My longtime friend and business partner Paul interviews me about living in alignment, and why I think it beats productivity, grit and discipline as a way to get where you want to go. To me, alignment means paying attention to signals from inside and outside that tell you whether you’re on the right track, then following them so things fall into place instead of fighting every obstacle. We keep it practical, with stories from my businesses, my relationships and getting over porn addiction.
In this episode
- Alignment as finding the highway instead of hacking through the jungle: reaching the same goals with flow instead of grinding.
- Four years forcing a business launched just as COVID lockdowns hit, while breathwork meetups and a men’s circle in Lisbon grew almost effortlessly.
- Grit and discipline have their place, but school showed me how little forcing achieves next to real curiosity.
- Why a compass you can check at every step works better than hunting for your grand life purpose.
- Retiring from Thrive Themes once the company outgrew me and I no longer looked forward to my days.
- Why the “safe” path of following conditioning may be riskier than following alignment, and why alignment doesn’t work with people pleasing.
- A practical start: notice what makes you feel alive versus dead inside, write it down, and do a bit more of what feels aligned.
- Self-honesty as the foundation, from admitting a relationship wasn’t working to seeing porn addiction as a signal of what I was escaping.