks about this stuff, until it happens to them.
There must be a way.

Anyway, if you start looking at life through the filter of friction, my guess is, you won't stop looking at life that way, again.