If you believe everything you think, you will stay stuck, spinning in spirals, unable to move forward.

You know the feeling.

You’re unhappy with where you are, but every time you try to change, try a new direction, you find yourself feeling heavy and stuck again.

No matter what you do, it feels like you’re driving with the emergency brake on.

So how do you find an exit to this stuckness?!

If this is you, that feeling has a name. It’s called misalignment. I know it because I lived it.

In this post, I’ll tell you why you’re still stuck:
it’s a habit most of us fall into without realizing it, one that feels productive but is actually the very thing blocking you from getting unstuck.

And I’ll show you how we can finally find a clearer, more aligned path.

The job I left, and the spiral that followed anyway

A few years ago, I left my high paying tech startup growth job because I felt what I now know as misalignment.

I was showing up, but forcefully. Overriding my curiosity to please others and force outcomes: a promotion, a pay increase, a great review. Nothing is wrong with wanting those things. But when we do things just for the outcome, when we only perform and don’t live, we betray ourselves.

We become misaligned.

And we drag this heavy, anxious feeling with us all the time, fueling the overthinking that keeps us spiraling and stuck.

Here’s the part that surprised me. When I left my job to find my “purpose,” I kept spiraling.

I launched a haircare venture, then a SaaS app. I tried consulting gigs, and even went back to a job.

The feeling followed me everywhere.

(If you’re curious what misalignment actually looks like, and whether you’re facing it too, check out my previous post on my personal story.)

Thinking your way out is the trap

You’re stuck because you’re trying to think your way out of being stuck.

That’s the trap. That’s the big reason you’re stuck.

Here’s why.

Think of your mind like software code. It’s what controls your default behavior, your tendencies, your “personality.”

That code was written as you grew from childhood into adulthood, coding your default reactions to things.

If you gave a presentation, hated it, and got laughed at, a line of code got written: avoid putting yourself in front of others.

If you felt bad, ate some sugar, and felt better, that got coded too: this is what you do when you feel low.

The more we repeat the same reactions to the same triggers, the more reinforced the code gets.

Now you’re an adult, and the code is so reinforced you can’t see beyond it. It just runs on autopilot.

So when you sit down to “think your way out” of being stuck, you’re not actually exploring anything new.

You’re just running the same code again, dressed up as reflection.

It feels productive, like you’re weighing options, exploring solutions, making progress.

But really, you’re just spiraling the same outcomes over and over.

Every time I was stuck, I did what overthinkers do: I paused to reflect on it.

And unknowingly, that’s exactly what threw me back into the spiral.

Every time I engaged my thinking mind to analyze what to do next, I got thrown off course again.

I thought I was making progress by analyzing, reflecting, thinking it through. I was actually keeping myself more stuck.

The mind is very good at throwing excuses to keep you from taking action into the uncertain…

…dressed up as smart, logical reasoning: procrastination, tempting alternatives that look like solutions but are actually just keeping you stuck, spiraling, repeating the same default reactions to the same triggers.

So what can you rely on, if not your mind?

So if you’re stuck, and you can’t trust what you think, how do you snap out of it?

How do you find clarity? A better path?

If you can’t listen to the mind, what can you listen to?

Let the water settle

Just as when you have dirty, muddied water and you’re trying to see clearly, shaking it up and forcing a path doesn’t help.

It helps to let it settle.

Give it time, give it peace, and clear water emerges on its own.

The same thing happens when we stop trying to force and think our way out.

When we unhook from thinking altogether and create space for the heavy emotions instead of fighting them, we make room for a much larger perspective.

We become aware of more in our environment, through all our senses.

We start noticing creative possibilities we couldn’t see before.

Early in my career, I came across a book called The Confidence Gap by Russ Harris.

I picked it up to seem more confident in interviews and presentations. I had a real fear of putting myself out there.

The premise: if you’re feeling a heavy emotion like fear or nervousness, there’s a technique called NAME.

I won’t go into the details here, but it uses your breath to create space around the emotion, so you can let the emotion stay while you move on anyway.

As you create that space, the emotion is no longer your whole world. It becomes a small part of your perspective. It stops overtaking your decisions.

It’s an incredible technique.

It’s helped me ace interviews and presentations like nothing else has.

But I realized I needed to apply the same technique to the feeling of misalignment, every single time it showed up.

Russ Harris gives a beautiful example in the book.

What happens when you mix a cup of salt into a cup of water? How does that taste? Salty and unpalatable.

Now take that same cup of salt and mix it into a flowing river. Taste the river.

Can you still taste the salt?

The salt, as he puts it, is the inevitable pain of life.

It doesn’t need to control us. We don’t need to fight it or interrogate it. When we do, we actually feed it.

That’s what happens when we create space instead of forcing our way out.

We’re no longer just the cup. We have the whole river, the whole ocean, to explore.

The secret to getting unstuck

That is the secret. Not to fight the misalignment, not to fight the stuckness, and certainly not to analyze it to death.

Instead, unhook from the unhelpful thoughts.

Accept and create space for the heavy emotions, so you can expand your perspective.

This is how you let the muddied water settle.

This is how you see clearly amidst your tendencies, your baggage.

Your baggage still exists.

But it’s just a small percentage of your living experience.

Now you can live on, find a creative path to your biggest goals, and walk a path of alignment: joyfully, at ease, and vibrantly.

The compass we all have

Today we saw that when we create space from misalignment, from our thinking, and expand our perspective, we can finally see clearly.

This is how we open ourselves up to creative possibilities.

So the next question becomes: once we create space, what do we do next? How do we find our path of alignment?

How do we choose which direction to take action in?

There’s a compass within all of us that we can tap into, and once you start tapping into it, it gives a surprisingly clear answer.

Next week, I’ll go deeper into this compass and how to use it to experiment and find alignment, ease, and joy in your life, while living toward your biggest goals.

If you struggle with overthinking and misalignment, this will be immensely helpful to you as it was for me. Don’t miss it next week :)

Thanks for reading this far, genuinely!

If you want more of this in your inbox, subscribe. I’d love to have you.

When you subscribe, you’ll get two free gifts:

1. The Empty Your Cup journal template. This has been my personal go-to for the last couple of years, and it’s genuinely changed how clear my mind feels.
   
   A quick daily practice to unhook from repetitive thought spirals and make room for new possibilities.
   

2. The Get Unstuck guide. A step-by-step roadmap for taking action on your goals and rewiring your mind to actually support you in reaching them.
   
   This one’s especially useful if you’re stuck trying to take action on your big goals.

Subscribe for free below and they’re yours. See you next week!

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Hi, I’m Saachi!

If life feels like a chore, you’re in the right place.

It turns out the forcing is the very thing blocking the magic. The way out isn’t more hustle, it’s doing what lights you up and letting the outcomes organize around that.

Every week, I write about the science, stories, and experiments you can run to prove it to yourself. ✨

Subscribe now

If you are constantly feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and low, it’s because you are forcing life to be something it simply isn’t.

Chances are, if you read the title and clicked to read this, you, dear reader, are one of the many, many, many of us, who are living day to day on low to high grade anxiety, tolerating a life we think we must live, to achieve goals we think we should want, to finally be happy.

And you know what you’re doing isn’t thrilling you. But you’ve convinced yourself this is what it takes.

You also have no idea what the heck else would thrill you AND get you the success you crave.

Does that hit the spot? Is that you?

The resume that looked perfect on paper

I was the quintessential hardworking student, then the quintessential hardworking professional. A straight-A student, valedictorian. At eighteen, my dream was simple: be “successful.”

I started my career at Deloitte Consulting as a business technology analyst, dreaming of top-tier management consulting, specifically Bain & Co. When I finally made it there, it didn’t feel like enough.

I was decent at it and enjoyed some of the work, but there was something missing. So I decided to venture into tech growth. It was a new and exciting field in India at the time, and it happened for me quickly.

I joined as the second growth hire at a SaaS startup that went on to become a $4B unicorn. About a year and a half in, the same nagging feeling returned. Heavy. Like my heart wasn’t in it, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t explain it.

So I left that to start my own venture. I thought the problem was that I needed to be my own boss to feel the passion. It was time to discover it.

The feeling came back even sooner this time, just a few months into the venture. It’s the feeling where you don’t want to do the work, and even when you force yourself to show up, something feels off.

The work isn’t satisfying. You feel like you’re betraying yourself, like your life has become one big chore.

After dilly-dallying a bit, I got back into tech growth consulting, thinking maybe that startup idea just wasn’t the right one.

But this time, about fifteen months in, I had a huge outburst in front of my founder-boss. I was also a few months postpartum (so yes, a lot going on emotionally), but I still couldn’t explain the outburst.

While things looked great on paper, it was a struggle to show up every day, to muster the motivation and willpower to keep going, to pretend to care even though I genuinely wanted to. It seemed like a chore to perform well and please my boss and team.

It’s that feeling we all know: forcing our way through the week just to get to the weekend, where we finally get to do what we actually want.

Only this time it felt heavier, more amplified.

Like something was dragging me down, and I couldn’t name what it was.

So I left again. I started a couple more ventures…

The feeling followed me everywhere.

I couldn’t get rid of it. It showed up in everything I touched.

How am I supposed to be “successful” if I can’t push through?

How do I move toward my goals when I feel like I’m driving with the emergency brake on?

I knew exactly what to do to make each venture succeed.

So why the hell wasn’t I doing it?

The question nobody could answer for me

This was the nagging feeling of forcing my way through life. Of pretending and performing when my heart wasn’t in it. Of treating life like a chore you have to show up for.

I felt constant low to high grade anxiety and had a mind consumed by overthinking, all the time.

I felt exhausted, lost, and profoundly stuck.

When I asked for advice, from peers, family, the internet, all of it made me feel like something was wrong with me.

Push through, they said. Once you get to the other side of success, you’ll be happy. You’ll have found your passion. This is what it takes to make it big.

But I couldn’t imagine forcing through years of misery to get to some “other side.” I couldn’t even face one more day of pretense.

It felt like a personal failure.

Like I didn’t know who I was or what I truly wanted. My feet never felt stable on the ground. I didn’t have the conviction to go after what I wanted.

I kept switching directions and decisions in search of feeling joyful, stable, calm, and confident.

Outside of work, I was never present with my kids, my family, my friends, always thinking about how I was wasting time away.

I felt as though time was running out and I was just being unproductive and lazy. But at the same time, I couldn’t get myself to take action.

Unable to make much progress, and being constantly in discomfort, a state of dis-ease, I finally decided to go inward to find some answers.

I asked myself:

What would it mean to live joyfully and vibrantly every single day, whilst still going after your biggest goals?

What would it mean to be at ease with oneself, to actually thrive inside and out?

To be peaceful, immersed in each moment with joy, patience, and ease, rather than constantly feeling the need to be busy, to perform, to be productive?

