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Imagine it this way.    Natural Selection is the only shareholder of a global business called All Living Things. Well for however many millions or thousands of years, Natural Selection called all the shots.    And it was working well. But then, one of its subsidiaries decided it wanted a competitive advantage. It didn't want to be contained by the circle of life with a lowly step in the food-chain. It wanted more of an advantage, at which point it discovered something that enabled it to take its destiny into its own hands.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdUplN3MuMQ   The subsidiary was called Humanity. That discovery was The Cognitive Revolution.    This took place

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“When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told here I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. Share stared back at me, incredulous, and said, ‘You mean they forget?" - Howard Ikemoto.    Unforgetting.    When you’re ready to unforget, I’ll be right here.    I want to ask you two very personal questions today.    The first, what are you afraid of doing?    The second is, what don’t you know how to do?    There are many answers.    But I’m curious if there are things we never learned to do, or if we

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I learned not long ago that sitting alone in a room trying to think was a fool’s errand.    I think much better when my subconscious is mulling things over, when I’m in the shower and when I go for walks.    But the most powerful instance of unlocking new ideas is when I’m locked in fascinating conversations with others.    Introducing the Third Mind   This concept is inspired by the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which discusses how when two people talk, the room is taken up by three minds.    The mind of Person One.    The mind of Person Two.    And then the Third Mind -

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The Slingshot Principle.    Steve Jobs is famous for telling us that we ‘can’t connect the dots going forward’. The Co-Founder of Apple was dropping out of college but took a course in calligraphy when exploring things.    He later reflected how valuable that class was in shaping the creative fonts that would go on to distinguish Apple’s typefaces going forward. The funny thing is, no entrepreneurship or business course will ever teach or emphasise the importance of calligraphy.    When Jobs was later ousted from Apple, he went on to create another incredible company - Pixar, which was responsible for timeless classic films like Toy

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Have you ever been terrified by the prospect of speaking to a pretty girl or guy at a bar? When I was a teenager, I was terrified of awkward silences and speaking to girls. Not just a bit scared or apprehensive, but terrified.    For podcast episodes on Astro The Dog see episodes #011-#013 of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast.  Youtube Episodes: #011 Part One #012 Part Two #013 Part Three   In saying that, I was generally a very confident public speaker    After all, I did this from a young age. But I’ve met other people who are very confident in conversation but their ultimate

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The greatest things in life cannot be pursued directly. They must happen incidentally.  The greatest rewards in life cannot be pursued - they must ensue.  I call this, ‘The Law of Ensuement’.    The Thousand Doors Theory   My central framework for journeys through life is understood as the Thousand Doors Theory. The theory suggests, we use the Thousand Doors System to reach the most remarkable places because the most remarkable places live in the unknown.    When we turn down one ‘door’ or one opportunity in life, we so often fail to recognise that it is the First of a Thousand Doors - the other nine-hundred and

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This piece extends from Without-The-Box Thinking and unpacks a second-step, How to think through boxes. You are best served reading that piece first.     As I always say - “All advice is bad advice”. All that changes is the degree to which advice is bad. Because, no matter how wise or without-the-box the thinker you receive advice from, no one is you.    Therefore no one can ever give you advice that is absolutely perfect - they will always be giving you some form of box.     Even Without-The-Box Thinking is bad advice, for it is a box itself.    Welcome to the Matrix! The irony of Without-The-Box Thinking

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They should be goals and not GOLLUMS. You don’t want to end up like the one formerly known as Smiegel, from The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkein.    “Strong opinions, loosely held”   As Paul Saffo from the Institute for the Future is credited as saying. Well, the same should be said of our grand dreams and goals.    Strong goals, loosely held.    You see the principles of the Minimum Viable Lifestyle (MVL) and An Audience-of-None defend us against the traps of over-investing in grandiose dreams, if those dreams rely on external factors beyond our control.    These questions are interested in, What is the least

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Why do we celebrate the “Fastest growing company”? Why are we excited by the “fastest growing economy”?   We talk about growth as if it were something that is always good. What a silly rule-of-thumb.  Is there an award for the fastest growing cancer?    Andre the Giant grew fast and large. And he was lost early.    Why ‘grow’ when we can be ‘better’ instead?   What if you GROW your audience but at the cost of quality? What if you GROW your business but distance yourself from the customer, and tank the culture?  What if you GROW your economy but life, in trying to keep up with rising costs, becomes

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What was the best day of your life?   If you’re struggling to bring something to mind, don’t feel bad. I’m drawing blanks myself.    Maybe it was a retreat I did at school in 2011 that opened me up to self-awareness.    Maybe it was one of the days I spent in Nepal in 2018.    Or maybe it was when the St George Illawarra Dragons won the 2010 Grand Final, after so many years of near misses.    Actually, something is coming to mind.    It was my 21st birthday. 2nd October, 2015.    Originally I thought I didn’t want the hassle or attention of a big party. But I changed my

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