Pulse of Being / September 23, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

The fiercest resistance from your opponent comes right before he gives up. He has nothing to lose. A desperate move is his last chance.

What's the takeaway?

You can’t afford to ease up until the end of the bout. Once, in Peru, I caught malaria because I relaxed and dropped my precautions toward the end of the trip. Brr, what a costly lesson.

What’s less obvious is that relief doesn’t come in a straight line but in waves. One moment you’re thinking: “Yes, victory is near!” and the next: “No way, it’s all pointless.”

This emotional rollercoaster—up and down—is normal. Life pulses: inhale-exhale, tension-relaxation, one-zero. Remember that, and you’ll avoid disappointment, stress, and anxiety.

The ideal strategy considers the inevitable fluctuations of any process, whether it's a short jiu-jitsu match or a long negotiation with an investor to sell a stake in your company.

Syncing with the pulse of the universe multiplies your power manyfold.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Beyond (Im)perfection / September 22, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

A work of art is beyond reproach. Why? It’s unique in its expression. It can only be compared to itself.

If you try to change a sculpture, melody, or painting to suit your own taste, you’ll ruin it immediately. I’ve seen this countless times in advertising when a client made comments on a design.

“Gaudí, stop building castles in the air.”
“Mona Lisa’s smile is kind of weird.”
“David’s nudity should be covered.”

So when I've worked with creative people, I've always tried to describe the task clearly, set the stage, and then disappear until it's time to review the stunning copy or art.

At best, another talented person can build something new on someone else's creation, like a cover or DJ set. But the original work remains one of a kind.

Many suffer from the imperfections of their bodies, their work, or their lives. The solution isn’t to chase the standard even harder, nor is it to stop distinguishing between what’s bad and what’s good.

The solution is to be truly yourself.

Not others, but you—are the marble, the audience, the creator, and the chisel.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Ordinary Miracle / September 21, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

You've solved countless problems in your life, even those that seemed impossible. Perhaps one took a lot of time, another drained your energy, and a third cost you a fortune. But you are here, and the problem is gone.

So, you'll handle whatever comes next. Won’t you?

Looking back, it's clear that only a small fraction of your worries came true. The bulk of the doubts and chills were due to what:

turned out to be a game of overheated imagination,
didn’t meet your expectations, or
didn’t depend on you at all.

While your mind was busy tormenting and scaring you, your hands just got the job done.

How did they manage that? It’s easier to explain after the fact than to know beforehand how it will happen. Call it resourcefulness, cleverness, or survival instinct—whatever you like.

You can rely on this hidden ability like solid rock.

Just as Excel calculates a formula without hesitation once you enter it into a cell. Or as a crow drops a walnut from the sky to crack it open. Or as damaged tissue regenerates on its own.

An ordinary miracle. You perform it constantly. It's time to admit that.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Source of Vitality / September 20, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

The toughest business problems aren’t really about business.

The real bottleneck isn’t marketing, technology, or investment.

The main limitation is the person, especially the founder-CEO.

When a company is thriving, some people might think the founder’s role is secondary. Especially if the founder has built up enough resilience to mask the mistakes of a later-hired weak CEO.

The founder acts like the immune system of the company, and without it, the body is doomed, no matter how hard the doctors try. They only remember the immune system when there’s poisoning, an illness, or a wound.

In essence, the founder embodies a love for life, like the one Jack London described in his famous novel. It's the founder's will and courage that keeps the business going when Mr. Market has decided it must die.

All business problems are solvable if the founder has the drive. But even minor obstacles turn into a dangerous fishing net if the founder:

Loses interest in the company.
Disappointed in the team.
Stops believing in himself.
Hits a glass ceiling.
Dwells on problems.
Misses opportunities, and so on.

The business starts to fix itself as soon as the founder gets better.

Sincerely yours,

-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 We Change / September 19, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

A person says, "I'm tired of this life and want to change." He reads a lot, talks about it, and gets emotional. But there’s no action.

Why? The mind isn’t ready.

Change is not just about welcoming the new, but also letting go of the old. Throwing away things is easier than letting go of beliefs. Though the latter aren’t tangible, they can be more valuable to you than anything else.

