It’s Wednesday, February 25th, snow piles are blocking half of Hoboken, and Matt’s about to deliver a global masterclass that didn’t exist a few weeks ago. After some trivia about George Washington’s first cabinet meeting (1793) and the first railroad tunnel under the Hudson River (1908), he shares what happened when he realized his old presentation materials wouldn’t work for his new venture. He was starting from zero, staring at a blank page—or more accurately, a blank space in his head.

Here’s the pattern he’s noticed every single time: It starts with a prompt. What do I want to share? What experience do I want people to have? What’s the message in my head and my heart? (That’s the apex—timely, genuine, and useful.) Then comes the hard part: letting go. For a couple weeks, nothing concrete came—just fragments. But because he planted the prompt, his brain kept seeking the answer. Through client conversations, networking, and business interactions, the idea crystallized piece by piece until one day, about five days ago, he knew: That’s it. Forcing creativity doesn’t work. But pointing your brain in the right direction and trusting it to deliver? That’s magic. So the question: What’s one thing you could prompt your brain on today that will produce fruit later?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattstone.substack.com