Alexander Lyadov

Nowhere and Everywhere / March 28, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Do you remember how you felt during your probation period? The minute before stepping in front of investors, onto the tatami, or under the stage lights? The moment after a critical blood test, waiting for the results?

Liminality (from Latin līmen—threshold) is the transition state between two stages of personal or social development.

Most cultures had rites of passage—rituals marking the shift from youth to adulthood, selecting a leader, marriage, or the final farewell.

In the first phase, a person was separated from his group. In the third, he was reintegrated. But in the second phase, he was suspended between two worlds—nowhere, in-between.

Such a person defies all definitions. He dissolves into the primordial soup, taking on paradoxical qualities. He exists, yet he doesn’t. A living paradox.

How does that feel? Not great. A cocktail of doubt and anxiety: Can I do this? What if I can’t?! The old worldview, identity, and community are gone, but nothing has taken their place.

Ancient people didn’t fly to space or split the atom, but they knew one thing well: staying too long in this neither-here-nor-there state is dangerous. Modern intellectuals have canceled or trivialized most rituals, then wonder why mental health disorders are skyrocketing.

Some time ago, I began to notice, encourage, and consciously introduce rituals into my personal life, my famil,y and my business therapy work with entrepreneurs. The results never cease to amaze me.

So, how important are rituals in your life?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.

Capitalism Or Socialism? / March 27, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, spoke at the Arc conference about the common arguments he hears against capitalism:

It entices people into consuming bad products
It makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.
It harms the environment.
It creates more inequality.
It exploits workers.

From there, capitalism’s critics jump to a conclusion: “Socialism is a more just and ethical system.”

One problem—socialism has been tested in 40 countries over the past 100 years. In every case, the experiment ended in failure, leaving 130 million dead in its wake.

So why does the debate persist? Why hasn’t humanity put this question to rest? First, a large part of society, even secular people, naively believes that Eden can be built on Earth. Chasing this illusion, they let themselves be deceived, lose everything, and then start over again.

Second, in every human heart lives a biblical pair—Cain and Abel. Cain thought God had slighted him. His jealousy consumed him until, one day, he killed Abel. The one who sees himself as a victim always longs to trade places with the “oppressor.”

Third, capitalism is guilty of ignoring its own flaws. Even the best medicine has side effects, especially in high doses. By arrogantly dismissing growing discomfort, capitalism pushes people to mistake the cure for poison.

It’s easy to see that both socialists and capitalists share the same flaw—pride. Each side is too enamored with its own intellectual product to admit that even the sun has its dark spots.

It’s like a race car driver obsessed with the gas pedal (social prosperity) while forgetting the brakes (social safety).

The real wisdom isn’t in capitalism defeating socialism, but in finding the right balance for healthy tension—say, 90 to 10. When opposites coexist, society reaps the best of both worlds.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Creating the Unknown / March 26, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

There are at least two kinds of creativity.

The first is when you know exactly what you want to bring to life. A child says, “I’ll draw a garden on the Moon.” An adult declares, “I’ll cross the Pacific on a raft.” The task might be difficult, even dangerous, but the final result is already clear.

I first encountered the second kind of creativity in the Netherlands, at a training session for a psychotherapy method called Focusing. We were given clay and told to shape whatever emerged on its own.

At first, I was annoyed. What kind of pointless exercise is this? So I threw the clay at the board on the floor. After a few minutes, I noticed the lump had started to form a cube. I felt the urge to carve a hollow in it. Then to roll a small ball and place it inside. And so on.

In the end, I had a strange sculpture. I couldn’t explain it, but I liked looking at it. The instructor asked me how I felt and what it reminded me of.

Suddenly, I understood what my body had been trying to tell me.

The first kind of creativity is familiar to us. A business faces a problem, and we have to find a clever way to solve it. Countless books lay out theories, methods, and algorithms for this kind of thinking.

The second kind is rarely discussed. Yet, this is how we choose a life partner, discover our calling, and make sense of our struggles, traumas, and mistakes.

We first create our life, and only then do we make sense of it. Isn't that why this process keeps our curiosity hungry until the end?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Victorious Failures / March 25, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Your opponent squares up, locking eyes with you. His focus is razor-sharp, ready to predict and counter any attack. Even if you have a signature move, landing it will be nearly impossible.

