In this episode I recount how reading a verse from the Dhammapada made me rethink a situation and push me to take more accountability for my own actions, inactions and miscommunications. "The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler." Chapter 18 (Impurity) Verse 252 - The Dhammapada as translated by Muller (1881)

Change, crisis, shock. Whether positive or negative it can lead to a significant drain on our resources leaving us feeling vulnerable. I've introduced known shocks and invited the unknown as of late and I discuss my challenges with protecting my time and energy throughout this period.

Should a book be read just once? If it resonated with you once I'm going to argue that you absolutely should!

Short term risks versus long term risks. Short term opportunities versus long term opportunities. What do you prioritise and how? Whilst there's no clear answer I reflect on how my carelessness going for a walk in Weligama, Sri Lanka relates to careers, business and relationships.

The eagerness and excitement of a new project, direction or passion can lead to the desire, one that we sometimes act on, to over-invest. The irony is the novice is the one who over-invests without understand where best to allocate their resources and often well before they have built the identity they need to succeed.

"Systems beat goals" they say in the productivity world but what is a system and how complex can they be? In this episode I reflect on my recent reading of 'Thinking in Systems: A Primer' by Donella Meadows and how I'm mapping and thinking about vital systems in my own life.

It's hard to be the first person to do something when what you set out to do isn't common amongst those around you. You may be the first person in your family who wants to eat healthy and exercise, the first in your community to study and go to college, the first in your group of friends to break a bad habit and that can be challenging. There's comfort in numbers but will they ever join unless someone starts first? Can that person be you?

Energy vampires are common and they tend to be unaware of how they consume our resources. As I've hit 30 and realising how limited my own time and energy are it's become a very hard choice (but also easy) choice to let go of overwhelmingly toxic and negative individuals so I can focus on my own mission.

I've been dating intentionally and raw-dogging it so to speak in the wild which has led to a number of observations that I've made both through my own experiences and of other men and women out there looking for love.

In this episode I step through my take aways from a first reading of Plato's Allegory of the Cave (Republic) and how it relates to breaking old paradigms as we come into new knowledge.

In this episode I take view of donors to charity as the customer and analyse how 3rd party charity marketers, infamously known as Chuggers or Charity Muggers, hurt not only the customer experience but also the charities themselves.

In this episode I review my 2024, a year where I set out to travel the world whilst building things, breaking down where I succeeded, failed and take those lessons with me into 2025. I hope you'll join me in reflecting and planning for the new year. Wishing everyone a happy new year!

They've hit 30 and they've done some cool things. Success in academia, careers, business, start-ups, relationships... yet there's one very common regret I see amongst people who've hit these milestones early. It's often come at the detriment (or simply ignorance) of their health. Now at 30 many start the up hill battle to take control of their bodies. Here's my own thoughts and journey on this as I adopt my own mission to Make Australia Health Again #MAHA (sorry not sorry RFK Jr. for stealing this) starting with myself.

There's the common stereotype of business people playing golf on the regular which gets mistaken as a pure networking tool. Coming out of the board road and onto the green, pitch, track or simply a coffee shop is an important yet subtle analytical tool on deciding whether you should proceed in a business arrangement with someone i.e. use a small game to determine whether you should play a bigger (higher stakes) game. Also there are times where engaging in a short term game (single visit) in certain domains, e.g. as a customer to a dentist or mechanic, can be detrimental to your wealth and health as opposed to playing a longer term game (repeat customer). In this episode I siphon off my thoughts on these types of game play for (hopefully) your benefit.

Having left the environments where friendship almost feels effortless (high school and university) for the adult world, where our own obligations and those of others increase, I cover the paradigm shift I'm going through when it comes to maintaining the existing relationships I value as well as forging new friendships, acquaintanceships and business connections. As someone who abandoned digital social networks such as Facebook back in 2016 and didn't join others frequented by my generation such as Instagram this is my guide to maintaining real connections.

In this episode I discuss how I'm utilising algorithms such as 33% rule for optimal stopping (que the secretary problem) for dating. Bonus content: I also briefly touch on LRU (least recently used) and LFU (least frequently used) algorithms for cache clearing to declutter (or Marie Kondo) my life.

During my travels I've had the privilege to be invited to see life from cultures far from my own. Sometimes this has resulted in being shock with discovering someone you met married in their mid teens, has worked full time since they were even younger and eat foods far far different from our own. Not everything should be accepted as there are any parts of many cultures, our own included, that doesn't require a belief system to see that another human being is suffering. With this in mind I've found a better approach to dealing with strange cultures (to me that is) by the application of the platinum rule.

In the world of economics the principle of tragedy of the common is often used to describe the overuse and misuse of natural resources. In todays episode I talk about how our political commons, such as free speech, can come under threat with a real occurrence when the current Australian Government attempted to pass legislation to censor content on the internet under the guise of misinformation and disinformation. Unfortunately much like cases of tragedy of the commons with natural resources I witnessed the same occur with our political commons.

Having recently turned 30 I took some time to think about the advice I'd give my younger self to lead a better life. In this episode I got through the top 8 pieces of advice I'd pass back in time to myself and to those listening today. Disclaimer: Please note this podcast does not constitute financial advice - it is provided for educational purposes only. Investing and personal finance decisions should be made based on your individual financial situation, goals, and risk tolerance. Always consult a licensed financial advisor or professional before making any investment decisions.

One of the most important skills that we as humans use is Sales. Whether we are aware of it or not we all need to sell be it in a job interview or when we are meeting a new romantic, business or friendship interest. For those not involved in Sales and Marketing for their day jobs it can often go unnoticed. Some people may sell well in some domains and struggle in others. For me I've been working on bridging this gap myself. My latest sales stunt involved physically standing in busy Sydney CBD for 3 days straight handing out flyers - this even culminated in live sales on the street! This is what I've learnt about sales and marketing so far!