🎯 All Moments (28)
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The Myth of Multitasking
Dave Evans clarifies that humans do not actually multitask, but rather 'task switch,' which acts as a barrier to achieving true flow.
The Achieving Brain vs. The Awakened Brain
An explanation of two neurological modes—achieving and awakened—and why we need to integrate both to get more out of the life we are already living.
The Delta of Happiness
Dave Evans discusses how happiness is often defined by the gap between reality and our imaginal ideas, and why over-optimization can lead to subjective misery.
Wayfinding vs. Navigation: Prototyping Your Future
A breakdown of why traditional planning (navigation) fails in the face of the unknown future, and why 'wayfinding' through prototyping is a better approach.
Being Present While Planning the Future
A deep dive into how to maintain presence even when performing tasks that require future-oriented planning and delayed gratification.
Finding the Flow Channel: Balancing Skill and Challenge
Dave Evans explains the mechanical requirements for entering a flow state, specifically the balance between task difficulty and personal capability.
From Role to Soul: Navigating Life's Second Half
Addressing the transition high achievers face when moving from a performance-based identity to one rooted in their internal self.
The Hidden Peak of Maslow's Hierarchy
Dave Evans reveals that Maslow's true highest level was self-transcendence, not self-actualization, and explains how anyone can access it.
Simple Flow: Finding Presence in Mundane Tasks
A practical guide on how to choose flow even in low-skill tasks like chopping onions by deciding to be fully present.
The Impact Trap: Why Success Doesn't Guarantee Meaning
Dave Evans discusses why putting all your 'meaning eggs' in the impact basket is risky because impact is often outside of our control and has a short half-life.
Meaning vs. Aliveness: What Are We Actually Seeking?
Dave Evans suggests that when people say they want 'meaning,' they are actually looking for the 'rapture of being alive' and presents five 'food groups' for achieving it.
The Post-Achievement Depression Trap
Dave Evans explains why high achievers often feel empty after reaching their goals, suggesting they lose their 'why' during the process.
The Scandal of Particularity: Generative Obsession
A discussion on why leaning into temporary, life-giving obsessions can be the most alive way to live, even if it creates short-term imbalance.
Why Coherence Beats Balance
Dave Evans argues that seeking balance is often a losing game, and that coherence—the alignment of who you are, what you do, and what you believe—is the real key to a meaningful life.
The Hardest Part of Life: Figuring Out What You Want
Dave Evans explains that the mechanical process of achieving a goal is often easier than the psychological challenge of identifying the right goal in the first place.
The Power of Reframing: Being Fully Alive
Dave Evans explains that life is a story we tell ourselves and that reframing our goal from fulfillment to being fully alive changes our entire experience of the world.
Why Salvador Dalí Walked Sideways
The story of Dalí's refusal to walk through doorways forward as a monastic commitment to avoiding the habits that destroy creativity.
Intensity vs. Complexity: Why We Feel Overwhelmed
An insightful distinction between intensity and complication, explaining why humans can handle heavy workloads but fail under complex ones.
The Trap of 'What Did I Do Wrong?'
Dave Evans explains why high achievers should stop asking 'what did I do wrong' and instead ask 'what happened' to avoid egotistical and false assumptions.
The Three Types of Community
Evans defines 'Formative Communities' where people gather not just for social fun or work, but to help each other become better versions of themselves.
Your Only Job is to be You
A powerful segment about the unique gift every individual represents and the duty to unwrap that gift for the world before life is over.
Model the Rise, Not the Result
Chris Williamson shares a powerful insight about why we shouldn't model the daily routines of successful people today, but rather what they did when they were starting out.
The Shaving Ritual: Two Sentences to Change Your Day
Dave shares a morning practice involving two specific verbal affirmations to bias your attention toward positivity and agency.
The Anorexic Hermit Crab: The Fear of Outgrowing Your Shell
A unique metaphor describing people who refuse to grow or take risks because they are afraid of the 'neutral zone' or the vulnerability between life stages.
The Moment a Workaholic Realizes He's Missing Life
Dave shares a poignant personal story about his son's comment that forced him to realize he was 'killing it' at work but 'dead' at home.
The Obsession with Grieving Well
Dave Evans shares a deeply personal story about his wife's passing and his decision to be fully present and 'obsessed' with the grieving process.
The Inbox Memento Mori
A humorous but profound reminder that work never ends, even after death, highlighting the futility of chasing a zero inbox as a life goal.
The GPS Brain: Forgiving Your Wrong Turns
A powerful metaphor for self-forgiveness, suggesting we should treat our mistakes with the same non-judgmental redirection as a GPS system.