Task #1—throw his “system” off balance.

Feints, sudden pulls, twisting off-axis—anything to shake his footing. Especially useful are moves that are almost guaranteed to fail. Because he still has to react, retreating and shifting his stance.

All you have to do is keep throwing “failed” moves, one after another, until one finally lands.

Ironically, the only obstacle is your perfectionism—the belief that you must act flawlessly from the start. It's like trying to swing to full height in one push or boil a kettle in an instant.

In a winning strategy, every “failure” serves a purpose. Only an amateur would scoff and say, “That’s so inefficient!” A seasoned grapple deliberately weaves mistakes into his conceptual pattern.

It’s a paradox—the missteps make him unstoppable.

If your business is short on victories, start seeing gold in the dirt. Don’t avoid failure. Make it part of your master plan.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

When You Are Free / March 24, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Have you ever felt the past and future disappear? They lose their grip on you, as if history itself paused, unsure of what would come next.

This happens when you stand at a breaking point. A tectonic shift shakes your surroundings, society, or even your own identity.

The inertia of the past stops pulling you forward. The future unfolds in front of you, bursting with possibilities like rosebuds in full bloom.

In moments like these, freedom is almost overwhelming. You can do things you never imagined. Fate whispers:

"All familiar limits are gone. No one is watching. So what do you truly want?"

The crowd fades, leaving you alone—face to face with the vast, open Cosmos.

This is a bifurcation point—an unstable state where the system could go in any direction. A tiny fluctuation can tip the balance. The system may collapse into chaos or ascend to a higher level of order.

In such moments, lying to yourself feels pointless. If any choice is welcome, why be anyone but yourself?

Turning points like these are rare and unpredictable in life. Yet a similar experience occurs in symboldrama—a psychotherapy technique known as "waking dreams."

It’s a guided visualization where you immerse yourself in imagined scenarios. And in doing so, you reveal who you truly are. It’s even more insightful in group sessions.

The key is that in these in-between moments, you're not sitting on the sidelines, not playing someone else's role, not afraid of making mistakes, and not rushing to achieve anything. Here, you are both the raw material, the chisel, and the creator, revealing the hidden Meaning of Life.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

The Ultimate Power / March 23, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

It’s easy to see beauty in famous works of art. Just as it’s easy to feel warmth toward someone who treats you kindly. Inner peace settles in naturally inside a church.

But try seeing Something where it shouldn’t exist—where it can’t exist:

purity in filth,
birth in decay,
beauty in ugliness,
meaning in absurdity,
fullness in emptiness,
freedom in restrictions,
tenderness in roughness,
the cosmos in a sewer puddle, and so on.

That’s where the real power is—a gift, a blessing.

A person like that can do almost anything. He doesn’t need to run or chase, take or hide, retreat or rush.

Wealth surrounds him—he only has to reach for it. The anger of those around him fades at the sound of his quiet voice. Hardened knots unravel under his gaze.

What’s left for someone who can easily turn into a plus every minus?

To love, to create, and to share with everyone willing to receive these gifts.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Lost Rituals / March 22, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Everyone talks about how fast the world is changing. Experts make predictions, but the honest ones admit—our future is shrouded in fog.

Something will happen, that’s certain. But what, where, how, and when? No one really knows.

When the world shifts at breakneck speed, every part of it must adapt or fade into oblivion. Some aspects of your personality, beliefs, and habits need to burn away to make room for a better you.

Newness isn’t just inspiring, promising progress. It’s terrifying, threatening to grind us into dust. This creates an agonizing dilemma:

Do you fight change at all costs, or embrace it with open arms?

For most people today, this is torture. Even if they intellectually accept the need for transformation, they have no clue what to change, where, how, or when.

Have you noticed how uncertainty attacks from both inside and out?

Not only do schools and colleges fail to teach this, but the secularization of society has dismantled every ancient ritual. A ritual isn’t just some mindless repetition performed by backward religious people. A ritual is a bridge between different states of being:

Marking a new status (a wedding).
Shaping identity (an initiation).
Easing transitions (coming of age).
Awakening dormant inner power (a rite of passage) etc.

