Enter the Labyrinth

I talk to author, trader, and DJ Jared Dillian [https://x.com/dailydirtnap] about writing, lives, and his new collection of short stories: Night Moves [https://www.amazon.com/Night-Moves-stories-Jared-Dillian-ebook/dp/B0DDLB49X1]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe [https://www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

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My conversation with Lyn Alden, author of Broken Money. Twitter: @LynAldenContact Disclaimer: I write and podcast for entertainment purposes only. This is not investment advice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe [https://www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jonny Miller [https://twitter.com/jonnym1ller], writer [https://www.jonnymiller.co/], podcaster [https://www.curioushumans.com/], and breathwork facilitator. Jonny wrote some of my favorite recent pieces, including the amazing operating manual for the nervous system [https://every.to/p/the-operating-manual-for-your-nervous-system] and How to Pay Off Your Emotional Debt [https://every.to/p/how-to-pay-off-your-emotional-debt]. Jonny also puts together terrific small wikis like this one on emotional resilience [https://resilient.wiki/], the ‘spiritual MBA [https://thespiritual.mba/]’ and Somalist [https://somal.ist/] (‘a global directory of somatic practitioners + trauma-aware bodyworkers’). We talked about breathwork and its benefits and risks (including Wim Hof), ‘state over story’ and the ability to change the state of your own nervous system, Jonny’s own journey, the $55,000 he spent exploring various modalities and experiences [https://twitter.com/jonnym1ller/status/1572697393665314816] to find the most impactful ideas (including super interesting stuff like darkness meditation [https://twitter.com/jonnym1ller/status/1679542023227858962]), emotional debt, repressed anger [https://twitter.com/jonnym1ller/status/1673416006272954368], and men’s work. In the context of a breathwork journey, incomplete reflexes will rise to the surface and they will be felt. The body will move in a certain way, and then there'll be relaxation. It's almost like layers of an onion that keep on unpeeling. The more we become comfortable with feeling the full spectrum of emotions, the more that these deeper pieces start to arise. We tend to focus on the outer journey, the how of success. How to spot opportunities, how to invest, how to build a business. Mastering the inner journey is equally important: both understanding your why and having the tools and practices to master the stress and setbacks along the way. That’s one of the lessons of the maze [https://neckar.substack.com/p/the-maze]. Remember: great investors are survivors [https://neckar.substack.com/p/surviving-markets-why-great-investors] and experts at cultivating resilience [https://neckar.substack.com/p/dan-mcmurtrie-resilience-recovery?s=w]. We have what I think of as this Cartesian hangover, almost going back to Descartes, of this mind-body dualism. I think the rational brain, the intellect, the kind of left-hemispheric way of perceiving the world has been very prioritized and almost worshiped in our culture. Controlling your mind, mastering your mind, mindfulness, all of these things have been really, really emphasized. I think what is starting to happen is the pendulum swinging back to, ‘oh no, there is no actual distinction between the brain and the nervous system.’ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe [https://www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

I had a chance to interview William Duggan, professor at Columbia Business School and author of Strategic Intuition [https://neckar.substack.com/p/wrestling-with-intuition-can-you]. He explained how Kendo led him to his big idea, the difference between creative/strategic intuition and expert intuition (with examples including Howard Schultz, Henry Ford, and Elizabeth Holmes), and the roles of memory, passion, and presence of mind. Quotes that stuck with me: There is no now. Everything is history. … There is no other guide to the future. You don't have to have the passion before you have the idea. The idea gives you the passion. Oh great, this is what I'm gonna do. How do you judge an idea when you have it? Is it based on real knowledge and experience? Real pieces of the puzzle. That's how you judge. The moment you step into the battle, you forget everything. Meaning that you let your brain make the correct connections. That's the presence of mind, where your mind is clear. In martial arts, it's very fast, but it's really the same idea. It's to clear your mind and let your brain make its own connections, according to the situation and the circumstances. A lot of people think Henry Ford invented the assembly line. He did not. The assembly line was invented a hundred years before, at the start of the Industrial Revolution. He invented a certain kind of assembly line, meaning he put together the old assembly line with something new. I like to distinguish the natural flash of insight … Steve Jobs was good at it. He'd search and search and search and then something would strike him. I don't know if you know about the origin of Starbucks. Howard Schultz was working for a coffee company, high quality coffee, where you fill up your bag and take the coffee beans home. He goes to Milan for the first time in his life and he sees the coffee bar and he says, oh, okay, well we should clearly convert all our stores into that. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe [https://www.enterlabyrinth.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]