What would it mean to enjoy every single moment of your life, or at least the majority of them?

Can ambition, achievement, and ease coexist?

I looked around for anyone who lives like this, only to find that most people I know are in the same boat as me.

Getting by, trudging through life… but not passionately, not vibrantly, and definitely not with ease.

Overthinking, anxiety, and stress seem to be constant companions for most of us.

But why is that so normal?

Should it be? Is this really all there is?

Surely that can’t be it.

Naming the thing

So what the heck was I actually feeling?

This feeling is called misalignment.

Misalignment is the constant anxiety, overthinking, and restlessness that shows up when we force actions we don’t actually want, usually chasing goals we don’t actually want either.

We’ve ingrained a pretty wrong view of life mechanics.

And until I went deeply inward by journaling, self-reflecting (and really self-discovering), I saw the world exactly the same way everyone else does.

As we’ve grown up, we’ve adopted the view that we can only be happy if we achieve certain goals like money, success, and fame.

And we need to do what it takes, even if we don’t want to, to get there.

And so we force our way, trying to control this outcome without living in the present, overriding the things that actually light us up.

We think this is the fastest, most rational path to these goals, and so the fastest path to happiness and ease.

But in reality, all this anxiety, all this overthinking, is blocking us from tapping into the actual magic that can take us to our biggest goals.

The system hiding underneath it all

We’ve gotten it all wrong!

When you closely observe life mechanics, how serendipitous moments actually happen, you can see that there is a system underneath it all.

(This itself deserves a whole series of essays, which I’ll go much deeper into over the next few weeks. For now, the summary.)

How we think life works: we force actions to control the outcome.

In reality: outcomes organize around the aligned actions we take.

When we follow our curiosity, our intuition, call it the inner spark that pulls you towards certain things without rationale, things work out in the most creative ways… ways you couldn’t have planned, forced, or possibly imagined!

Why?

Because this inner voice of ours is actually a connection to a greater intelligence that exists in the universe.

It’s the same intelligence that helps you eat and transform an apple into you, and not something else.

It’s what grows an embryo in a mother’s womb without any rational or conscious effort from her to coordinate and give the baby what it needs.

It’s what coordinates all your muscles, your tongue, your cells, lungs, breath, all of it, when you speak.

You intend to speak, and it happens, without any conscious thought or rationalization.

It’s a dynamic intelligence that responds to different stimuli without conscious thought.

Notice, you don’t need to “think” for these things to happen.

You are a cell of something much bigger

That same intelligence running inside your body doesn’t actually stop at your skin.

There is no real boundary between you and the rest of the universe.

So when you set an intention, guided by that inner spark, you and the universe (which is really just an extension of you) start making it happen together.

The exact same way your body coordinates eating a piece of fruit, or forming a sentence, without you ever consciously managing the process.

You are a cell in a much larger organism: the universe itself.

And when you participate as a cell of this universe organism, you are in sync with what’s happening everywhere, and you participate with joy, ease, and intelligence, which helps you achieve your goals.

If you’ve read my piece on how I landed a top tier management consulting offer, you’ve already seen this exact system at work. You can read it here if you missed it.

So, the good news

If you’re misaligned, like I was, and still am at times, we need to remember to flip the switch back to alignment.

Every single time.

For when we stop trying to control the outcome, we actually stop thinking and make room for our intuition to grow louder, to guide us on how we can participate intelligently…as the cell of the universe.

In doing so, we live through creative pathways with exuberance, joy, and ease…

…and trust that this journey will lead us to our highest potential.

Now that’s a life worth living, isn’t it?

Hi, I’m Saachi!

If you’re ambitious but exhausted, running on a treadmill you’re afraid to step off, you’re in the right place!

Turns out, there’s a more intelligent, mysterious way to participate in reality and achieve your biggest dreams.

Every week, I share how to achieve your biggest goals with ease, joy, and exuberance.

Subscribe now

If you’re like me, at times you are a confused soul.

On my most important goals I tend to cling and control the outcome.

And in doing so, I flicker from option to option trying to optimize and find the best path to them.

Does that sound familiar? Is that you now?

The problem with flickering between many options is that we spend most of our time thinking rather than doing.

And thinking is completely unproductive.

Not to mention exhausting!

In fact, when you’re thinking, you block your intuition or inner guidance which often can give you wild, creative possibilities outside the logical frame of reference you’ve built over your lifetime.

Your intuition holds the key to break out of the rut you’re in.

So how do you find the right path in a sea of options?

How do we choose which one is right? And god forbid, what if it’s the wrong one?

What if the goal itself is wrong, and you should be selecting a different goal??

First, breathe. If this is you, you’re in the right place…

Second, in this post I’m going to show you how you can tap into your intuition, or inner knowing, to find these answers.

This practice has been life changing for me in not only in finding clarity on what I want to do, but in helping me discover who I truly am and what’s most important for me.

Something that was lost over the years.

You already know what to do

Clarity comes when your intuition speaks freely and you act on it freely.

There’s no friction, internal debate, or commentary, over-rationalization, pros and cons, etc.

The bridge from intent to action is efficient and instantaneous.

You are efficient, in the state of flow.

That is our goal.

In this state, you achieve so much because every idea you have, you take frictionless action on it.

In Taoism, this is known as wu wei or effortless action. It feels effortless because there’s no thinking involved.

Right now, your intuition is blocked completely.

The only thing you can hear is your thinking mind, repeating the same old options with the same old commentary for each of those options, over and over.

In order to find clarity, you need to stop thinking.

You need to empty the mind.

Empty your cup journaling

This practice is inspired from Joseph Nguyen’s Don’t Believe Everything You Think, a book which has genuinely changed my life.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading it. It’s a beautiful, short read.

Back to the point.

In order to stop thinking, and hear the direction your intuition is nudging you towards, you first need to clear your mind.

And this journaling practice will give you the clarity you need.

Here it goes:

1. Every time you find yourself in a spiraling loop of thoughts, confusion, internal debates, and heavy pros-and-cons chatter, catch yourself doing so.

2. Then, grab a notebook or your iPhone notes (which I use, and I keep swapping with my physical diary as and when I feel like it). Medium matters less, the practice matters more.
   
   Now give yourself ample time to just let all your thoughts out, fully. In whatever order…all of it.
   
   The most important thing is to not judge these lines as they come out.
   
   Think of yourself as a journalist on a mission to document everything your mind spews out.

3. Once you let it all out… could be 10 lines or 10 pages, you’ll feel a sense of relief.

4. At this point, you can go in and ask yourself a question that you’re seeking clarity on.
   “What should I do next?”
   “Should I choose this job or the other one?”
   “Should I quit my job yet?”

As soon as you ask the question, just write out the first thing that comes.

Try to catch it before your mind convinces you it’s stupid, or never going to work, or too risky (which it will).

You may not want to accept it rationally, but that first answer is the direction you’ve been seeking.

Now, you may do this exercise and go completely blank when you ask a question.

That’s okay.

Don’t force an answer.

Just go about your day and know that the answer will come to you…

at some point in the day, or the next.

Like a nudge, or an idea, or a subtle flash.

Be attentive and don’t miss it! For that’s how our intuition speaks to us.

I’ve been doing this journaling exercise for over a year and have learned so much more about myself than I have in all the years past.

Whenever you’re lost, overthinking, and exhausted from weighing all the options…

Just remember, that is not the way.

Overthinking is a trap, and it will never give you a clear direction.

Instead, catch yourself.

Empty your cup so you can receive fresh, creative guidance.

And when you do, don’t dismiss it!

Act on it before your mind convinces you otherwise.

Hi, I’m Saachi!

If you’re ambitious but exhausted, running on a treadmill you’re afraid to step off, you’re in the right place!

Turns out, there’s a more intelligent, mysterious way to participate in reality and live your biggest dreams.

Every week, I share how to achieve your biggest goals with ease, joy, and exuberance.

Subscribe now

We all think that to achieve our goals, constant strenuous struggle is necessary.

In fact, when we aren’t struggling as much, we often think we don’t deserve to win.

Does that resonate?

But what if I told you that you always have two paths to choose from:

one of sheer force, led by your mind and its fixed plans…

and the other, where you participate intelligently in the unfolding of reality, with ease and joy.

Here’s how.

The Race to the Boat

A couple of days ago I was watching Outlast on Netflix.

It’s a fascinating reality show where 16 strangers join teams to compete against each other in the deep, wet wilderness of the Alaskan rainforest, and the winning team has to outlast all the others.

There was a challenge in one episode where two people, from different teams, each had to build a makeshift DIY boat and row it out to the middle of a lake to claim a proper, well-built boat.

Whoever got there first could use it to fish, travel, and explore other parts of the rainforest.

It’s a physically brutal challenge. These players hadn’t eaten well in over two weeks, with limited food and water.

They’d built rafts by hand and now had to navigate the currents of an Alaskan river just to reach the boats.

What was interesting is that the two players took completely different approaches.

The One Who Fought the River

Player A had a head start.

He was athletic, and he used sheer force to get to the boat, paddling as fast as he possibly could.

He got close.

But the current swayed him off course.

Then his makeshift paddle came apart.

He panicked.

He kicked his feet as hard as he could, trying to force his way to the boat, and the harder he pushed, the further the current pushed him away.

Eventually he gave up, and told his teammates he wasn’t going to get the boat.

The One Who Rode the River

Player B had a later start.

But at the beginning of the challenge, he did something unusual.

He prayed. He asked for guidance.

And guidance, he got!

He stayed calm.

He studied the currents.

He didn’t panic or rush, even though he was well behind.

He noticed the flow of the river, and had the idea to paddle toward the midpoint of the current, letting the river carry him rather than fighting it.

The moment he did that, he cruised straight to the boat, calmly overtaking the other player.

What can we see in this

There’s a lot to learn from moments like this on reality TV.

I love breaking down the life mechanics hiding inside them.

Player A was using blunt, brute force.

He had a fixed plan, and he was trying to control the outcome through sheer will.

(For what it’s worth, after giving up, he tried again and eventually did make it to the boat.

But his journey was arduous, stressful, and exhausting. It depleted him completely.)

Player B, on the other hand, was fully tapped into his intuition.

Prayer is a way of surrendering, trusting a power greater than us to guide us.

And whether you’re religious or not, it’s one of the great ways to get out of your own way.

When you pray, you drop the pressure of having to know all the answers.

You stop overthinking and forcing the ONE plan in your head. You ease up, relax, and allow yourself to be guided.

You widen your perception, and take the intelligent path instead of the path of sheer force.

The point of this story is to show you the two ways we go after our goals.

One is hustle, sheer force, control: the path we’re taught to take, the one that’s celebrated in our culture.

It’s also the one that tends to burn us out, taking the longer, more convoluted route that depletes us of the joy the journey was supposed to hold.

