About

John Alpaugh.

Author of The Mindstrong Code. Father, husband, lifelong student of how to live well.


Why this work.

I wrote The Mindstrong Code for my children: Evan, Bradley, and Erin. My hope is that this book will help them meet life with steadiness, courage, self-trust, and a lasting happiness that doesn't depend on circumstance.

Somewhere in the writing, I realized the book was also for anyone looking for the same. There are gyms on every corner for the body. There is almost nothing for the mind. The book is the start of a longer project: building the institution we don't have for the mental side of being human.

That project has four parts. The book lays out the framework: the ideas, the practices, the working system. The app is where the daily work happens, with interactive practices and journaling for each of the Five Codes. The community is where it sticks, with people doing the work alongside each other and holding each other to it. And in time, Mindstrong House will give it a physical home, a designed place to come back to with others on the same path.

My hope is that these pages help you build a quiet confidence and a lasting happiness that does not depend on circumstance. Dedication, The Mindstrong Code

A note about what I'm not

Not a guru. Not a clinician. A practitioner.

I'm not a philosophy professor. I'm not a therapist. I'm an average person, like you, someone who's leaned on these codes, imperfectly and over many years, to live a steadier, more deliberate life. The Stoics weren't academics either. They were people trying to live well, in a noisy world, with limited time. This work is part of that tradition.

If you're navigating something clinical, please find a great therapist. The Mindstrong Code is for a different moment, the ordinary days, the regular difficulties, and the steady work of building a sharper, more resilient mind over the course of a life.


Stay in touch

The best way to follow this work.

Read the book

The Mindstrong Code is the foundation everything else is built on. Start there.

The Book

Get the next thing first.

A short, occasional note: launch of the book, new writing, the practice app when it opens, and word when Mindstrong House approaches. No noise.

Get updates

Speaking & press

For interviews, podcasts, corporate talks, and bulk book orders.

Get in touch

The Newsletter

Get the next thing first.

A short, occasional note: launch of the book, new writing, the practice app when it opens, and word when Mindstrong House approaches. No noise.