The high value of limiting beliefs is explained by the fact that, at some point, they helped you or even saved you. For example, someone who has survived starvation might eat everything in sight, no matter how much is offered.

Any other behavior feels like foolishness, blasphemy, or even death.

And yet, time proves stronger. It might take years for someone to finally admit: "Wow, I’ve been lying to myself for so long."

There are ways to shorten those years into months or even days.

First and foremost, self-reflection—closely analyzing your behavior, desires, emotions, and feelings. It’s even better if an experienced person asks you deep questions and doesn’t accept fake answers.

Some people benefit from meditation or psychedelics, which boost neuroplasticity and can lead to a reevaluation of emotional patterns and old beliefs. Serotonin and dopamine production allow you to face obsessive thoughts and chronic fears openly. Your value system gets an upgrade.

Many people underestimate dream analysis—an approach just as effective and accessible. You only need to learn how to read the vivid metaphors the subconscious uses to bypass mental barriers and deliver important messages to you.

All these methods, and others, allow you to live in an alternate reality where current limitations don’t exist. This experience transforms you because you become convinced: "The changes I want are possible!"

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Our Children Are (Not) Us / September 18, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

We can tell our children anything — timeless truths, wise advice, or shining examples from heroes' and saints' lives.

They may argue with us or agree. Some will even pretend they've taken our advice to heart.

But most likely, they will repeat the patterns of our behavior. The very ones we’re unaware of and therefore can't hide.

It might not happen right away, and the way those patterns show up may be different. After all, it doesn’t matter what materials a beaver uses to build a dam. Its purpose is always to protect him from predators and make it easier to get food.

To someone on the outside, this “beaver-ness” might seem strange, maybe even unhealthy. But for children, it's normal to knock down trees, pile up debris, and collect mud. The dam is home.

Children will also follow our silent vow — the unspoken expectations of who they should become. At its core, these are our unfulfilled dreams — who we always wanted to be but never had the courage to become.

But all of this will only happen if children believe in our love for them. Or at least desperately crave it. Otherwise, they will do everything they can to avoid becoming like us (and it will take tremendous effort).

So, what can we do? Simple — nothing, if we don’t care about them.

But if we truly love them, the only way forward is to work on ourselves. This means:

Recognizing our hidden expectations of them, which are really expectations of ourselves.
Understanding and integrating our destructive and constructive patterns.
Learning to see the child not as a reflection of us, but as a unique person.

Sincerely yours,

-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 in the Flow to Be Found / September 17, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Yesterday, I listened to a three-hour podcast in one sitting. The genre caught me off guard—an actor, a comedian, and a rapper talking about everything under the sun, seamlessly slipping into freestyle rap.

The guys were immersed in pure creative flow, and it was genius.

And today, I was amused watching a similar approach to life from a six-month-old puppy. While his owner read a book, the dog joyfully and eagerly dug a deep hole, trying to reach the tree’s root.

His spontaneity was the embodiment of the raw energy of life.

When you lose yourself in an activity, something miraculous happens. It’s not just you who feels good in that moment—others around you also enjoy being near you. Why? You harmonize your own microcosm.

Philosopher, writer, and lecturer Alan Watts said it best:

"The existence, the physical universe is basically playful. There is no necessity for it whatsoever. It isn’t going anywhere. That is to say, it doesn’t have some destination that it ought to arrive at.

But that it is best understood by the analogy with music. Because music, as an art form is essentially playful. We say, “You play the piano” You don’t work the piano.

Why? Music differs from say, travel. When you travel you are trying to get somewhere.

In music, though, one doesn’t make the end of the composition. If that were so, the best conductors would be those who played fastest. And there would be composers who only wrote finales. People would go to a concert just to hear one crackling chord… Because that’s the end!

Same way with dancing. You don’t aim at a particular spot in the room because that’s where you will arrive. The whole point of the dancing is the dance.

We thought of life by analogy, with a journey, with a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end; and the thing was to get to that end, success or maybe heaven after you’re dead.

But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played."

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Gracious Longing / September 16, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Sometimes, I’m hit by a strange longing. Trying to drown it out with something is useless. A captivating book, a deep lecture, or a long-awaited series all feel boring before I even begin.

