Irresistible Pull /  by Alexander Lyadov

You have a favorite piece of music—the one dearest to you?

It calms you or fires you up. Grounds you or lifts you high.

Through the years you keep coming back to it, for some reason.

That “for some reason” matters most—you don’t know its secret.

If someone explained the mechanism, would the knowing make the joy deeper? Doubtful. Worse if they forced you to justify why it pulls you.

No argument needed. You know it solid: “This is the One.”

So strong you could make the hard choice:

Which single melody would you listen to for the rest of your life?

That is the power of a genuine bond with what draws you irresistibly.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Opposite Is True /  by Alexander Lyadov

Forgive me, but from the 5th through the end of February, the newsletter goes quiet.

I give all my attention to the Process that my course opens (English version next).

I do the same when a client sits with me one-on-one. I don't just close the door and turn off the phone. I forget myself completely—my problems, plans, doubts, joys, worries.

Only the living person across from me exists. His problem or hers. And my clear gaze.

You need a sealed vessel for the alchemy to work. Our shared effort—fire and pressure—turns the question mark into an exclamation point.

Every time, I feel the tremor at the start. "What if nothing happens? What if I can't help this round?" The doubt gnaws. All I can do is throw everything I have right now into the furnace of the Process.

But don't worry—you'll get me back renewed. Any real Work doesn't just get done by us. In return, the Work remakes us. February will transform the people in the course. And they will transform me.

So come spring, the newsletter will carry a fresh pulse. The lived experience inside the course will enrich you too, inevitably. I won't be able to hold back the insights we uncover there.

Rest now. Gather strength. In spring, we start the next stage together!

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Dive into the Process /  by Alexander Lyadov

Forgive me, but from the 5th through the end of February, the newsletter goes quiet.

I give all my attention to the Process that my course opens (English version next).

I do the same when a client sits with me one-on-one. I don't just close the door and turn off the phone. I forget myself completely—my problems, plans, doubts, joys, worries.

Only the living person across from me exists. His problem or hers. And my clear gaze.

You need a sealed vessel for the alchemy to work. Our shared effort—fire and pressure—turns the question mark into an exclamation point.

Every time, I feel the tremor at the start. "What if nothing happens? What if I can't help this round?" The doubt gnaws. All I can do is throw everything I have right now into the furnace of the Process.

But don't worry—you'll get me back renewed. Any real Work doesn't just get done by us. In return, the Work remakes us. February will transform the people in the course. And they will transform me.

So come spring, the newsletter will carry a fresh pulse. The lived experience inside the course will enrich you too, inevitably. I won't be able to hold back the insights we uncover there.

Rest now. Gather strength. In spring, we start the next stage together!

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Month of Februus /  by Alexander Lyadov

What makes February special?

Its name comes from Latin "Februārius mēnsis," meaning "month of Februus." In ancient Roman religion, Februus was the god of the underworld, bringing death, purification, and wealth.

On February 15, one of the oldest pastoral festivals took place—Lupercalia (from Latin lupus, "wolf"). Its rituals cleansed for the fertility of the land, women's fruitfulness, and protection from wolves.

In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius I tried to wipe out the pagan rite. Eventually, Valentine's Day filled the empty spot. A sweet holiday, but of course far from Lupercalia.

No surprise the rite of purification fell at winter's end. Under the snow, nature did colossal hidden work. Everything that had to die—died. Everything that had to begin—prepared to live.

Yet a casual observer sees none of this secret labor. So he falls into gloom: "How ugly, terrible, stupid everything is."

Funny thing: his longed-for Future already exists, but as if it doesn't.

The leftovers of the old clutter his head with junk. Empty concepts, broken tools, illusions, fears, self-lies.

Nature itself demands: "Clear the space!" Whoever stands against the natural Flow will suffer in vain.

Better to move with Nature, not against her. Do you agree?

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Pulled by Yourself /  by Alexander Lyadov

Imagine you’re walking through the forest. A stroll. A hunt. Mushroom picking. For a moment you lose focus and step into water. A stupid pond.

Thick water, bad smell, and worst of all, your legs stuck fast.
Seems no big deal—arms still move, head above water.

But time passes, and you can't get out. You're stuck.
Can't go forward or back. You need help.

Your phone is dead. It's quiet.
No one knows you're here.

Below, your feet freeze in the cold spring.
Above, your head burns with panic.

Your mind beats like a bird in a cage:
"There has to be a way out! Is this it?"

Suddenly you catch a sound.
Something is crashing toward you through the brush.

