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Evert now and then I’ll get a question about how to start.

So let’s cut through the prepocalypse…

You want to be a writer? Painter? Nude accordionist? Cool.

Here’s the secret, strapped to a rocket and aimed at your excuses…

Start before you’re ready.

The smart ones? They’re still stuck in the “research phase.”

Reading books about writing instead of writing.

Watching tutorials on brush technique while their canvases sag with dust.

Drafting 17 business plans for their Etsy store selling “artisanal chocolate marmalade.”

The dumb ones? They’re already elbow-deep in the guts of it.

Writing sentences so bad they’d make Hemingway haunt them out of spite.

Painting landscapes that look like a toddler finger-banged a kaleidoscope.

Playing the accordion so poorly, even subway rats toss coins to make it stop.

Preparation is a wank. Mastery is a myth. The only truth is this…

You will suck until you suck less.

Let’s use a quick metaphor to make this infect the mind a little more.

Imagine creativity is a back-alley tattoo parlor.

Smart You: Stalls for months, designing the perfect sleeve. “Is this dragon meaningful enough?” “What if the ink clashes with my aura?”

Dumb You: Walks in, slaps a $20 on the counter, and says “Gimme a sick scorpion holding a latte.” Two hours later, you’ve got a wonky arachnid with a foam-art heart. It’s terrible. It’s glorious.

(Cut to five years later: Dumb You’s covered in ugly-scarred masterpieces. Smart You’s arm is still pristine, pale, and pulsing with regret.)

Why does this work the way it does?

Brains are bullshit artists. Yours will whisper “You need another workshop” while it slowly pickles itself in anxiety brine.

Action is exorcism. Every shitty draft, botched chord, or deranged clay mug you make is a demon kicked out of your soul’s Airbnb.

Momentum is meth. Once you taste the crackle of doing, you’ll chase it like a feral raccoon hunting dumpster croissants.

Still stuck? Let’s weaponise a little incompetence…

Write the worst sentence of your life. “The moon howled like a diabetic wolf.” Congrats. You’re Tolstoy now.

Draw a stick figure. Give it a hat. A sword. A PhD in astrophysics. Boom. you’re a Pixar character designer now.

Record yourself singing “Happy Birthday.” Autotune it into a dubstep remix. NFT that nightmare. Retire.

The gap between “thinking” and “doing” is a graveyard where creativity goes to die in a Nike tracksuit. Stop polishing your tools. Stop curating your vibe. Start before your brain can hiss “But what if—”

Burn the plan.

Embrace the cringe.

Let your early work be a dumpster fire so bright, it guides other overthinkers out of the dark.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

P.S. The world doesn’t need more “good” art. It needs your weird. Your raw. Your “what the fuck is that?”

P.P.S. Dumb isn’t an insult. It’s a revolution. Be the raccoon.

P.P.P.S. This post was written in 12 minutes. Edit? Never met her.

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

The nails hammered in with the finality of a judge’s gavel…

bang, bang, bang.

Inside? Ghostwriting. Your ghostwriting. That spectral little fucker you’ve been feeding for years, shovelling your voice into its gaping, incorporeal maw. (Poof. Gone. Like a fart in the church of getting paid)

And honestly I still don’t know how I feel about it. Kinda relieved and kinda meh.

I’ve signed off on my last Ghostwriting client and that’s it. Poof. Gone. Bang.

And if this was a dance. I’d say it was waltz that lasted way too long.

The NDAs were coiled around my throat like a lover’s hands.

And don’t get me wrong. There was this weird thrill of crafting worlds that’ll never bear my name…

(I’ve never had a thing for popularity and fame)

The cash though. Was thick, syrupy, cloying and dripping into my bank account while my ego was starved on a diet of shut-the-hell-up.

I mean I’ve written speeches for crypto bros who think “blockchain” is a sex position. Novels for influencers whose talent peaked at duck-face selfies. Corporate manifestos so sanitised they could’ve been scrubbed with bleach and a wire brush.

The list goes on.

No more though.

The straitjacket’s off. The muzzle’s cracked. The cheque’s cashed.