“It’s all wrong,” my inner voice firmly declares.

And there I am, stuck in an unbearable emptiness. It’s like everything I touch crumbles into dust, ashes, nothing.

What’s left for me? Stand still and open my eyes wide.

I know this is Life, in its strange way, showing me the path.

The paradox is that the more often I hear “No,” the closer the “Yes” becomes.

I paid a high price for this understanding, after spending years trying to fill my emptiness with something that turned out to be a poor substitute for meaning.

The voice would say, “This isn’t yours,” but I argued with it, clinging to things that were flashy but alien to me. Or I’d hesitate, unwilling to pursue what my whole being had long been reaching for.

Over and over, I had to bitterly admit: “Why did I resist what was both a blessing and inevitable?”

It’s like in therapy, when for the first time, you reveal to someone else your darkest secret, the one that’s haunted, tormented, and driven you mad for years.

You wait, trembling, for the sky to open up and a bolt of lightning to turn you—or the person you’re speaking to—into ashes. But there’s no storm, not even rain. You learn that it could never have gone any other way.

What’s more, your curse turns out to be a gift. Now you’re like an arrow shot from a bow. Energy flows out of you. It turns out you’re not weak at all; it’s just that before, your secret burden drained all your strength.

The path to oneself is, unfortunately, unpredictable, long, and winding. Mostly because we stray off course into the deep, dark woods.

Strangely enough, despair, longing, and void are good signs. It means you’re tired of wandering in foreign meanings, and your nose is starting to catch the scent of freedom.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Respect the Unknown / September 15, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

When you deal with novelty, what kind of attitude is more fitting?

This is about situations unlike anything you've experienced before. There are no ready-made scripts for how to think or act.

The worst you can do is be arrogant and careless.

For example, some people treat a psychedelic experience like a fun trip to the movies. But admiring a bear at the zoo is one thing—accidentally waking it from hibernation in the woods is another.

What’s even worse is that in an altered state, you don’t understand who—or what—you’re dealing with. Your subconscious knows everything about you, while you know nothing about it. It won’t just surprise you—it could grind you down like a coffee mill.

The right attitude toward the unknown is reverence—fear, respect, and awe. This is not a child's fantasy; it's an adult's realism. It’s a humble acknowledgment: “There is something more powerful than me.”

Here’s the paradox: reverence unlocks unexpected gifts. The tning is that novelty is both destructive and creative at the same time. How it unfolds for you depends, in large part, on your approach.

The more often this “other world” showers you with its generosity, the more your trust will grow. Someday, beyond the awe, you will feel gratitude, respect, and love for the one who cares for you so deeply.

Sincerely yours,

-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 the Wind / September 14, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Your curiosity is a lever, creating everything from nothing.

Don't believe it? Listen to what neuroscientist Andrew Huberman says: "When people are curious about the answer to a question, it increases activity in the brain areas controlling dopamine release. And that dopamine release allows for better memory of the correct answr as well as better memory of events and information that preceded the answer."

In other words, you don’t need to:

Enroll in prestigious universities.
Hunt for popular teachers.
Pay for expensive courses.
Reward yourself for completing tasks.
Master memory hacks and techniques.
Take substances to stimulate focus, and so on.

It’s enough to keep doing what you find insanely interesting.

Why is it interesting? Does it even matter? A part can never fully grasp the behavior of a system. Architect and philosopher Buckminster Fuller called this synergy. After all, we’re only aware of tiny fragments of what’s happening to us. Some mysterious force pulls you forward.

By the way, synergy (Latin cooperatio, meaning “harmonized action”) is a concept in Christian theology where salvation is achieved through cooperation between divine grace and human free will.

All of a sudden you feel an inexplicable curiosity about something, and you are free to choose - to follow it, or to dismiss it as you often do.

It takes far less effort to sail with the wind than against it. Your curiosity is a breeze, capable of growing into a cyclone.

You are unstoppable when you’re aligned with a typhoon.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Autumn Wisdom / September 13, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

I love autumn. It teaches us how to end a cycle of life with dignity, meaning, and grace —so we can begin it again.

Imagine a sentence without a period at the end

It feels uncomfortable, right? It’s like the step disappeared beneath your foot.