The bushes part, and you flinch at first.

A strange creature looks at you.
Half-beast. Half-man. Yeti. Monster.

It stretches out a paw. Huge. Hairy. Dirty claws.

You hesitate. But remembering your dead end, you give it your hand.

The creature grabs it, but doesn’t pull you out.
Even it can’t do that.

Instead, the monster pushes your palm into the mud.

A thought flashes:
“What nonsense is this? Are you mocking me?”

But your fingers touch tree roots.

You grip them tight.
And slowly, you pull yourself free.

All this time the stranger stands nearby, watching you with a warm, steady gaze.

When you finally crawl onto the bank, no one is there.
Was he ever?

The main thing is this:
your situation has changed completely.

And the author of this transformation is no one but You.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Reverse the Force /  by Alexander Lyadov

Your opponent senses what you want and resists you with all his might.

You push harder, he pushes back just as hard. If it keeps going, you'll both live out the absurd Chinese parable: the unstoppable spear finally meets the unbreakable shield.

By the way, did you know that the Chinese word for “contradiction” (矛盾, máodùn) literally means “spear–shield”? Stunning, isn't it?

From here on, further force makes no sense. The only question is which of you will realize this first. You are both too absorbed in the fight. Each of you fiercely believes: “Just a little more, and he will crack.”

Sadly, chance now rules. Maybe he backs off. Maybe you do. In the wild, there is another outcome: when both are exhausted, a new predator appears and, without effort, takes double prey.

The exit is simple: provoke your opponent into desperate resistance, and then suddenly switch the direction of force to the opposite one. If you were pushing him hard, sharply pull him toward you. And vice versa.

So stupid. And so clever. That’s why it works.

There is one nuance: you cannot fake the first phase. He must believe that, like Cortés, you have burned your ships.

In other words, you must first create the "spear-shield" contradiction inside yourself, not just endure it, but dose and direct it.

Jiu-jitsu is precious because this insight enters convincingly through the body.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Resistance Births Form /  by Alexander Lyadov

Unknown photographer

If marble did not resist the chisel, we'd never see David.

To carry a load, the steel of a bridge must flex just a little.

There is even a field for this: the strength of materials, a science and engineering discipline about the durability and reliability of machines and structures.

What is the alternative? You would simply hang in a bleak Void. You could not walk, create, or even break anything. Just a pointless existence.

Imagine the darkness around you thickening until it turns thick and pliable, like clay or resin. As you move, your hands meet the pleasant resistance of the Other.

In some places it pushes back; in others it yields. The unknown matter starts to take shape. Something begins to emerge from it. If the process goes right, the result should pleasantly surprise you.

Why? In this mystery, your part is as much as hers.

You must be humble, forceful, and tender to create together.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Guard The Fragile Pattern /  by Alexander Lyadov

Last Tuesday morning my throat hurt. I pictured the tatami feel at 48,2°F and texted my sparring partner: “Let’s skip today.” On Thursday, he sent me the same message.

I'm sure if I hadn't skipped Tuesday, he wouldn't have skipped Thursday.

The Wilson–Kelling broken windows theory says there are no small violations of order. Rising crime is the result of them.

For years, my partner and I keep our ritual—twice a week jiu-jitsu training, then talk over good coffee.

Seems neural paths should have turned to highway. But skip once, worse two, and the ritual starts cracking at the seams. Jungle swallows asphalt fast.

Do we love jiu-jitsu? Is the gym close? Love coffee? Have things to talk about? Useful habit?

Answer to all: "Yes." And yet, how fragile the ritual, right?

The example shows a key idea—Chaos works against us constantly, no breaks, vacations, pauses. Like a trap, it waits as long as needed until our vigilance fades for a second.

Ritual is what protects us from the force of disorder. Knowing this, Chaos first tries to destroy the rite, the tradition, the canon.

Guard your rituals. They are patterns that sustain and renew life.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

A Bridge from Nothing /  by Alexander Lyadov

You are standing at the very edge of a cliff. Below — an abyss.

You’ve been climbing toward this place for a long time. Struggling. Enduring. Exhausting yourself. You thought there would be nirvana at the top. Instead — emptiness. A trap. A dead end.

Going back means returning to a deadening routine. Jumping down is absurd. No — this is a false, hostile choice imposed on you.

And yet, through the fog, another side begins to appear. Not rocks, but a dense forest. Young grass. And, most importantly, open space without end.

Your mind is certain: there is no way to get there. No bridge. No rope. Not even a glider. And the mind is right — your familiar, reliable worldview has reached its own limit.

