Thoughts
Short reflections on life, business, and thinking — captured in real time.
Bless You
Fine Dining
Haemin Sunim
The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down
Are We the Warden or the Prisoner?
Sixty-three days changed my relationship with two things I thought I already understood: impermanence and acceptance. A note to my future self from the edge of the valley.
63 Days in the Valley of Darkness
Life doesn’t pause between responsibilities, decisions, and change. What I thought was “rest” was just another point in the movement — and ...
There Is No Gap
Rhiannon Beaubien and Shane Parrish
The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts
Someone who was always there.
The Imaginary Friend We Still Look For
Two Lives. Two Operating Systems.
Communication — Where Every Path Begins
2026 Thoughts
✦ October
Masterly Inactivity
During recovery, I learned that not every problem needs another action. Sometimes the wiser choice is to create the right conditions, wait, and know when enough has already been done.
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
Meditations
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
The Hamster Wheel
Almost everything I did had to lead somewhere else—work, exercise, travel, even rest. Recovery made me see the hamster wheel, and remember that some things can simply end in themselves.
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
Complex vs. Complicated
I had been treating complex life problems as complicated problems—believing that if I understood enough variables, I could control the outcome. Recovery taught me that sometimes, the boundary moves.
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
Bless You
A simple “bless you” followed me from a part-time job in the UK into my marriage, and eventually to a hospital bed. I learned that after we have done everything within our influence, sometimes all that remains is to wish something good for someone.
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
Fine Dining
Fine dining taught me something I didn’t expect. What made those meals memorable wasn’t the luxury or even the taste. It was the time we gave to them—the space between courses, the conversations, and the person sitting across from me. Maybe the finest ingredient was never on the plate.
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
It Doesn’t Have to Be Rare to Be Precious
During recovery, I began to notice how precious the ordinary things around me already were—time, health, sunlight, freedom, and the presence of someone I love. A diamond can be lost and perhaps found again. This moment cannot.
2026 Thoughts
✦ September
The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down
Highlights from The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down that I want to remember when busy life returns.
2026 Thoughts
✦ August
Are We the Warden or the Prisoner?
I thought freedom meant having the keys and being able to leave whenever I wanted. During recovery, I began to wonder whether the life I had built for freedom had quietly become the walls around it.
2026 Thoughts
✦ August
The Slashed “/“ Life
As I grew older, I became better at being a few things: responsible, successful, a husband, a leader. But somewhere along the way, the space in which I allowed myself to live became smaller. Maybe a richer life doesn’t need another expectation. Maybe it needs permission to have another slash.
2026 Thoughts
✦ August
The Life I Kept Postponing
I kept waiting for the important things to be finished before making room for the little things I wanted to do. During recovery, I realized there will always be another priority—and those little things aren’t taking time away from life. They are part of living it.
2026 Thoughts
✦ August
63 Days in the Valley of Darkness
For 63 days, recovery taught me what I had understood but never truly lived: everything changes, not everything is within my control, and sometimes the only way forward is to accept what has already happened. This is a note to my future self about impermanence, surrender, and simply being.
2026 Thoughts
✦ July
When the Structure Starts Holding You
For months, I thought I was building habits, routines, and systems. This week, I realized something had changed. They no longer depended entirely on my discipline. They had quietly become something I could return to, even when life became difficult.
2026 Thoughts
✦ May
I’m Changing How I Lead Meetings
I’ve been noticing how I show up in meetings — and how much energy I use without realizing it.
This is not about doing less, but about holding only what is actually mine.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
Open Loops That Keep Us Awake at Night
Most of the time, it’s not the day that exhausts us.
It’s what continues after it ends.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
To Myself, Before Becoming a Father
I am not a father yet, but I can feel that I will become one.
This is a record of who I am before that change — what I fear, what I don’t understand, and what I am not ready to lose.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
Subjective Lives, Objective Systems
Most of what we are taught is objective — systems, processes, and what works.
But life is not lived there.
It is lived in what feels true to you, even when there is no proof, no certainty, and no agreement.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
The Art of Thinking Clearly
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
There Is No Gap
Life doesn’t pause between responsibilities, decisions, and change. What I thought was “rest” was just another point in the movement — and learning that changed how I see everything.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts
This book feels different. Not because it gives answers, but because it creates space to observe how I think.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
The Courage to Be Disliked – Book
The idea of separation of tasks helped me see what is truly mine to carry, and what is not.
2026 Thoughts
✦ April
The Imaginary Friend We Still Look For
As children, we had imaginary friends — someone who listened, understood, and was always there. As adults, we don’t call it that anymore. But we still look for the same thing in people. This is what I began to notice — and what changed when I started seeing it clearly.
2026 Thoughts
✦ March
I Stopped Comparing – The Courage to be Disliked
I used to think I was being careful. Watching everyone, adjusting constantly, trying to move correctly among others. It felt responsible. Looking back, it was comparison. After reading The Courage to Be Disliked, something shifted. I stopped measuring myself — and started living at my own pace.
2026 Thoughts
✦ February
2% Chance of Rain
This week the weather forecast showed a 2% chance of rain in Yangon.
February is usually dry. Almost no storms,
2026 Thoughts
✦ February
Two Lives. Two Operating Systems.
I’m learning the difference between growth that looks good on paper
and a life I can actually inhabit.
Today, that difference became clear.
2026 Thoughts
✦ January
Why I Stopped Trying to Fix People
For a long time, I believed that caring meant correcting.
If someone was late, distracted, or struggling, I felt an
2026 Thoughts
✦ January
Silence: When It Comes From Not Knowing — and When It Comes From Knowing
Silence: When It Comes From Not Knowing — and When It Comes From Knowing
For a long time in my life,
2026 Thoughts
✦ January
Designing the Board Instead of Moving the Pieces
When every role has a clear square and a clear way of moving, the organization no longer depends on the CEO to play every piece. That realization changed how I see structure, power, and my own responsibility as a leader.
2025 Thoughts
✦ December
Delegation – The Higher Calling
The hardest part of delegation is not control — it is trust.
Trusting others to make mistakes.
Trusting yourself to let go.
Delegation is a higher calling because it asks you to grow people, not just results.
2025 Thoughts
✦ December
Communication — Where Every Path Begins
I once struggled to order a coffee because I was too shy to speak. Today, communication is one of the strengths I rely on most. The journey taught me a simple truth: if you learn to ask questions and listen deeply, people—and life—begin to open.
2025 Thoughts
✦ December
Power Pause with 5 Breaths
The biggest risk in leadership isn’t a wrong decision—
it’s making a right decision in the wrong emotional state.
Your power lies in the gap between the trigger and the response.
This 5-breaths exercise helps you open that gap.