When two forces of chaos collide—inside and outside—you need a container. Otherwise, you get an explosion, not transformation. Rituals provide structure, breaking the inertia and tapping into archetypal energies to move you from state A to state B.

Modern society suffers from a lack of rituals. More and more people feel lost, empty. They remain “uninitiated,” having never unlocked their inner resources through the right passage.

If you don’t want to be overwhelmed by raw archetypes and want to be ready for what’s coming, you must rediscover the power of ancient rituals. And create your own.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Know Your Dragon / March 21, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

In crime movies, there’s a classic scene: the “good” gangster looks into his lover’s eyes and swears, “Baby, this is my last job. We’ll be rich, free as the wind, and gone from this place forever.”

He’s not lying about the last job.

The story resonates because it’s archetypal—every viewer recognizes the same drama within himself. A powerful force takes hold of a man, making him obsessive, apathetic, furious, or addicted—to work, relationships, or alcohol.

The greedy dragon won’t stop until it devours him whole.

At first, it doesn’t seem that way. After all, grabbing the dragon’s tail can launch you high into the sky. The world is full of gifted musicians, extreme athletes, and bold entrepreneurs who soared to greatness—only to crash just as fast.

The bad news? There’s a fire-breathing reptile inside every one of us, millions of years old. It is strong, cunning, and endlessly patient. You know nothing about the dragon. The dragon, however, knows everything about men.

Ignoring it is foolish. Those who try become its puppets. They keep landing in the same traps, muttering, “There was nothing I could do.”

Some dream of taming the beast, neutering it, or locking it away. But every experiment ends in an explosion—whether in a person, a company, or an entire society.

The good news? There is a way out.

Recognize the dragon within.
Respect its power.
Study its needs and instincts.
Forge an alliance—a partnership, a symbiosis.
Learn to fly together and take the best of both worlds.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

From Flaw to Flow / March 20, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Some founders have a nuclear reactor inside them. They radiate energy nonstop, saturating everything and everyone around them.

Their problem isn’t how to start something new—it’s how to focus, realize full potential, and then not lose it all.

Other founders and CEOs don’t have a reactor. They have a fire. Sometimes it blazes high into the sky, and sometimes it nearly goes out. Either way, they must constantly feed it with wood.

They have the burning process mapped out to the fifth decimal place. Their main worry? Finding a steady supplier of firewood, peat, or coal.

Failure looks the same for both types—after a decade of effort, they have neither a major business nor financial reserves.

So what’s the secret of those who succeed? They recognize their "limp"—the hidden flaw that keeps their business from moving straight, causing it to drift left or right.

A superpower (Plus) always creates a vulnerability (Minus).

It feels like a curse—no matter how hard founders try, they always seem to attract the “wrong” people or face obstacles stacked against them.

Everything changes when they humbly admit: “This is just how I’m wired—an excess of X and a shortage of Y.” From there, it’s just a technical problem—how to make up for the shortfall. And there are plenty of options.

The key is to build a systematic “safety switch” because your natural weakness, Y, will keep showing up again and again.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Master the Basics / March 19, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

When it comes to health, fitness, and sports, I listen to a handful of experts:

Lately, I’ve noticed a pattern. They increasingly urge people to return to the basics—to stop chasing novelty. And I see why.

Social media algorithms only promote creators who churn out fresh content. Meanwhile, audiences don’t crave truth as much as they crave entertainment.

Put those two forces together, and you get an endless stream of artificial "breakthroughs." Fitness influencers scramble to keep up, pushing exotic exercises, “progressive” methods, and “revolutionary” supplements.

It’s exhausting. The overload of stimulation spins your head and turns your stomach.

But here’s the truth: unless you’re training for the Olympics, you don’t need much to stay healthy, strong, and in great shape. Just a few things:

Sunlight
Hydration.
Quality sleep.
A protein-rich diet.
Daily physical activity.
Basic supplements (Magnesium, Vitamin D, Omega-3, and Creatine).

Want to optimize mental health? Add stress management, cold exposure, strong relationships, and some kind of spiritual practice. A thousand other things can be tossed in the trash—they barely move the needle.