The hint is this: what’s needed is a reset — and then a search (or rather, a remembering) of your point of origin.

This cannot be explained in an article. That is why I am currently creating a one-month course in which we will work on how a bridge can emerge from nothing.

The course is called: “Ritual of Transformation: How to Breathe Life Back into Your Company.”

Why business? Because it is an ideal object for this kind of work. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a billion-dollar tech company or a small corner shop — Personality creates the Business, and the Business inevitably transforms the Personality.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Arrow's Exhale /  by Alexander Lyadov

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

That’s how you breathe.

Well, not exactly you — breathing happens in you on its own.

You can try to control it, guide it, fix it…

...but first, you'll tire fast, since you can't hit pause.

Second, your efforts bring no gain—likely just harm.

Third, breathing only looks simple at first glance. Routine, trivial, boring.

But look close, and awe is inevitable—how finely breathing minds your body's needs, your current and future motion, the shifting world around you.

And right before our eyes, a miracle unfolds: oxygen hauled in by inhale ignites glucose in the mitochondria, they forge "energy clumps" (ATP), fueling all your moves, feelings, thoughts.

By the way, one inhale gives you the impulse for 10-20 more steps.

The exhale is unique. It removes CO₂ and keeps blood pH in balance. It clears “debris” from the lungs before it can clog them. It also slows things down, calms, and resets the body’s systems.

Stress? Anxiety? Insomnia? 4 seconds inhale, 7 hold, 8 exhale.

Picture yourself as an arrow. Taken from the quiver. Set on the bow. The string is pulled back and… held there for seconds, minutes, years. How does that feel? Irritation. Anger. Overheating. Fatigue. Apathy.

Endurance matters, sure. But the shot, even an imperfect one, matters more.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Chosen by Life /  by Alexander Lyadov

The harsh statistics of romantic love go like this.

200–300 million sperm cells begin their journey toward the egg. It seems simple enough: they need to travel just two or three inches through the fallopian tubes, where the egg waits—but only briefly, for 12 to 24 hours.

Only 30 to 200 reach the finish line. The rest perish in the acidic environment and under pressure from the immune system. Still, their death isn't wasted—they "loosen" the path for the others.

To keep the embryo healthy, nature built a shield against too many chromosomes. The egg lets in one and slams the membrane shut. The shell hardens, and no one else gets in.

Appreciate the odds—only 1 out of 300 million hears: "Welcome!"

He was healthy, fast, and determined—but also incredibly lucky. And so, at last, he hears the dearest words: “I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”

Only then happens the miracle of miracles—a new Life emerges!

Sometimes we search for a very long time, stubbornly, everywhere. And of course, we often feel disappointed: “Not this again.” Remember these statistics to calm yourself and keep searching.

What inside is so selective knows the treasure waiting for you.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

The Hunger for Fullness /  by Alexander Lyadov

At the farthest depth of the soul, every person longs for fullness.

Total. Absolute. Perfect.

In this life, that fullness can never be reached once and for all.

Except in outrageously rare and brief moments of awe, forgiveness, tenderness, love, humility, truth, beauty, and orgasm.

The pull is so strong that it lifts us upward, the way the sky pulls a tree.

How do we know that fullness exists?

Through the experience of sharp lack.

Living this way is torment. So we learned how to distract and entertain ourselves.

Work, TV shows, alcohol, conflicts, shopping. The list never ends.

The moment we get stuck, bored, or suspended, dread rolls in.

Now pause and ask what stands between lack and fullness.

What else but the Otherness?

Everything, absolutely everything that is still unfamiliar to you, gets in the way of rounding your circle.

Strange. Absurd. Outrageous. Shameful. Mad. Repulsive. Terrifying.

That makes the focus clear: patiently study what feels most alien to you.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Jealous of Life /  by Alexander Lyadov

The one who wants to kill you craves your very being.

It doesn't matter if he (she, they) does it symbolically or literally.

His words do not matter either, even when they sound arrogant, self-sufficient, and powerful. That is how he fools himself.

If you truly meant nothing to him, he would not even notice you. But instead, a Great Hunt is organized—flags, ambushes, guns, hounds, rangers.

He is in a relationship with you, even if he refuses to admit it.

You are not an obstacle, an offender, or a competitor. If you were, a harsh shout would have been enough—or at most, a trip.

But no. He feels that he must kill you. As long as you are alive, you possess what he desires with his whole soul but, alas, cannot have.