(I’ll miss the extra money. But freedom’s a currency that buys better drugs anyways)

It’s time to dig up the bones I buried.

2025? It’s a hungry year. A year of teeth and ink.

And a friend so aptly say “You’ve been the shadow. Now be the fire.”

If that isn’t motivation, then I dunno what is.

Lemme know if there’s anything you’ve decided to kick to the curb and if you’ve replaced it with something you wanna pursue.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

The Dopamine Series: Part 1
​(remixed from November, 2023)
​

“Once you realize that the road is the goal and you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

You’re staring at a mountain in the distance.

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The steep rock face ascends from the earth into the clouds, pulling your eyes upwards.

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How incredible it would be to climb, you think to yourself.

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Look at the view from down here — imagine what it’s like up there?

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​You woke up on the wild side today, so you actually decide to do it:

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You rent some gear, hire a guide, and start scaling the mountain.

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A few hours later, you’re caught in some brambles, gasping for air, covered in scrapes and bruises.

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“What was I thinking,” you moan, “climbing sucks!”

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Then you remember exactly what you were thinking:

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​The view.

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That’s what you did it for; that stunning, majestic view that had you so captivated back on earth you climbed a freaking mountain for it.

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So you look around…

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…And see nothing but rock, trees, bushes, and a narrow glimpse of the valley below.

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Your heart drops as you realize your mistake:

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​The view of the mountain is not the view from the mountain.

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In fact, you can’t even see the mountain from the mountain — you’re so close to it that it blocks your view.

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The valley looks pretty cool from up here, so that makes you feel a bit better…

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Until you realize you were just in that valley, looking up at this mountain, thinking about how cool the mountain looked from down there.

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That old saying rings in your mind…

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​”The path is the destination.”

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And you finally begin to realize what it means:

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​To chase a reward for the sake of the reward is to chase an illusion.

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You climbed a mountain for the sake of the view, rather than for the thrill of the climb — until you realized the view you thought you’d enjoy isn’t real.

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And so it is, all too often:

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We pour our lives into an activity we think will bring us a reward, only to get the reward and realize it isn’t what we thought it would be.

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And even if it is what we thought it would be…

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If the view from the top really is spectacular — if winning the championship really is the greatest moment of your life — if reaching the goal really is satisfying…

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​It’s only satisfying for a moment.

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Then, we climb back down — we start a new season — we set a new goal — and realize that, functionally, our lives aren’t much different than before we got what we wanted.

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So what gives?

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Why even bother in the first place?

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What’s the point of spending years pursuing a goal if you’re just going to enjoy it for a moment or two and then move on?

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The point, of course, is the pursuit itself.

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​The path to the goal is the goal — the pursuit of the reward is the reward.

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So enjoy the path you’re on, or find a path that you enjoy.

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(don’t climb mountains just for a view, if you don’t like actually climbing mountains)

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To do anything else is to chase after something that doesn’t exist.
That’s a complete lesson in and of itself, and an important one…

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But a deeper question still remains:

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If we all know that the path is the reward, why is most of humanity still racing down paths they don’t enjoy, chasing rewards that never come?

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In a word:

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​Dopamine.

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This simple molecule is the key to unlocking human behaviour, and tomorrow it is going to teach us one the most important insights the inner path has to offer.

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I’ll see you then 🙂

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• T
  ​
  ​P.S. In case you missed it yesterday, here are:
  ​
  ​4 Speaking Habits That Make People Listen

​

​

The Dopamine Series was first published November, 2023.

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It was a huge hit, but many of our subscribers never got a chance to read it. So this week, we’re remixing and revisiting it with fresh eyes. Enjoy 🙂

​

​

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“There are only three answers to a prayer: yes, not yet, and ‘I have something else in mind for you.’” – Elsa Dutton, 1923

Reader asks:
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​”What’s the deal with manifestation? Is it real?”​
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Taylor replies:

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“Nope.”

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At least not the version where the universe is a big happy dream factory* that runs on pretty thoughts and fairy dust and plops out the products of our desires on command.