The other path is getting out of our own way.

When we drop the pressure of controlling the outcome, and leave it to a higher intelligence, we can ease up, relax, and receive the guidance we need to reach our goals: intelligently, efficiently, and yes, sometimes even irrationally.

This is how intuition speaks to us.

This is how our perspective widens, and doors open that we couldn’t see before.

Player A had the same opportunities as Player B.

He simply didn’t notice them.

He was too fixated on the plan already running in his mind.

Which Player Are You?

When we’re too attached to the fixed plans in our minds, we often take the longer, more arduous, more stressful path,

when a calmer, easier, more joyful one is right there, waiting to be noticed.

When we follow the path of sheer force, it’s the mind leading the way, not the intuition.

And the mind clutters our path with thoughts like:

“This is the only way.”

“I have to push as hard as I possibly can, no matter what.”

“If this path fails me, I’ve failed.”

This isn’t a diss on hard work.

It’s a diss on unnecessary suffering.

Two players. Same opportunity. Two completely different journeys.

So next time you catch yourself using sheer force, forcing something to happen your way, through a fixed plan in your mind, take a moment to pause.

Take a deep breath.

And ask for guidance.

Ask your intuition to lead.

Tell yourself that you’ll get out of the way.

Open yourself up to creative possibilities.

Instead of thinking your way through it, tap into the innate, intuitive curiosity that was always meant to guide you.

Hi, I’m Saachi!

If life feels like a chore, you’re in the right place.

It turns out the forcing is the very thing blocking the magic. The way out isn’t more hustle, it’s doing what lights you up and letting the outcomes organize around that.

Every week, I write about the science, stories, and experiments you can run to prove it to yourself. ✨

Subscribe now

Most of us struggle to achieve our goals.

And when the struggle gets hard, we quit the goal.

But what if I told you that there’s a path to your goals that, if you follow it without thinking, you will inevitably reach?

And more importantly, you’ll reach it with joy and ease instead of force, hustle, and stress?

The Big Secret

Here’s the big secret:

If you just keep showing up for what you want...
And follow your intuition...
Your goals become inevitable.

But here’s the real secret behind that secret.

You have to show up with an open mind.

Open mind = no thinking.

Why?

A non-thinking state is what lets your intuition speak to you and guide you, moment to moment.

Your intuition is the only part of you that’s connected to the intelligence of the whole universe.

And once you do that, you let the universe coordinate all the moving parts to make it happen for you.

A Story: Following the Pulls I Almost Ignored

It was October 2015. I was leaving the US for good.

My family and I had worked really hard to get me there so I could build a great career, get a great income, and live the American dream.

My parents had moved from India to Thailand for a better life, and they wanted the same, and more, for their kids.

So naturally, when I announced I wanted to move back to India to marry the love of my life (we’d met in college, he’d moved back earlier), it came as a shock.

I was terrified too. More than anyone, honestly.

I had the ambition. I was doing well in the US. I knew I could build a great income there if I stayed.

But when I looked at my options in India at the time, they were a tiny fraction of what I was making in the US.

I just knew I wanted both. To marry him and move. And to feed my ambition, land my dream job, and build a real income.

I didn’t know how. I just knew I wanted it all.

So I moved anyway, and decided to figure it out as I went.

I kept showing up. Applying for jobs. Staying open to whatever came next.

If you read my earlier post, you already know how it happened. I landed my dream job at Bain & Co within a matter of months, in the most unexpected way possible, by following a small flicker of curiosity into a vague, spammy looking website.

Despite trying to force my way in through the traditional route years earlier in the US, this time it came more effortlessly. And with a great salary, by Indian standards.

That’s the universe at work.

It’s rarely logical.

In fact, it usually isn’t. But if you follow it anyway, the dots connect in hindsight, exactly like Steve Jobs used to say.

Two years later, my salary tripled again, through a serendipitous LinkedIn message.

The same message landed in many of my colleagues’ inbox at Bain. Most ignored it.

It was for a startup that didn’t seem glamorous or sexy at the time. But I felt a pull and went for it anyway, and I was excited as hell.

That startup became a $4B unicorn. I was one of the first people on its growth team, and that one decision has shaped my career ever since.

What This Story Actually Proves

I’m just fascinated and obsessed by the life mechanics behind this.

The point of this story is to convince you, and honestly, myself too, because I forget this constantly, that we’re not out here alone, trying to conquer the world and force our goals into existence.

We’re a cell in the universe’s organism.

And a cell has to stay in communication with the rest of the organism to know what’s happening, and how things are lining up toward the goal we’re after.

That intelligence gets communicated to us through our intuition.

Our connection to the whole.

It shows up as curiosity. As the small pulls that call out to us, the ones we usually ignore and shut down immediately.

If you look back through your own life, you’ll find the same pattern.

The secret is simple.

Whatever goal you want becomes inevitable if you keep showing up and let your intuition guide you.

The universe, the extended version of you, is already working toward it. Coordinating every moving part behind the scenes.

So trust that. Trust the inner connection. And keep showing up, even when things don’t logically look aligned. They are.

The Mistake We Keep Making

When we walk toward our goals, we rely on our thinking mind instead of our intuition. It feels rational, analytical, familiar. Safe.

The Thinking Mind

The thinking mind is limited. It can’t understand the full range of possibilities around you, or how they could actually serve your goal.

When you’re thinking, you can’t hear your intuition. So you stay blocked.

When an obstacle shows up, the thinking mind spirals.

It fixates on the one path that looks closed, and blocks you from even seeing the other paths that are still wide open.

Intuition

Intuition is the opposite.

It doesn’t always seem logical, and that’s exactly why we dismiss it.

Intuition is connected to something far bigger, an infinite intelligence, the universe, whatever you want to call it.

It can see what the thinking mind simply can’t.

It calls out to you in small, easy to miss ways.

The message that shows up in your inbox out of the blue.

The phone call from a friend you weren’t expecting.

The book that gets recommended to you, out of nowhere.

The billboard you notice on your way to work that sparks an idea, and you get tingles.

It’s like following a trail of clues you get on a game board…except the clues are revealed in real time. in the ‘now.’

What Intuition Actually Does

It guides you on how to participate intelligently, as one cell working with the rest of the cells in the universe’s organism.

Showing you unexpected paths.

Getting you to your goal in a far more effortless way.

Of course it’s effortless because you’re not thinking. There’s no friction. You’re flowing. More on this in a future post. :)

The Question to Ask Instead

So next time an obstacle shows up, don’t give up on the goal.

That’s the mistake.

Convincing yourself there’s no way through is simply not true. That’s the mind taking charge.

Instead, ask the one question that actually matters.

What path is the universe trying to communicate to me right now?

Tune into what your intuition is trying to tell you. It’ll take you on the most efficient, exuberant path.

That’s the secret.

And like you, I forget it almost daily.

Which is exactly why we have to remind ourselves, over and over, every single day.

The one thing

If there’s one thing to take from this, it’s this.

Your goals are inevitable once you get your thinking out of the way and let your intuition lead.

And if you know your goals are inevitable, you can catch your breath and actually enjoy the moment you're in…

…knowing you’re well on your way to your highest potential.

Thank you for reading.

I wish you a wonderful, miraculous day.

If this resonated, I’d appreciate if you could send it to a friend who needs to hear it.

See you next time.

Hi, I’m Saachi!

If life has started to feel like a chore, you’re in the right place.

It turns out the forcing is the very thing blocking the magic. The way out isn’t more hustle, it’s doing what lights you up and letting the outcomes organize around that.

Every week, I write about the science, stories, and experiments you can run to prove it to yourself. ✨

Subscribe now

A few years ago, I did everything “right” to get into my dream job.

I still got rejected.

Years later, I got in anyway.

Almost by accident, through a door that made zero sense on paper.

I know how backwards that sounds.

But this story is going to show you exactly how getting your mind out of the way can bring a goal to life in ways trying harder never could.

The dramatic (but true) story I promised you

It was 1am on a Saturday night. Recruitment season was about to start.

I was scrolling the list of companies coming to campus when I saw it: Bain & Co.

My dream company!

I’d wanted it since I ditched pre-med back in university.

A year earlier, at USC, I did everything you’re supposed to do to get in. I got the top grades.

VP of the consulting club. Mock cases night and day. I networked forcefully and relentlessly.

I also had a massive case of imposter syndrome.

And so I second-guessing every email I wrote and overthinking every word I spoke.

I was convinced everyone around me was smarter. And constantly thinking…how can I sound less dumb?

I was working hard. But I was thinking even harder.

I applied to Bain. I didn’t get an interview.

It felt like a big blow at the time… but I mustered the courage to not give up and try again.

So I cut the “5 years plus MBA” route short and pivoted into a Masters in Engineering Management degree, hoping it would still get me there.

Which brings me back to that 1am scroll. I found Bain on the list again.

But when I looked closer…it said: Undergrad only. No master’s students.

My heart sank.

All that work, to come to this. I felt like I lost the opportunity forever.

I ended up at Deloitte instead (which turned out to be amazing), but Bain had always been the one, and I figured that door was closed for good.

Here’s where things took a turn…

Three years in, I decided to marry my college sweetheart and move to India.

The decision was intuitive, almost whimsical, which is very unlike me.

I didn’t overthink the career part. I just said this is what I want, and we’ll figure the rest out.

The funny thing about not thinking much and just taking action is that possibilities open up.

A few days before my wedding, mid-move, I job hunted late one night. Just to see what existed in India.

Bain’s website was a clear no, unless you came through the traditional IIT/IIM pipeline (Indian premier institutions).

I was neither.

But I stumbled onto a vague site meant for IIM students, which looked like spam. I registered anyway and pretended to be one of them.

Scrolling, playfully, one listing stood out. It was minimal, vague, and all it said was top-tier consulting, contact this person.

Every rational part of me said skip it… “this is a waste of time”.

But there was this small flicker of curiosity that said just do it.

I applied.

It led to an interview with Bain & Co, my actual dream company.

I got through the rounds.

It was the very first year Bain India accepted anyone laterally, from outside their traditional pipeline.

That’s how I got in.

What this actually taught me

Like I said, this might sound like a strange way to land a job.

But here’s the point.

Thinking blocks possibilities.

It’s the noise that gets in between what we already know to do and actually doing it.

When we clear the unnecessary thinking out of the way, the friction between idea and action, getting to our goals stops feeling like a fight.

It starts to feel inevitable.

Even though the path may look irrational (as you saw from my Bain story), if you follow the idea to action without friction, it can lead you there in miraculous ways.

This is simple, but it’s not easy, because realizing it’s the mind that’s the problem might be the hardest thing we ever learn.

At the same time, we can drop it in an instant!

We can set the baggage down and become open to possibilities the mind, on its own, would never have offered us.

What’s really going on here

This is what it looks like to get out of your own way.

