Ian delivers cybersecurity education using funny and memorable videos that surprise and entertain. His unique sense of humor proves to be significantly more effective in helping people improve their cyber savviness as opposed to the usual doom and gloom in the industry.

Welcome to the most irregular episode of the How do you know? podcast to date! Change has been brewing beneath the surface and it’s the unmatched Louis Grenier and his workshop - Stand The F*ck Out (STFO) – that played a huge role in materializing that transformation. What you see today on my website is the result of several months of work that runs deep. During STFO, I refined my business strategy, the assets I bring to the table, and defined the type of customers I want to work with. The workshop accelerated these realizations and my acting on them by months – nay, years! Every prompt and conversation chipped away at my self-doubt and gave me the clarity and confidence to articulate what I want to do next and what I don’t want to do next. Because I’ve grown as a person through other people’s stories and kindness, I’m sharing the decisions that got me here so they may serve you on your journey.

James Linton, my guest for this episode, is a social engineer and email prankster known for duping high-profile celebrities and politicians. He discovered his inclinations for information security almost accidentally, while experimenting with his UX designer abilities and pursuing his curiosity. One thing led to another and now his Wikipedia page leads with this: But that’s just a moment in his evolution as a human – and as an information security professional. I found out the rest from James himself, who openly shared his experience of finding a way to harness his abilities to help others while also living and working on his terms. We talked about the struggles he went through and the decisions he made along the way, highlighting how we can make our psychology work for us instead of against us.

Tim Ash is a great voice that you need to hear to build more positivity and momentum towards all the good things you want to develop in your life. Start by hitting the play button: What I really appreciate about Tim is his dedication to sharing all his knowledge and putting it to work – constantly. He published over 100 articles about digital growth, he did the Landing Page Optimization Podcast with over 130 episodes, and he’s also a certified Tai Chi instructor, a poet, painter, and an avid photographer. During our conversation, I could see all of his diverse experiences converging and surfacing valuable life lessons we can all use to elevate our decisions and way of life.

Today’s episode is focused on this crucial topic: our process for making decisions and how we can pick and choose ideas, experiences, and people to help us improve it so that we elevate multiple aspects of our lives. Erno is the kind of person who exudes optimism and he proved it once again during our conversation. Even when confronted with tough times and difficult decisions, as we all are these days, he still focuses on mind and body health. Before you press play, start with this idea my guest, Erno Hannink, shared: don’t evaluate the result of your decisions but focus on the thought process behind it. You’ll soon understand why that makes a huge difference.

My guest today, Tom Hirst, generously shares how he’s progressed on all three fronts during the last decade, highlighting the decisions he used to achieve balance and the thinking behind them. The way he considers the choices and actions he’s making today and their future impact is a highly valuable lesson in strategic thinking. I learn a lot from this conversation and I hope you will too! This is a fast-paced episode that packs a lot of energy and that might be just what you need to find your own priorities and engineer your growth from here on. Keep a notebook close, you’ll want to take notes!

Bretton Putter is an expert on building culture in high-growth companies and also a clear-eyed judge of his own values. He makes decisions based on his beliefs and chooses to work with clients he aligns with. This is one of the many choices he made to achieve a stronger balance between work and leading a healthy life. “Culture develops in a company when decisions that are made prove to be successful and the thinking that went into those decisions becomes embedded into the way we do things around here.” This snippet from my guest’s most recent book really struck a chord for me because it’s not just about the decision to make cultivating company culture a core goal but what happens after it. That’s exactly what this episode is about and it concerns you, no matter where you work and what you do.

Do you know those conversations that light up your brain in all sorts of new ways? That’s what it was like to interview Ana Iorga, the consumer neuroscience expert. Our entire conversations felt like a crash course in how the brain works when it makes decisions. Talking to Ana was not just an opportunity to discover fascinating facts about how our brain shapes our perception of reality, but also a chance to see how these facts work in real-life situations. Ana’s examples cover a wide range of familiar experiences, explained through a lens that inspires reflection, encourages self-awareness, and makes us more intentional about our actions.

Vladimir always struck me as a very outspoken, no-BS person, who has a deep understanding of the topics he talks about. His clarity of expression reflected clarity of thought and that stands true to this day, as you’ll learn yourself if you listen to the episode we recorded together. What came out of our conversation is a range of ideas and questions that can help anyone upgrade their thinking and their actions – not by imitation but by strengthening their own critical thinking. If the phrase “it’s very hard to do a Kanye West on a book” piques your interest, I promise there’s a bit of fun in this episode too, along with valuable lenses you can try out to improve your outlook on life, meaning, decisions, and your creative pursuits.