Like a blood-smeared savage cannibal, he secretly believes that frying and eating your flesh will steal all your Power.

Mana. Orenda. Axé. Väki. Qi. Baraka. Rlung. Pneuma. Ruach. Shakti.

Hamr. Furor. Egungun. Ba. Geis. Skinwalker. Nkisi. Ferg. Amok. Chindi.

The killer doesn't grasp the main thing — He. Does. Everything. Backwards.

He craves the refraction of God's spark in you. He envies your Authenticity to death. Your uniqueness kills him.

Deep down, in the dark, at the bottom of his soul's ocean, lies a skeleton. That being was the same kind as you. That's why he can't bear you. You are living reminder of why he's already dead.

The secret is this: the only way to revive a murdered part of yourself is to enter into dialogue with that Other who embodies it in this world.

For the ego, this turnaround is almost impossible. A dead loop. A paradox.

"Almost"—That's. Man's. Freedom. To. Make. A. Step. On. Faith.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Anima? Animus? Who? /  by Alexander Lyadov

In a man’s psyche lives the archetype of femininity, the Anima. And in every woman, the archetype of masculinity, the Animus. Hearing this for the first time, it’s tempting to dismiss it as madness, delusion, even psychosis.

But if you study the work of Carl Jung and other scholars, look closely at the dramas of your own life, and collect a hundred dreams, it becomes impossible to deny the presence of some Other Force within you.

It actively demands your attention, making itself known one way or another. Yes, it takes a certain skill to recognize one face behind its many forms. But the Anima’s influence on a man’s life is enormous.

In short: the quality of a man’s relationship with his Anima determines the quality of his relationships with women in general.

You can see the Anima as the ambassador of all the women in your kingdom. Still, the role of ambassador feels a bit foreign.Better this image: you are day, Anima is night.

Though some see night as a pointless waste of working hours, the wise man knows the value of both exhale and inhale. Ignore one part, and you can forget about the man's health.

The key point is this: the inner and the outer relationships are linked.

The Anima widens my acceptance of femininity in all its forms, including those that once stirred embarrassment, irritation, or fear. And lo, I become kinder and more patient with the women in my life.

But the reverse is also true. In the physical world, I can start a conversation with a woman, ask a real question, feel her answer. That experience changes me, and I come back to meet the Anima slightly different than before.

Moreover, if your life hits a dead end, you bump into a closed door and trample in place, be ready—the Other will point the way to salvation:

  • for a man, his Anima;

  • for a woman, her Animus.

Remember: inhale draws strength from exhale, and exhale charges the inhale.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Crazy Is the Way /  by Alexander Lyadov

Too often, we fear exactly what our soul craves.

THIS seems absolutely impossible. Strange. Crazy.

The gap between “I want” and “I have” feels too wide.

Alas, that blocks the very ability to think of your future, describe it, imagine it. Against Lao Tzu's advice, the journey of a thousand miles doesn't even let us take the first mental step.

In the end, you stand still, stuck, waiting for who knows what.

Strange as it sounds, in that moment, you need the Other. The one who becomes a safe, reliable, spacious vessel to hold your "mad dream" without judgment, envy, or fear.

When your hazy sense of the future takes initial shape, the seemingly opposite action is needed—step into "bodily" contact with the Reality around you.

In other words, meet the people who intrigue you, visit the spot, sketch a draft/model/prototype, and talk it over with those who seemed interested in something like it.

You won't notice how Reality draws you along, suggests the next move, builds steps in unpredictable ways.

The way out of the dead end is outrageously simple:

1) Recall your so-called mad "I want" more often, and 2) Move through the Ocean of uncertainty from one shaky ice floe to the next.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Grip Your Self /  by Alexander Lyadov

My sparring partner and I

Breathing hard after the scramble, I say to my partner: "Whew, tough going with you. That grip of yours is brutal. I couldn’t break your hand off my gi!" He laughs: “Funny. I felt the same about you. I thought your grip was steel."

Maybe I'm right about him. But I’m clearly underestimating myself.

You need an Other who actually feels your impact—on his body, spirit, and soul—and who is kind enough to tell you what you’re really like.

Of course, the Other’s view is distorted. Everyone comes with his own expectations, sensitivities, and childhood wounds. Still, if you know this and gather seven such perspectives, the Model of Self comes out “good enough.”

And if those seven turn out to be people "leveled up" in life experience, reflection, practices, and psychotherapy...

...then there's a chance to know the true Self.

The one God made you.