Notice where you’re currently stuck on a goal…

You’re probably overthinking it.

Trying to control the outcome.

Micro-assessing daily whether progress is happening.

Second-guessing every move.

Constantly thinking about how you’re not cut out for it…

Then convincing yourself you are cut out of it and you’ll prove it…

All this thinking isn’t just exhausting. It’s also completely blocking the path to your goal!

Now notice a goal where you’ve actually made progress lately…

It’s probably not your big, serious goal.

It’s the thing you let yourself enjoy without thinking. Maybe it’s a hobby?

Padel. Dance class. Art?

For me, it’s my gym training!

That’s not a coincidence.

In the areas where we show up playfully, without judging every move, we error-correct naturally.

There’s no friction between the idea and the action, so we just... flow.

So here’s what I want you to try

Pick one goal you’re stuck on.

Then notice how much thinking you’re doing around it.

Are you trying to control the outcome?

Doubting or second-guessing every action?

Shutting down your most creative, whimsical ideas because they’re stupid?

That’s your mind, standing in the doorway.

I’ve also been experimenting with ways of testing this on smaller goals and it’s fascinating!

When we build proof it works for our smaller goals, we can then apply it to our bigger goals.

If you want to learn more, comment CURIOUS below so I can keep that in mind when writing my future posts.

And make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it!

As always, thank you for reading. If this landed for you, send it to a friend who might need to hear it too.

Have a great day!

Hi, I’m Saachi!

If life feels like a chore, like you’re constantly uneasy waiting to achieve something, you’re in the right place.

It turns out this forcing is the very thing blocking the magic.

Every week, I write about the science, stories, and experiments you can run to prove it to yourself. ✨

Subscribe now

A couple of years ago, I let myself binge YouTube for days on something my mind kept calling the biggest waste of time.

And it turned into one of the most effortless transformations of my life.

I know how silly that sounds. But this small, low-risk story is going to show you exactly how following your intuition can bring any of your goals to life...

especially the lower-risk ones you’re willing to let go of, so you can build the proof to do the same on your big life goals.

The silly little story I promised you

Dressing well has always been one of my goals. I know, it sounds trivial. Stay with me though, because the size of the goal is the whole point.

A couple of years ago, I was at my parents’ place for summer break with my kids. I was bored of my wardrobe and wanting to refresh how I looked.

Over the years I’d picked up all kinds of clothes impulsively while shopping, and a lot of them didn’t go together at all.

My goal was simple: cut the junk and find a smart capsule wardrobe style that felt easy and second nature. But how do you even start?

A little before this, I’d started journaling and following the curiosity experiment, jotting down every idea and thought without judgment into my notes app.

(If you want to start there, here’s last week’s post —>)

So I set the intention to dress better. And one day, in my notes, I wrote down a single small idea: check out capsule wardrobes on YouTube.

That’s how I found Lydia Tomlinson’s channel.

It seemed like a light bulb moment and I followed the itch.

From there, I gave myself a free pass to binge. Endlessly. For days.

I took screenshots. I started pairing clothes from my wardrobe every single day to fit this style. I went deep.

This was something I would never have let myself consciously do before, because my mind would have called it the biggest waste of time.

But it was an experiment, and I had a free pass, so I went with it.

And boy, was it fun.

From there it got effortless. I experimented daily with capsule pairings. I culled my wardrobe by 50%.

I kept only the pieces that fit my new style, and it improved how I looked dramatically. Family members started complimenting me. So did the mothers at my daughters’ school.

I went so deep, so freely, that it changed my style forever.

I genuinely don’t know how I’d go back to the way I used to dress. I can barely even remember what that was.

What this actually taught me

Like I said, this story might sound silly and pointless.

But here’s the point:

Following your intuition, especially on your smaller, lower-risk goals, is the easiest way to feel how effortless achieving a goal can actually be.

It only asks one thing of you.

Permission.

Permission to follow freely, without judgment, second-guessing, or doubt, no matter how illogical it sounds.

Permission to go deep even while your mind keeps insisting you’re wasting time, get back to work.

That’s exactly why it works so well on the lighter, smaller goals first.

They’re safe enough to let go of. But the more you do this, the more you’ll watch your goals arrive in your life almost effortlessly.

Don’t get me wrong, you are participating. You are doing the work. It just feels effortless, because there’s no friction between thought and action.

What’s really going on here

This is what walking the path of alignment looks like.

The more you let your intuition speak freely, the louder it gets.

The more you hear it, the more reassurance you get that yes, this is what you actually want. And then you follow it.

This is the path to discovering your ‘personal legend,’ as Paulo Coelho would say, and living up to your highest potential.

Think of your intuition as an intelligent guidance system that’s quietly coordinating with the universe to bring your goals to life.

The guidance won’t always make sense at the moment.

But when you follow it anyway, you participate intelligently, and you reach your goals effortlessly.

That’s the magic: when you do what lights you up, led by your intuition, outcomes start to organize around you.

Your free pass for this week

So this week, we take the curiosity experiment one step further.

First, a quick word on last week. We ran a 7 day experiment just to begin hearing what our intuition wanted to say, without judgment, without shutting it down.

What did you come up with? Did anything surprise you? I absolutely love this experiment, and I still do it daily.

Here’s the quick refresher (skip if you’ve read it):

Keep a fresh notes page open on your phone, called the Curiosity Experiment.

Or carry a small notebook and pen in your pocket.

Every time a thought or idea comes, no matter what it is, write it down without judgment or commentary. That’s the key.

Catch it like a sneaky journalist following your intuition around.

This week, we go further. I want you to follow an idea - any one idea.

Allow yourself to follow it as deeply as your intuition wants you to, exactly like you saw in my capsule wardrobe story.

The steps are simple:

• Take one idea or thought from your notebook this week.

• Ask yourself: what’s the next small step I could take to explore it?

• Then give yourself the free pass to just do it. Endlessly, no time limit. Let it consume you, no matter how deep you want to go.

• Explore it without judgment, and see where it takes you.

• Have fun with it! It’s a free pass, after all.

This dive might last a day. It might last months.

Don’t force it. When your curiosity moves on, move on.

You got what you came for. The only rule: don’t question it.

Don’t ask ‘what’s the point.’ It’s a free pass.

When you do this freely, you may find a smaller goal begin to arrive in your life effortlessly, exactly like my capsule wardrobe.

You won’t always know in the moment why you’re going so deep. But at some point, the dots connect.

And when they do, document it. That’s how we build proof that this magic is real.

If you want to go deeper, or you have questions about the experiment, I’d love to hear from you. Comment ‘EXPERIMENT’ below and I’ll reach out personally to check in.

This is a big step in learning how to live with this magic! I wish you all the best.

Hi, I’m Saachi!

If your life and the tasks in it feel like a chore (as they do for me at times), you’ve forgotten the point.

We think we should do things to control the outcome. But when we do what lights us up, outcomes organize around us.

Subscribe for weekly reads on how to self-experiment with this magic and build the proof for yourself.

Subscribe now

Do your mornings feel heavy?

You have to get up, show up, and perform again. Pretend to care about things that stopped meaning anything to you a long time ago.

Part of you doesn’t want to. But the bills are real, so you suck it up and you go.

You tell yourself it’s worth it for the weekend, the vacation, the little pleasures the paycheck buys. For a while, that justification worked. Lately, it isn’t working…

I lived in that for years. Until the day it all came out of me at once, in a one on one with my boss, the tears just exploding out for no reason I could name.

Nothing was wrong. And yet everything in me was saying something was very wrong.

That feeling has a name. It’s called misalignment.

It’s what happens when you force yourself to do something for reasons that have nothing to do with actually wanting to.

And it’s not fear.

Fear is when you want something, push through the nerves, and feel alive on the other side. Misalignment is the opposite. You force yourself to show up, and even after, you still feel terrible.

Does that sound like where you are right now?

The only exit you can see

So you’re exhausted from forcing it. And the only way out your mind offers is to quit. Walk away. Go do something completely different.

But that feels enormous.

What would I even do instead?
How would I know it would work?
What about the money holding my whole life together?

So you don’t move. You stay stuck, telling yourself this is just how life is.

It might not be the job

I know, because I picked the dramatic door myself.

Right after that day with my boss, I quit. Then I threw myself into one venture after another, thinking the missing piece was passion.

If I was truly passionate about it, I’d make it work. Each one felt exciting for a while. And each one, in time, left me feeling exactly the way I had in the job I walked away from.

The heaviness had followed me everywhere.

That’s when I realized, maybe it wasn’t the job, but something I was doing in all of them.

Here’s the tell. If you once loved this job before it slowly turned into a chore, the job probably isn’t the issue.

For me, it wasn’t the job. It was the way I was showing up in it.

(Sometimes quitting really is the aligned move, when something real has been calling you and you’ve buried it because the job feels safer. If that’s you, you already feel it. But many times, quitting feels like the only option when the truth is we don’t know what other options are there)

So how was I showing up at the job?

Think about how you actually spend your days at work.

Present it this way. Soften your opinion so it gets approved. Sound smart in the meeting.

Take on projects that bolster your case for a promotion. Run the same process everyone runs: benchmark, pull the best practices, optimize, repeat.

That constant performing, doing all of it to control the outcome, is the misalignment.

And underneath it is a voice you’ve been talking over for years. Call it curiosity. Call it intuition.

It’s the pull that tells you what you’re drawn to, the thing that gives you those little tingles when something truly interests you.

It’s those creative ideas that show up at work, the ones we shut down the moment they appear because they don’t sound logical enough, or because we’re scared they’ll make us look dumb.

When you ignore that voice and perform for the outcome, work feels like a chore.

Follow it instead, and the very same work starts to feel alive.

A new angle on a campaign. An idea out of nowhere. A spark you actually want to chase.

This is the whole shift.

You don’t have to quit to feel that. You just have to start listening.

Now you might be wondering: if these ideas seem illogical, or might make me look dumb, how am I ever supposed to act on them?

Intuition feels illogical because your rational mind can’t see the whole picture. It catches connections your logic misses. That’s exactly why trusting it feels risky at first. But put it into practice, and you start to see doors opening… illogically :) More on this in next week’s newsletter!

This week, you don’t have to act on anything at all. You just have to start listening.

7 Days of Curiosity

So before we meet again next week, I want you to try an easy experiment. It’s the simplest way I’ve found to start hearing your intuition again.

Open a new note on your phone notes app. Or if you like writing with pen and paper, keep a small pocket notebook.

Every morning, write today’s date. This quick action helps you remember the experiment daily.

For the next 7 days, write down every idea or thought your brain throws at you, however random or wild or dumb it seems.

The sudden urge to understand photosynthesis. An ad that caught you for a reason you can’t name.

Don’t make any of it connect to your job or your goals. Just catch it as it comes.