It feels like leaving things undone. A chest of treasure left unopened, one our subconscious can’t forget.

For example, few debrief after a project. And without that, there's no way to stop the bad and multiply the good. Yet by shedding its skin, the snake does not die, but lives.

Beyond its usefulness, autumn is beautiful. In Japanese culture, there’s a term “mono no aware” (物の哀れ), which means “the bittersweet charm of things, of the world, of life.”

The only constant is change. Clinging to the usual order, success, power, or youth dooms us to suffering. But like a snake shedding its skin, we do not die—we live anew.

What remains is “a long, deep, contemplative, grateful, light, and tender sadness about the fact that the state of impermanence is a given in this world and an inseparable part of life itself.” [1]

Autumn teaches us to feel both sadness and gratitude for everything we have.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Double Ankle Pick / September 12, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Today, we practiced the "ankle pick." It's as effective as it is simple. You drop sharply onto your knee, grab your opponent’s heel, and yank his support out from under him.

But the move often fails because the opponent pulls his leg back. Champion trainer John Danaher advises, "Use failure to generate success. A double ankle pick is when you hit an ankle pick, it fails, and then you just try again and succeed on the second occurrence."

The trick is that there are few downsides for you. For a tiny expenditure of energy, you might gain a lot in return.

My dog uses a similar strategy, subtly signaling that he’s ready to do any trick for a treat. There's no guarantee I'll agree this time, but it costs him nothing to sit there and wait.

An entrepreneur intuitively searches for such a "lever." He’ll gladly make a follow-up call to a customer, remind an investor of his project, say “No” one more time in a negotiation, or keep pursuing a talented employee for a year.

But why does this work?

An entrepreneur lowers the cost and and increases value at the same time. The more a founder thinks about his business, the less he worries about himself. When his ego isn’t inflated, he has no problem swallowing rejection or knocking on a closed door again.

Moreover, the founder sees the potential of the "goldmine" fate is offering him. In the future, he sees not only financial gain but also a revolution in the industry, benefits to people, team growth, his own personal meaning, and much more.

Isn't it worth going for that ankle pick one more time?

Sincerely yours,

-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 Gift of Light / September 11, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

The way an insight is gained matters greatly. It determines how deeply and quickly it enters our lives.

More often than not, insights come through the intellect. We read a book, watch a movie, or listen to a podcast. Suddenly, we’re struck by someone’s Wow-idea, and it helps us make sense of so much.

Much more rarely, insight bypasses the mind and hits us straight through the body. We feel something that captures and carries us somewhere, taking our whole being with it. Meanwhile, the shocked mind remains in the passenger seat.

An insight is a sudden solution to a problem that has been haunting us for a long time. But what is the insight of all insights — the solution to the problem of all problems?

It's a mystical experience, a meeting with a higher reality, a grasp of meta-truth, a plunge into the source of harmony, peace, and love.

Such an experience is profoundly convincing. The knowledge you gain is not just a toy for the intellect; it becomes a fundamental part of you. Though your neural pathways may take time to rewire, you are already transformed.

People have always sought ways to trigger mystical states: meditation, prayer, music, dance, sex, psychedelics, or fasting. But sometimes, it happens beyond our control, in the most ordinary moments or even in a dream.

This unearned gift reminds us that in the darkness, there is light.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Your Two Worlds / September 10, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

There are two worlds — the one we know and the one we don’t. Both the mystic and the materialist have to admit this. Look around — here, every corner is lit with the light of knowledge, while over there, pitch-black darkness reigns.

The weaker and more vulnerable we are, the more the first world draws us in. Pain and fear make us curl up in a familiar burrow, coiling tight like a ball. When survival is the only goal, nothing else matters.

But once the wounds of the body or soul have healed and our energy rises, the cozy shell starts to feel more like an ancient sarcophagus. What once saved us now threatens to smother us.

Inside, a mysterious urge grows — a desire to break free into the other world. It’s strange because there is no understanding of it at all. But the temptation is strong. The new can reward the brave beyond measure. Or kill him if he acts carelessly.

Each of these worlds has a bright side and a dark side.