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But when we hack away the fluff and see “manifestation” for what it really is, it’s quite real and quite simple.

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So, here’s the deal with it:

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​”Manifesting” simply means turning your thoughts into reality.
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That’s it, that’s all.
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The entrepreneur “manifests” his business, just like the artist “manifests” his work of art.

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Just like marketers “manifested” the word “manifesting” to sell more books and courses.

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So don’t let flowery terminology cloud the underlying principle:

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​Everything you have ever created is a product of your “powers” of manifestation.​
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And it’s a good idea to learn how those powers actually work, if you want to create more of what you want and less of what you don’t want.

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Here’s the formula:

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​Clarity x Desire x Action = Result

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​Clarity means getting perfectly, vividly clear on exactly what you want (no hazy visions or vague generalities).

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​Desire means you deeply, honestly, authentically want it (not “other people want it so I want it too”).

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​Action means your behaviours move you towards what you want (not what you don’t want)…

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​Result means allowing life to surprise you with when and how it happens, and what form it takes when it happens (the left side of the formula is our job, the right side is not).

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Notice I said nothing about affirmations or vibrations or pulling rabbits out of hats.

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Simply bring your vision, your emotions, and your actions into alignment, and you’ll have more magic than you can shake a wand at.

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Now, of course…

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We’re all doing this, all the time.

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The problem is:

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1. Our vision is hazy and vague.

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2. Our desire is clouded by fear and doubt and paranoia (or, is implanted by others rather than self-generated).

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3. Our actions are inconsistent and insufficient (and are often pointed in the opposite direction of what we want).

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So it’s no wonder we often manifest the mess of a children’s colouring book instead of the masterwork of an artist.

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To paraphrase Maestro Tyson:

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​Power is like fire; it can cook your food, or burn your house down.

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Creative power, ie. manifestation, is no different.

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So if your powers of manifestation are creating a life you don’t want, tattoo this formula across your vision board:

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​Clarity x Desire x Action = Result

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​Abracadabra!

​

• T
  ​
  ​P.S. In other news, this just dropped…​
  ​
• the universe is a big happy dream factory, it just doesn’t run on pretty thoughts and fairy dust. But more on that another day…
  ​
  ​
  ​

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Unless the internet isn’t your thing…

You might’ve heard of Lily Phillips, whose viral OnlyFans challenge a little concerned and rightly so a few weeks ago.

Now I’m not gonna get on a soap box tell you that she shouldn’t have done something as wild as that.

After all, she’s an adult and if she wants to smash 100 dudes in a 24hr window then more power to her.

We’ve all done some outlandish shit in our lives.

Personally I wouldn’t have decided to play Russian roulette with my fallopian tubes tbh and become become a walking petri dish, but that’s just me.

But there is a lesson to this. She did what she wanted to and there’s always a reasoning behind it.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT IT OVER HURRR IF YOU REALLY WANNA

The craziest thing is reading the comments on posts about this on Twitter, Reddit and Facebook.

And I’m not the mega religious type but my boy John once said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her…”

People are incredibly quick to judge others on what they do if it doesn’t fit inside of some weird moral/social/ethical code. I mean yeah it kinda makes sense if you look at it from such shallow point of view.

But look at it this way. In the very short time we have on this giant globe of dirt spinning around the sun at 107,000 km/h (or about 67,000 mph for my Freedom Metric Enjoyers)

I’m here to be that little devil that sits on your shoulder and say DO THE THING.

Cause no matter what. People are gonna judge. Whether you’re bedding 100+ people in a day or so or plotting to take over the world.

Just. Do. The. Thing.

(Unless it involves hurting animals or people)

Do It.

I bet her email list hasn’t had that much action before, which is sad. LILY IF YOU’RE READING THIS PLEASE START AN EMAIL LIST…

But yeah. Start that email list. Write some crazy shit like I do. Have fun. Life is short. We’re all gonna expire one day, so we might as well have some fun while we’re at it eh?

Stop caring about what others think about you.

