Artifactual co-founder Jake Engel spent a year chasing a question that wouldn’t let him go: can you want more and still feel content?

What began as curiosity turned into a year-long project that blended research, travel, and storytelling. Jake talked with more than a hundred people — artists, bartenders, executives, and friends — each offering a glimpse into how they balance ambition and peace.

There was Maya, who traded the noise of Chicago for a quieter life in Mississippi.

Luca, a bartender who rebuilt his identity and found freedom in the chaos of New Orleans.

Ben and Oliver, partners who showed what love looks like when it’s rooted in ease.

And Seth, a friend who confessed that feeling too content scared him — because it meant he might stop moving forward.

But beneath the stories was something deeper. Jake wasn’t just searching for answers — he was learning how to ask better questions. He experimented with immersive research methods, tested how tone shapes honesty, and practiced the kind of silence that makes people keep talking. He wanted to understand not only what people said but why they said it.

By the end, he didn’t have a formula. He had ten insights — lived, messy, human truths about the tension between ambition and contentment. The project changed how he listens, how he researches, and how he writes.

It reminded him that contentment isn’t about doing less. It’s about noticing more — in people, in stories, and in the quiet moments where meaning tends to hide.