It all comes down to our awareness, skills, and resources.

Sometimes we need to lean on one, and other times on the other.

The ideal is to stand with both feet in different worlds at once.

Sincerely yours,

-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 Price of Play / September 9, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

In any kind of work, there is a bright side. It inspires the performer to dedicate years of training to it. It is what dazzles the audience with skill, achievements, and beauty.

But there is always a dark side too — the hidden underside known only to the one who wears the armor. You don’t talk about it because people care more about the outcome than the cost.

The result brings joy, laughter, healing, improvement, and usefulness. You can touch it, compare, and evaluate.

But thinking about inputs is hard. One person has talent but can't control it. Another is conscientious. A third gets lucky at the last moment.

Either way, the work demands many sacrifices. It’s no guarantee of success, just the admission price. And this is where it gets interesting.

The odds favor the one who pays pennies while investing millions.

How does he do it? He was made for this work, like a bee made to carry pollen between flowers.

Then, something magical happens, as investor Naval Ravikant said: “It looks like work to others, but it feels like play to me.”

Music producer Rick Rubin advised Andrew Huberman: “The key to being really great at something is to just be you.”

How? You have to discover yourself, either on your own or with someone’s help.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Vortex Dynamics / September 8, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

"We grow in direct proportion to the amount of chaos we can sustain and dissipate," wrote Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine. The Belgian physicist and physical chemist demonstrated that systems in non-equilibrium conditions can spontaneously organize and transition to a higher state of order.

We are used to thinking of a person or a company as a physical or corporate body. It’s a solid, tangible, and stable structure that can be grasped, manipulated, and changed.

But there’s another perspective—a metaphor of a vortex or whirlpool.

Try to contain it! The whirlpool exists, but it’s elusive. Born in turbulence from colliding a water flow with a rock, it draws energy from the disorder, dispersing it outward.

The more chaos it can endure and disperse, the stronger and longer it lasts. The whirlpool dies when the flow of external energy is depleted or, conversely, rises too sharply.

However, in the latter case, there’s a chance that the destabilized system will self-organize into a new, more complex order in response to the changed environment.

Importantly, from the perspective of the whirlpool, disorder is not evil but beneficial. As one Reddit commentator aptly noted, “Chaos is the water of life.”

The intrigue is that we don’t know our true potential—what novelty will destroy or elevate us. Everything becomes clear only when we look back, having already made a qualitative leap.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Destroy or Transform? / September 7, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki

I am rereading my favorite sci-fi novel by Isaac Asimov, “The Caves of Steel,” late into the night. There is a profound thought in it:

“The robot said, “I have been trying, friend Julius, to understand some remarks Elijah made to me earlier. Perhaps I am beginning to, for it suddenly seems to me that the destruction of what should not be, that is, the destruction of what you people call evil, is less just and desirable than the conversion of this evil into what you call good.” He hesitated, then, almost as though he were surprised at his own words, he said, “Go, and sin no more!”

The truth speaks through the robot’s mouth. Yet it is not easy to accept.

Our first, most natural impulse is to eliminate evil once and for all. But that’s technically impossible since positive and negative define each other.

The more Yin dominates, the stronger the Yang becomes. In the absolute, one turns into the other. And vice versa.

So, any polarities are parts of a single whole. This means there is a meta-meaning that each polarity cannot grasp. For example:

Evil is the raw material for good.

In other words, it’s a possibility, a puzzle, a hidden potential, a challenge.

Man is a creator, and his role is to turn evil into good. If he refuses this challenge, he wastes his gift by burying it in the ground. But by throwing himself completely into the problem that grabs him, he fulfills himself.

There are two strategies for dealing with evil:

1. Short-term defense strategy. Its goal is to urgently protect those in need. The method is to neutralize manifestations of evil here and now. It’s appropriate when there’s no time, patience, or strength for invention.

2. Long-term development strategy. Its goal is for the harmful factor to bring much good and benefit to people. The method is paradoxical rethinking from a meta-position. This strategy is preferable in all circumstances, at all times.

No wonder the alchemists of the Middle Ages taught:

"In sterquiliniis invenitur", which means: “In filth, it shall be found”.