One rule: no commentary.
No “this is pointless,” no “that would never work.” You’re a journalist on assignment. So record, don’t judge.

This is a record of creative thoughts and ideas that come to you without the imminent judgement or commentary that follows.

Because those out-of-nowhere ideas are a way of how your intuition speaks to you.

A few real captures from mine, exactly as messy as they came:

• Capsule wardrobe, how to dress well without thinking about it. Follow LT on YouTube.

• The difference between misalignment and fear. How do you actually tell them apart? Go through old journal entries.

• Look up photosynthesis and that quantum possibilities experiment. So cool.

• That ad concept I came across yesterday on Instagram, could any of it work for this startup?

• Read Sugarman’s book on advertising. Old school, all about psychology.

• Richard Claremont’s intuitive painting course. Art sounds exciting to me for the first time! Buy it and try it.

• Check out Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks!

Do it for seven days. Just capture. Then read them back the same way you collected them, as the journalist, with no judgment.

This week is only about listening. The whole point is to let that inner voice speak freely again, without getting shunned the moment it does.

The more we let it speak, the stronger it grows. And slowly, it comes back into command.

That’s how we start living to our highest potential, joyfully and vibrantly, in every moment.

Next week, we take this experiment a bit further, and we start following our intuition.

You might be stunned by how much spark is hiding in the exact place that’s felt like a chore.

So, are you starting this week?
All you need is a note open on your phone and an open mind.
Comment below so I can follow your journey! I’ll be right here walking it with you. See you next week! :)

Most of us believe forcing a plan against our will is the way to achieve, even when our heart isn’t in it. We power through the day doing what we should, for goals we think we should want.

“I don’t want to do this, but I have to if I want to win.”

“No pain, no gain. This is just what it takes.”

We tell ourselves it’ll all be worth it someday, that this is what being a responsible adult takes.

But what if it couldn’t be further from the truth?

Watch how life actually unfolds and you’ll see it works the opposite way.

Clinging to fixed plans blocks the magic, the possibilities waiting to open up in your life.

So if your life feels like a chore, what you’re doing isn’t working.

Life unfolds miraculously when you participate in sync

We do things we think we should in order to control outcomes.

But when we follow our heart, the outcomes organize themselves around what we do.

Here’s why. Contrary to what we believe, we aren’t separate from this universe. We are a cell in the universe organism, and the universe is an extension of us.

Our rational mind can’t see the whole. It only sees our small perspective as a single cell, so it keeps forcing us to choose options that don’t work in sync with the larger organism.

But we have a magical connection to that organism, accessible in every moment. It’s just not as loud or as rational as our mind. This is our intuition. Call it curiosity, the pull, the heart.

It’s an intelligent guidance system that shows us how to act in sync with the unfolding of reality. Just as the cells in our heart and brain know what to do to keep the whole body alive and thriving, so do we, if we’d just stop thinking and getting in the way.

This isn’t a diss on hard work, just the opposite.

Forcing a fixed path assumes it’s the only way, so you blind yourself to the doors swinging open right next to you.

Following the pull is how you live out your personal legend!

The proof

I love spotting these stories, in the things I read, in the lives of others, in nature. I came across one earlier this year that stuck with me.

Alysa Liu won the Olympic gold medal in figure skating this February in Milan.

Her story is interesting and one where she actively switches from force to pull.

Growing up, she had a plan that seemed to be working. She became the youngest U.S. figure skating champion at 13. She made the Beijing Olympics at 16.

Then she quit.

In April 2022, she announced she was retiring to focus on her mental health and just be a normal teenager. For two years, she wasn’t a skater. She went to UCLA. She hiked to Everest base camp. She lived.

Then something pulled her back.

When she returned, she returned on the condition to do it her way.

The halo hair. The “smiley” piercing. The Lady Gaga programs. She ate what she wanted, wore what she wanted, skated how she wanted. She said her only goal that day wasn’t to win, it was to do programs she loved.

She won gold in Milan. The first American woman to win the individual title in 24 years.

For years she’d believed, like most of us do, that becoming a gold medalist required forcing a fixed diet, a fixed look, a fixed routine.

“I don’t want to do it, but I should if I want to win.”

That wasn’t true.

If your heart says otherwise, follow it. Let those possibilities open up. When you follow your heart, you’re all in. You’re joyful. And you participate intelligently in the universe.

Now, you may be thinking this is a nice story, but what about all the others who followed their heart and weren’t as lucky?

We don’t know everyone’s story. But you can look into yours and find your own proof.

The way I landed my dream job, found the love of my life, and got so many other things I’ve wanted, all happened through what we call “luck.”

But luck is actually what happens when you allow possibilities to stay open and you participate with them intelligently.

Usually our rational mind says no to the very things our intuition nudges us toward. Call that person. Click on that website. Just apply to this job even if the page looks vague and silly (that was my case). And so we block the possibilities before they can open. We ignore the nudge, call it illogical, tell ourselves it will never work.

You’ve already lived this proof.

Find your own proof

So go back through your life and find the serendipitous moments that just worked out. Maybe it was a job you landed. Maybe it was how you met your partner, or how a trip somehow came together perfectly.

Then notice the pattern in how you were acting. Were you forcing, or were you flowing?

Were you gripping a fixed plan, stressed and anxious or were you playful and open?

I think you’ll find that in the lucky, serendipitous moments, you took a chance. You followed your heart, didn’t overthink it, and just went for it…and things worked out.

Sometimes you participated more, sometimes less. But you participated intelligently. You let the sync of the universe work through you.

The reminder

If you’re forcing your way through life, you’re misaligned. I was too, and still am at times.

So remind yourself, over and over: if life feels like a chore, what you’re doing won’t work, at least not for the reasons you’re doing it for.

The great news: when you follow your heart and lead with joy, that is how you get the outcomes you want too.

Follow the pull, the curiosity, the intuition. Then watch the miracles show up.

Joy is the path, not the reward!

Curious about experimenting with this in your own life? Comment below so I can share the life experiments I've been running!

This week’s reminder

Most of us feel like something is wrong with us if we have multiple interests.

If you’re someone who constantly takes up new things, goes deep, and then abandons them… chances are you were told you’ll never be successful.

That without discipline you’ll waste away your talents, or that you just don’t have what it takes to succeed.

In this day and age, unless you master one thing and make a socially celebrated income from it, it doesn’t count as success. So we tend to postpone or ignore our multiple interests and force one direction to become our vocation, our calling in life.

I did that.

It turns out that if you’re like me, you’re not alone. And more importantly, you’re not a failure!

I recently read Barbara Sher’s Refuse to Choose!, and that book helped me change my perspective. If you’re pulled in many directions, going deep and then swerving, Barbara’s insight is that you already got what you came for from that project.

The intent was never to go all the way. That one idea is so refreshing.

If you got what you came for, and every interest doesn’t need to be a five-year career plan, that’s a relief.

And more importantly, it becomes a magical puzzle to follow towards discovering your personal legend (as Paulo Coelho would say).

Your curiosity and intuition are carrying you through these interests to discover something new about yourself, to learn something that will make sense later when all the dots connect.

This is you becoming the full, uninhibited expression of life you were meant to be!

So trust your intuition, follow your curiosity, and do it all. Prioritize, sequence, time-cap… do what you must, but follow it all. It’s there for a reason.

The dots will all connect in hindsight!

Moment of wonder

I recently read the biography of Leonardo da Vinci. Turns out he was a “scanner,” as Barbara would say, a man of multiple interests, plenty of abandoned ones too, who followed his curiosity in an age where that was celebrated.

His notebooks are what struck me!

From birds to flying machines, to human anatomy, to using ‘fire mirrors’ for welding, to water, light, and the movement of muscles, he let his curiosity wander, go deep, and switch freely.

He was a polymath of the first order: artist, engineer, anatomist, inventor, scientist. How exciting!

He gave the world some of its most iconic paintings, but he let his whole life unfold uninhibitedly, and that’s something we can all learn from.

Follow your curiosity even when it wanders onto the most unconnected things. Go deep where you’re called, then switch. You never know how the dots will connect for you.

Walk the path of your own personal legend.

This week’s reminder

Most of us think curiosity is a distraction. Something to ignore or park for later while we focus on the responsible thing. We don’t trust it because we can’t see the whole picture yet. We don’t know how this small inclination connects to what we truly want.

But curiosity is how our intuition speaks to us. It is the inner voice that connects us to everything around us and guides us to participate intelligently in the unfolding of life. It shows us a path more intelligent than what our limited minds can rationalize or our senses can perceive.

That is why it feels like a distraction. But it isn’t. It is the way.

Follow your curiosity and you build luck. Desires come into reality. Life becomes miraculous.

Moment of wonder

Yesterday I attended a talk by Nobel laureate Klaus von Klitzing, who won the 1985 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Quantum Hall Effect.

It was phenomenal to see his mind at work. But what struck me was how he made this beautiful discovery.

At 2am on the night of February 4th 1980, while running experiments on a completely ordinary silicon transistor, Klaus noticed something unexpected in his data. A tiny anomaly. A discrepancy so small that every other scientist who saw the same results dismissed it entirely.

But something in him pushed him to look closer. To ask why.

That small act of curiosity, the one everyone else ignored, led to one of the most significant discoveries in physics and a Nobel Prize.

Curiosity is not the distraction. It’s the path.

If you’re in a constant swirl of overthinking, know that there’s a way out and a much more blissful, peaceful way to live. Overthinking makes us feel heavy, overwhelmed, anxious, like everything we’re doing is a chore.

If you’re feeling any of this, know that overthinking is at the root of it.

“Thinking is the root cause of suffering” - Joseph Nyugen

Beyond the unpleasant feelings, overthinking is detrimental to our life because it blocks intuition and leads us to take actions that cause more overthinking.

It’s a deadly spiral.

Anxiety is what happens when you stop listening to yourself

We overthink because we are out of alignment. We are taking actions that we don’t actually want to take…we feel we “should” be doing things instead of wanting to do them out of love and inspiration.

And while you may understand this logically, you may be wondering, “What is it that I really want to do?”

The fog has an answer hidden inside it

Many times, we need to discover that answer because it’s not always clear. It’s lost in the fog of overthinking that has surrounded us for so long.

So the first step to coming out of overthinking and all the negative feelings that come with it is to get clarity on what it is that we truly desire.

Empty your cup to receive guidance

If you are overthinking, here is a great way to get out of it and get clarity.

Every time you catch yourself overthinking, journal.

Write out what you’re thinking word-for-word without editing. Let it all out - your whole stream of consciousness if you will. Don’t think about how it sounds or what you’re even saying. Don’t try to limit it or phrase it in a particular way. Don’t judge it. There is no right or wrong…

It doesn’t matter if you write a sentence or 2000. Just write out anything and everything your mind is saying in that moment. It could be multiple topics or just one thing you’re obsessing over…it doesn’t matter!

