When you’re just starting out in your career, the feedback loop is crystal clear. There’s a cause and effect to your actions that lead to instantaneous rewards or consequences.
But the more success you achieve, the more muddled this signal becomes.… READ MORE
All of us were fed a certain modern promise of success: Work hard, become competent, and success follows.
And you know what?
Despite its flaws, it mostly works.
Effort compounds. Competence pays off.… READ MORE
If you base your entire identity around achievement, as many high achievers do, the consequences can turn fatal – internally. While building an identity around achievement can work in the short-term, you must eventually face the reality: A big part of your drive to achieve is deeply rooted in fear.… READ MORE
Most high achievers aren’t limited by a lack of talent or lack of opportunity. They’re limited by the tension they carry inside their own nervous systems.
This low-grade tension drains your energy and leads to burn out, it flattens your relationships and leads to heartbreak, it blurs your decision-making and leads to humiliation.… READ MORE
Most people who listen to this show don’t think of themselves as “high achievers.”
They think of themselves as people who should be further ahead by now.
They’ve lived with low-grade panic for so long, they don’t notice it anymore.… READ MORE
Most people try to grow by adding more tactics.
New habits.
New hacks.
New systems.
But if you’re like many professionals, you’ve already done all that.
You’ve pushed.
You’ve optimized.
You’ve carried the weight.… READ MORE
Some children grow up in war zones, sleeping in shelters, surrounded by danger.
Others grow up in mansions with trust funds.
Yet the research is clear:
The first group often becomes more grounded, courageous, and emotionally stable…
while the second group can grow into anxious, brittle adults who look successful but feel empty inside.… READ MORE
It’s easy to look at some of the biggest villains in history (both real and fictional) and assume that they were evil incarnate. It’s easy because it frees you from the burden that you could become just like them.… READ MORE
Most people say they support sexual freedom. But when a woman—or man—actually lives it… they turn on them. Judgment. Outrage. Moral panic.
So here’s the real question: “Can you be sexually free and morally good?” And if you can, why does it trigger so much shame in others?… READ MORE
Ambitious people fall into a trap: You’ve learned from a young age that achievement means love, and so, you chase achievement and other external markers of success only to realize the gnawing void is still there.… READ MORE