And do the thing…

⁽ˡᶦᵏᵉ ˢᵗᵃʳᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵍᵒᵈᵈᵃᵐⁿ ᵉᵐᵃᶦˡ ˡᶦˢᵗ ᵒᵏᵃʸˀ⁾

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

Emotions are uncomfortable.

And there seems to exist this habit online that when people experience or display an emotion that makes us uncomfortable we feel the need to either, minimise it, challenge it or even correct it.

No platform is removed from this. Not Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or even in Email.

So when you express something, let’s say a doomy feeling.

…someone might show up to chastise you for that attitude.

No sir, You can’t be doomy. Doom is bad. Doom is how they win, they’ll tell you. Doom is what they want so you mustn’t feel doom!

Doom gets us nothing, you fool!

Don’t you see what you’ve done?

YOUR DOOM IS CONTAGIOUS!

But there’s always a ying to the yang.

Opposite scenario…

If you express anything that makes you happy or gives you a little glimmer of joy. You know? That thing you love that helps keep the blackness out of your stare so you don’t lose yourself? That type of joy…

It’s like if you said “I love pancakes” then some clown will reply: “so what you’re saying is you hate donuts?”

Like that shit doesn’t even make sense.

But we need to remember that we live in a world where our emotions have no utility to the world. They’re just emotions.

Yeah we display them, often and people will challenge it or even worse try and make it so that when you do show it. That it’s going against and minimising things like democracy, climate change, economy, future existence.

I mean I don’t know how me sharing my emotions will fix those problems but expressing them will help me balanced and explore me as a person.

We’re messy as humans. And the world has gone to shit in many respects, so what’s wrong with sharing our emotions and feelings?

It’s natural.

You don’t need to correct someone’s feelings, because feelings aren’t facts. If they’re happy about something and expressing joy, you also don’t need to correct that joy. I mean, how messed up is that?

You can put your own feelings on your own timeline, that’s fine. If you feel like doom is bad, and you have something to counter it, put it out into the world. That’s you getting to feel how you feel, and that’s okay, too.

It’s hard not to feel doomy right now.

It’s also hard not to desperately seek small, significant things of joy…

I guess my point to this is on the days where you feel like there’s nothing but doom and gloom.

Express it.

If you’re feeling happy about something that might seem small to someone else.

Express it.

Just don’t chop someone down if they’re doing the same thing.

If we don’t express it. It’ll consume us and we don’t want to become an empty husk of a person devoid of emotion.

Cause if we do, then how are we gonna create our art?

Stephen Walker

https://www.stphnwlkr.com/theleague

If you’re not diggin’ these tasty little emails anymore you can hit the unsubscribe button right here >>> unsubscribe

Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly – you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over.” – Eckhart Tolle

I recently shared a “Map of the Mind” inside our Path community.

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It can be applied to your business, your work, your relationships, your performance, your health, your social life…

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Everything you use your mind for, which is (hint) everything.

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Super powerful.

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Take a look:
​

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​The first four levels of mind can be divided into: ​
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Impulse
Emotion
Thought
Intuition
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And, even though they are interconnected, the real magic happens when we observe them as separate parts.
​

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​Here’s a (simplified) starter guide… ​
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Impulse is the least intelligent form of mind:

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Driven by our “lizard brain” (the brain stem), which seeks survival and pleasure.

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Emotion is slightly more evolved:

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Driven by our “monkey brain” (limbic system), which seeks status and social connection.

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Thought is still more evolved:

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Driven by our “human brain” (neocortex), which seeks understanding and meaning.

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And then there is intuition…

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A phenomena not fully understood (and, often misunderstood) by science.

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Intuition exists on a higher order of intelligence than thought or emotion:

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It is the gut, the heart, the little voice inside, the part of us that simply knows, even why we don’t understand why we know.

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​Getting these signals criss-crossed…

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(for example)

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Mistaking impulse for emotion (ie. the horny dude who thinks he’s in love with the girl he just met)…

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Following emotion over rational thought (ie. an investor panic-selling during a market dip, instead of following his long-term strategy)…

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Mixing emotion with intuition (ie. staying in a toxic relationship when you know it’s not right for you)…

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Using thought to justify impulse (ie. “I deserve this ice cream, I had a stressful day”)…

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Or, following thought over intuition (ie. remaining in a career you hate, instead of following a deeper calling)…

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​…Is the source of much human error.