Even the old myth about muscle growth needing constant variation has been debunked. Turns out, you can repeat the same workout for years—as long as you keep making progress.

The more chaos around, the sharper your focus must be.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Dolphin’s Dilemma / March 18, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Unlike an adult, a baby can’t eat just anything. For healthy growth, he needs his mother’s milk—pure, free from allergens, mold, or alcohol.

The world offers the infant an endless feast, yet he can’t grasp it, digest it, or even recognize it.

My therapist once said, "In therapy, you can’t give—only take." The same is true for life. A person must develop a “container” to hold and absorb something new.

Without it, the horn of plenty will serve only filth, poison, and garbage.

Comedian Ismo Leikola has a brilliant bit:

“Dolphins are so intelligent. They have such big brains. They could actually have a civilization and a culture just like people. They have the brains for it, but they don’t have it. We can see that they don’t have it. But the reason is not the brain. The reason is that they don’t have hands. So they can’t really do anything. But they can think. So they must be really pissed off.”

Feeling stuck means your inner self has turned into a dolphin, and your adult self has become an infant. The world's vast resources have shrunk into a single dilemma: "Either milk or nothing."

It’s as if you’ve been put under a spell, unable to see the opportunities around you. But they are everywhere, always. To seize them, you must first break the enchantment.

That spell is nothing more than false beliefs. Like warped mirrors, they distort both the outer and inner world. That’s why opportunities exist in abundance—but only in potential.

Our mission is simple: wake that sleeping potential and bring it to life.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Be In-Between / March 17, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Imagine your palette has only one color—black. What could you paint? The darkness of night? The depth of an abyss? A black hole?

Even the simplest act of creation needs at least one more color. Add brown or gray, and you get shadows. But the most freedom comes from mixing black and white.

The strongest force is the synthesis of opposites. You need both extremes, even risking their clash. When polarities meet, something new is born.

And where are you in this process? You’re in-between, holding the center.

Now, imagine not just one dichotomy, but many. They surround you like seats on a carousel. You, the central axis, dynamically balancing them all.

What happens if an eagle despises its right wing? How far does a racer get if he bans left turns? What happens to nature if the world is drowned in eternal darkness?

Yet people do this all the time—choosing one side of a phenomenon and rejecting the other. No surprise that companies wither, people fall ill, and families break apart.

Animals don’t make this mistake—their instincts keep them balanced. But humans? Too intelligent to rely on instinct, yet too blind to maintain symmetry in life.

If something in your life or business feels off, ask yourself: Where and why is there a limp on one side?

And if you need an outside perspective, just ask. I’ll be happy to help.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Second Birth / March 16, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

I had to bungee jump twice.

The first time, I barely understood what had happened. Fear kept me frozen at the edge of the platform, staring down at the swaying treetops. Then, suddenly, the crew counted down: “Three. Two. One. Go!”

Sasha jumped. I stayed put.

My friends cheered from below, but I felt nothing. The next morning, I jumped again—this time, body, mind, and soul together.

We enter this world unconscious and against our will. Until that moment, everything had been safe and calm. Then—bam! Someone kicks us out of the nest, making the leap for us.

“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there’s no ground.” — Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Years pass, and we get used to falling. But at some point, a vague dissatisfaction creeps in, growing stronger by the day. It’s the need to leap again—but this time, by our own will, with our own mind.

We need to be able to say, “I did it,” and hear, “Yes, you did.”

This is about a dialogue with Reality, the Cosmos, God—something far greater than us. To be reborn, we must create a “We-space”, a place where we can shape our own μεταμόρφωσις at our own pace.

Despite 175 billion terabytes of digital data in the world, the knowledge of how to reinvent oneself must still be gathered piece by piece. Then again, the very hunt for insights changes us along the way.

Being consciously reborn a second time is not the limit either. That skill, once gained, stomps impatiently for another run. After all, self-discovery has no ceiling above, no floor below. A never-ending process of R&D.

“Creativity is nothing if not change.” — Robert Moore

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

The Energy Block / March 15, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Right now, I’m interested in energy problems. Not on the scale of a country or the planet, but at the level of a “body”—a corporation or an individual.