Once you let it all out in your journal, you should feel relief or some sense of release…It’s the feeling you get when you’ve vented out everything that’s on your mind. If more is coming, keep writing…There’s no right or wrong! You’ll know when you’re done.

The question that lets your intuition speak

When you’re done writing what you’re thinking, you can ask a question. A big one for me was to understand what I wanted to do professionally…or rather to understand what I wanted to dedicate my life to…my vocation.

Ask and write out the question

“What would I truly want to do if I had unlimited money, success, fame, and all my material desires met?

What would I do just because it makes me happy, curious, or inspired?”

While this is a big question to answer…you could use this process for any question, big or small, that you seek clarity on.

Get out of your mind and transcribe your thoughts

Once you write the question, start writing whatever comes to your mind, similar to the previous exercise. No editing, no judgement, no analysis…just free flow whatever comes to your mind.

If you feel like your mind is blank and no words are coming out, that’s okay! Write that out!

Don’t force an answer. Just know that the answer will come to you eventually, if not in that moment. Do this exercise as if you’re an independent transcriber just writing out whatever is on your mind. Move on and carry on with your day.

And the next time you’re overthinking (which could just be an hour later), repeat the same exercise.

How to tap into your intuition

What I’ve noticed is when you ask a question this way, you will receive an answer on paper.

This is your intuition answering your questions. This is what you truly want.

It may not come out the first time you write…sometimes it will…regardless, if you repeat this exercise every time you overthink…the answers will come and they will change your life, if you allow them to.

After you receive the answer, ask yourself, “How do you feel about this answer?”

Writing about how you feel is a sure shot way to know whether that is what you truly want to do.

Do you feel inspired, lighter, excited, or joyful?

Don’t let fear or judgement stop you here. Fear and judgement will likely pop up right about now.

Fear is not a stop sign

But fear and judgement are not indicators of not doing something. Fear and judgement pop up all the time when we go into the unknown. They are a companion to being courageous and in alignment so don’t let them deter you.

So let’s try it…Assuming everything you feared and judged was taken care of, what is it you truly want to do?

Follow that path to clear the fog…

As I woke up today I’ve been itching to express this. It’s almost like I got an epiphany.

I’ve been searching for a deeper purpose in life.

First through startups, money, success... then through art...

maybe if I completely removed external validation and people pleasing from my life, that gives me purpose and fulfillment to show up everyday.

But I’ve realized what is even more powerful, beautiful, and ironically simple is the act of service.

Service is a form of unconditional love.

The act of taking action with unconditional love whether for the work itself (as in art), yourself, or others.

No strings attached, not doing it for reasons other than the service itself.

And it is that intent in all our actions that gives us satiating purpose in life.

So what is this act of service?

The act of doing things for the sake of them with full sincerity. Even if secondary goals are attached... they are, well, secondary.

For instance, money is a goal for most of us…but money isn’t an action, the action itself is something else.

Let’s say you want to start a social media channel.

Sure, you can create a channel and follow trends to create content others would like to hear... but if done only for the purpose of follower-ship, it becomes a conditional goal.

It’s only worth it when you have followers. So when the hype is over, or when things get shaky, so does your purpose.

If the conditions aren’t met, then what are you even doing daily? If progress is slow or takes time, you are filled with doubt.

The moment we act out of service for secondary goals, money, success, fame…

not only do we not perform our best actions, we are distracted, cloudy, and unable to make the most of opportunities in the present moment.

We start living in the mind, separated, anxious, and always fighting… instead of integrated with the universe, living in flow.

We stay unfulfilled, drained, exhausted.

Wondering why we don’t have the motivation or discipline to just grind it through.

My personal examples.

I started my hair care brand a few years ago because I wanted to create beautiful, clean products for curly haired women, to inspire them to learn how to style their hair and not feel guilty about it.

I cared deeply for this act of service... but not all my actions supported this service.

It became about growth, scaling, costs, and how I can make this into a viable income.

Let’s first test the viability and then we can work on service.

This felt exhausting, uninspiring, and frankly I lost interest.

Since then, I’ve been searching and searching…

Starting up in various fields, exploring new interests, and wondering why it isn’t enough…

What am I searching for?

I noticed a pattern…

I started something out of love, to serve fully…but very shortly after, it became all about secondary goals - money, fame, and ‘success.’

Even when I first began my writing journey on another platform, I realized I’m falling for the same trap…

Is this a prison of success I’m building where I’m constantly running the hamster wheel?

It was becoming about lead magnets, leads, followers, subscribers.

Or is it about the act of unconditional service, the act of giving fully to the mission, first.

Then comes money, and other things.

In fact it is through this relentless search for meaning, fulfillment, and joy that I decided to publish my journal as notes to self.

To explore human thought patterns and emotions out loud and make sense of them, to share what it means to live joyfully, vibrantly daily.

The core of it is to get clarity on things in life for me first... and then I share it out of love, unconditionally. It’s to serve authenticity.

To be a true conduit for what wants to be released into the world, not to mould, shape, and grow followers.

Can you do things just for money? Can that be a sincere intent?

Because money is currency for exchange of value, it can’t be a pure act of service.

The exchange of value can be the pure act of service... but money, fame, followers, all that is secondary. And can come as a byproduct of devoted service.

Even if you’re a stock or crypto trader directly dealing with money… building a bot, building judgement and intuition, the service here is to master the craft.

Doing my best with sincerity is different from doing it for money.

So really, what I’ve been searching for all along...

Is finding an act of service. An act of unconditional love to commit to.

Where can I show up fully, daily, as an act of devotion, where mastery is inevitable... and money, success, and fame perhaps natural byproducts.

That is perhaps what ikigai is :) Finally understood it.

But can we scale service?

I don’t think we necessarily demonize money.

Money is essential to survive, thrive, and actually provide the best service we can.

But it still comes down to taking actions that protect the act of service, even when we think about scaling.

For instance, if I’m adding clients to my consulting business, while it can be for growth, I’m doing so in a way that doesn’t compromise my sincerity for each client I do get.

The intent is preserved. The act of service is still devotional.

At an older gig, my role was to grow the business and run experiments that bring in more revenue.

So my act of service was to serve them with sincerity and do my job.

I’m not only doing it to get paid. That is secondary.

So even when we do things for money, we still have the option to give fully when we act, in service of why we are getting the money.

Putting the emphasis on money, security, success first, and then wanting to go all in is where we lose this devotion.

Because that is no longer an act of service.

Note to self

Where I am involved and committed, I give fully with sincerity. I devote to the service. I follow the nudges and see where life takes me.

Yes, I want money, success, and fame... but as byproducts, by devoting to the actions I’m already involved in (or want to get involved in).

Abundance flows to those who act in abundance.

Things work out when you’re all in, plugged into the present moment, following the path laid out for you, led by your intuition.

When we give fully, we live a deeply fulfilling life that’s not tethered to external metrics out of our hands.

If I don’t enjoy something and I have the choice, I leave it and choose something else, even if it’s for money.

But I act with sincerity.

Does this resonate? How do you find meaning in life?

Growing up, we have learned to always judge an action before taking it.

When we get an idea or a whiff of curiosity, we evaluate it against our long-term goals, the fixed plans in our heads, and view the 10-steps-ahead version…the potential finished version…and then most times, decide it doesn’t fit and move on with inaction.

For the longest time, I thought this was the right way to live.

It’s a productive way to live…

one where we (think we) prioritize our goals, our ambition.

So even whenever I went for a walk, commuted to work, or found 10 idle minutes in the day, I optimized for productivity.

I used to plug in my AirPods and put on a podcast about growing businesses.

I’ve realized that this way of life, taught and celebrated as the right way, is actually draining.

It pulls us out of sync with who we truly are, what we want to do, and ironically limits the life we live.

Why?

The inner GPS, or our curiosity, is what guides us intelligently in this universe.

Intuition: the intelligent cosmic connection

As a subprocess in this meticulously interconnected, enormous process that is the universe, our limited minds are an unintelligent tool to guide us.

The thinking mind only recycles old experiences in new ways, often in ways that are intended to protect us or keep us safe.

The inner GPS, on the other hand, call it intuition, or the pull of curiosity, actually guides us on how to participate intelligently in the present unfolding of reality.

The nudges of curiosity don’t make sense in the moment to our logical minds…but they are connected to the larger process, which we may or may not understand later.

Following our inner GPS is how we’re meant to live.

Children know this

Children do it.

My kids know what to do without thinking.

They get an idea, they take action. Or at least they want to…and these days I’m trying not to limit them (which is usually my autopilot response).

In the name of ‘good behavior’ or moulding to social norms, we as parents (and the larger society) stifle this inner voice by the time the kids have grown up.

More luck, more magic

So when we follow our inner GPS, we can follow the swings and larger movements of life. We can find more serendipitous moments, moments of luck, things falling into place.

It keeps us open and receptive to how reality is unfolding in the present moment and guides us on the most effective and exuberant path to our goals.

Our goals, the ones we truly desire, and our inner GPS come from the same source.

Think about why you want certain things…or why you're curious about some things over others. There's rarely a logical reason. It just is.

So life isn’t about end goals.

Those are inevitable if we get out of the way (i.e. stop thinking) and follow our inner GPS.

Then, we can relax and actually enjoy the journey.

Soak in full moments of aliveness, of expanded awareness… noticing the beautiful intricacies of life and living in marvel.

Whether it is the beautiful shades of the sky, the sway of leaves on a windy day, or what our children are really trying to tell us with uncontained excitement.

We can truly live those moments without concern about our end goals.

We can fully immerse ourselves in the moment we are in now.

The goals will happen…

and we will live an exuberant, beautiful, and adventurous journey when we follow our inner GPS, our personal, cosmic connection to the universe.

Sadhguru, the Indian mystic and yogi, talks about the difference between being goal oriented and being life oriented.

In one you go all out for a particular goal. Focused. Almost ignoring other aspects of life.

In the other, you live with full intensity in every moment. Participating fully. Whether that moment logically aligns with your goals or not.

What’s fascinating is that…

The goals and the path to them come from the same source. So by living fully in every moment, we are actually living the path. That is the magic.

It is when we try to force a fixed, focused plan in our minds onto reality that’s when we suffer. That’s when we don’t live fully. That’s when we think this narrow focus and the suffering it requires is a necessity to achieve our goals.

Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not.

I get stuck on the bridge

But here’s what I notice in myself. I get an idea I’m genuinely excited about. And instead of acting on it, I delay, because it doesn’t fit the fixed plan I already have in my head. I overthink. I try to force my limited mental plan instead of tapping into what the universe is actually offering me at that moment.

I never close the gap between intent and action. I get stuck on the bridge.

