Never Retire: How Living in the Right Place Can Give You Hours Back Per Day
I didn’t realize how much time I was losing in Los Angeles until I moved somewhere that gave it back to me without asking
When you live in a city that doesn’t work, you lose actual time to long commutes and running errands—but you also lose something less obvious: mental bandwidth.
That’s the intellectual and emotional capacity to process what’s in front of you, take in new information, remain engaged, and stay vibrant.
In patchwork cities—where you have to constantly make up for the place’s shortcomings—too many activities come with built-in friction.
Finding parking. Commuting to get everyday stuff done—and done right. Strategizing how you’ll make it all fit together as to maximize time.
This was an unavoidably significant part of life when we lived in Los Angeles.
It’s not just the hours lost—it’s the constant low-level planning, negotiating, and adapting that drains you. And it’s what eventually makes you wonder whether the problem is you… or the place you’ve chosen to live.
Where you decide to live is among the most important decisions no matter your deal, but most definitely if you decide to Never Retire.
LA vs. Valencia: Where the Hours Come From
You don’t notice how much time a place steals from you until you live somewhere that quietly gives it back.
We had a Pavilions supermarket less than a five-minute walk from our apartment in LA. Convenient, yes. Affordable? Not really. Sometimes I’d pay the premium just to save time. But if I wanted more than a few things, and the Pavilions app wasn’t offering deals, I’d go to Trader Joe’s.
We had one 1.4 miles away and another 1.9 miles away. Both were about a five-minute drive—plus a couple of minutes to find parking. Walking? 30 minutes to the closer one, 40 to the farther.
So when I wanted to go to Trader Joe’s, I needed the car, which often meant dropping my wife off at work, then picking her up.
It makes zero sense to structure a built environment where these are the realities, then act as if you’re the most productive country on Earth. The numbers are even worse in most suburbs. But somehow the United States looks at other countries and says if you go there, things will be less convenient.
I don’t see it. I’m definitely not living it.
Same goes for coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. A limited selection a walk away. An abundance if you get in the car.
In Spain, there are more places to buy groceries, eat, and drink within—no exaggeration—a five-minute walk in any direction from my apartment than I will be able to try in the next 50 years.
Why every city—every neighborhood—in the world isn’t structured like this… it’s something I have and will never understand.
The video below discusses grocery shopping in LA vs. Spain—and it’s about a lot more than food. (I also talk about my pedal falling off while riding!).
It’s a window into how much mental space and actual time I get back simply because the city is built to work for the people who live here.
In the paid section, I break down exactly how many hours I’ve gained each week since moving here, where those hours actually go, and the subtle but important changes in my daily rhythm that even a lifelong planner like me didn’t expect.
What This Really Gives You
It’s not just the minutes saved—it’s the freedom from having to plan your day around the city’s inefficiencies.
In LA, many outings were logistical puzzles. In Valencia, most errands and pleasures happen without a second thought. The time you get back is real, but the mental space you get back might be even more valuable.