Subject Matter

What’s the difference between data going nowhere, and evidence that drives change? How do we present stories to impact millions of people? Today’s guest answers big questions where the stakes have never been higher.

Trying to overplan or overthink a situation is like trying to complete a puzzle without all the pieces: It’s impossible. Our great expectations create fragile thinking that shatters under the slightest change.

How can we overcome the problems of overplanning and expectation? By swapping rigid thinking for fluid thinking.

Interview with Eric Ruiz: a writer and marketing strategist (formerly working at Netflix, Waze, and trolling Drake with a tongue-in-cheek billboard). We practically apply last week’s mental model of bifurcation, learning how Eric bifurcates decisions to minimise risk, streamline his thinking and focus where it matters. 

We’ll also learn why Eric thinks the traditional diversity discussion is broken, and see another perspective we can take to achieve real diversity in our thinking.

What if you could reduce the chaos of choosing between dozens of decisions to just two options? Bifurcation paints our path forward in binary black and white, making difficult decisions more straightforward.

Combining this with singular focus—narrowing your visor so all you can think about is achieving that one goal—is a powerful recipe for progress.

But where could singular focus get in our way? Is there more to risk than splitting our bets? And when might we just need to throw caution to the wind, and go all in?

Blame damages our relationships. Pointing the finger slams the door shut on any future progress you might make together.

But what if we could retrain blame? So when we instinctively look for problems, instead we accept our situation, take responsibility and open the door to opportunity?

There’s more than one side to this though. As we’ll learn, solutions don’t always equal success...

Have you laid awake in bed after an exhausting day regretting a decision you made earlier? The truth is, it’s hard to see why we make certain choices. Busy schedules make reflection a luxury.

But what if you could take a step back and actually understand how to make better decisions? How would this impact your life across your home, your relationships and your work?

That’s the big idea behind this season of Subject Matter...

The idea of an uncomfortable conversation is never easy. But the truth is: they’re necessary. And odds are, the thing we’ve been putting off is often what needs to be done most.

For people who want to radically shift their live's direction, there is one conversation that is both the hardest to have, AND the most important. It requires us to stop looking at the world around us, and instead search for what lies within.

What happens, and who will you become, when you’re willing to change everything?

There are three pillars that lay the foundation of your life - your home, your relationships and your work, at any given moment. Between the three, we discover what makes life worth living. With only three pillars in place, it begs the question -  are you effectively prioritising the right one at any given moment? How do you rock your foundations in a way to ignite growth that will last a lifetime?

The only way to produce extraordinarily different results is to think differently. That either comes from following in the footsteps of others (mentors), or blazing your own trail (seeking new context).

On this episode of Subject Matter, we deep-dive into the paths of some of the greatest debaters and idea creators in the world to figure out what works.

As always, what you decide to be right...is up to you!

If life is merely a matter of perspective, then how should we perceive it? Is it enough to be happy with the one we’ve all created so far on our journey?

Or is time…for a challenge? What if the things you believe are critically important don’t actually matter as much as you think? And what if the old way could make way for a much more powerful perspective altogether?