Closing the gap

Bruce Lee, the brilliant martial artist and philosopher, talks about exactly this. When you close the gap between intent and action, you achieve so much more in life.

This means acting on our intuition and introducing some spontaneity in our lives but also we need to work on our subconscious programming. So that how we truly want to act…is how we actually act.

When we act, we are fully present tapping into our intuition…or when we don’t have a choice, we have programmed our subconscious or autopilot enough to make decisions on our behalf that are the best fit actions in the moment.

Intuition is the universe talking

The way we live fully in every moment, and not just for our goals, is to let intuition guide. You get an idea → you act.

Even if it’s an imperfect or small action without letting doubt, fear, or thinking convince you otherwise.

And our intuition?

It is the intelligence that connects us to the whole universe.

Itzhak Bentov, a fascinating scientist, inventor and mystic who studied consciousness, says the universe is holographic, each part holds a connection to the whole.

That information is accessed in relaxed, meditative states. But it’s also accessed through intuition…when the mind is still.

And how does the mind stay still in daily life?

When we’re immersed in action. Fully engaged. Not thinking about the future or how the outcome will be. Just taking action.

There’s beauty in simplicity.

My note to self

So my note to self and to whoever is here is this:

Move from goal orientedness to life orientedness.

Stop forcing a path you believe is required for your goals…and start participating fully in every present moment.

Make quick decisions and actions as a means to live fully.

The dots will connect later. They always do.

You don’t need to worry about reaching your goals.

Life force is intelligent. It will find its way. And it’s guiding you through your intuition, towards your goals.

Stop getting stuck on the bridge.

When I first came across it, I was skeptical. It sounds a bit defeatist… as if we need to be ‘guided’ and ‘rescued.’ It’s a blow to the ego.

But through my observations and research, I’ve realized that this very much lines up with how reality works. And things can start falling into place more effortlessly if we learn to ‘get out of the way.’

Let’s start by understanding some fundamental concepts…

We are not separate from the universe

What if the idea of “me vs the world” is actually a misunderstanding of the system we’re in? It’s a mental construct not a reality.

We usually believe it’s me against everything else. But in reality, we’re a drop in this magnificent ocean that is the universe. We are not separate from the universe. We are a cell in this infinite organism.

We are literally made of recycled bits of the universe

We are made of ancient elements the universe has been recycling since the beginning of time.

This means:

• The atoms in your body existed long before you did.

• They will exist long after you’re gone.

We are a temporary arrangement of something much bigger.

‘I’ is a process

No organism survives independently. We exist in the background of our environment, not separate from it.

Just as a cell outside the organism doesn’t exist. Independence doesn’t actually exist in nature.

We are in continuous interchange with our environment:

• Every time you breathe, you exchange air with the outside.

• Every time you eat, you incorporate the environment into yourself.

• In fact, your cells in your skin (the supposed boundary that separates us from the world) is a living membrane, constantly shedding cells, exchanging moisture, heat, and responding to the world around it.

• And the more closely you look, the more these “boundaries” dissolve… they’re not lines at all, but ongoing processes.

In the same way: If you remove a human from the universe, it doesn’t exist.

So we are a process in this universe.

The idea of “I” is a mental construct

The idea of “I” or the self feels very real. But it’s not a hard boundary in reality.

It’s a mental construct: Something the mind creates to categorize the process we show up as. And because of constant association, it feels solid.

But it’s not as fixed or separate as we think.

There is a greater intelligence beyond our thinking mind

Once we understand that we’re part of the universe, the next step is realizing how this universe-organism functions.

There is an intelligence at work that exists beyond our conscious thinking mind.

An intelligence that exists in everything that is the universe. Whether we accept it or not, it guides us daily, keeps everything functioning with minimal conscious effort.

This intelligence is what:

• Grows us from a single embryonic cell into a human being

• Digests food

• Heals our body when we’re ill

• Coordinates all our muscles, organs, and cells for all our activities like talking

It’s what allows:

• A child to learn how to crawl, walk, and eat

• Seeds to know how to sprout and grow

• An apple tree to grow apples… not bananas (there are clear goals with this intelligence. More on this in another post…)

This intelligence is undeniable. And it does not come from our thinking mind. This intelligence isn’t rigid or hard-coded either. It’s adaptive.

Whether you eat an apple or you eat something completely new, your body figures out what to do. It learns on the go. It adjusts in real time.

Life runs on this intelligence

Life runs on this greater intelligence. In Zen, acting in alignment with it is called Wu Wei or effortless action. When we move this way, we’re not pushing against life, we’re moving with it.

The universe has a way of unfolding. It keeps moving, finding paths forward…

And since we’re part of this same system, this is how we function too.

How We Get in the Way of Our Goals

So how does this all connect to us ‘getting in the way’ of this greater intelligence?

You already know what to do

Our connection to this universe-organism shows up as intuition. It shows up as nudges of curiosity or a sense of what feels right or aligned.

These nudges guide us toward our goals …even when our thoughts and emotions disagree!

If we are open and receptive to what’s actually happening in the present moment (vs. being stuck in our thoughts), we can notice many openings for us to flow towards. It’s this behind-the-scenes precise coordination of the whole that’s truly remarkable.

However, we usually miss these nudges! Because we prioritize our thoughts, emotions, and the rigid plan in our heads.

The problem: we over-prioritize the thinking mind

Instead of following intuition, we default to thinking.

This is because intuition isn’t always logical and often leads to uncertainty…which triggers fear and the reaction to stick to what we know.

So we usually question intuition, doubt it and suppress it. And we give more importance to the thinking mind.

Trusting something larger than our thinking mind feels unsettling… the ego (i.e. thinking mind) is built to stay in charge.

Why the thinking mind can’t lead us forward

The thinking mind is limited.

It only pulls from past experiences, recycles old information, and responds based on memory. Think of it as localized intelligence.

How can this limited system lead us to:

• New goals?

• A completely different future?

• Something radically new?

It can’t. It’s a trap. It keeps looping the past and repeating old patterns in new ways.

What “getting out of the way” really means

So getting out of the way means to not use out thinking mind and rely on our intuition instead.

It means stopping the thinking mind from running our lives and using it as a tool instead.

It’s about being open and receptive to what the present moment has to offer…to see all the openings and not hide under the veil of our old thinking patterns.

Strengthening your inner GPS

Your intuition is like an inner GPS. When it’s trusted, it can take you somewhere your usual thinking never would.

Some of the most influential entrepreneurs, scientists, and philosophers describe their breakthroughs as intuitive leaps rather than linear thinking.

So perhaps when the ego loosens its grip, we can move alongside a greater intelligence instead of pushing against it.

And when we finally do, maybe that’s how we discover our own personal legends, as Paulo Coelho would say.

The real question is whether the ego is willing to step aside…

What if I told you you’re stuck not because you lack motivation but because you have a choice?

When there’s a choice, the mind chooses comfort over progress.

But what happens if choice disappears? 🤔

Is that even possible?

This post explores what happens when you remove choice from the moment of action…and how this unexpectedly powerful shift keeps you moving forward.

Why we get stuck

If you’ve felt stuck toward one or more of your goals, you’ve probably blamed a lack of discipline or motivation.

That’s the obvious explanation.

But what if we’re stuck because we think?

Right when we’re about to take action, the mind hijacks us. It clouds us with thoughts and emotions that ultimately prevent action.

Why?

Because the moment action becomes optional i.e. a choice, the mind starts optimizing for comfort, not progress.

This isn’t random.

Alfred Adler called this acting in service of goals we’ve set subconsciously. The mind is intelligent. It’s always optimizing… just not always for what we consciously want.

You know what to do…but choose not to do it

Most of us already know what to do.

Lose fat → eat better, move, work out
Write a book → write regularly
Start a side hustle → research, show up, take action

Clarity isn’t the issue.

The issue is that at the moment of action, the mind still has a choice: to act or not.

And when there’s a choice, thinking enters.

When thinking enters, comfort wins. 🤯

Remove choice —> Get more freedom

So what if we removed choice from the equation?

Ironically, the less choice you have in the moment, the more freedom you experience while moving forward.

But how do we do that? It seems like an impossible loop.

There’s a surprisingly simple way around this… one that doesn’t rely on forcing discipline or motivation.

The best way to remove choice is to decide in advance:

• what you’ll do

• when you’ll do it

• how you’ll do it

When the time comes, there’s nothing to negotiate. You just show up. You prevent choice. You prevent inner negotiation.

This is what James Clear describes as removing friction at time of action.

I go deeper into this idea here, sharing a few practical examples of how removing choice at the moment of action can help us get unstuck.

The more you show up, the more aligned you feel after action.
Over time, that alignment replaces doubt, anxiety, and “stuckness”.

There’s a strange possibility most of us never consider.

What if being stuck isn’t failure at all? What if it’s success ...just pointed at the wrong goal?

We tend to explain stalled lives with familiar language. Maybe it’s lack of discipline. Lack of motivation...or no consistency.

But if we observe more closely...

People don’t just randomly repeat the same patterns year after year.
Something is working. Something is being executed with precision.

The uncomfortable thought is this:

The Invisible Goal Running the Show

Most of us assume setting an intention is enough to change our lives. Set a goal. Decide to change. Apply effort.

Sometimes it moves…but most times, very little actually moves.

Let’s honestly look at how many of our 2025 goals have moved forward?

Here’s where psychology offers an interesting explanation.

Your behavior isn’t governed by conscious goals - the ones you actually chose. It’s governed by an internal operating system or an autopilot software that’s wired for different goals.

Alfred Adler, one of the early influential thinkers of modern psychology, believed behavior is not driven by the past, but by goals.

These aren’t goals we consciously choose - e.g. “I want to lose weight” but rather the goals we serve subconsciously.

If you’re procrastinating, overthinking, hesitating when trying to take action for some of your goals... it doesn’t mean something is wrong.

It actually means a goal is being executed extremely well.

Usually one like:
Staying safe.
Avoiding pain.
Protecting reputation.
Choosing familiarity over uncertainty.

Seen this way, stuckness isn’t dysfunction.
It’s competence!

How the System Gets Built

This operating system isn’t consciously chosen. It’s installed during our early years.

Think about times in your childhood when you encountered a moment of embarrassment, a rejection, or a public failure.

All these are noted in our system as “things to avoid” subconsciously.

Over time, avoidance becomes intelligence.

Your mind starts generating hesitation, doubt, overthinking, not as sabotage, but as protection.

It’s doing exactly what a good system does: optimizing and executing the goal perfectly.

Why This System Keeps You Stuck

Fast‑forward to adulthood. Now the goals sound different.

Start the business.
Create something meaningful.
Change your body.
Change your life.

So when uncertainty appears, the system responds in accordance to your original goals: Thoughts intensify. Motivation disappears. Logic argues for delay or procrastination. This is all too familiar.

You want change.
But your system is optimized for safety not for change. Now, you’re stuck.