The one that will unsettle, delight, and surprise you.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Generating Life /  by Alexander Lyadov

When it's 5°F outside and 59°F inside, the body hunts for a way out. And finds it.

“Let the harmful factor start bringing benefit,” advises TRIZ.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick explains what to do: “Brief but vigorous bursts of physical activity—called exercise snacks—may improve longevity. Engaging in exercise snacks, even as briefly as three to four minutes daily, can reduce overall mortality risk by 25 to 30%.”

By doing 50 squats or 30 kettlebell swings every 1.5–2 hours, the body doesn’t just generate heat. It generates Life itself.

By the time the frosts end, "exercise snacks" become a useful habit. Years will pass, and maybe I’ll even thank this gloomy season—the one that ignited the light.

Even if warming up in winter with a cold cast-iron kettlebell is one hell of a paradox.

Warming up in winter with a cold kettlebell? That's a paradox all its own.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Weave The Whole Pattern /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

Preparing my course "​Ritual of Transformation​," I run interviews. A handful of entrepreneurs were kind enough to answer my questions.

My challenge is how to pack max value into 8–10 hours. I need to dissolve in the flask the experience of hundreds of transformations, heat it hard, and end up with a distillate cleansed of impurities.

While you stay in your head, it's hard to do. But in live talk, many questions turn to answers on their own, no effort. In the end, all my experience is co-creation's product too.

Because to solve a client's problem, it had to become mine.

More precisely, the problem became shared, even if just for the session. At first, the client and I drew close, then made distance—here's the "problem," here's "us." Like in the Paleolithic: hunters vs. beast.

No surprise, then, that now we—potential buyers and I—shape my product. They help me help them.

In the process, I truly admire these people. Men and women, mature and young, from many industries and countries. What do they have in common? Inner backbone, energy, and a hunger for life.

And most of all, a focus on creating value for customers of their products and services—by turning any “despite” into "thanks to."

Every entrepreneur is doing a Great Work (Magnum Opus), not by size, but by essence. It’s a joy to weave my thread into the whole pattern.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Mighty Mite /  by Alexander Lyadov

No one likes feeling helpless, weak, or vulnerable. A man feels like he’s fallen into the sea, with shark fins circling him.

Yet whether as a joke or a whim, Nature has arranged things so that only in this state do we truly begin to grow.

Many will rage: "How? What nonsense! The weak die, only the strong survive and grow!" That's the logic we all know.

Here’s the insight: to be strong, first you simply have to be.

That means life must first come into being. Suddenly, something arises that wasn't there before. A drop of new slips into the old world.

This is technically impossible if your vessel is sealed tight and solid. Like fused quartz, carbon, or sapphire glass.

“In case of emergency, break glass,” says the label on the lifesaving button: the fire alarm, the external defibrillator, the emergency exit release.

It’s counterintuitive. “What do you mean? Break the very thing that’s been protecting me all this time?!” you think in disbelief. Imagine the crab's "thoughts" when it's time to molt: "Everything was fine, and suddenly..."

Say, the first root of a seed, fertilized egg, newborn—symbol of weakness or strength? Don't rush. Think how mighty you must be to suddenly emerge from Nothing.

So what is the strongest in the world? What already is, but isn't yet.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

The Pinky's Lever /  by Alexander Lyadov

A strange tip in judo: grip your opponent's gi with your pinky and ring finger, not the index and thumb, let alone all at once. But how do you hold it that way?

Judo techniques are over 140 years old—they must know something.

To grasp this counterintuitive insight, try spinning a mace. A tight ring made with the index finger and thumb feels solid and reliable, but your hand quickly tires and a blister forms.

For long spinning, hold the mace again with pinky and ring finger, right at the very edge. As in judo, the goal isn't to "freeze" the alien Force, but to "lead" it, stay close, not lose it.

A dog on a leash or a horse in reins feels free. The owner remains invisible for a while, and then effortlessly redirects their movement.

The mace also follows its natural trajectory. All you need to do is follow it, making small corrections left and right. Your effort is minimal when your fingers hold the very end of the lever.

How does this insight apply to business and life?

Suppose you meet Chaos, that is, something you don't understand, can't rigidly fix, but that can harm you.

Beating it bone-to-bone is risky. Running away is naive. You need to make contact with Chaos—information-rich, but energy-low for you—like pinky on the end of the lever.

The grip is there, but as if not.

In the right moment, you'll feel it skin-deep, Chaos will show "vulnerability"—get carried away, weaken, hesitate—and you're right there.

Chaos doesn't even notice when it stops bothering you and starts working for you.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.