It’s been a tough week for the entire world. I found it difficult to concentrate these days and I’ve heard the same from basically everyone, no matter their age or where they are in the world. For example, all I could do in a day was to edit an article, which usually takes me much less. It’s not difficult to feel triggered during this time, even anxiety hasn’t been a major issue for you, as it has been for me in the past for example. People who’ve never experienced these levels of uncertainty, confusion, and fear might have a difficult time understanding their emotions and gaining control over them. It may not be you, but it may be someone you love. I wanted to share this personal story because the rest that follows is a quick list of ideas, habits, and practices that help me weather difficult moments.

Last year, I wrote an article that ended up becoming the most read piece of content published on my English blog. It has nothing to do with my job but everything to do with an important part of my mindset. The article is called “Tips on how to live with imposter syndrome” and the reactions I continue to receive made me want to revisit it in a dedicated episode for the How do you know podcast. Because this article is about vulnerability, living with imperfection, and being okay with both, I decided to record and post this episode uncut and unedited. Just like real life. So here’s my struggle with imposter syndrome, how it affected my decisions, and a few things I’ve learned along the way that made a big difference for me.

Using the same password to most (or all) of your accounts is like using the same key for all the doors in a city. When a data breach like those we often read about happens, it’s like someone just copied that key (and many others). The attackers instantly gain access to everyone’s homes at the same time. It’s unsettling, isn’t it? This is just one one of the reasons I got interested in cybersecurity: because it changes your mindset and the way you make decisions. Once you understand it, you start to see your own choices in a very different light and you start to question them, to ensure they make you safer and more resilient in protecting your work, life, and the people you love. In this episode, application security specialist John Opdenakker explains to us what cybersecurity means, who can be affected by cyber-attacks and how you can protect yourself from them. So take a listen, and learn the basics of this sector that is no longer confined to the interests of technical-minded people.

We often base our decisions on perception rather than reality, a perception of our making that sometimes gets in the way of making wise choices that benefit us in the long run. For example, having a corporate job gives you a sense of security and stability that is rarely real. There’s a hefty amount of uncertainty involved in both holding down a full-time job and in running your own business. I was eager to learn how Matthew Woodward, one of the best SEO specialists on the web, built his impressive business while helping thousands of people and transparently sharing his journey. For Matt, leaving the ”cozy” corporate world and launching his own business was a painless transition because of his approach (which he shares in detail). So if you’re looking for struggle p0rn, you won’t find any of it in this story. If you’re searching for thought-provoking questions that help you identify and move towards life-changing choices confidently, then hit play!

With so many options at every step - for work, friends, relationships, learning, entertainment - it can be draining to figure out what the best choices are. Josh Garofalo shares how he set up a personal system to achieve clarity, focus, and growth. As a fellow freelancer, Josh also talks about the creativity, continuous learning, and discipline required to thrive in this exponentially developing space.

“I’m not confident in all aspects of my life but I’m confident in my ability to make a decision that’s good for myself.” Irina Nica, Senior Marketing Manager at HubSpot, candidly shares some of the most difficult and some of the most rewarding moments of the journey to build a new life in a different country and job. While following her story, we get to learn how to make better decisions and also how to follow through on them.

This is the first time I'm doing an episode all by myself, sharing the life lessons that have shaped my 31st year of life in audio format. This was initially an article but the audio version that includes some bits and pieces that naturally came to me as I was sharing these personal insights with you. I hope these hard-earned lessons will help you too!

Alan Clayton, my guest for this episode, is a Roaming Mentor at SOSV. He’s spent the last decade coaching founders from across the world. As part of the SOSV team, Alan invested in over 800 startups globally, having met thousands of founders. To help them build businesses that make a real positive impact on the world, to challenge their thinking and become more than just managers to their teams, Alan developed the Wholebrain Metholody. Talking to Alan was a privilege and I hope you’ll listen to his words of wisdom with intent. Even if you’re not a startup founder, there’s just SO much to learn from him!

Xenia can help you break your pattern, especially if you're not in the startup world.

Marius takes us on a grand tour of his life, packed with adventure, seemingly insurmountable challenges, life-changing realisations, and what connects them all together.

Val's unique voice is something I look up and seek to learn from. Here's one of the reasons why. Talking to her reminded me that’s where resilience comes from. There are two main sources, in my opinion: 1. Following our inner compass to make the decisions that align with our beliefs 2. Understanding why being true to ourselves is so important, especially when dealing with so much change, inside and out. Understanding why we do the things we do, why we make decisions, and building ourselves according to our values are key habits that keep us grounded, like a tree whose deep roots keep it anchored during countless storms. With time, this internal alignment gets a bit easier and a lot more satisfying. For me, it's growing to be that source of inner balance that I’ve been craving for all my life. I hope listening to Val and learning from her experiences helps you make your best decisions too!