Who Are Your Genius Advisors?

We are better off following a few well chosen advisors than ingesting the thoughts of many teachers.

The key is to know those chosen thinkers so well that they become part of you. As old man Seneca would say, “extend your stay with writers whose genius is unquestionable...dabbling does not allow nourishment to be fully absorbed into your body”.

I would add that it is akin to vomiting what you just ate and making a mess of things. More harmful than good. That’s why I read so deeply into the few thinkers that I want to embody.

That said, “dabbling” is an important part of experimentation and discovering what truly works for you. But past that, it gets in the way of progress.

Mapping Prompts:

• Who are my favorite thinkers?
• What are their big ideas?
• How can I apply and test these ideas in my daily life?

Advisor Map Template:

???Instructions:

1. Put “My Advisors” as the central topic.
2. List out up to 4 Thinkers that have played a big role in your life. These could be business leaders, musicians, philosophers, scientists etc dead or alive.
3. List 2-3 Big Ideas per thinker. This will give you 8-12 Big Ideas. Remember, it’s not a numbers game. If you can even integrate half of these Big Ideas into your daily life, you will be much better off than before. More ideas equals more noise and indecision.
4. Map out how and when you will Apply these concepts to your daily life. Even the best ideas are useless if you don’t stress test them in the real world to see if they actually work for you. There’s no such thing as one size fits all.

That’s it! Congrats - you now have a list of new concepts that you can apply in your next sprint. If I had to choose only four thinkers I’d take into the woods, both literally and metaphorically, to fully absorb them, it would be these guys .

Whatever you do…get it out of your head and map it out!

Who are your biggest intellectual influences and what are their big ideas that’s helped you the most?

???If you found this mind map helpful, why not share it with a friend who could use it too!

???What I’m Learning

???Pick A Side And Fight For It, Keep Your Head Down, Or Flee

Ray Dalio, one of my favorite macroeconomists, wrote a disturbing piece where he warns that America is nearing a civil conflict, driven by wealth (and understanding) gaps, political extremism, eroded trust in the law, and economic challenges.

He suggests people, especially moderates, will need to choose between fighting, keeping a low profile, or fleeing, as historical patterns of the last 500 years predict a rise in civil strife.

But most importantly, he provides a 6-stage framework to help us understand where we’re at and where we’re going.

Here is my annotated Readwise version if you’d like to see my highlights and thoughts: https://readwise.io/reader/shared/01j1hw4dzh5399xy98zvwpv2za

The irony of me reading this article in a cafe in France, where they are going through similar political shifts , is not lost on me.