Working with founders, I don’t see business problems. I see dams blocking the flow of charged particles. Disruptions in generating, converting, distributing, or using energy.

One is drowning in the current, carried who knows where. Another is scraping drops from the bottom of the fuel tank. A third has burned out. A fourth is spinning his wheels, burning rubber on the asphalt.

At first glance, it looks like a problem of control, teamwork, creativity, leadership, strategy, or investment. But in reality, the free flow of energy is getting snagged somewhere in the body.

The body acts as an insulator, not a conductor.

My job is to help founders find the blockage and clear the way. Funny thing is, the solution rarely comes from the outside. It’s not about buying new software, bringing in an investor, or replacing the CEO.

What’s jamming the flow? Mental beliefs that once served you but are now obsolete. The serpent will stop chasing its own tail in vain once you drive a new meaning deep into the ground.

That’s Logos.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Sudden Reversal / March 14, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

We tend to underestimate how sudden change can be.

When everything is thriving, growing, and flourishing, we assume the bounty will keep multiplying—tenfold, year after year. We declare an era of prosperity and admire our reflection in golden mirrors.

In ancient tradition, hubris leads to the loss of fortune (peripeteia), which in turn brings divine retribution (nemesis).

Then comes catastrophe—whether in the world around us or within our own souls. Growth halts abruptly. Resources dry up. Progress turns out to be hollow, values false, and stability an illusion.

At rock bottom, a man gasps for air, flailing in thick mud. Hope is lost. It feels like things can only get worse.

But that, too, is an lie—just like the arrogance of success at its peak.

No matter how hard things seem, everything can change in an instant. In fact, the worse it gets, the better. The sharper the crisis, the closer the collapse of the status quo.

"The king is dead, long live the king!"—declared the regent, the Duke of Orléans, on September 1, 1715, upon the death of Louis XIV, proclaiming the five-year-old Louis XV as the new ruler.

The summit has been crossed. The crisis has passed. A new horizon opens before you.

You’re dealing with a force infinitely greater than yourself. Defy it, and it will crush you. Turn away, and you’ll wither.

But he who humbly learns to wield this fire will be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Look Up / March 13, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The world seems to be losing its mind. Not just the masses — some of the sharpest minds behave as if a cat had infected their brains with toxoplasmosis.

Anyone hoping for a return to the old order or the arrival of a new messiah is watching their illusions melt like an ice pop in the sun.

History is twisting into a vortex, ripping logic, civility, and culture from their moorings and swallowing them whole.

Look around, and your head spins. Your stomach turns. Some shut their eyes. Others keep their gaze locked on the ground. That’s survival. But how do you live like that?

Years ago, on a parenting website, I came across advice for women in labor: Push into the point of greatest pain.

Some forces can’t be stopped. Fighting them only makes things worse. The best strategy? Let the inevitable happen. Or better yet—clear the obstacles to speed it up.

Pain flares up when reality isn’t what I expected. A wave washes away my sandcastle, the one I cherished.

I had a false belief: I know what’s best for me.

Looking back, I see how many of my “well-reasoned” choices were mistakes. And how my best decisions were the ones I only understood years later.

Therapy keeps proving how little I know about myself. I am getting used to finding the truth where I swore it couldn’t be.

When I think about my path, my eyes turn to the sky.

Looking down or sideways? That’s nausea, fear, and futility. But as long as I hold my vertical, the raging ocean pulls back, revealing a quiet island of clarity and peace inside me.

When everything falls apart—look up. Too hard? Find those who can help you.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Ride or Burn / March 12, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Deep inside each of us lives a colossal force.

It doesn’t belong to us. It’s the accumulated power of our ancestors. An archetype.

If you don’t recognize this force, it can consume you. Obsession, mania, possession—these are the states of a man seized by a supernatural entity. He becomes its slave.

The force pulls a person along like the wind dragging a plastic bag.

Fighting it is pointless. Your strength is limited, while the archetype’s power is bottomless. It has been forming for millions of years.

The irony is, there’s no reason to battle this Dragon. It may seem like it wants to scare, burn, or crush you. But that’s only because you’re standing in its way instead of climbing onto its back.