How to Rewire the Operating System

So how do we actually change this system?

Most of us wait for clarity, motivation, or confidence before acting.
But that never comes...because the feelings are produced by the old system.

Here’s the counterintuitive truth to rewiring our system:

This is brilliantly explained by Dr. Russ Harris in his book The Confidence Gap, which I highly recommend reading if you haven’t already.

When you take action despite discomfort, the feelings that arise afterward are different.

When you take courageous action towards your new goals…You feel alignment, self-trust, and a sense of pride for showing up.

Over time, as you keep repeating this, your brain is rewiring to replace your old system of anxiety and fear with these positive feelings.

That’s how the system gets rewritten.

Not by thinking or engaging in logical arguments against the mind. But by doing despite the discomfort.

The temporary pain is there until you upgrade your old operating system to the new one.

The Big Mistake

The most common mistake is assuming thinking will free us. But thoughts and emotions are not truth-tellers.

Believing them completely or even fighting them... will keep the same old system intact. You end up not taking action --> reinstating the old system.

So if we can’t use our thinking...how do we rewire our old system?

What if the way forward doesn’t involve thinking at all?

The No‑Choice Idea

There’s an interesting paradox here.

Freedom doesn’t always come from more choice.
Sometimes it comes from less.

The core idea is simple:

Remove thinking as an option at the moment of action.

When action is pre‑decided i.e. scheduled, simple, friction‑reduced, the mind has nothing to negotiate.

The system experiences something new: Action without internal permission.

We remove choice from the equation when it’s time to take action. When there’s no choice, no optionality, there is no room for thinking.

There’s only action...

Over time, your system learns and upgrades: “This is who I am now.”

Thank you for reading.

If this resonated, feel free to pass it along to someone it might help or stay connected by subscribing.

Your life runs on autopilot 95% of the time

Our mind is a double-edged sword. It is competent, capable, and highly efficient but if used incorrectly, it can lead to a life of turmoil.

95% of what we do is determined by our subconscious - we are not even aware of it. In fact, most of our decisions are made about 7 seconds before we consciously think we’re making it.

So it’s not a surprise then that sometimes, we seem to be stuck in the same cycle - unable to get that promotion, unable to lose that weight, or unable to reach a goal despite trying several times.

What is it that’s stopping us?

Here we are again: with a plan (this one looks different than the last)… and with fresh enthusiasm and willpower (despite the fact it didn’t work before).

So what really is it?

In this post, we explore what is really stopping us from breakthrough and how we can train our minds to create a reality we desire.

Your mind is an efficient, autopilot software

Our minds are a machine and have a job to do like our lungs, heart, and other organs do. Our minds process our past experiences, connect them with the present, and warn us about potentially dangerous things.

It’s a noble intent, to be fair, but what it classifies as “danger” is often fear stopping us from stepping out of our comfort zone.

So it’s a highly competent machine and does it’s job of processing our past, connecting the dots, and protecting us - but it’s not always accurate.

And if we understand that it’s just a machine with a specific job, we can learn to use it to our advantage rather than have it run our lives.

You don’t expect your lungs to begin pumping blood, do you?

This autopilot software runs your life

As you grow up and try things, you react to them. As you react to them, your mind registers the reaction to this stimulus.

Now, the next time you try it, your mind reminds you of the thoughts and feeling you had when you tried it last. As you’re reminded, you’re likely to feel something similar this time around.

This cycle continues.

The more you repeat your reactions, the more your brain wires them as a set response. Over time, your neurons learn to fire together in a instant pushing this reaction on autopilot.

For instance, if you’ve tried a sport or tried to start a business several times but failed, your brain reinforces the belief like “This is not for me…” or “I’ll never make it.”

It’s a self-fulfilling loop and it doesn’t work in our favor.

This autopilot software then creates your reality

What is even more fascinating but also scary is that this autopilot software that’s controlling how you respond to everything… begins to project your reality.

Essentially, the reality that you see, hear, taste, touch and smell is created by your autopilot software!

How?

Our brains have a filter known as RAS or Reticular Activating System. This filter ultimately decides which way your life will go.

Your brain is an incredible filtering machine. it takes in billions of bits of data every second but only lets a tiny fraction reach your conscious awareness. Some of the signals it filters out (like radio waves) are literally around you all the time but your brain ignores them because they’re not “useful” for survival.

While that’s useful for survival, the RAS also filters reality based on what goes on in your mind - the thoughts you have, the feelings you feel.

This is why when you want to buy a red car, you’ll start seeing red cars everywhere. This is also why if you try not to think about something…you will inevitably keep thinking about it.

So if your thoughts and feelings focus on limitations, scarcity, and suffering → that’s all you’ll perceive. Because that is the reality your are projecting.

On the other hand, if you thoughts and feelings focus on abundance, opportunities, and miracles → that’s what you’ll get.

And considering this is all on autopilot, when we’re stuck, we’re stuck bad.

I am not sure why we are not taught this in school…but managing our mind seems to be the biggest, most important factor in deciding what direction our life will go.

Manifestation is the art and science of controlling this autopilot software

Manifestation is essentially your autopilot software, your subconscious, creating your reality.

Manifestation has become a buzz word and sometimes can sound too magical to be real…but it is science!

I’ve noticed the duality of science and spirituality in many facets…but here, manifestation is essentially your brain filtering out reality based on what you focus on.

Whatever you think about most, manifests inevitably…because you’re filtering out reality to only see those things.

What is equally fascinating are the parallels of quantum physics and the importance of the observer in creating this world but I’ll save this for another time.

Understanding mind mechanics can unblock your life

Now that we understand how this incredible tool that is the mind works and what it’s limitations are, we can work to retrain the mind to unblock us - to live to our highest potential.

How?

Awareness: Understand where we have control

First, we need to separate ourselves from our thoughts and our feelings.

We are not our thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and feelings pass through us without our permission.

If you meditate, you know that you can observe your thoughts and feelings. And if you can observe them, you are separate from them.

For this reason, meditation is hugely beneficial in creating space from our autopilot patterns.

Follow your GPS: Retrain the mind through action

It’s futile to try and change your thought pattern and feelings because they are not so much in our control.

What do we do instead?

We can follow our GPS, our intuition or inner compass, and take action based on what we want to do vs. what are our thoughts say about it.

For instance, let’s say losing weight is a health goal for you. You already know what to do - you know to get healthy, you should eat better, maybe lesser and get active.

But often when we start taking action, we start believing our thoughts and start accepting our feelings as the truth:

• I’m not feeling well today. I’ll start tomorrow.

• What’s the point? This will never work.

• I can’t make it to the gym today, I’m buried in work!

The issue is that we accept what we think and what we feel as the truth.

Retrain your mind through action

In the The Confidence Gap, Russ Harris offers an empowering way to live by one’s values and take action you want to take. Defuse from thoughts, make space for feelings, and take the action you want to take.

So the actions come first → feelings come post.

By doing things you want to do (regardless of what your thoughts or feelings say), you are rewiring your brain with new connections.

Often when you courageously show up and do something, you feel better → by showing up over and over, you rewire your brain.

Rather than believing our thoughts and feelings, we take action first - guided by our intuition or inner compass.

We then feel post action.

And as we’ve learned, through repetition, we can train our minds to rewire and project a reality we actually desire!

Intelligence is beyond the brain

One of the most interesting things I’ve watched recently is Dr. Michael Levin’s videos about how everything from the most complex beings like humans to the smallest building blocks of matter are “intelligent.”

Dr. Levin is a professor at Tufts University who researches how embodied minds come about and function in this world. I highly recommend his Youtube channel if this tickles your curiosity.

Intelligence is not limited to our brains but is a fundamental aspect of all matter, living or passive.

The implications of this are mind-boggling!

In this post, we talk about our role in this universe and how relying on our brains may not be the smartest strategy.

But first, let’s align on what we mean by intelligence.

This definition is also what Dr. Michael Levin goes by.

Passive matter is intelligent

What is fascinating is that everything around us even at the atomic level has goals and meets those goals even when placed under constraints.

It’s not a “follow the script” as encoded in your DNA way…but rather in a way where it tries new things to meet the goal. It learns and adapts.

Equilibrium is a great example of this.

When you spray perfume in a room, molecules spread until they’re evenly distributed. The system as a whole “solves” the change introduced and reaches equilibrium.

The same thing happens with heat.

Passive matter such as atoms are able to collectively stabilize without needing some sort of central direction (e.g. brain or neurons).

Organisms without a brain are intelligent

A single-cell organism known as Lacrymaria can meet its “goals” of finding food and navigating its space without any nervous system1. How does it know to do that? Where is this direction coming from? It doesn’t have a “brain” or “neurons.”

Collective intelligence is even more fascinating

In biological tissue reengineering, cells are often left on their own to “figure out” the rebuilding without much micro-management.

Why?

Cells have end goals and collectively know what to do …and when to stop.

Not only do cells have goals of regulating and surviving individually…but when you put cells together, the collective group becomes intelligent!

The flatworm Planaria is able to regenerate new worms from any part of the body. If you cut the planaria into pieces (the record is ~275 pieces)...each piece regrows to the exact whole even if that piece didn’t have the brain2.

How does an individual cell know what the whole flatworm looks like?

Collectively, how does the cut piece and all the cells in it know to recreate the whole worm and STOP when done?

It doesn’t accidentally grow two heads or keep growing. It’s precise, has memory, and is intelligent.

And no matter what the constraints (even the 275 cuts!)…it strives to meet its end goals and stop once done.

That is absolutely mind boggling!

Why this matters

As I write about this, I get goosebumps. Science is now coming across concepts that spiritual seekers have experienced and shared since thousands of years.

Here’s how knowing that intelligence is in everything (not necessarily just in our brains) can help us live more joyful, peaceful, and radically interesting lives.

1. Everything from the bottom up seems to have goals. Humans have goals too (whether we know or not). Perhaps the source of these goals is deeper than our conscious thought. Ever wonder why you have the desire to do something?

2. This intelligence that guides all matter to their end goals is accessible to us too. After all, we are very much a responsive part of this fascinating interconnected web that is the universe.

3. That guidance is our intuition…transcending our brains and rational thought.

4. In a big way, I think this gives us a way out of psychological suffering.

5. When we know that our goals and the path to the goals doesn’t fall on our limited brains, it reduces the pressure to control the future and allows us to engage in the present moment.

6. This means that whatever we truly desire is possible, perhaps inevitable. We are part of this greater intelligence and as long as we follow our intuitive nudges, we are guided to this end state.

7. After all, intelligence is the ability to meet the end goal using different means.

8. And if the goal is inevitable, life is about the journey and experiencing this incredible interconnectedness with the illusion of the self.

And coming to why these goals?

That’s another mind-boggling mysterious question to be explored another time.