Episode · · 02:44
I turned down someone I was interested in because their party started after my 10pm shutdown. A look at the rules about what I won't do and what each one pays back.
Episode · · 03:04
For years I kept swapping working habits for better ones. Each swap reset the momentum, until I capped my habits at 13 and locked the portfolio so it could only change in the first f...
Episode · · 02:06
A habit set on a single target snaps the first hard week. Set each habit on a range instead, with a floor low enough to clear on your worst day, and the streak bends rather than brea...
Episode · · 00:59
I made my cold shower longer for months while my business barely grew. The willpower I poured into a habit that already worked was willpower the bottleneck never got.
Episode · · 01:18
An AI, asked what separates the ultra successful, named tolerance for ambiguity. Most people resolve the not-knowing too early and call it prudence. Running experiments daily is how ...
Episode · · 02:42
A jellyfish survives 500 million years with no brain, every decision made at the edge. Where decisions should live, at the edge or in a center, decides whether an organization wins.
Episode · · 01:32
A poker trainer hands you the right move in a fraction of a second. Pulling the trigger is the hard part. Knowing the expected value was never the blocker. Nerve is.
Episode · · 01:40
Cutting the price of Trends Pro changed who signed up. Support rose, engagement thinned, the room shifted. Raising the price back filtered for people who arrived ready. Price selects...
Episode · · 02:47
ConvertKit auto-upgraded my bill the hour my list crossed a tier, then held the higher price when it dropped back under. Their own logs later admitted about $936 in overcharges acros...
Episode · · 02:06
For years I built businesses that went nowhere. Then one took off, once I held a daily floor of experiments. Below the floor your work falls behind a drifting world. Above it, it com...
Episode · · 02:05
Pushing one habit harder than it needs steals from the habits still below the line. The durable move is the smallest version that still compounds.
Episode · · 00:53
After a month without rewriting my principles by hand, the impulses they keep in check started winning. Copying them onto a fresh page each week is what keeps hard-won lessons from f...
Episode · · 01:02
I count my output by what I finish, not the hours I sit. Flannery O'Connor watched the clock; Stephen King counted words. A 17-day launch burnout taught me which one to trust.
Episode · · 03:08
Most plans stall because several separate problems got bundled into one decision. Split them, ship the piece that stands alone and the freeze breaks.
Episode · · 02:46
I made the case for cutting rest days. Then the binges started: every two weeks or so, a Thursday ending at 3am, with the brain collecting the rest I refused to schedule.
Episode · · 01:41
The great idea shows up after you start. Build the "dumb" one and the problems you hit along the way become your next products.
Episode · · 02:07
One day the turkey wakes up and it's Thanksgiving. Comfort feels like safety, but it lets risk pile up quietly until it hits all at once. The fix is to take small risks on purpose, w...
Episode · · 01:58
A goal doesn't have a hurdle rate. Habits do. Break the goal into the habits that feed it. Find each one's input level. Make experimenting the habit that carries you when the destina...
Episode · · 01:07
Most experiments fail, and that's the point. About 1 in 20 becomes a material win that keeps paying, and you can't tell which before you run it. So run more.
Episode · · 01:13
You hit the goal and the win fades by tomorrow. The target was never fixed: reach it and you want the next one. Chess ratings and jiu-jitsu belts turn out to be the same trap in diff...