An untamed dragon brings suffering—to you and everyone around you. It appears and disappears without warning, leaving ruin and scars.

But what starts as destruction becomes a gift the moment you learn to ride your Dragon. Your ability to protect, seek, hunt, and create grows without limit.

This is co-creation. A synthesis. Now, you and divine power are one.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

The Portal Within / March 11, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Isn’t it a miracle that you’re still alive?

Doesn’t matter where you are—Austin, Seoul, Kyiv. Even in the safest conditions, disaster can strike out of nowhere:

A driver makes an illegal U-turn.
A nurse gives the wrong medication.
A bad gene wakes up in your body.

Security and stability? Just an illusion. Deep down, we know this. That’s why we cling so desperately to control.

I remember my first bungee jump. As I fell, my fingers instinctively grasped at the air, as if that could save me.

It didn’t. My mind froze. The ground rushed toward me.

But such support wasn’t needed. The moment I was truly gone, the elastic cord caught me softly, smoothly, effortlessly. The rush was incredible.

This happens all the time. Say you're at an intersection, and for no reason at all, you notice one particular car. Later, you realize the driver wasn’t watching the road—he was staring at his phone.

Your life is a chain of forks in the road. Every choice led you here. You're alive. Reading this.

But no expert—including you—could have predicted this future. Even with all the mistakes, you still made the right moves overall. The only real mystery is how?

Clearly, there’s something inside you—some kind of portal to another dimension. A place where almost any answer can be found. Almost, because you don’t control it.

The portal opens on its own. Not when you demand it, but when you’ve exhausted all options and whisper in surrender: I’m lost. Help.

More often, though, help just arrives out of nowhere. A stranger lends a hand. Inspiration hits. A dream delivers an insight.

You can shrug it off and call it luck. A coincidence.

Or you can say thank you for the gift—a doorway to another world.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Trust the Unknown / March 10, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

My dreams have changed. They're easier to interpret now—more straightforward, I guess. Almost like my subconscious decided: "Looks like his mind is finally listening. No need for flamboyant metaphors. He'll get it."

The thing is, I've started trusting my subconscious more. I can’t say exactly when it happened, but one day, I realized—it cares about me. It wants the best for me. That’s why it sends cryptic messages every night.

Unfortunately, I used to toss those letters straight into the trash, unopened. Everything about them unsettled me—their sudden arrival, the dubious sender, and, most of all, their unthinkable forms.

That word—unthinkable—is the key to the code.

Imagine you're talking to a stubborn five-year-old who refuses to accept reality. So you say, "Alright. Remember the story where the dragon kidnapped the princess? How did the young hero save her? And what’s the lesson?"

Metaphors are like water, dissolving the medicine of insight. Children refuse to chew bitter pills, even when they’re sick. Let the wound fester—just don’t pour in the stinging iodine.

A mature person can endure discomfort if he understands its purpose. His mind knows how to find gold, even in the darkest, filthiest muck.

Ultimately, it all comes down to trusting yourself—or rather, the part of yourself you don’t yet know. The stronger that bond, the clearer the messages from your dreams.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.

Sacred Ritual / March 9, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Yesterday, for the first time in years, I had some wine. This morning, I paid the price. A heavy head, aching joints, and a recently adjusted neck—plenty of reasons to skip my workout, especially at home.

But like clockwork, I rolled out my yoga mat, lowered the weights, and went through the motions with kettlebells and resistance bands, joyless but steady. A new podcast episode helped clear the gloom.

The workout was only 30% effective, but the symbolic act? 100%. The real goal is to uphold the ritual—only then does the body follow. Abandon it, and the neural jungle will swallow the path.

When I walk my dog, I often see an old man shuffling toward the tennis court. I’ve never seen him play with anyone. He just hits the ball against the wall, shuffles to retrieve it, and hits it again. Over and over.

Willpower and habit make this elder more active than 99% of his peers.

Legendary investor Charlie Munger loved to read. When cataracts took one eye, he faced the risk of total blindness. “Well,” he said, “this is a chance to learn Braille.” So he did. Ultimately, he kept his vision and gained a new skill.

Hold fast to the vector of meaning, and reality will align itself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
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.