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Which means, learning to:
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Notice the signal
Discern which level of mind it is coming from
Follow the higher, and override the lower

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…Is a critical skill in the human development game.

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Just keep in mind, this is a skill:

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Which means it takes time and practice to develop.

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​Here are some simple rules to help you along the way: ​
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Override impulses when they do not align with your higher goals.
Feel your emotions fully before you make decisions or take actions.
Take your thoughts into consideration, but do not mistake them as facts.
Follow your intuition, even when it doesn't make sense.*

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• just make sure it’s really your intuition (and don’t be so sure you know…)

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If this feels confusing, at first, that’s because it is confusing.

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​You’re developing a higher-level human capacity, and that sh*t don’t come for free.

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But make no mistake:

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It will transform every dimension of your life, if you master it.
​

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​When you have a moment, I’d love to hear what insights this sparked for you: ​
​​
Do you have trouble feeling intuition, or getting it mixed up with a different signal?
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Do you have trouble overriding lower signals (impulse / emotion) to follow higher signals (thought / intuition)?
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This is a new model I’ve been playing with, so your feedback is appreciated.
​

• T
  ​
  ​P.S. To the keen eyes who noticed I said “first four levels of mind”…
  ​
  …Yes, there are levels beyond intuition.
  ​
  And maybe we’ll talk about them, someday.
  ​
  But not today 🙂
  ​
  If you’re still hungry for more, click here.​
  ​
  ​
  ​
  ​

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Today’s email is a throwback to one of our greatest hits, originally sent in September, 2024. Enjoy 🙂

During a talk I gave at WLU business school last night, a student asked:

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“How do you know which business model will work when there are so many options?”

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And, whether you want to start a business, or just have a successful career (or a successful anything, for that matter)…
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…There is only one honest answer:

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​Damn near all of them can work.

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Building an organic following through social media can work.

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Running paid ads to a sales funnel can work.

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Podcasting and monetizing through sponsorships can work.

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Service businesses can work, online courses can work, software can work, agencies can work, even fxcking Skool communities can work.

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They can all work.

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​The catch?

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They all take time to work.

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Time as in years, not weeks or months.

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(even Rogan didn’t make money until year five of his podcast)

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Which means you’re gonna have to choose one and stick with it…
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And then keep sticking with it…

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Ignoring the urge to jump ship to whatever shiny new business model the gooroos are peddling this month…

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Allllll the way through the slow, stubborn startup phase, showing up day after day, feeling like nothing is happening and you’re pushing a rock up a mountain with the wind at your face and the summit nowhere in sight…

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Not knowing if you’re ever going to make it, wondering if all of your work will ever someday finally pay off, or if you should just pack it in…

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…And maybe you should pack it in because there are no guarantees of success but also maybe you shouldn’t because other people have done it and if they’ve done it then dammit it’s possible and why not you?

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​There is no shortage of bodies on the way up that mountain.

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But make no mistake, some have reached the top.

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And if you talk to any of them, they’ll all tell you the same thing:

This s#*t takes time.

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And every time you jump ship from one model to another, you reset the clock.

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So, choose your path…

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(preferably one that you enjoy, that feels natural to you and suits the skill set you’re developing)

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…And stick to it.

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For years.

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Godspeed.

​

• T

​
​P.S. Two notes:

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1. The same principle applies to career success, relationship success, even success in training and/or spiritual practice.

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2. Choose one and stick to it doesn’t mean “blindly put your head down and keep doing the exact same thing even if it’s not working.”

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It means continuously improving and optimizing and course-correcting within the model / path you’ve chosen…

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…And, only switching streams when it the current is very clearly flowing in a new direction (not when a shiny new opportunity catches your eye).

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Hope that helps.

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​P.P.S. In case you missed it yesterday, here’s:
​​
​How To Avoid Ego Games In Dating & Relationships​
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​
​
​

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