Sincerely yours,

-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 Delusion of a Brilliant Mind / September 6, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Some people live solely in their heads. They have a body, but it feels like a burden. If they could, they’d gladly rid themselves of this “bag of meat and bones.” Then their intellect could finally break free.

This is a massive misconception, one that leads them to:

Cut short the number of years they can do fruitful work.
Swing between manic excitement and deep despair.
Limit their intuition and the flow of fresh ideas.
Rob themselves of the simple joys of life.
Suffer from sudden illnesses and injuries.
Risk burning out once and for all.
Lose the ability to see the bigger picture.
Lose their moral bearings and become spiritless.
May break laws, exploit others, inflict pain, and more.

The problem lies in their pride. The mind has devalued the body, which it did not create. A brilliant mind dulls tragically when it rejects the gift of synergy.

“Synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately,” wrote Buckminster Fuller, the American architect, designer, engineer, inventor, philosopher, mathematician, writer, and poet.

The body is not just a body; it’s a bridge, an umbilical cord that connects you to the world. Just as skin feels the wind, the body senses the environment. Sixty-five million years ago, when the first primates had rudimentary minds, their bodies were already doing the work of ensuring survival and growth.

Remember, most processes in the body happen involuntarily, on their own: breathing, digestion, heartbeat, sweating, cell growth, immune system function, tissue regeneration, blood filtration in the kidneys, hormone release, metabolism, maintaining body temperature, protein synthesis, nutrient absorption, blood sugar regulation, DNA repair, and so on.

The greatest minds can do the unthinkable — accept their limits with humility and trust in the synergy between the body and the universe, even if they don't yet understand it.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Bull's Eye / September 5, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

Tropical cyclone Sam swirling over the Indian Ocean in an image taken by astronaut Bonnie Dunbar from space shuttle Columbia, 1990. LIFE Picture Collection

When the power goes out in the evening, I'm not sad. No more temptation to go online, check the news, or get some work done.

This day is already over, and the new one isn’t born yet. The world has forgotten about me. I’ve forgotten about it too. This brief moment “in-between” is filled with freedom.

I sit in the dark, looking out from the 13th floor at my beloved Kyiv. My hair is ruffled by the draught, and my thoughts by the witty philosopher Alan Watts.

How does it feel? Like a skydive, a psychedelic trip, or your first sex. The anxiety of “How will it be?” is behind you, and ahead is the effort to grasp: “What was that?” There is a ringing silence between the sky and the earth.

The eye of a hurricane, or the bull’s eye — a space of clarity and calm in the center of a tropical cyclone [Wiki]. The stronger the cyclone, the brighter the sunlight, the lower the pressure, and the quieter the wind in the “pupil.” There is peace, and there is not.

Meanwhile, the surrounding world spins more fiercely, like a dervish in an ecstatic trance:

the shaking of the global order,
the impotence of international institutions,
the spiritual decline of Western culture,
the madness of COVID and AI,
and the burning fuse of wars.

But reading history, you see how often the world has already walked on the edge. The storms came, and the ship listed to one side — then to the other. But every time, somehow, a miracle happened at the last moment.

God still loves humanity, despite all its attempts to kill and forget Him.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Your Light Needs Dark / September 4, 2024 by Alexander Lyadov

The more you fight the shadow within, the stronger it becomes.

It’s like striving for perfect service in business—you can’t achieve it because the cost doesn’t just rise linearly, it grows exponentially.

Imagine you are the leader of the forces of light. Your goal is not just to defeat the forces of darkness, but to erase them completely, to make them forgotten forever.

Alright, say you succeed. What happens next?

The idea of "light" instantly loses its meaning. Light exists only as long as there is darkness. They are like communicating vessels, front and back, two sides of the moon.

Now there are no players and no chess game to play. Life stands still. Vitality fades.

Unfortunately, fighting your rejected part only weakens you.

The alternative is an act of humility — admitting you are a mystery to yourself:

Consider that the shadow might hold some hidden meaning.
At a comfortable pace explore this unknown part of yourself.
Be surprised by the function it actually serves.
Find a balance of all your forces that feels right for you.
Channel your combined light and dark powers into a worthy cause.

Sincerely yours,

-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.